Highly-rated prospect Nico Mannion has Marquette on his final list of four schools

Marquette got some good recruiting news over the weekend when five-star 2019 point guard Nico Mannion put the Golden Eagles on his final list of four schools.

But the competition for the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Mannion will be stiff, with blue bloods Duke, Villanova and Arizona also making the cut.

Mannion was the Arizona player of the year after averaging 23.4 points, 5.8 assists, 4.7 rebounds and two steals as a sophomore in leading Pinnacle High School to the 6A state championship.

Thanks to his mop of red hair and jaw-dropping highlights, Mannion is already a star on Instagram and YouTube.

Here is a closer look the prospect:

SCOUTING REPORT: 247 Sports says Mannion “does a nice job mixing scoring and creating, using his handle and quick first step to take defenders off the dribble, efficiently attacking the defense from there. He's a consistent three-point shooter who can also hit floaters, get to the basket and draw fouls."

ACCORDING TO HIS COACH: In an email to the Journal Sentinel, Pinnacle High School coach Charlie Wilde said this about Mannion: 

"He is a very coachable, hard working player who loves competition. Put a number to achieve in a drill or scrimmage and he competes to get that number. Nico has such a high IQ (that) he understands the why in doing a drill in practice. Since his IQ is so high, he understands the game plans and really gets everyone involved in the game. As talented of a player he might be a better person in our community too. I feel lucky, because you do not get to coach players like this very often in your career."

STRONG BLOODLINES: Mannion's father, Pace, played six seasons in the NBA, including 35 games with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1987-'88 season. 

"I think Pace is kind of a coach's player," then-Bucks coach Del Harris told the Milwaukee Journal in 1987. "In that statistically he may not come up on the score sheet every game, but he does a lot of the little things that don't show up and I think he does help other players to be better."

Mannion's mother, Gaia, played professional volleyball in Italy.

Nico was born in Italy as his father finished up his playing career in Europe. Earlier this summer, Nico played for the Italian senior team as a 17-year-old during FIBA qualifiers.

CLOSE CONNECTION: Pace Mannion has a close friendship with Thurl Bailey. They played together in the NBA and worked alongside each other on Utah Jazz telecasts. Thurl Bailey's son, Brendan, will be a freshman on next season's MU team.

CLASS SWITCH: Mannion made the decision in July to reclassify to the 2019 class and will graduate from high school early. He was the No. 20 prospect in the 2020 class by 247 Sports and is now the 17th best in 2019.

ON MU: “Their message is mainly they just let their guards go,” Mannion told Adam Zagoria in April. “This year with their two guards they let their guards go. That’s their message to me, let me play my game and be free.”

DECISION TIME: Mannion has said that he won't make his decision until January or February because he wants to take official visits during the season to get a feel for game environments. That's good news for MU, which will play in the brand-new Fiserv Forum next season. 

FURTHER READING: Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard went deep on Mannion when the hoops star was just starting to pick up hype as a 15-year-old.

FIT WITH MU: The Golden Eagles are already poised to have a deep roster for the 2019-'20 season, with Sam Hauser, Markus Howard, Sacar Anim and Ed Morrow as seniors; Jamal Cain, Greg Elliott, Theo John and Koby McEwen as juniors and Joey Hauser, Ike Eke and Bailey as sophomores.  

The Golden Eagles will have two scholarships to fill that season. If MU added a five-star point guard like Mannion, the Golden Eagles would likely boast one of the most-talented teams in the nation.