Syracuse Basketball: 5-star Jarace Walker recruitment is tough to gauge

Syracuse basketball was one of the first college teams to offer a scholarship to 2022 five-star forward Jarace Walker, with that offer arriving nearly a year ago.

However, since that time, I haven’t read a whole lot of articles or comments from recruiting insiders that speak to much buzz between the Orange and the 6-foot-8 Walker, who is a junior at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

By all accounts, Walker had a relatively strong junior term for the IMG Academy, which ended the most recent campaign as a top-five squad nationally, per rankings from MaxPreps.

Then again, it appears that perhaps some analysts aren’t super confident in projecting where Walker will land, as he prepares for his senior year at the IMG Academy.

With high-school players able to soon take official visits to college campuses, one thing I’m curious about is which teams Walker may possibly eye for such visits.

Walker, who is ranked a top-10 prospect across the country in the 2022 cycle by the majority of recruiting services, has a range of scholarship offers from high-major groups at this juncture.

According to his bio on several recruiting Web sites, the last offer to Walker came from blue-blood team and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member North Carolina in October of 2020.

Syracuse basketball offered 2022 five-star forward Jarace Walker a while back.

I’ve read interviews given by Walker where he has spoken glowingly about the Tar Heels program. Once UNC offered, I figured that the Tar Heels would likely emerge as the front-runner for Walker.

He even has one prediction from a recruiting insider in the direction of North Carolina, although that prognostication occurred this past January.

Plus, the Tar Heels have a new head coach in Hubert Davis, who is replacing the legendary Roy Williams, a three-time NCAA champion who has retired. Whether that recent coaching change could affect Walker’s recruitment as it pertains to UNC is something we’ll monitor.

A few months back, in an article by 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi, Walker said that three teams were prioritizing him the most, and they were Auburn, Michigan and North Carolina.

For what it’s worth, under Walker’s bio on the 247Sports Web site, four squads are listed as “warm” as it pertains to interest level, and they are Auburn, Florida State, Maryland and Michigan.

A ton of ‘Cuse fanatics believe that Syracuse basketball has no shot at winning the recruiting battle over Walker. They could be right. But he’s also yet to come out with any sort of list of finalists to date.

Plus, check out what 247Sports national analyst Jerry Meyer said, in part, about Walker when asked about his potential future collegiate destination.

"Meyer wrote, “As to where he ends up, I do not have a good feel on that. And judging by the lack of any Crystal Ball predictions for him, I don’t think I am the only one in the industry who doesn’t have a good feel for where he ends up.”"