Hey, you know what we haven’t done in a while? Talked about scholarship offers coming out of Shaka Smart’s office for the future of Marquette men’s basketball.

Okay, so let’s fix that!

247 Sports lists Jaxon Davis as a 6’1”, 165 pound point guard. He hails from Gurnee, Illinois, where he attends Warren Township High School. 247’s Composite currently ranks him as the #64 prospect in the country and the top prospect in the state of Illinois. He’s right there in their internal system at #65 nationally. On3 says he’s #55 in the country, while ESPN slots him in at #53.

The thing that immediately jumped out at me when taking a quick scroll through his Twitter? This post from Synergy that points out that Davis was the 7th most productive player in all of EYBL this summer, no matter what age group.

It’s worth noting that he was 7th amongst point per possession scorers at just the 16U age level, but when you mix in his point guard play, he shoots up to 7th most efficient playmaker in the country.

Here’s 3 minutes worth of highlights from his sophomore season this past year:

247 Sports says that Cleveland is a 6’3”, 165 point guard, and he attends La Lumiere School in Indiana. That’s a new development, as he hails from Chicago and was attending Kenwood Academy High School this past year. He’s a quite talented young man, as 247’s Composite system has him at #28 in the country and #8 amongst point guards. Yes, that means that if he was still at Kenwood, he would beat out Jaxson Davis as the best prospect in Illinois.

Brandon Jenkins from 247 caught up with Cleveland around the same time that Shaka Smart made that offer:

“Coach Shaka came to my early morning game on Thursday,” Cleveland said. “I like Coach Shaka’s energy because you could bring the most calm kid into their program and the kid would feed off his energy. Everybody wants to play for a coach like that. He believes in you and knows you can play defense of some sort. They try to get the best out of you.”

On3 ranks Cleveland at #28 in the country, but they call him a shooting guard and also list his height at 6’1”. Intriguing. ESPN is particularly high on him, ranking Cleveland at #22 in the Class of 2027.

Can I interest you in three minutes of highlights from this past year?

We’re sticking with point guards here — which makes that Jimmy Butler picture choice interesting — as 247 Sports says that Pemberton is a 6’1”, 165 pound PG. He ranks at #88 in the country in the Composite system and #63 in 247’s internal setup. He attends Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, but he’s from Lawrence, Massachusetts, which is essentially right on the MA/NH state line. One way or another, Pemberton is a New England Area guy, which puts him right in assistant coach Cody Hatt’s wheelhouse.

Can I share something from a New England Recruiting Report post dated September 2023? Yes, it’s old, but stick with me here:

Antonio Pemberton has already demonstrated his high potential on some of the grandest basketball stages, most notably with Mass Rivals 17U in the 3SSB circuit as a middle schooler.

Just to spell it out: Class of 2027 means Pemberton is starting his junior year of high school this fall. In September 2023, he was starting his freshman year. In the summer of 2023, Pemberton — who is listed at 6’1” TODAY — was playing with the oldest kids in the Mass Rivals club team on the Adidas circuit right after finishing eighth grade. How did he look?

What sets him apart is his role as a confident lead guard who thrives under pressure and minimizes mistakes, making him a reliable floor general. Pemberton’s ability to direct traffic on offense is a testament to his basketball IQ and court awareness. He’s not just a scorer; he’s a playmaker. He excels at setting up his teammates and orchestrating the offense, showcasing his leadership qualities on the court. What makes Pemberton even more exciting is his offensive arsenal. At such a young age, he already possesses a diverse and promising set of offensive skills. Whether it’s his scoring ability, ball-handling, or shooting, he has the tools to become a dynamic offensive threat.

Alrighty then. Here’s 10 minutes of Mass Rivals 17U highlights that was posted in March 2025 but says 2024 in the title for some reason.

Micah Gordon is a 6’0”, 180 pound point guard according to 247 Sports. They have him at #58 in the country according to their Composite system and #70 internally. Hailing from Plainfield, New Jersey, Gordon is ranked #47 in the country by On3 and #34 by ESPN. Can’t say I’m not fascinated by Shaka Smart zeroing in on notably nationally ranked point guard prospects for 20247, that’s for sure.

It seems pretty possible that Micah Gordon is going to stay at Plainfield High School, as his father is the coach there, and on top of that, both parents AND his paternal grandfather played for Plainfield. It doesn’t hurt that Gordon led the squad to a state title this past spring — yes, as a sophomore — as he put up 24 points in a 17 point win with Plainfield pulling away late.

Here’s a THIRTY minute video package of Plainfield’s season opener, which really might be more of a condensed game video. You’re watching #5, for the record.

I had to dig a little for details on Kenny Turner, which probably has to do with him finishing up his freshman year last spring than anything else. There’s a flow to this for the recruiting brainiacs, and I can’t fault them for sticking to what’s important for the time they’re currently in. Juniors are about to sign in November, sophomores are just starting to get phone calls from coaches, you can start to worry about the guys going from freshman to sophomore year once the rising seniors are signed, etc.

ANYWAY, thankfully, Kenny Turner has a detailed Twitter bio. He says he’s a 5’11” point guard and that he’s attending Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Texas. That’s part of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, falling about midway between the two, directly south of Arlington. That’s about all we’ve got for details, other than it’s worth pointing out that Turner himself noted that Marquette is his first Division 1 scholarship offer. I’ll be honest, I’m kind of curious about the fact that it appears that no one on the MU coaching staff is following Turner on the Twitter machine at the moment. Shouts to Ben Steele for jumping in the waters, though.

It might be a minute before people catch on to Turner in order for his YouTube stock to rise, but again: Kenny Turner is looking out for us. Here’s a couple of videos that he posted himself, both from this summer, both from before he got his scholarship offer.

Okay, let’s wrap up with the scholarship/roster chart!

Anonymous Eagle

As always, remember that I am not adjusting Sheek Pearson to display his redshirt for 2025-26 until he actually sits out the entire year.

Anyway, shock of all shocks, Marquette’s coaching staff thinks they need to recruit a point guard for the class that’s coming in after Sean Jones and Tre Norman are out of eligibility. Who could have seen it coming??? With that in mind, it’s not exactly a surprise that Shaka Smart and his staff are keeping their eyes open on point guards in future classes, too. You can’t be picky about the heights of guys if they’re highly ranked recruits — if you can play, you can play — but after watching the defensive disaster that was Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey playing together, you can see why I’m a little bit twitchy about seeing a focus on point guards right around six feet in height.

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