Syracuse Basketball: Concerned Dior Johnson isn’t returning to Oak Hill

Let’s hope that Syracuse basketball commit Dior Johnson is rehabbing his injury well, but his return to Oak Hill doesn’t seem all that likely.

On Oct. 14, Oak Hill Academy men’s basketball head coach Steve Smith posted a tweet of a team photo, and several comments got made about the apparent absence of Syracuse basketball 2022 commit Dior Johnson in this photo.

A few weeks ago, word broke that Johnson, a five-star point guard, had left the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., reportedly to rehab a stress fracture in his foot, but at that time media reports indicated that he had not withdrawn from the elite prep school.

Since that development came across, I had regularly checked the Oak Hill Academy Web site, and Johnson continually was included on the team’s roster page. However, a couple of days ago, when I did my daily check, Johnson was no longer featured on the roster’s Web site page, which notes “active” members of the squad.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Johnson is no longer enrolled at the Oak Hill Academy, however, if he was still a student there, but just taking a leave of absence to deal with his injury, why would the team take him off of the Web site, after the squad had left Johnson on the Web page for multiple weeks since he had actually left?

I e-mailed the Oak Hill Academy athletics director several days ago, but unfortunately I didn’t receive a response. Given student privacy, I completely understand if Oak Hill Academy can’t comment on Johnson’s status at this school.

More than anything else, I sincerely hope that Johnson is okay, whether he heads back to the Oak Hill Academy or not. Syracuse basketball fans of late seem to reside in one of two camps on Johnson.

Some fans worry that he’s not returning to the Oak Hill Academy and will never suit up on the Hill, because they think that he will head straight to the professional ranks from high school.

Other ‘Cuse fans say that all the media attention is a bit much, and we should all just let Johnson figure his own stuff out. If he comes to Central New York great, but if he doesn’t make it to the Hill, the team will move on.

I’m torn. On the one hand, these latest things with Johnson do illustrate that he has a tendency to move around as it pertains to high school. That’s at least a little concerning.

Yet Johnson has maintained his passion for Syracuse basketball and bringing other elite recruits with him to the ‘Cuse, so my fingers are crossed that he competes for the Orange for at least one term.

We’ll continue to monitor his status at the Oak Hill Academy. If he doesn’t return there, I’m hoping that he joins up with Syracuse basketball 2022 high-priority target Zion Cruz, a five-star guard, at The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.