Syracuse Basketball: 2022 five-star Zion Cruz ‘has a smooth athleticism’

Syracuse basketball offered elite 2022 guard Zion Cruz a scholarship back in August of 2019, and the five-star combo guard has seen his offer sheet grow to about 20, with a range of high-major teams pursuing the talented 6-foot-5 prospect.

As far as I can tell, there haven’t been a whole lot of prognostications from analysts and other recruiting insiders about where Cruz may end up.

Cruz, a junior at The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J., doesn’t currently have any predictions about his future collegiate destination on either the 247Sports Web site or Rivals.com.

Some Orange hoops fanatics on chat boards have opined for a while now that they don’t think the ‘Cuse has much of a shot at landing Cruz. Fair enough.

One report a few months ago gave some buzz to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference foe Florida State as it pertains to Cruz’s recruitment. And one recruiting guru said a couple of months ago that he thinks it’s likely that Cruz selects a blue-blood team.

But with the 2022 stand-out not having compiled any sort of list of finalists at this juncture, it remains to be seen which squad or squads will emerge as a favorite for Cruz. For me, I’m just hoping that the Orange remains in the mix as Cruz’s recruiting process moves forward.

Syracuse basketball did get in relatively early on with 2022 five-star guard Zion Cruz.

Cruz is rated as either four or five stars, with most of the main recruiting services placing him as a five-star player. He’s also a top-30 prospect in the 2022 cycle, with multiple recruiting Web sites ranking him in the top-20 nationally within this class.

Besides the ‘Cuse, Cruz’s offers have arrived from a boatload of the sport’s top programs, such as Baylor, Illinois, Ohio State, Oregon, Iowa, Alabama, Florida State, UCLA, Connecticut, Louisville, Maryland, Auburn, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Indiana and LSU. Kentucky has also reportedly shown interest in him.

"Jerry Meyer, a 247Sports national analyst, recently was asked about Cruz’s game. Meyer said of Cruz, in part, that he “has a smooth athleticism at 6-5 that gets him to the rim. In addition he has a crossover move with a quick, gliding left to right dribble that is a go to move when needing or looking to get a shot. And he will keep the defense honest with his shooting behind the arc. His ball handling and passing are solid but don’t yet have a difference making element to them. On the defensive end he has the size to hold his own on the boards and guard multiple positions.”"

Meyer continued, “So Cruz is a talented player with versatility and also the potential to fill out physically. But right now he does not have a strong physical presence on the floor and doesn’t play with the edge to drastically effect winning and losing. His physical strength and overall aura of his game is where he has the opportunity to progress.”