Syracuse Basketball: Several blue-bloods in mix for 5-star Zion Cruz

Five-star prospect Zion Cruz, who received a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball nearly two years ago, has been playing well on the AAU circuit and in other events of late, and his recruitment is picking up steam, according to media reports and comments from national analysts.

The 2022 combo guard, one of the top players at his position within this recruiting cycle, took an official visit to Southeastern Conference member Auburn at the beginning of June, and he had plenty of positive things to say about the Tigers.

The 6-foot-5 Cruz, a junior at The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J., also apparently took a trip to Oregon out of the Pac-12 Conference in mid-June, per his bio on the 247Sports Web site.

Cruz, who runs on the AAU circuit with the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals, doesn’t currently have any predictions from recruiting insiders about a projected collegiate destination.

The majority of recruiting services rank him as five stars and a top-20 prospect overall within the 2022 class. Cruz holds a slew of high-major offers, from teams such as Florida State, Baylor, Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Alabama, UCLA, Connecticut, Louisville, Maryland, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Indiana.

Syracuse basketball prospect Zion Cruz has a few teams in hot pursuit.

It definitely looks like Auburn has some nice buzz regarding Cruz, who has said that he wants to make a decision by the end of the summer.

College basketball insider Adam Zagoria, in a recent article, said that Cruz “remains open in his recruitment but a handful of schools appear to be focusing in on him.”

Those squads include Auburn, fellow Atlantic Coast Conference group North Carolina and Arizona State out of the Pac-12 Conference. According to Zagoria, Cruz is eyeing a visit to the Tar Heels this summer, and “UNC was his dream school growing up.”

Besides North Carolina, another blue-blood team is showing interest in Cruz, and that’s Kentucky. Cruz said of the Wildcats, a squad that year in and year out crushes it on the recruiting trail, “I really want an offer from there. Hopefully they’ll come out and see me at Peach Jam.”

The 2021 version of the annual Peach Jam tournament is slated to take place next month in North Augusta, S.C. It is one of the elite recruiting showcases for high-school players.