Syracuse Basketball: Brandon Huntley-Hatfield likes idea of leading SU

Five-star Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, one of the best players in the 2022 recruiting cycle, added Syracuse basketball to his list of finalists after the Orange offered him a scholarship last December.

Since then, in numerous interviews, he’s spoken highly of the ‘Cuse program and its coaching staff, although competition for the 6-foot-9 power forward is intense.

Huntley-Hatfield, a junior at Scotland Campus in Scotland, Pa., is deemed a top-10 prospect in his class by the bevy of main recruiting services.

He’s also the No. 1 power forward and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania in this cycle, according to national ratings provided by the 247Sports Composite and 247Sports.

When Syracuse basketball offered Huntley-Hatfield, his half-dozen finalists became the Orange, along with Ole Miss, Kansas, Wake Forest, Tennessee and Auburn.

However, per an article by Jake Weingarten, the founder of Stockrisers.com, Huntley-Hatfield told recruiting guru Weingarten that “Ole Miss, Tennessee, Auburn, and Syracuse” remain “heavily in the mix.”

Whether that means Kansas and Wake Forest have gotten removed from Huntley-Hatfield’s group of finalists isn’t entirely clear to me, but it’s of course encouraging that the ‘Cuse is still in contention.

Syracuse basketball 2022 five-star prospect Brandon Huntley-Hatfield continues to praise the Orange.

According to a tweet from Weingarten, head coach Jim Boeheim and his staff members chatted with Huntley-Hatfield on Feb. 16. Weingarten characterizes the ‘Cuse as in “hefty pursuit” of the five-star player.

In Weingarten’s piece, Huntley-Hatfield said, in part, of potentially suiting up on the Hill for the Orange, “Being one of the highest recruits to come there could be legendary, but, as well as being able to lead a team I feel like that would be my role there so it’s good. We will see.”

Huntley-Hatfield is right in that, if he did commit to the ‘Cuse, he would represent one of the highest-rated recruits to play for Syracuse basketball in recent program history, and Orange fans are delighted about that possibility.

That being said, the ‘Cuse did enter the recruiting fray for Huntley-Hatfield later than other teams, and squads such as Ole Miss and Tennessee have gotten buzz for the talented power forward.

Recruiting is a fickle business, so predictions from analysts and other insiders have to be taken with a grain of salt. But Ole Miss, last August, landed four predictions for Huntley-Hatfield on the 247Sports Web site.

Additionally, on Rivals.com, Ole Miss has five predictions for Huntley-Hatfield, and they occurred last August, September and October, as well as one from Jamie Shaw on Feb. 16. Tennessee also possesses one prediction for Huntley-Hatfield on Rivals.com, which came this past August.

The majority of these prognostications transpired before Syracuse basketball offered him, so let’s see how everything pans out. Weingarten notes that Huntley-Hatfield “isn’t set on any type of commitment timeline.”

When he does announce, my fingers are crossed that Huntley-Hatfield chooses to don an Orange uniform. He’s a game-changer and could lead a potentially stellar 2022 class in Central New York.