Syracuse Basketball: Big-time, worrisome offers for high-priority 4-star big

Syracuse basketball 2022 high-priority target Kyle Filipowski already had a boatload of high-major offers with which the Orange has to contend. However, that offer list recently grew, and it grew in a big-time way.

The four-star Filipowski, one of the top big men in his cycle, said via Twitter that both Duke and Michigan have offered him. Ever since the ‘Cuse offered Filipowski a few months ago, I’ve felt that the Orange has at least a decent shot to land the 6-foot-10 power forward.

But the Blue Devils, a fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member, are a blue-blood school. I get that their legendary head coach is retiring after this season, but Duke is still Duke.

What’s more, the Wolverines are an elite squad in the rugged Big Ten Conference. They reached the Elite Eight of the 2021 Big Dance this past spring and have absolutely crushed it on the recruiting trail of late.

Does this mean that the ‘Cuse is out of the running for Filipowski? Of course not. The Orange has a ton of positive momentum with its recruiting efforts, having just picked up four-star wing Justin Taylor to go along with fellow four-star wing Kamari Lands in the team’s 2022 class.

Syracuse basketball faces an uphill climb to pick up four-star big man Kyle Filipowski.

Filipowski took an official visit to the Hill a few weeks back, and ‘Cuse coaches are reportedly pitching to him that Filipowski could become a pivotal piece toward Syracuse basketball making a run at a second national title in the near future.

Taylor has said that he would like to see Filipowski join him in Central New York, and Taylor even said in this recent interview with SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister that he is trying to recruit Filipowski to become part of the Orange’s 2022 class.

Filipowski recently told Joe Tipton that the squads recruiting him the hardest are Syracuse basketball, Duke, Ohio State, Indiana, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Iowa, Wake Forest, Rutgers, Northwestern and UCLA. I’m sure Michigan will become a part of that group, too.

Additionally, he holds other strong offers from teams such as Illinois, Miami, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Louisville, Purdue, Creighton, Marquette, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Providence and Boston College.

A junior at the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass., Filipowski plays for the New York City-based NY Renaissance in AAU competitions. He was recently named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Massachusetts for an outstanding 2020-21 campaign.

Most of the recruiting services rank Filipowski as a top-50 prospect in his cycle. I think he’s on his way toward five-star status. It won’t be easy, but if the Orange can prevail in this recruiting battle, that would prove massive.