Syracuse basketball commit Dior Johnson gets more star power at Oak Hill
By Neil Adler
Syracuse basketball 2022 commit Dior Johnson has a ridiculously good chance at winning a high-school national title with Oak Hill Academy.
It’s almost unfair the roster that Oak Hill Academy is building for the upcoming campaign, headlined for our purposes of course by Syracuse basketball commit Dior Johnson.
Johnson, a five-star point guard in the 2022 class who revealed last month that he would transfer from Mayfair High School in Lakewood, Calif., to Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., first landed elite 2022 prospect Zion Cruz as a teammate at Oak Hill.
Shooting guard Cruz, a top-25 guy in the 2022 class and a high-priority target for the Orange, is listed as either four or five stars depending on the recruiting service. He is moving from Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, N.J., to Oak Hill.
If that didn’t prove enough, well, now top-15 prospect Johnson and Cruz will welcome fellow 2022 stud MJ Rice to Oak Hill, according to reports by Zagsblog and Sports Illustrated.
The 6-foot-5 Rice, a top-40 wing across his class, will spend his final two terms at Oak Hill after heading there from the Durham Academy in Durham, N.C.
Rice, who can suit up at either shooting guard or small forward, is like Cruz rated as either four or five stars. Nationally in the 2022 class, Rice is slotted No. 11 at ESPN.com, No. 20 at Rivals.com, No. 22 at the 247Sports Composite and No. 39 at 247Sports.
https://twitter.com/3Diorjohnson/status/1260303286441086976
To date, the primary recruiting Web sites say that Rice holds scholarship offers from Atlantic Coast Conference members Boston College, N.C. State and Pittsburgh, the Southeastern Conference’s Ole Miss, and Big East Conference participant Providence.
Let’s face it, though. Many more high-major offers are going to pour in for Rice, and hopefully one comes from the ‘Cuse. Johnson, assuming he ultimately dons a Syracuse uniform rather than go straight to a pros, has said that he plans to bring other stellar recruits with him to Central New York.
Orange fanatics, myself included, surely would feel just fine if Johnson played alongside Cruz and Rice at Oak Hill, where ‘Cuse legend Carmelo Anthony also went, and then that trio of young men journeyed to Syracuse.
It will prove fun to see these guys perform amid a stacked line-up at Oak Hill, which should absolutely compete for high-school national championships over the next two years. And we can dream of that translating to college.