Syracuse Basketball: Donovan Clingan, Quadir Copeland wow at Jam Fest

This past weekend, a bunch of excellent high-school prospects across a variety of classes competed at the Hoop Group’s Pitt Jam Fest in Pittsburgh, and those players included Syracuse basketball 2022 targets Donovan Clingan and Quadir Copeland.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m really high on both four-star center Clingan and three-star point guard Copeland, and I hope that the Orange remains in the mix for both of them as their recruiting processes carry onward.

Paul Biancardi, the national recruiting director for ESPN and one of the top analysts in the business, recently put out a tweet where he listed a handful of guys who caught his attention at the 2021 Pitt Jam Fest, which took place from April 23 to April 25 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Among the prospects that Biancardi mentioned in his tweet are Clingan and Copeland, and that’s really cool. Another high-school player noted by Biancardi is 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr., who I think is a total star in the making.

Syracuse basketball targets Donovan Clingan and Quadir Copeland are praised by analyst.

As we detailed in a recent column, Clingan performed beautifully in his recently concluded junior stanza, in which he helped guide Bristol Central High School in Bristol, Conn., to its first Central Connecticut Conference championship since 2003.

Clingan, in the 2020-21 campaign, averaged 27.3 points, 17.2 boards, 5.8 blocks and 3.1 assists a game. He was named the MaxPreps Connecticut High School Basketball Player of the Year as well as a member of the MaxPreps junior All-America second squad. Clingan recently revealed on Twitter a top eight that includes the Orange.

Copeland, meanwhile, produced a solid junior year for the Life Center Academy in Burlington, N.J. He recently revealed that he is transferring for his senior season from the Life Center Academy to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which is one of the top prep-school programs nationwide.

Copeland is one of the premier point guards in the 2022 cycle, and he’s an under-rated prospect in this class. His athleticism, court vision, length and play-making would make a tremendous fit in the ‘Cuse system.

https://twitter.com/SportsHiphop12/status/1386426777786994692

As it pertains to Evans, I’m hopeful that perhaps Syracuse basketball will begin pursuing him, if the Orange hasn’t already done so. The sophomore at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in Baltimore is one of the best all-around players in the 2023 class.

Additionally, some recruiting insiders have said that Evans could prove the most-outstanding prospect to come out of Baltimore dating back to former Syracuse basketball legend Carmelo Anthony.