Syracuse Basketball: Orange 2022 targets pick up slew of other offers
By Neil Adler
Syracuse basketball is in fierce competition for a handful of 2022 prospects who just landed a bunch of offers.
On Monday, Syracuse basketball got into the mix for 2022 five-star small forward Jarace Walker, who could make a potential dream pairing with five-star point guard Dior Johnson, who pledged his services to the Orange earlier this year.
Both are top-15 high-school players in this recruiting cycle, and if the ‘Cuse could win the recruiting sweepstakes for Walker – no easy task, I might add – then the Orange has the makings of a stellar 2022 class.
As Mike Waters of Syracuse.com noted in an article about Walker, Monday represented the initial day that college coaches could initiate contact with recruits throughout the 2022 recycling cycle.
So while the ‘Cuse went ahead and doled out a scholarship offer to Walker, numerous 2022 targets of the Orange have also heard from other coaches and received their own new offers, on top of prior ones which they all have collected. That, in turn, heats up the competition for Syracuse coaches as they look to fill out their 2022 class.
In reviewing the 247Sports Web site, at least five 2022 prospects who the ‘Cuse has offered in the past have gotten additional scholarship offers since Monday from a variety of high-major squads.
They are four-star shooting guard Chance Westry, four-star shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr., three-star small forward Chris Bunch, center Donovan Clingan, and shooting guard J.J. Starling, who is a Syracuse-area product.
Clingan and Starling are currently unrated by 247Sports, however, they each recently got ranked as four stars by ESPN.com when it published its updated ratings for the 2022 class.
Syracuse basketball 2022 targets have generated many new offers of late from other programs.
Westry is a top-30 player for whom the Orange has been perceived as a front-runner in previous months, and some analysts on the 247Sports Web site still predict that he will don a Syracuse uniform. Westry recently earned offers from a duo of fellow Atlantic Coast Conference members in Louisville and Pittsburgh.
Gayle, a top-50 guy, accumulated offers from Big East Conference crews DePaul, Xavier, Connecticut, Marquette, Georgetown and Seton Hall, as well as LSU and Ohio State.
Bunch, who checks in at No. 83 via the 247Sports Composite, got an offer from Loyola Marymount.
Clingan, who should have a ranking from 247Sports when it updates its 2022 ratings, acquired offers from powerhouse Michigan State, along with Maryland, Rutgers and ACC adversary Notre Dame.
Starling has attended Charles W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, N.Y., but he is considering a transfer to a prep school. Per a report by Mike Curtis of Syracuse.com, Starling has obtained new offers from Bryant, ACC unit Wake Forest, and UConn.
The ‘Cuse has the promise of a tremendous 2022 class, buoyed by Johnson, yet the Orange will face stiff challenges in landing some of these other prospects.