Syracuse Basketball: FSU making ‘early impression’ with 5-star Zion Cruz

The number of high-major suitors continues to grow for Syracuse basketball 2022 target Zion Cruz.

Syracuse basketball got in relatively early with 2022 five-star guard Zion Cruz, which is a good thing, although other teams appear to have more buzz with the top-25 player at this juncture.

What’s more, the scholarship offers and interest from a range of impressive squads are only expanding for Cruz, who is a junior that recently transferred from the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., to The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.

Rivals.com national basketball analyst Rob Cassidy, citing sources, writes in an article that “Florida State has positioned itself well” with Cruz.

The Seminoles captured the 2019-20 Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season crown and are expected to reside in the league’s top four during the upcoming campaign. Additionally, FSU has generated a lot of strong success on the recruiting trail of late.

As it relates to Cruz and Florida State, Cassidy says that although the recruiting process is early on between the two parties, head coach “Leonard Hamilton and his staff have made an early impression. That should count for something, as FSU will likely be involved to some extent until late in the process.”

Syracuse basketball faces an uphill battle to win the recruiting sweepstakes over 2022 five-star guard Zion Cruz.

The ‘Cuse offered Cruz back in August of 2019. His offers come from a variety of groups, such as Seton Hall, Connecticut, UCLA, Iowa, Oregon, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Louisville, Miami, St. John’s and Auburn. Additionally, Cruz holds interest from blue-blood teams like Kansas and Kentucky.

That’s some significant competition for the Orange, and, in all honesty, I haven’t seen a lot of pieces from recruiting analysts lately that give Syracuse a lot of buzz pertaining to Cruz.

Then again, his recruiting probably has a long way to go, and a lot can happen over the course of time. We did recently publish a column in which recruiting guru Jake Weingarten, the founder of Stockrisers.com, said that it’s likely Cruz ultimately ends up at a blue-blood school.