Louisville Recruiting, Zach Smart

CLASS OF 2011 INTRO: MARQUIS TEAGUE

Highly Touted Big East Recruited Expected To Decide Soon

by Zach Smart

A look at Marquis Teague’s family and inner circle says it all. Big brother is a big star at Wake Forest, one who averaged a sublime 18.8 points and 3.5 dimes his sophomore campaign. Despite Wake Forest’s
NCAA tournament flameout, the 20-year-old Teague is regarded as a surefire first-round pick in the NBA draft in the near future.

Teague’s father, Shawn, played under Rick Pitino at Boston University.

Shawn Teague’s name is etched in the Terriers record book, as he is top-five all time in steals, assists, and free throw percentage.

Marquis’ older brother, David Teague played at Purdue. He averaged 14 points and five boards his last two years in a Boilermakers uniform and is currently pursuing a career over the waters. After playing in Greece, Teague (who played for the hometown Pacers in the Orlando Summer League) now plays in the Ligue Nationale De Basketbal l(NBL) in France.

The bloodline is rich and consistent. Basketball is coursing through the veins of Teague, who uses his family and all the other great ones to come out of Indiana (Oscar Robertson, Damon Bailey, Larry Bird, John Wooden, Shawn Kemp to name a few) as a sources for motivation.

That motivation has help propel him into an elite class of high school basketball players.

Teague, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound guard, has narrowed a list that once included Cincinnati, Purdue, Xavier, Wake Forest, and a plethora of others, down to two schools.

Louisville and Indiana, where former Marquette coach Tom Crean is in heavy pursuit of the cat-quick guard who penetrates at will.

The book on Teague is easier than Sunday morning. He’s the full package, a spindly, but cerebral point guard, who can make his teammates better and score with the best of them.

Oh, and he’s only a SOPHOMORE IN HIGH SCHOOL.

The big time schools have been knocking on Teague’s door since he was a freshman, and the kid from perennial Indiana power Pike High School is vowing to let either Pitino or Crean in soon.

While he hasn’t taken the same route as New York City’s talk of the town– wunderkind Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson, who made it clear that he’s already made a decision and is waiting to announce his decision– the titanic talent will make a commitment at this early stage in his career.

Teague plays in the front-loaded Metro Conference, the conference many of the state’s elite players have shined in.

“The Metro Conference is loaded,” explained Kyle Feller, a former Indiana talent evaluator who has watched the Teague family put Pike High School on the national map.

“It’s the same conference that, in recent years, has produced Josh McRoberts, Eric Gordon, Mike Conley Jr., and Eric Gordon. (Marquis) is one of the top point guards in his class and possibly the nation.”

Pitino certainly has a good sales pitch, as he’s made his way into the family’s circle of trust.

Crean is committed to producing homegrown talent at Indiana and recovering from the down year that came in the wake of Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations.

Sampson, who bought himself the boot from the big time basketball school, certainly hurt the Hoosiers. They were forced to play with walk-ons this year and struggled mightily while featuring callow players.

There’s much speculation that Teague will play for Pitino (who’s remained tight with his father since their days at BU), and pick Louisville.

Though Marquis sported a Louisville sweatshirt after one of his games this season, the prized recruit told the courier-journal.com he was still “open.”

The clock is ticking.

Shawn Teague insists that he always wanted one of his sons to play under the leadership of Pitino.

This is his last chance.

“He always hears my old stories about Pitino,” he said. “I just want him to learn, worry about basketball and leave all the other stuff alone. There are so many things for him to continue to work on.”