Royce Parham Includes Marquette In His Top 4

Mar 26, 2023 - 9:00 PM

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Class of 2024 prospects will be able to sign a letter of intent in November, so this spring and summer will be their last time through the grassroots circuits. With that in mind, this is a perfect time of the year for these players to let the programs recruiting them exactly where everyone stands.

In today’s case, top 75 forward Royce Parham announced his top four schools on Friday afternoon. Marquette was, of course, part of that group, because why would we be talking about it otherwise? The Golden Eagles are joined by Pittsburgh and Xavier for sure, and Penn State rounded out the group. That last one’s a fascinating inclusion, as PSU head coach Micah Shrewsberry was officially announced as the new Notre Dame head coach the day before Parham made his cutdown public. I presume this is one of those things where he told Joe Tipton his top four to get the graphic made..... and then things shifted on him.

As you would expect from the logos on the graphic, Joe Tipton got a chance to talk to Parham about his list for On3.com. Here’s what the Pennsylvania prospect had to say about the Golden Eagles:

“Marquette is a very important school. I’ve been on campus and built a good bond with the players and coaches and they been very involved in my recruitment.”

And here’s On3’s scouting report on Parham:

“Royce Parham has a big frame and a stand-out motor. What strikes you quickly is the purpose with which he runs the floor on both ends. He has excellent hands, both on the block or catching on the move. His touch, and confidence, extend beyond the three-point line, and he can put it on the floor for one and two dribbles. Parham is a good athlete with very natural and fluid movements. His frame also looks like it is not done growing. He comes from significant basketball genes as his mom is the career blocked shots leader at Penn State. Young for his grade, there is still time for him, and his ceiling is very high. Monitor his development closely; there are a lot of natural tools working in Parham’s favor.”

Did I specifically include that because of the mention of his mom being a Penn State star to help figure out why the Nittany Lions are on the list even a day after Shrewsberry’s change in jobs? Yep, pretty much.

247 Sports lists Parham as a 6’8”, 200 pound power forward. He attends North Hills High School in Pittsburgh. They currently rate him as a four-star prospect in their Composite system, and he ranks #69 in the country overall. That’s particularly notable since 247’s internal rankings only have Parham at #114. If you figure that their Composite is a liiiiiitle bit biased towards their own evaluation, then it stands to reason that the rest of the evaluators out there are a lot higher on Parham than just saying he’s a top 75 prospect. In any case, he ranks as the #8 power forward prospect in the Class of 2024, and the #5 prospect in Pennsylvania.

Parham made an official visit to Marquette already, joining the crowd at Fiserv Forum for the February 4th/National Marquette Day win over Butler. He picked up his scholarship offer from Marquette back in September 2022, so things are generally speaking progressing pretty nicely for Shaka Smart and his staff.

I can’t track down any YouTube clips of Parham to embed here for you. However, he does have a Hudl page, and the most recent Parham-specific update on it was March 11th. There’s a Crazy Dunks compilation from March 13th that he’s in that’s the most recent video.

Scholarship chart time!

Until Shaka Smart settles the one over the limit situation for the 2023-24 school year, it’s hard to make any strong statements about Parham and his potential fit on this roster. With that said, it’s hard not to like 6’8” athletic guys who are ranked in the top 100 in the country, no matter what the fit is within the roster construction. The 2023 thing is going to get fixed sooner rather than later — we’re just five months away from the start of the 2023-24 school year, after all — so keep your eyes and ears open to see how things shake out.