Marquette men’s basketball announced the official signing of all three of their Class of 2027 recruits on Wednesday. Marlon Martinez, Philipe Ndong, and Akol Nyok all turned in their paperwork on the first day of the fall signing period, and all three will arrive on campus in the summer of 2027 with five years of eligibliity.
Here’s head coach Shaka Smart on the entire group:
“I’m ecstatic about the people and players that we’re adding to our team,” Smart said. “All three are true relationship guys
– already hard at work building bonds with our staff and each other. Each possesses an exciting upside and commitment to what growth requires. All three play with a winning spirit that’s exactly what we want at Marquette,” Smart added.
Let’s dive into each one, going in alphabetical order.
Marlon Martinez
Here’s the press release blurb on him:
Martinez (6-foot-5, 200 lbs.) attends The Academy of Central Florida, which competes in The Grind Session, an elite winter circuit for top prep and high school basketball. Martinez formerly attended Bishop Loughlin High School in New York and has competed on Puma’s Pro16 AAU circuit as a member of the Rhode Island Elite. A native of the Dominican Republic, he represented his home country at the 2026 FIBA U18 AmeriCup, where he averaged 19.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 48% from 3-point range.
And Shaka Smart’s comments:
“Marlon caught our attention the old-fashioned way – by being one of the best players in an event full of highly regarded prospects,” Smart said. “Marlon’s offensive game includes major versatility as a playmaker and play finisher.
“Inside his veins flows the DNA that will remind Marquette fans of winning big guards from previous eras – he competes and has flair,” Smart added.
Martinez was the first of the three to commit to Marquette, making his announcement in early August. At the time, he was ranked not that far outside the top 100 by both 247 Sports and Rivals/On3, but a little deeper into the rankings in both sides’ collective ranking systems because ESPN rated Martinez as only a three-start prospect. Today, 247 Sports has him at #95 internally and at #132 in their Composite rankings, while Rivals/On3 slots Martinez at #121 internally and #127 in their Industry rankings. ESPN is still the holdout here, but they only rank out to the top 100. The good news is that he’s now a four-star prospect in their eyes.
Philipe Ndong
The press blurb:
Ndong (6-foot-9, 180 lbs.) plays under head coach Justin Perron at The Newman School in Boston, Massachusetts. Ndong was born in Malaga, Spain, and also lived in Turkey before coming to the United States. This past summer, he played for Middlesex Magic, the same AAU program that produced former Marquette star and current New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek. He averaged 10 points and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 38% from 3-point range for Middlesex.
And Coach Smart’s comments:
“Phil comes from a basketball background that is very unique and makes him a candidate for explosive growth, Smart said. His extremely high character and basketball IQ will make him a fast learner – and Phil loves taking on challenges.
“I’m predicting Phil and Todd Smith create a partnership very much like Todd and Oso (Ighodaro) from 2020-24,” Smart added.
Ndong was a bit of a mystery at the time of his commitment in September, as 247 Sports and Rivals/On3 had an evaluation on him, but ESPN hadn’t even conjured up a page for him at that point. 247 Sports has Ndong at #146 in their internal rankings right now, but up at #128 in the Composite. The reason why he moves upwards in the Composite is because Rivals/On3 slots Ndong in as the #56 prospect in the country. That’s #6 amongst power forwards. Because 247 isn’t matching their enthusiasm, the Rivals/On3 Industry Ranking lands Ndong at #112. ESPN has at least generated a page for him now, marking Ndong as a three-star prospect and ranking him as the 38th best power forward.
I think it’s safe to say that we’re all cheering for Rivals/On3 to be correct here.
Akol Nyok
The press release blurb:
Nyok (7-foot-1, 205 lbs.) is a native of South Sudan and currently resides in Miami, Florida. He attends Miami Columbus High School and is playing for the Cold Hearts in Overtime Elite, a nine-team basketball league in Atlanta, Georgia. So far this season, he is averaging 8.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 60% from the field. Before Miami Columbus High School’s basketball team joined Overtime Elite as the Cold Hearts, Nyok led the school to the 2026 Florida Class 7A state championship. Columbus defeated Sarasota 53-50 in the title game.
And Smart’s comments:
“Akol possesses two qualities that make his future in the program incredibly bright; he’s on a terrific growth trajectory and his spirit for teammates and winning is second to none,” Smart said. “Combine those with his length, athleticism and desire to be a special defender and we have a guy Marquette fans are going to enjoy getting to know.”
Nyok was the third of the three to commit to the Golden Eagles, making his announcement in early October and generating the tiniest bit of consternation in the process. We’ll get to it in a second. 247 Sports ranks him just outside the top 100 both internally (#104) and in the Composite (#107), and Rivals/On3 is much more excited. They have Nyok at #65 in their internal rankings and slotting him in as the #8 center prospect in the country. In the Industry rankings, he’s #95 and #12 amongst centers. ESPN says he’s a four-star prospect and 14th amongst centers. He can’t be that far outside the top 100 at that rate, but the cut off line is the cut off line.
And here’s the up to date scholarship chart, and then we’ll get into the Nyok thing.
I will point your attention to the big red line between Philipe Ndong and Akol Nyok, as Marquette currently projects to be one player over the maximum roster limit of 15 for the 2027-28 season. At the time, I could only merely speculate about how Shaka Smart was going to solve this issue. Now that we’re three games into the season, I can offer a much more informed statement.
The fact of the matter is that Ian Miletic has played 10 minutes across two of the games that Marquette has played this season and not at all against Michigan. Nash Walker has played even less, accruing just six minutes in MU’s first two games before not appearing against the Wolverines. Colton Crowdis is over there in the minutes department with Braeden Brenn, who is not listed on the scholarship chart because he is grandfathered in under walk-on rules and can stick around as long as he wants/is eligible. There is no plan for any of these three to play anything resembling real minutes this season. If there was, Shaka Smart would have worked them into the rotation against Mercyhurst and Detroit Mercy, and that did not happen.
In Crowdis’ case, I don’t know why he’s here at all. Miletic is at “can’t play” status after a redshirt season of development. Walker at least has his shoulder surgery back in the spring to explain why he’s not up to par, seeing as he wasn’t cleared to play during the three game tour of Canada in early August, but it’s still not a great sign that he’s unplayable.
I’m not a fan of generating a discussion that even remotely approaches running a player out of town just because. However, I’m not the one signing players that puts the team over the roster limit while making it clear that three guys on the roster have no business on the roster at the moment. I’m just the one seeing this happen and pointing at it. This is going to get solved one way or another, and now we have to wait til April to find out precisely how.
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