Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Justin Taylor would bring range, play-making

Syracuse basketball continues to pursue elite prospects in the 2022 class, with the latest offer going to talented 4-star wing Justin Taylor.

Already with five-star point guard Dior Johnson committed in its 2022 class, Syracuse basketball remains active in recruiting a bevy of four- and five-star prospects to potentially join him, and the most recent to land an Orange offer is Justin Taylor out of Virginia.

The 6-foot-6 Taylor, a four-star small forward who holds more than a dozen scholarship offers to date, revealed the pledge from Syracuse basketball via his Twitter page. He is a rising junior at St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va., near the University of Virginia campus.

Okay, so naturally that begs the question as to whether the Cavaliers, the 2019 NCAA champions and a fellow Atlantic Coast Conference crew, are involved with Taylor, a top-55 prospect in his recruiting cycle.

From what I can tell in scanning the primary recruiting services, UVA has interest in Taylor but has yet to offer him a scholarship. I would imagine, though, that the Cavaliers will offer him at some point in the future.

Taylor’s other offers include from squads such as Georgetown, Butler, Maryland, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Marquette, Richmond and George Washington.

Per his bio on the 247Sports Web site, in addition to garnering interest from Virginia, the same holds true for Taylor as it relates to Penn State out of the Big Ten Conference.

Nationally across the 2022 class, Taylor is No. 47 at the 247Sports Composite, No. 52 at Rivals.com, and No. 52 at 247Sports. He is also deemed a top-five player in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Taylor is described as having terrific size and length, with an effective stroke from beyond the arc, as well as a keen sense to score buckets by attacking the rim or using his pull-up jumper. This makes me think of former Orange stars Elijah Hughes and Tyus Battle.

Syracuse basketball, by the way, has roughly 12 guys from this recruiting cycle on its radar, and about half of them are small forwards. I’m also hopeful that ‘Cuse coaches will soon offer a scholarship to Louis Hutchinson, an under-rated but promising 2022 combo guard.

As we’ve documented on many occasions, with Johnson on board, the Syracuse basketball 2022 class has the makings of an epic one, and Taylor would wonderfully fit into the Orange roster.