By ADAM ZAGORIA
D.J. Carton, the 6-foot-2 point guard from Bettendorf (IA), cut his list to six schools Thursday night and discussed that group with ZAGSBLOG.
Carton is now down to Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, Marquette, Indiana, and Xavier. Among the schools he trimmed were Wisconsin, Illinois, Creighton, Iowa State, USC, and Minnesota.
He broke down each school: Iowa: “I’ve talked to Iowa for a long time now. I have a really strong relationship with coach [Fran] McCaffery and I talk to him very often. And I know the team really well. It’s only about 45-50 minutes away from here so I have a pretty strong relationship with them. They’re always checking up on me and showing support at the games. They’ve come to almost every one of my games so they definitely have me as a priority in the 2019 class.” Ohio State: “I visited there and I had a really good time. The visit went well and I went to a spring football game and got to talk with the players more. Overall, it was just a good experience, one of my better visits. I got a chance to sit down with coach [Chris] Holtmann a lot. They definitely have that program going. They had a really good season last year and are continuing to build upon that. I have a really good relationship with coach [Mike] Schrage and I definitely feel the interest.” Michigan: “I’m planning to go on a visit. [Coach Luke Yaklich] and I, we’ve been talking often, so we have a really strong relationship and they’re supporting me so it’s always good to hear from them. They had a great season, making it to the national championship. I feel like every school is recruiting me for a priority.’ Marquette: “Coach Wojo, I feel like he’s made me a huge priority. I feel like he’s really established that from the get-go and he feels like if they get just one guard in this class, it would be alright. They have a really good young team and I feel like they had a really good season. I feel like I have a lot of interest for Marquette and their University is going the right way.” Indiana: “I feel like Indiana has made me a big priority. I feel like they really expressed their interest all along when they’ve been recruiting me. Coach Archie [Miller] and coach [Tom] Ostrom have talked to me a lot. I feel like they’ve done a good job of building a different environment there. They have good days coming in the future. I talk to them almost on a daily basis and stuff.” Carton also believes the addition of Romeo Langford “definitely gets them more interest from 2019 players because everybody wants to play with a good player. I feel like that team’s got a lot of good things in the future and is starting to build a winning culture, so I really like the way they’re going.” Xavier: “I’ve been talking to Xaiver quite a bit too, so I’m just going to play it by ear and see where that course takes me. I’m going to continue to build my relationship with these coaches.” Wherever he goes, he wants to join a winning team. “I want to play for a winning team and that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “That’s definitely one thing goes into my decision All of these colleges have that winning culture so it’s going to be a tough decision at the end of the day.”Top 6‼️ #blessed pic.twitter.com/DuHEowH6Gr
— Dee Jay (@DJCarton) May 11, 2018
