Big East Recruiting Offer Tracker Update (August 16): The Mid-August Review

Xavier Musketeers head coach Travis Steele is continuing to build up the excitement for his team’s future. His first season at the helm of the program came with its growing pains and learning curves, as he adjusted to a bigger role after being an assistant for 10 years.

A loss to crosstown rival Cincinnati in non-conference play was no fun. The losses to Wisconsin and Auburn before that didn’t help either. In Big East play, the Musketeers hovered at 3-2 to start, before going on to lose six straight.

Through all that, the Musketers managed to save their best basketball for the end. They won six of their last seven regular season games, and almost unseated defending conference tournament champion Villanova in the semis. The way Xavier played down the stretch of the season left a bit of promise.

Now, months later, Steele and his staff have built on that with victories on the recruiting front. Xavier notched its third four-star commit in the Class of 2020, putting the Musketeers well above every other college basketball team’s 2020 class—except for Virginia, who also has three four-star 2020 commits—according to 247 Sports most recent team recruiting rankings. Aside from the Cavaliers, no other school has more than two four-star commits.

Colby Jones’ commitment to the Musketeers was the only one for this week, in the Big East, but here’s a list of all the conference-wide news on the recruiting trail. Things have slowed down from the beginning of the month and the end of July, as we move further and further away from the conclusion of the July live recruiting period.

New Commits:

• Four-star 2020 wing Colby Jones (Pinson, Ala./Mountain Brook) commits to Xavier.

Transfers:

• The transfer destination is set for former Georgetown player Grayson Carter, who will be moving on to UT-Arlington.
• Former St. John’s player Eli Wright has found a new home. He will be transferring to Western Kentucky.

Final Cuts:

• Top 12 finalist Marquette didn’t make the second round of cuts for five-star 2020 guard Nimari Burnett (Chicago, Ill./Prolific Prep), who left the Golden Eagles out of his final five.
• Xavier and four-star 2020 wing Jaylen Clark (Corona, Calif./Centennial) are mutually heading in other directions.
• Three-star 2020 forward Noah Collier (Philadelphia, Pa./Westtown School) leaves Xavier, Seton Hall, and UConn off his final three.
• Four-star 2020 forward Andre Jackson (Albany, N.Y./Albany School for Boys) includes UConn in his final five list, but Georgetown and Marquette are out.
• Four-star 2020 guard Noah Taitz (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman) excludes DePaul from his final six list.
• Three-star 2020 forward Taj Thweatt (Wildwood, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) removes Seton Hall from consideration, as he cuts his list in half from eight to four.
• Five-star 2020 forward Ziaire Williams (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Sierra Canyon) trims his list to seven. Creighton is out.

Non-Big East Commitments:

• Three-star 2020 wing Chibuzo Agbo Jr. (San Diego, Calif./St. Augustine) announces his commitment to Texas Tech. Marquette was a top-five finalist.
• Five-star center N’Faly Dante (Mali/Sunrise Christian) commits to Oregon and will reclassify from 2020 to 2019. Had an offer from St. John’s.
• Seton Hall target, 2020 forward Nick Farrar (Holly Springs, N.C./Apex Friendship) stays home and commits to N.C. State.
• DePaul target, 2020 forward Carter Gilmore (Hartland, Wisc./Arrowhead) will walk-on at Wisconsin
• Georgetown target, four-star 2021 guard Demetrius (Meechie) Johnson (Garfield Heights, Ohio/Garfield Heights) commits to Ohio State.
• DePaul target, three-star 2021 forward Chris Hodges (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) commits to Wisconsin.
• DePaul target, 2020 forward Jacob Ognacevic (Sheboygan, Wisc./Sheboygan Lutheran) committed to Valparaiso
• 2020 forward Philip Wheeler (Rumson, N.J./Ranney School) is forgoing his senior year of HS hoops to sign with a team in Italy. He had offers from St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Providence.

New 2020 offers:

• UConn offered 2020 wing Jordan Geronimo (Concord, N.H./St. Paul’s School)
• Four-star 2020 forward Josh Hall (Durham, N.C./Moravian Prep) receives an offer from St. John’s.

New 2022 offers:

• UConn offered 2022 PG Zion Cruz (Princeton, N.J./Hudson Catholic)
• Marquette offered guard Trejuan Holloman (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall).
• St. John’s offers 2022 guard Nick Smith Jr. (Sherwood, Ark./Sylvan Hills)

Other notes:

1. If you notice an error, have news of a new offer, please feel free to tip me off—or Big East Coast Bias—on Twitter: @becb_sbn and @erapay5. I’ll update accordingly.
2. Shoutout to Anonymous Eagle, Casual Hoya, Banners on the Parkway, Rumble in the Garden, The UConn Blog, and VU Hoops. We unfortunately don’t have articles on all recruits, but we got some help in filling some blanks from our fellow Big East SB Nation sites. Some recruits have clickable names, which will take you to a relevant article regarding that player.
3. I recommend viewing the spreadsheet externally, since you’ll be able to use things like filters (Google Sheets has that option on the top-left, next to the print button.) and Ctrl+F (Apple+F if you’re on Mac) to help make searching for recruits easier. You’ll also have a bigger screen/window to look at the spreadsheet: Big East Offer Tracker, last updated August 16, 2019. Alternatively, you may view below.

Offer Tracker:

Transfer Tracker:

Update Log: