Get to Know a Recruit: Marquette’s Greg Elliott

The Marquette Golden Eagles added depth, explosiveness, and upside to their backcourt with the addition of Greg Elliott, out of Detroit. A late riser in recruiting, Elliott received looks from schools like Michigan State and VCU before finally committing to the Golden Eagles to added to an already-deep recruiting class including Jamal Cain, Theo John, and Ike Eke.

Elliott boasts incredible body control and finishing ability, especially through contact. Greg also happens to be whacky athletic, especially for the combo-guard frame that he has. He can read the floor both offensively and defensively and will add a proven scorer, rebounder, and defender to Marquette’s lineup in the guard spot. Elliott averaged 28.0 PPG his senior year with 9.0 RPG while shooting 52% from the floor and finishing 4th in Michigan’s Mr. Basketball voting.

What I love about Greg Elliott is his toughness. He isn’t undersized by any stretch of the imagination, but at Marquette, where they will probably play smaller lineups, he will be asked to defend players much bigger than him. Watching his high school video shows me he isn’t afraid to take on the challenge of bigger, stronger opponents, offensively or defensively. He isn’t afraid to go right at someone and be physical as a driver or defender, and he shows a great set of skills both offensively by finishing through contact or finishing creatively at the rim, and defensively with his court awareness and athleticism to compete in the air against opponents they may want to challenge him inside. He’ll be a defensive asset as a replacement for Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey when the two need to rest, and his offensive game will adjust to the size, speed, and athleticism of the college game at a good pace.

I expect great things from him going forward, but expectations for his freshman year should be for him to come out, give 100%, and compete in a guard-dominated league against incredibly talented scorers. If he can do that, he’ll be fine going forward. His athleticism will make him competitive right away, and his basketball instinct will make him elite in time.