Donovan Clingan says Syracuse basketball believed in him ‘from the start’

Syracuse basketball has made the top eight for elite 2022 big man Donovan Clingan, who revealed this group a few days back on Twitter. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the Orange faces really steep competition for the 7-foot-1 Clingan, who is a four-star center and consensus top-60 prospect in this cycle.

Clingan, a junior at Bristol Central High School in Bristol, Conn., has a top eight of Syracuse basketball, Michigan, Ohio State, Georgetown, Connecticut, Providence, Rutgers and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Notre Dame.

Since Clingan’s recruiting process has been characterized by analysts and other insiders as tough to gauge on more than one occasion, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up selecting any of these squads.

That being said, and this is speculation of course, but there does appear to be some buzz between Clingan and two contenders, according to analysts. Those suitors are his home-state team, UConn, as well as Michigan, which develops big men quite well and has crushed it on the recruiting trail of late.

Syracuse basketball 2022 target Donovan Clingan discusses the Orange.

In a recent interview with 247Sports national analyst Dushawn London, Clingan comments on all eight of the squads still under consideration.

Naturally, Clingan noted that the ‘Cuse has a Hall of Fame head coach in Jim Boeheim, and that the Orange plays in front of a tremendous fan base cheering the team on inside the Carrier Dome. Of course, he was speaking to when fans are permitted to watch, given the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve been there before and the atmosphere there for the Syracuse Duke game was crazy. The crowd was packed and seeing that many fans at a college game was crazy,” Clingan told London.

As we’ve detailed, Syracuse basketball was the first to offer a scholarship to Clingan, back in August of 2019, and that means something to him.

He said in the 247Sports piece, “I also have a good relationship with that staff because they were the first school to offer me so it shows they were believing in me from the start.”

Clingan added that he believes the ‘Cuse “don’t really have a true big either so I feel like I would come in and play a lot of minutes my freshman year.”

I absolutely agree that he would likely see a lot of run as a newbie, although I do think that Syracuse basketball currently has a “true big” on its roster.

Hopefully, one of Clingan’s five NCAA-allowed official visits will be to the Hill, and we’ll have to wait and see how his recruitment plays out in the near future.