Syracuse Basketball: 4-star target J.J. Starling on his way to 5-star status

Central New York native and Syracuse basketball high-priority target J.J. Starling had a strong junior season for a national prep-school powerhouse, and he’s also performed quite well of late for the Albany City Rocks on the AAU circuit.

The 6-foot-3 Starling, a four-star point guard in the 2022 class, continues to see his list of scholarship offers grow. One of the more recent offers is from former Big East Conference rival Georgetown, according to a tweet from Mike Curtis of Syracuse.com.

Starling recently took an official visit to Maryland, per an article from 247Sports national analyst Dushawn London. I anticipate that Starling will schedule more official visits in the near future.

Based on his recent performances at AAU competitions, Starling is receiving some nice buzz from recruiting analysts. For one, ESPN NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Givony recently tweeted that he believes Starling will become a five-star prospect at some point.

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1398737096257544192

Syracuse basketball 2022 prospect J.J. Starling is playing lights out these days.

Starling is a junior at the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., and he previously starred at Charles W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, N.Y.

As we noted in a recent column, according to various media reports, the La Lumiere School is among several elite prep-school teams that are joining together to form a super league known as the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference. This new entity plans to begin its operations in the 2021-22 campaign.

Starling recently told Tipton Edits that he’s being recruited the hardest by 11 teams, and they are the ‘Cuse, Auburn, Alabama, Kansas, Northwestern, Miami, Notre Dame, Maryland, Connecticut, Stanford and Penn State.

Under Starling’s bio on the 247Sports Web site, Syracuse basketball, Maryland and Stanford are all listed as “warm” as it pertains to interest level.

The main recruiting services, for now, have Starling as four stars. He recently skyrocketed 58 spots, to No. 46 overall, when Rivals.com updated its national rankings for the 2022 cycle.

Both the 247Sports Composite and ESPN have Starling at No. 54 across the country in his class. Assuming that he continues to shine for the Albany City Rocks and the La Lumiere School, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Starling lands a fifth star and places in the top-25 to top-30 overall in the 2022 cycle when all is said and done.

Starling has said that he is in regular contact with the Orange coaching staff, so I think that the ‘Cuse has a good shot to secure his services. Conversely, competition for the exquisite point guard is intense, and it continues to expand all the time.