McKenzie Visiting SHU

Seton Hall is set to get a visit from Xaverian HS (NYC) shooting guard Brian McKenzie this month. McKenzie is an interesting recruit. he combines very good athletic ability with a pure shot from beyond the arc. He seemed to struggle a bit last year, mostly because of confidence from my observations, and really began to pick it up from the outside when Xaverian went on their impressive late season run to the state federation title game. He also has decent size (6'3 180 lbs) for a shooting guard and would fill a void on the SHU roster, as they seem to lack outside shooting skills as a whole, and most of their guards are on the small side. However, Seton Hall seems to be the extent of his Big East interest and is getting most of his attention from teams in lower-level conferences. Here is the Yahoo! Sports article, via Scout.Com, on McKenzie's recruiting: McKenzie to Visit SHU.

With just one scholarship left, I was pretty much under the assumption that Seton Hall would target an athletic wing player as the position of priority on the recruiting trail. As mentioned in previous reports, players like Kimmani Barrett, Antonio DiMaria and Damian Hollis have been getting a lot of attention from the Pirate staff. Barrett, in my opinion, would be a solid addition to the class. DiMaria is a player from the Pittsburgh area that had a very good ABCD camp this summer and has received offers from the likes of James Madison, Duquense and Bowling Green. It also looks like Seton hall has offered a scholarship and Syracuse has been in contact with DMaria as well. Hollis might be visiting Seton Hall in the near future as well, but he also seems willing to take his time to see if he can gain some additional attention over the course of his senior season. If they can land a player like Lazer Hayward, that would be a great addition, but the competition for him looks to be very tough to beat, and he still considerd Marquette his leader and schools like Connecticut and Syracuse seem to be turning up the heat on Hayward. Another target, Edwin Ubiles has recently committed to Siena.

However, Louie Orr and his SHU staff seem to be headed in another direction with their last scholarship right now. We are not quite privy to the information on how much SHU wants Mckenzie and where he is in their priority listing, but he does seem to be visiting before other targets, it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. I see SHU as a team that could use his shooting touch and McKenzie is an excellent student and is improving as an overall player, definitely is still a lower-level Big East calibre recruit, but is somewhat under-recruited as well.

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SETON HALL RECRUITING UPDATE

ROSTER ADDITION ALERT: Carl Marshall (G), Indian Hills JC

2006-2007 Projected Roster
Seniors: Grant Billmeier (C), Jamar Nutter (G), Mani Messy (F), Stan Gaines (F), Carl Marshall (G)
Juniors: Brian Laing (G/F), Marcus Cousin (BF/C), Mike Pilgrim (F)
Sophomores: John Garcia (BF/C), David Palmer (BF), Paul Gause (G)
Freshmen: Malcolm Grant (PG)

Note: Seton Hall has a 2007 commitment from Quincy Owens (BF)

Previous Seton Hall recruiting reports: August 18th report, July 5 Report, Aug 15 and July 24 Round-Up.

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Seton Hall has added a late addition to their roster for the upcoming season with Carl Marshall. Marshall originally signed with Baylor out of high school and played one season with the Bears before transferring to Indian Hills JC for his sophomore season. Marshall is from Crane (IL) High School in Chicago.

Marshall is a combination guard that will probably attempt to fill the roles vacated by Justin Cerasoli and JR Morris. His size (5'11 and 175 lbs) and quickness will probalby dictate that he ends up playing point guard more often, however. As a freshmen at Baylor, Marshall averaged nearly 4 PPG, 1 rebound and 1 assist per outing. He led Indian Hills last season in FT shooting at 80% and assists with 2.7/game.

We will look for an official announcement from Seton Hall on Marshall next week when school starts and he officially enrolls in classes.

One thing is for certain, with Marshall, Nutter, Copeland and Gause,. Seton Hall has one of the smallest backcourts in the country.

Now, with just a single scholarships left, the Hall can turn their attention to addressing their wing needs. With Billmeier and Garcia, along with Palmer, Gaines and Cousin also slated to be part of the 2006-2007 roster, the need for a big man is not as immediate as a player on the wing.

An athletic wing player is now the position of priority on the Seton Hall recruiting trail. As mentioned in previous reports, players like Kimmani Barrett, Edwin Ubiles, Antonio DiMaria and Damian Hollis have been getting a lot of attention from the Pirate staff. Barrett, in my opinion, would be an excellent addition to the class. Ubiles seems to list Seton Hall first over schools such as UMass, Iowa St, Rhode Island and Siena. DiMaria is a player from the Pittsburgh area that had a very good ABCD camp this summer and has received offers from the likes of James Madison, Duquense and Bowling Green. It also looks like Seton hall has offered a scholarship and Syracuse has been in contact with DMaria as well. Hollis might be visiting Seton Hall in the near future as well, but he also seems willing to take his time to see if he can gain some additional attention over the course of his senior season. If they can land a player like Lazer Hayward, that would be a great addition, but the competition for him looks to be very tough to beat, and he still considerd Marquette his leader.

Another player to keep an eye on, if they can not land a wing player of choice, would be Austin Wallace. There is a reasonable chance that Wallace decides to prep for a season to see if his stock can rise, but for now, Seton Hall, Providence, Drexel and St Joseph's are keeping tabs on him closely. The 6'9 forward has some interesting upside ability.

With the addition of Marshall, on top of the Grant commitment, it is doubtful that the Pirates would be in position to add a player like Vernon Teel, Ruben Gillandeaux or Earl Pettis, unless additional roster turnover takes place over the course of the season.

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