Life is full of surprises. For example, on Wednesday night, the resignation of Marquette women's volleyball coach Pati Rolf forced the already small brief recapping the men's basketball team's 2009 recruiting class to an inside page.

In my mind this was a subject that should not have been so casually overlooked, and fortunately for you I get to write about whatever I want as long as its not the NBA (as much as I would like to).

Believe it or not there will be life after the "Big Three" depart for greener—or perhaps just different—pastures. And it starts with a four-star point guard prospect.

Junior Cadougan is the heir apparent to Dominic James at the point and his game resembles James' in a number of ways. He is a good leaper with a solid midrange game who excels at penetrating and either finishing at the rim or finding the open teammate. But, similar to James, he has a shaky outside jumper.

The biggest difference between the two is that James uses his quick first step and athleticism to get inside and finish, while Cadougan uses his strong frame and physicality.

The only knock on Cadougan is that at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, he is susceptible to falling out of shape and losing some of his explosiveness.

Coach Buzz Williams, ignoring any criticism of Cadougan, emphasized the importance of signing a point guard in every recruiting class.

"I think that he'll have an opportunity to play heavy minutes right away, just because of his ability to think and play like a true point guard," he said.

When Williams says "true point guard" he is referring to a pass-first guard as opposed to a scoring guard who plays the point. The later is the type of player Marquette will get in Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College transfer Dwight Buycks.

Buycks is a 6-foot-3 combo guard who Williams expects to be an immediate contributor next season. Buycks will have two seasons of eligibility at Marquette.

Another recruit, Erik Williams, had verbally committed back in October 2007 for Tom Crean and decided to stay on for Williams.

The 6-foot-7, 200-pound swingman is a bit of a "tweener" with incredible upside at this point. He will probably settle in as future three man for the Golden Eagles.

He is a decent 3-point shooter and a decent rebounder but will need to improve in at least one of those categories to reach his potential. His biggest strength is his athleticism which will fit nicely in Marquette's run-and-gun system.

The fourth recruit is another local kid, Jeronne Maymon. This 6-foot-6, 230-pounder plays for Madison Memorial High School, the same school senior guard Wesley Matthews attended.

He is learning to transition his game from the block to the wing but will probably fit best as an undersized four for Marquette — similar to Lazar Hayward, and in two years will probably be ready to step right in at that position.

"Jeronne is similar to Lazar in that he's just a really, really hard match-up," Williams said. "I think that Lazar is as of today a better shooter, and I think Jeronne is probably a better driver."

The final guy, Brett Roseboro, is the 6-foot-10, 230-pounder who didn't start demanding attention until much later in the recruiting process, at which point Marquette already had the edge.

He is still quite raw on both ends of the floor, but Williams said he sees Roseboro as a future four for the Golden Eagles. Given Marquette's pension for small ball, however, he will probably see considerable time at the five once his body fills out.

Williams, for his part, has said before that he doesn't care about positions. Where these recruits will fit is not of great importance to coach Williams right now. What is important is that he continues to bring in solid guys year after year.

"We want to recruit guys that can pass, dribble and shoot," he said. "With toughness being the number one priority on both ends."

Don't we all, Buzz. Don't we all.