Syracuse Basketball: A Duke offer for Kyle Filipowski could be worrisome

Syracuse basketball recently got into the recruiting fray for elite 2022 big man Kyle Filipowski, whose list of scholarship offers continues to grow.

Among his latest offers are from fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Miami, per Filipowski’s Twitter page, along with Big Ten Conference squads Indiana and Rutgers, according to media reports and recruiting services.

The four-star Filipowski, a 6-foot-10 power forward, is a junior at the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass. He suits up for an excellent group, the New York City-based NY Renaissance, on the AAU circuit.

Other offers include from Ohio State, UCLA, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Iowa, Louisville, Purdue, Creighton, Marquette, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Providence and Stanford, per a review of various recruiting Web sites.

I recently opined that it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some blue-blood units enter the mix for Filipowski. In fact, I’ve seen some recent interviews given by him that suggest offers could come in the near future from teams like Duke, Villanova and Virginia.

A Blue Devils offer for Syracuse basketball target Kyle Filipowski would concern me.

As of Friday, I hadn’t seen an official offer from Duke to Filipowski, who is ranked as high as No. 31 nationally in the 2022 cycle by ESPN. More than one analyst has said that Filipowski could emerge as a five-star, top-25 prospect in his class.

Look, Filipowski already has a boatload of impressive offers. More will certainly come his way. And it’s encouraging that Filipowski is slated to take an official visit to the Hill in June.

However, if the Blue Devils offer Filipowski, that scares me. It’s a distinct possibility. For example, the headline of a recent story on the 247Sports Web site read, “Duke keeping up the contact with Top 60 Forward Kyle Filipowski.”

Ever since the ‘Cuse offered Filipowski, I’ve read a bunch of comments in multiple Orange chat rooms discussing how a Blue Devils offer could pose challenges for Syracuse basketball in trying to win out for the stellar 2022 big man.

Naturally, the Orange has many more squads to compete with than just Duke, but something about those Blue Devils gives me the most anxiety. Let’s see if Duke ends up offering Filipowski, and whether he elects to visit the Blue Devils campus.

For now, I’m probably overreacting. But Duke is Duke. I’m a huge fan of Filipowski’s game, and I believe that he could really thrive in a Syracuse basketball uniform. Perhaps even helping the ‘Cuse to conquer those Blue Devils down the road.