Syracuse Basketball: 4-star target soars in rankings, blue-bloods enter mix

Syracuse basketball 2023 prospect Matas Buzelis is just starting to see his recruitment expand, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if all the blue-blood schools and other big-time college teams get into the fray for the talented four-star wing.

The Orange coaching staff got in relatively early on with the 6-foot-8 Buzelis, offering him a scholarship last November. National analysts say that he is potentially on his way to five-star status.

He is already ranked No. 46 overall in his class by 247Sports. When Rivals.com recently updated its national ratings for the 2023 cycle, Buzelis went from unranked to No. 42 across the country.

As I’ve said more than once recently, as he continues to shine for his prep school and on the AAU circuit, I could foresee Buzelis becoming a five-star player and pushing the top-20 to top-25 overall in his class. He’s that good.

Syracuse basketball has massive competition for 2023 four-star Matas Buzelis.

The recruiting services list Buzelis as a small forward. However, analysts say that he possesses the handle, passing precision and overall court vision to suit up at shooting guard, and perhaps even point guard.

At his height and length, Buzelis would surely thrive in the ‘Cuse 2-3 zone. But his recruiting process likely has a long way to go, and many more offers will arrive at his doorstep.

Recently, college coaches were able to begin making direct contact with 2023 high-school prospects, and the level of interest in Buzelis from high-major teams is substantial.

According to media reports, tweets and several recruiting Web sites, he has landed relatively new offers from 2021 Final Four participant UCLA, Maryland and Connecticut.

That’s in addition to prior offers from groups like blue-blood Kansas, Illinois, Florida, Providence, Wake Forest, Nebraska and Western Illinois.

Others to have reached out to Buzelis, per a recent tweet from Pro Insight director of scouting Andrew Slater, include blue-blood Kentucky, 2021 NCAA Tournament runner-up Gonzaga, Iowa, Seton Hall, Marquette and Arizona.

I’ve also seen some chatter online about interest from blue-blood Duke. As a native of the Chicago metropolitan region, I could imagine Big Ten Conference squads such as Michigan also getting involved with Buzelis.

A sophomore at the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., Buzelis caught the attention of multiple analysts for his performance at the recently held 2021 Pangos All-American Camp in Las Vegas.