Syracuse Basketball: Quade Green Chooses ‘Cats Over ‘Cuse

The Syracuse basketball team invested two years worth of recruiting in Quade Green, but it was all for naught. Last night Green chose the ‘Cats.

The wait is over. Unfortunately, the Quade Green sweepstakes had a blue outcome, not an orange one.

The five-star point guard announced at his Philadelphia high school on Saturday night that he will become the latest member of Kentucky’s 2017 class.

Duke, Kentucky, Syracuse, Temple and Villanova made up Green’s final five, although, in the end, he decided between SU and the Wildcats.

Head coach Jim Boeheim and his staff courted Green, one of the best point guards in next year’s class, for two years. They offered him a scholarship in the summer of 2015, before his recruiting rankings began to skyrocket.

Syracuse fans had hoped that such loyalty would sway Green to Central New York. Plus, the Orange has fared well in the Philly area in recent years. Green attends Neumann-Goretti High School, which produced former SU stand-outs Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson.

For months, recruiting experts predicted that Green would likely commit to SU. However, momentum over the past few days significantly shifted in Big Blue Nation’s favor.

Kentucky and its head coach, recruiting machine John Calipari, made a late – and strong – push for the top-25 prospect. And it worked.

While I’m not completely surprised that Green picked Kentucky, this loss stings more than most. Syracuse invested so much energy recruiting him, spurning other possible prospects.

Making things more painful is the fact that, in the last 10 days, Green is the third ‘Cuse target to

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head to the Wildcats, joining five-star center Nick Richards and four-star combo guard Shai Alexander.

Well, the Green drama is done. Let’s wish him well.

My biggest worry for Syracuse is the apparent lack of depth for the 2017-18 season. Assuming neither declares early for NBA Draft, sophomore Frank Howard and freshman Tyus Battle would represent the only guards on the SU roster, with Howard the only pure point guard.

Syracuse has offers out there to several more elite prospects, however, none of them are point guards. And we face stiff competition – Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and UConn, for example – for each of them.

The Orange will have plenty of scholarships available next year, as its sole recruit, to date, for the 2017 class is Oshae Brissett, a 6-9 forward who attends Athlete Institute Prep in Mono, Ontario.

On Monday, 6-10 power forward/center Bourama Sidibe will announce his college decision. Sidibe, from the St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, N.J., is deciding between Syracuse, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and a few others. Recruiting experts believe he is headed to SU.

I have to say, following Green’s decision, a lot of the comments on message boards by Syracuse fans are unfairly critical of Boeheim and his staff. I give the coaches credit; they are going after the recruiting cream of the crop.

Next: Syracuse Basketball Puts The Squeeze On Monmouth

You’re going to swing and miss. It hurts. Especially when a guy like Green, whom Boeheim and his assistants made their number-one recruiting priority a long time ago, is swooped up at the last minute by Calipari.

The ‘Cuse 2017 class may end up a bit weaker than others in recent years. Okay. Maybe a surprise recruit will come out of nowhere and delight us. Or perhaps the grad-transfer market could once again prove kind.

Regardless, despite tonight’s disappointment, the future looks bright for our boys. Remember, it’s only three games into THIS season. Enjoy what’s to come!

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