Syracuse Basketball: Visits to Hill by top-flight targets beginning to pile up

With the NCAA recently allowing in-person recruiting efforts to resume amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the floodgates have opened around the country, and Syracuse basketball is starting to fill up its calendar with official visits by elite 2022 prospects.

Four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski, who attends the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass., took a trip to the Hill on June 5-6, and from what I can tell, the visit went quite well.

Justin Taylor, a four-star wing from the St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va., is expected to have an official visit in Central New York on June 9-10, according to various media reports. Taylor is one of the top targets for the Orange in this cycle.

Another high-priority prospect in the 2022 class, four-star center Donovan Clingan, is slated to take an official visit to the ‘Cuse on June 19-20, according to college basketball insider Adam Zagoria. Clingan, who has Syracuse basketball in his top eight, plays for Bristol Central High School in Bristol, Conn.

An article from Mike McAllister, the publisher of SyracuseOnSI, says that four-star wing Chris Bunch has scheduled an official visit to the Orange on June 28-30. Bunch competes for De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif.

Other 2022 prospects are likely to travel to Syracuse basketball in the near future.

Four-star point guard Quadir Copeland, who recently skyrocketed into the national rankings within his class according to Rivals.com, has said that he will be making a trip to the Hill.

That’s per a recent tweet from Pro Insight director of scouting Andrew Slater. Copeland has transferred from the Life Center Academy in Burlington, N.J., to the powerhouse prep-school program at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

I’m hopeful that two other ‘Cuse point-guard prospects in the 2022 cycle will also elect to take official visits to the Orange. One is four-star J.J. Starling, a Central New York native who suits up for the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind.

The second is four-star Chance Westry, who previously played for the Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., and recently moved back to Pennsylvania, where he is a native of Harrisburg.

Additionally, it would be nice to see four-star wing Kamari Lands schedule an official visit to CNY. Lands, with Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif., gave a verbal commitment to Syracuse basketball this past April.