Syracuse Basketball: A superb women’s pledge leads our recruiting news

Syracuse basketball gets a stellar commitment on the women’s side and sees a lot of recruiting activity surrounding the men’s team.

The Syracuse basketball women’s squad has secured a prolific 3-point shooter for its 2021 class, and that exciting development kicks off a round-up of recent recruiting news for the Orange.

Julianna Walker, a 5-foot-6 guard who attends Annie Wright High School in Tacoma, Wash., revealed via Twitter that she has pledged her services to the ‘Cuse women’s team. Walker, a rising senior, is on pace to break the state of Washington high-school scoring record.

A ridiculously talented shooter from beyond the arc, Walker becomes the fifth member of the Syracuse basketball 2021 class. She joins four-star forward Amani Bartlett, five-star forward Latasha Lattimore, four-star point guard Shayeann Day-Wilson, and four-star guard Nyah Wilson. The women’s squad, by the way, also has the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class in 2020.

Switching over to the Syracuse basketball men’s team, top-60 prospect Quincy Allen, a four-star small forward in the 2021 class for whom the Orange had offered a scholarship, has elected to attend Colorado.

It’s not much of a surprise that Allen, a rising senior at the Maret School in Washington, D.C., didn’t pick Syracuse basketball. And particularly after another 2021 four-star small forward, top-50 guy Benny Williams with the St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Md., chose the ‘Cuse in early June.

High-priority Orange target Zion Cruz, a five-star shooting guard and a top-20 player in the 2022 class, has landed additional offers from Indiana, Oregon, Maryland and Ohio State. Cruz is out of the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

Speaking of Maryland, another Syracuse basketball target, Ty Rodgers, also got an offer from the Terrapins. Rodgers is a 2022 four-star small forward at Grand Blanc Community High School in Grand Blanc, Mich.

Yann Farell, a 2022 four-star small forward who recently transferred to the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., obtained an offer from Texas A&M.

Samson Johnson, a 2021 power forward/center, has acquired additional scholarship offers from the likes of Providence along with three Atlantic Coast Conference units in Miami, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. The four-star prospect plays for The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.

Finally, Jake Lieberman of Prep Hoops recently tweeted that promising 2021 wing Sam Alajiki with the Beckley Prep Academy in Mount Hope, W.Va., has heard from Syracuse basketball, although the Orange has yet to offer him.