UPDATE: per his own Twitter account, Marcus Foster will indeed join the Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball program. We’ll have more on this breaking story.
After being on the road this past weekend, Creighton Head Coach Greg McDermott and his staff will host one of the nation’s top transfers in Kansas State Sophomore Marcus Foster this weekend.
The Jays currently have one scholarship for the 2015-2016 upcoming season following the departure of crowd favorite Leon Gilmore. The talented forward never seemed to find his role within the Bluejays offense and defensive sets, but could be a major asset to a program in search of a high-motor athlete. High-mid major programs from Texas and California are tracking Gilmore, along with a number of the nation’s top Junior College programs. With that lone scholarship, the Jays seem focused to add depth in the back-court.
To that end, Creighton is still one of the favorites to land Vincennes University’s sharp-shooting Canadian Mychal Mulder, a player who shot 46% from 3 and 80% from FT while leading the #1 ranked junior college in the country with 15.7 points per game and 6.4 rebounds. The 6’4″ native of Ontario, Canada was under-recruited to begin the season, but current suitors for the shooting guard include Minnesota (Offer), Wichita State (Offer), Louisville and Missouri. Jucorecruiting.com is reporting Mulder is now getting interest from Michigan and Kentucky. Creighton is still the only school to receive an official visit (March 27-29) from Mulder, and remains in excellent position.
Mulder was not the only visitor on Creighton’s campus the weekend of March 27-29. The Jays also hosted Iowa State transfer Clayton Custer on an unofficial visit that day. Custer, a 6’0″ lead guard from Overland Park, Kansas, committed very early to the Cyclones out of High School. He played just 5.8 minutes per game under Fred Hoiberg last season, and would have likely been behind All-American candidate Monte Morris on the depth chart for the next two seasons in Ames. He’s an excellent floor leader and likely translates as a point guard in Creighton’s system.
Custer would have to sit out the 2015-2016 season, but would have three years of eligibility after that. Should he pick Creighton, he’d join Mo Watson as McDermott’s two floor generals. Custer recently narrowed down his search for a new school to Creighton, Loyola-Chicago, Wichita State and Missouri; Creighton hopes to get an Official Visit from Custer sometime this spring.
Which brings us back to long-time Creighton target Marcus Foster, who was recently released from Bruce Weber’s Kansas State program for “having been unable to live up to the standards that we expect of a player.” He will make his way to Omaha this weekend. Creighton coaches Greg McDermott and Steve Lutz were two of the few coaches to see Foster’s potential coming out of High School, as the 6’2″ scoring guard was seen by many to be too small to play that role against top competition.
Creighton and Kansas State were the only two serious programs chasing Foster at that point. He had official visits scheduled for Manhattan, Kansas (Sept 7-9 2012) and Omaha (Sept 14-16 2012). Foster never made it here in 2012, as he committed to Weber on his visit.
Foster went on to become one of the nation’s top freshman in 2013-2014, leading KSU with 15.5 ppg on nearly 40% shooting from 3 on his way to earning 2nd Team All-Big XII honors. His tremendous freshman season was followed by a tumultuous 2014-2015 campaign that saw the Wildcat star benched on multiple occasions. Foster still ended the season with 12.5 ppg shooting 35% from 3, although it was clear the Weber-Foster dynamic was no longer working.
This weekend Foster will make the long-overdue journey to Omaha. Since Foster’s last scheduled visit, Creighton has left the MVC for the Big East, and boasts one of the top practice facilities in the nation.
Like Custer, Foster would be ineligible for the 2015-2016 season. He would regain eligibility with junior standing in 2016-2017, forming a solid core of upperclassmen including Isaiah Zierden (Sr.), Zach Hanson (Sr.), Mo Watson (Sr.), Cole Huff (Sr.) and Toby Hegner (Jr.), with the possibility of Mychal Mulder being on board as well.
The Creighton program has made it clear that last years disappointing campaign will not be accepted, as evidenced by the coaching staff’s clear intent to upgrade talent. These are exciting times on the Hilltop for recruiting wonks, and important ones for the immediate future of the program.
