Syracuse Basketball: After visits, four-star Justin Taylor could soon decide

Syracuse basketball has made 2022 four-star wing Justin Taylor out of Virginia a high-priority target in this cycle for a while now.

In fact, I’ve read media reports and comments from Taylor himself in recent months that speak to Orange coaches making him the top priority for the team in this class.

I get the sense that the 6-foot-6 Taylor could trim his list of contenders in the near future, and I fully expect Syracuse basketball to make the cut.

According to a recent tweet from recruiting guru Jake Weingarten, the founder of Stockrisers.com, Taylor is planning to make visits to the ‘Cuse, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Indiana next month.

I’m hopeful that his trip to the Hill is a positive one. Taylor, a junior at the St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va., has a bunch of offers beyond the squads he has already lined up visits to, including from his hometown squad, Virginia, which won the 2019 NCAA title.

Several more recent offers have arrived for Taylor, from groups such as Florida and former Big East Conference rival Connecticut. I’m not sure how much of a shot either the Gators or the Huskies have with him, but competition is fierce regardless.

Syracuse basketball may soon find out the final decision of four-star wing Justin Taylor.

Two recent articles suggest that after Taylor completes his campus visits, he may be in a position to choose a collegiate destination not long afterward.

As it pertains to an announcement, Taylor told Chris Arvin in a piece on the 247Sports Web site, “I think probably by the end of the summer. End of July or early August, sometime around there.”

"Additionally, Taylor recently said to Mike McAllister, the publisher of SyracuseOnSI, “I think I’d like to cut my list before June, and take the visits to the schools that are on my final list. After I’m actually able to take these visits and see the campuses in person, I think that will lead to me making a final decision. Whether that will be the end of June or early July, that’s the timeframe I shooting for right now. These visits will definitely help a ton with that.”"

Taylor is a top-100 prospect in the 2022 class. Frankly, I believe that some of the recruiting services rank him too low. He is an athletic, two-way player who can score in a variety of ways, and Taylor would fit in nicely within the Orange system.

He has said that a college team’s style of play is important, as is the ability to possibly earn some solid minutes as a freshman. If he picks Syracuse basketball, I’m not saying he would start in his freshman campaign, but Taylor certainly should have the opportunity to compete for extended run.