Alan Griffin considering Syracuse basketball, unclear if feeling is mutual

Alan Griffin, a sophomore who is transferring from Illinois, reportedly is considering Syracuse basketball, but whether the Orange is involved isn’t known.

Hoops analyst Jeff Goodman tweeted on Friday that Illinois transfer Alan Griffin is currently considering eight schools, and Syracuse basketball is one of them.

Griffin, a 6-foot-5 guard who hails from New York state and can shoot the rock extremely well, is also apparently looking at Miami, Arizona, Marquette, Dayton, Iowa State, Texas and Duke, according to Goodman.

First and foremost, that’s hefty competition for his services. Secondly, it remains unclear, at least publicly, if the Orange coaching staff is involved in Griffin’s recruitment.

In the recently completed 2019-20 campaign, his sophomore stint, Griffin suited up in 28 contests and averaged 18.1 minutes of court action for a Fighting Illini squad that finished at 21-10 overall, ranked No. 21 in the AP top-25 poll, and in sole possession of fourth place in the rugged Big Ten Conference.

He generated 8.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per meeting, while connecting on 48.3 percent from the field, 86.1 percent from the charity stripe, and 41.6 percent from beyond the arc. Pretty solid numbers for a guy who didn’t even average 20 minutes of run a game.

On March 24, Griffin announced via social media that he would enter his name into the transfer portal. Under present NCAA rules, unless he received a waiver, Griffin would have to sit out a year before playing for a different crew.

However, the NCAA is contemplating legislation that would allow student-athletes a one-time transfer exception with immediate eligibility beginning in the 2020-21 term. A vote, originally planned for April, may get pushed back a few months, some media reports indicate, and that could drastically affect the transfer market.

Prior to college, Griffin attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y., which is roughly four hours from the ‘Cuse campus. A three-star prospect out of high school, Griffin got rated at No. 185 nationally in the 2018 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite.

He committed to Illinois on March 2, 2018. In searching around a bit online about Griffin, I found something intriguing. This article said, “Soon after Griffin committed to Illinois, home-state Syracuse offered.”

The story went on to quote Griffin as it pertains to the Orange’s scholarship offer. “If you didn’t want me earlier, don’t want me now; that’s how I felt,” he said. “I felt like it was a little too late. When I commit to something, you got to be committed. I’m not going to just walk away after I say I commit to something. In life, if you commit to something, you just got to stay committed to it.”

For what it’s worth, I examined a handful of the primary recruiting Web sites and didn’t come across any mentions of an offer by the ‘Cuse to Griffin. Of course, that doesn’t mean he didn’t get one.

I then asked a spokesperson for the Syracuse basketball team, via e-mail, if the Orange offered Griffin in 2018 or has interest in him now. Understandably, the spokesperson said that this isn’t information the ‘Cuse would provide.

Next fall, Syracuse is expected to have three guards on its roster. So it’s not outlandish to think that maybe the Orange is eyeing another guard to bolster its depth at the position. Is Griffin a realistic possibility to don a ‘Cuse uniform? We’ll have to wait and see.