When college coaches were allowed to begin texting high school recruits last Friday at midnight, Kendrick Nunn said he heard from several schools.
But Marquette came first.
The 6-foot-2 Chicago Simeon shooting guard told SNY.tv he was also contacted by Memphis, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Texas A&M and Florida, and he said North Carolina reached out to his father.
Providence, DePaul and Illinois are also involved and Melvin Nunn, Kendrick’s father, told ESPNChicago.com his son may trim his list to 3-5 in July.
“I haven’t really made a list yet,” Kendrick, ranked No. 7 among 2013 shooting guards by Rivals, said by phone from the USA 17 practices in Colorado Springs, Colo. “I’m not trying to worry about it right now.”
Marquette appears to be in strong shape with Nunn, who’s visited both there and DePaul unofficially.
“Marquette is definitely in there,” Melvin told ESPNChicago. “Everything Marquette has – their players, they succeed, you’re talking about players, you’re talking about a relationship already there. They’re already in a position to get to that Elite Eight, the Final Four. That recruiting class they got coming in already, it’s already up there for 2013. We’re really, really considering Marquette in that top three (schools.)”
DePaul is in the mix, but Melvin pointed out that that program is not the proven winner that Marquette is.
“You can say DePaul can become a Marquette,” Melvin told ESPNChicago. “You talk about Marquette being in the top 15, top 20 in the last 3-4 years. I don’t see them moving out of that any time real soon with the players they already got and the players they already have committed from 2013.
“You really look they’re already in that position, and you’re not even there. It’s someone you should be considering if you want to be in that position when you’re a freshman in college. It’s the same thing when we chose Simeon. Do you want to go to a second-tier school or go to a school to help them continue to go on top? That’s what we’re looking at when picking a school.
“Do you want to have to be the person who has to turn it around? Do you want that pressure?”
Both Illinois and DePaul are recruiting Nunn and his Simeon teammate Jabari Parker, who lists 14 schools and told SNY.tv he plans to decide in November.
Kendrick said he’s been in touch with Illinois and new coach John Groce “a lot.”
“We have a good relationship with Coach Groce,” Kendrick said. “It’s a good school and I’ve been contacting them a lot.”
Still, his father seemed to express some concerns about whether Groce could turn it around that quickly.
“It’s something you have to think hard about, especially when you have a choice,” Melvin told ESPNChicago. “I think Groce can get it done. If we decided not to go to Illinois, it’s not because we don’t like Illinois, we don’t like Groce. I just don’t know when they can get it done and with who. It’s going to take some 2013 players, some 2014, some 2015.
“We’re talking about three years after he started there. He’s used to winning now.”
As for right now, Nunn is focused on winning another gold medal with USA Basketball.
He helped the USA U16 team win gold last year, and now he’s among 14 finalists for the U17 team that will compete in the FIBA U17 World Championship in Lithuania.
Parker and 2014 Whitney Young big man Jahlil Okafor are also among the finalists, and Nunn is looking forward to trying to win it all with this friends from Chicago.
“It definitely helps the chemistry oncourt and off the court being with all our friends,” Nunn said. “And pretty much everybody on the team is friends.”
