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There's a lot of buzz that comes with being one of the top five high school basketball prospects in the country. That doesn't end when you sign your National Letter of Intent.

For Henry Ellenson, the persistent buzz was a literal one. His phone wouldn't stop buzzing with texts and Twitter alerts in the hours after the 6-foot-10 forward signed with Marquette at an event held at Rice Lake High School at 7:40 a.m.

"Yeah, it's dead now. It died pretty early in the day, for sure," Ellenson said in a phone interview with the Journal Sentinel Wednesday afternoon, speaking on his coach's cell.

The buzz is going to follow Ellenson to Marquette, where he expects to be an immediate contributor for head coach Steve Wojciechowski's team. As the top player in the Golden Eagles' top-10 recruiting class, Ellenson recognizes all eyes will be on him.

Don't expect him to shy away from the expectations.

"That's something I wanted out of this process," Ellenson said. "I wanted to be the guy from the start. I'm looking forward to that. I want that pressure on me. That's something I like, that's something I feel like I thrive under, so I'm ready for the challenge that being the guy means."

Wojciechowski believes Ellenson's game with translate well to collegiate competition. It's held up at the high school level, where he averaged 27.2 points, 13.1 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.7 assists per game last season while leading Rice Lake to the state championship game. He's also had success in AAU and internationally, winning a gold medal with Team USA at the U17 World Championship in 2014 while scoring 8.7 points and grabbing 5.1 rebounds per game.

"Like most guys coming into college there's a learning curve, but when you combine his talent, when you combine his desire to be an outstanding player with the group that we'll have have here I anticipate him making a quick adjustment," Wojciechowski said.

The moment when Ellenson put pen to paper to cement his college choice has been years in the making. Division I coaches from around the country have been courting him since he was in middle school, and most of the big names in college hoops have made the trek to Rice Lake.

What makes Ellenson such an appealing prospect is that he's 6-foot-10 and can do just about everything on the court. His high school coach Kevin Orr, who is quick to point out that Ellenson is a good, level-headed, humble person, has seen first hand what Ellenson is capable of on the court.

"As a basketball player he's gotten better every year," Orr said. "He can handle the ball, he can shoot it, he can post up, he can pass it, he can bring the ball up the court, he can do so much for us."

Now recruiting is over, which comes as a bit of a relief for Ellenson.

"It was a long process for me," he said. "It's been a fun experience but it's also been a hard one at times because it's not easy taking phone calls.

"I'm just really happy to have it done. I know I made the right decision at the end so I'm really pleased with how it went."

Wojciechowski entered the recruiting scene late, but made a lasting impact in a short period of time. Ellenson said he was visited by the Marquette coach about a week after he was hired and numerous times after that.

"I felt like I was closest with him even though he came on after my junior year," Ellenson said. "He was one of the only coaches recruiting me at Marquette, it was just him recruiting me, and so I felt like I had a really strong relationship with him and good vibes from the family atmosphere down there for sure."

It didn't hurt Marquette's chances that Ellenson's older brother, Wally, agreed to transfer there from Minnesota over the summer. Henry and Wally are very close and the younger Ellenson thought playing with his brother again — just like he did for his first year in high school — would be a special experience.

For the next few months, Ellenson's focus will turn to helping Rice Lake return to the state championship game, with the hope of winning it all this year. He's been working on his ball handling over the summer and feels more confident taking the ball up the court and attacking the hoop off the dribble.

Orr thinks the next step in Ellenson's development won't necessarily come on the court.

"He's obviously always working on his game," Orr said. "Getting in the weight room, just getting stronger, will be a big thing for him at the next level."

When he hits the next level, Ellenson will do so with a hyped freshman class. He likes the other players who will be heading to Marquette with him and thinks that they have the make-up to live up to the expectations.

"I think they're all basketball gym rats, they just love being in the gym," Ellenson said. "That's just something I do for fun — I'm not a guy to go out or anything, I'm a guy who likes to go to the gym on Saturday nights. That was huge for me to have guys where that's important to them too.

"We are a top-ranked class so we want to prove it next year. It's a new start for Marquette basketball and I'm happy to join and really make a push to make this an elite program."