Syracuse Basketball: Rick Pitino gets into fray for 2022 four-star PG target

With Syracuse basketball 2022 prospect Quadir Copeland transferring to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for his senior season, I’ve prognosticated that his national rankings will continue to rise and his list of scholarship offers will keep growing.

The 6-foot-6 Copeland, a talented and under-rated point guard in his class, recently landed a new offer from Rick Pitino-led Iona, according to college basketball insider Adam Zagoria and several other tweets.

While Iona isn’t in one of the big-time power conferences, Pitino is a two-time national champion, and if he comes calling, that’s saying something, in my humble opinion.

Copeland, a four-star prospect according to Rivals.com, also recently obtained an offer from Oklahoma State out of the Big 12 Conference. Former Orange freshman forward Woody Newton recently transferred to Oklahoma State, by the way.

At this juncture, other offers to Copeland have arrived from teams such as Connecticut, Oregon, Miami, Maryland, Penn State, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s and Siena.

According to several media reports and tweets, Copeland has scheduled an unofficial visit to Maryland out of the Big Ten Conference for June 21.

Syracuse basketball is seeing heightened competition for four-star target Quadir Copeland.

When Rivals.com recently updated its national ratings for the 2022 class, Copeland soared from unranked to No. 85 overall. Rivals.com also places him as the No. 22 point guard in this cycle.

As I’ve said before, I think that Copeland will ultimately rank even higher than this. From what I’ve read about him, Copeland appears to be a top-50 player in the 2022 class, as well as a top-10 point guard.

He is one of three point guards whom ‘Cuse coaches are pursuing in this cycle, along with fellow four-stars J.J. Starling and Chance Westry.

The 6-foot-3 Starling, a Central New York native, suits up for the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., while Westry recently left the Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif. The 6-foot-5 Westry is a native of Harrisburg, Pa.

I think that Syracuse basketball has a solid shot to land one of Westry, Starling or Copeland. It’s difficult to say which prospect I would prefer.

What I can say about Copeland is that he has terrific height and length to thrive at the top of the Orange’s 2-3 zone. Analysts also rave about his court vision and passing ability.