Syracuse Basketball Recruiting Update: Jordan Tucker Back In The Fold

The recruiting trail for Syracuse basketball’s 2017 and 2018 classes remains a hot-button topic. We shed some light here on that here via ITLH.

The season is unfortunately over for the Syracuse basketball squad, although an abundance of activity continues to transpire on the recruiting front, both for next year’s class as well as 2018.

Jordan Tucker, one of the top remaining prospects in the 2017 class, on March 23 received a visit from head coach Jim Boeheim and assistant coach Gerry McNamara, according to 247Sports and various other media reports.

Late in 2016, the 6-7 small forward trimmed his list to Indiana and Villanova, while eliminating several programs, including SU. Tucker, a native of White Plains, N.Y., who currently attends Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga., near Atlanta, is now reportedly considering the ‘Cuse, along with Georgia Tech, Oregon and Villanova.

It appears that the four-star wing is shying away from the Hoosiers, perhaps in part due to the recent coaching change there, with Archie Miller replacing Tom Crean.

For some time, recruiting experts on the 247Sports Web site projected that Tucker, who landed a

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scholarship offer from Syracuse in September of 2014, would head to Central New York, but then Boeheim & Co. seemed to back off their recruiting of him.

With JB set to guide the Orange for the foreseeable future following the departure of Mike Hopkins to Washington, and sophomore Tyler Lydon declaring for the NBA Draft, I get the feeling that maybe Boeheim and his staff wanted to get back in the mix for Tucker.

And I’m totally on board with that.

That Boeheim himself took the trek down to the Atlanta area to hang out with Tucker in-person says a lot, in my opinion. It’s not clear at this point whether the ‘Cuse target will make a campus visit in the near future.

What is clear, however, is that Tucker’s a high-volume shooter who can suit up at small forward or even as a big guard, and the dude can totally fill up the stat sheet. Tucker checks in at 40^th nationally in the ESPN 100 for the 2017 class. Scout.com pegs him at 78^th across the country, while 247Sports ranks Tucker 45^th nationally.

Tucker is one of 22 players recently selected to participate in the Jordan Brand Classic regional game, which is slated for April 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Also chosen for this event are four-star center/power forward Bourama Sidibe, who is a member of Syracuse’s 2017 class, as well as three-star prospect Chris Duarte, a point/shooting guard who has already visited Central New York. Boeheim and his assistants have yet to extend an offer to Duarte, although there is mutual interest between the program and the player.

Presently, 247Sports slots SU’s recruiting class for next season at 57^th nationwide, and ninth in the ACC. The Orange’s 2017 class features Sidibe, along with high-school teammates Oshae Brissett and Howard Washington.

Brissett is a four-star forward, while Washington is a point/combo guard rated four or three stars, depending on the recruiting service. They both attend Athlete Institute Prep in Mono, Ontario.

At the moment, JB and his bunch have three scholarships available for the 2017-18 campaign. From what I can tell, they are going after Tucker and likely Duarte, too.

I’ve read some media reports suggesting that the ‘Cuse might have interest in four-star point guard Tremont Waters, who has requested a release from his commitment to Georgetown.

There’s also 2018 four-star point guard Eric Ayala, who holds an offer from the Orange and is debating about whether to reclassify to 2017.

If SU could secure commitments from at least two of these prospects, I’m confident that our class rankings for the upcoming year will significantly improve.

Looking beyond next season, 2018 four-star shooting guard Prentiss Hubb has revealed on Twitter his final six schools, and Syracuse made the cut, along with Kansas, Maryland, Notre Dame, Villanova and Virginia.

The 6-3 Hubb, out of Gonzaga College High School in my hometown of Washington, D.C., is one of the premier shooting guards in the 2018 class. Overall, he places 27^th at Scout.com, 30^th at 247Sports and 60^th at ESPN.com.

Boeheim and his lieutenants are quite busy in terms of recruiting for the 2018-19 term. They recently offered a scholarship to, among others, four-star wing Jeenathan Williams Jr., who is from the University Preparatory Charter School in Rochester, N.Y.

Next: Syracuse Basketball: Player Grades for the 2016-2017 Season

I adamantly believe that with Boeheim firmly in tow for a handful of additional stanzas, the ‘Cuse coaching staff is marching full steam ahead to lock up a bevy of prized recruits for the upcoming few classes.

That would prove pretty awesome, considering how many top-flight targets the Orange has missed out on in recent months.