Syracuse Basketball: Zion Cruz trending toward 5 stars, upside is ‘sky-high’

Syracuse basketball may be a long shot to land elite 2022 guard Zion Cruz.

Stellar 2022 guard Zion Cruz, who received a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball in the summer of 2019, appears headed to five-star status by the bevy of main recruiting services.

The 6-foot-5 Cruz, a junior at The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J., is already a five-star prospect according to the 247Sports Composite and 247Sports itself.

It’s possible he could attain five stars from ESPN. And one national writer for Rivals.com says that he believes Cruz may prove in store for five stars with that recruiting service.

According to this piece, Rivals.com is planning to update its player rankings this month, and several writers are taking a look at prospects across various classes whom they feel may add a star when the recruiting service overhauls its top-150 players for numerous cycles.

"Rob Cassidy, a national writer for Rivals.com, goes to bat for Cruz becoming a five-star prospect. Cassidy says, “I like Zion Cruz a bit more than his current ranking and think he could be in line to add a fifth star. It’s not so much based on anything I’ve seen from Cruz in the past few months as much as it is the fact that I’ve long thought he should be a five-star and will lobby to get him bumped up. Cruz gets to the basket as well as anyone in the 2022 class and his defense is maybe a bit undersold when people discuss his game. One of the most athletic guards in the class, Cruz’s upside is sky-high.”"

Syracuse basketball faces stiff competition for Zion Cruz, a top-30 player in the 2022 cycle.

The Orange, from what I can tell, hasn’t received a lot of buzz lately as it pertains to Cruz, although ‘Cuse coaches did offer him relatively early on in the recruiting process.

Some analysts believe that Cruz will ultimately end up at a blue-blood school. Cassidy wrote not too long ago that fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Florida State “has positioned itself well” with Cruz.

The high-school junior has an abundance of high-major suitors across a range of Power Five leagues, and I haven’t seen any analyst predictions for Cruz.

So while many Syracuse basketball fans assume that Cruz is going somewhere other than to the ‘Cuse, the recruiting arena is tough to decipher.

I imagine that it will be tough for the Orange to prevail in the recruiting sweepstakes for Cruz, but who really knows at this juncture.

Whichever college program wins out will secure the No. 1 prospect in the state of New Jersey as well as the No. 4 combo guard in the 2022 class, per both 247Sports and the 247Sports Composite.