Syracuse Basketball: Orange bolsters shot at landing elite 2022 big man

Syracuse basketball missed out on 2022 four-star center Donovan Clingan, a high-priority target who recently committed to Connecticut.

Another high-priority prospect in this class, 2022 four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski, is getting all kinds of buzz for Duke as it pertains to his recruitment.

If the Orange doesn’t win the recruiting sweepstakes for Filipowski, though, the team does have other big men that it is pursuing in the 2022 cycle.

For example, the ‘Cuse recently doled out a scholarship offer to Peter Carey, an under-rated and really talented 2022 prospect who can play power forward and center. The 7-foot Carey revealed the Syracuse basketball offer via his Twitter page.

As we’ve noted in other recent columns, the Orange has also reportedly displayed interest in 2022 big men Christ Essandoko and Duke Brennan.

The 7-foot Essandoko attends the Winston Salem Christian School in Winston-Salem, N.C., while the 6-foot-10 Brennan is out of Hillcrest Prep in Gilbert, Ariz.

For now, though, I get the sense that, beyond Filipowski, Carey is the top priority for the ‘Cuse, rather than other guys such as Brennan and Essandoko.

Syracuse basketball is in the mix for several outstanding 2022 big men.

Carey is described by some recruiting analysts as a highly skilled and versatile prospect whose stock is on the rise. As recruiting services continue to update their national rankings for the 2022 class, I could foresee Carey emerging as a four-star, top-100 player.

He is a junior at the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Mount Hermon, Mass., and runs with the West Hempstead, N.Y.-based New York Lightning Select on the AAU circuit.

Besides the new Orange offer, Carey recently tweeted out that he has received an offer from Rick Pitino-led Iona. Other prior offers have arrived for Carey from teams such as Rutgers, St. Bonaventure, UMass, Bryant, Brown and Albany.

Additionally, some other high-major programs are reportedly reaching out regarding Carey. Jake Lieberman, who writes about high-school and college basketball, said via his Twitter page that Carey is getting interest from Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Creighton and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Boston College.

As Carey shines in AAU competitions and likely enters the national rankings for his class, he is going to pile up additional offers from big-time teams. I’m excited that Syracuse basketball has entered the recruiting fray for Carey, who could prove a gem in this cycle.