Xavier basketball recruiting: Musketeers land 2017 shooting guard Elias Harden

Atlanta, Georgia’s Elias Harden, a 2017 shooting guard, has just committed to Xavier University.

Harden, a four-star player via 247Sports Composite Rankings, is ranked within the Top 15 in the Peach State, the Top 25 at his position and the Top 100 in the nation in the Class of 2017. He tweeted the news that he would be attending XU on Wednesday evening.

With Harden’s move to Xavier, the Musketeers now have two commits in the Class of 2017. Harden joins Kickapoo High School (Springfield, MO) small forward Jared Ridder, a three-star recruit and the fourth-best player in the Show Me State, in Chris Mack’s 2017 class. The move, per 247Sports’ Class Calculator, now shoots them up the charts to second in the Big East team rankings behind the Creighton Bluejays who currently have the best 2017 class in the conference at this juncture.

Chris Mack & Co. beat out Virginia Tech, Auburn, Maryland, Ole Miss and Texas Tech among other suitors for Harden’s services.

Xavier is primed to have a very good backcourt come 2017. Assuming that point guard Edmond Sumner sticks around for that campaign, the Musketeers will be trotting him, Big East 6th Man of the Year JP Macura and incoming recruit Quentin Goodin to tag along with Harden whom is primed to be a talented player in his own right. Suffice it to say: Xavier should continue to be a force in the Big East and in the nation as well.