Syracuse Basketball: Duke buzz for 4-star target, other blue-bloods calling

I said not too long ago that an offer from Duke to elite 2022 big man Kyle Filipowski, a high-priority target for Syracuse basketball in this class, could prove concerning.

Well, the 6-foot-10 power forward recently took an official visit to the Blue Devils, and he’s also landed an offer from Duke. Filipowski obtained a relatively new offer from Big Ten Conference juggernaut Michigan as well.

Those two scholarship offers amount to massive competition for the Orange, which had already been facing many high-major suitors for Filipowski, who is a junior at the Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass., and suits up for the New York City-based NY Renaissance on the AAU circuit.

Filipowski, a four-star prospect who is potentially headed toward five-star status at some point, made an official visit to the Hill at the beginning of June.

From what I can tell, that trip to Central New York went quite well. And new 2022 commit Justin Taylor, a four-star wing, has said that he is trying to recruit Filipowski to join him in this ‘Cuse class.

Syracuse basketball faces steep competition for four-star big Kyle Filipowski.

Following his offer from the Blue Devils, Filipowski has received four predictions on the 247Sports Web site that project him to ultimately choose Duke.

It’s worth pointing out that these four predictions are not from national analysts. This doesn’t mean they won’t prove correct in the end, but I thought it was important for context. I haven’t seen any prognostications to date for Filipowski on Rivals.com.

Look, these types of predictions are often right, but not all the time. And the recruiting processes of high-school prospects can be fluid and rapidly change. I don’t think by any means is the Orange out of contention for Filipowski.

Another interesting tidbit that I came across is a recent tweet from Recruits Zone, saying that Filipowski has recently heard from two other blue-blood schools in Kentucky and North Carolina. We’ll have to keep a close eye on this.

The Tar Heels have a new head coach, and UNC was among Taylor’s five finalists prior to him deciding on Syracuse basketball as his collegiate destination. Kentucky certainly has swooped in and snagged a few Orange targets in recent years.

I’ve read a bunch of comments on social media and in chat rooms where ‘Cuse fans are declaring that Filipowski is destined for Duke. Or, at the very least, he isn’t coming to the Orange.

I’m not in Filipowski’s inner circle, however, he has said a lot of positive things about the Syracuse basketball program of late. His relationship with Taylor could prove helpful. Let’s see how this all plays out.