Syracuse Basketball: 4-star target, a lights-out shooter, soars in rankings

Syracuse basketball 2022 four-star prospect Chris Bunch has proven one of the more under-rated players in his class for a while now, but that is about to change.

The 6-foot-7 wing, a junior at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., has skyrocketed in the national rankings, according to 247Sports, as Bunch’s recruitment continues to heat up.

Bunch recently took an official visit to the Hill, and he has also traveled to Big Ten Conference member Rutgers. He told college basketball insider Adam Zagoria in a recent article that he also hopes to make trips to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference participant Florida State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and USC.

A coveted prospect in the 2022 cycle, Bunch holds more than two-dozen scholarship offers from a range of high-major squads. As we wrote in a recent column, blue-blood group Duke is also showing interest in Bunch.

To date, I haven’t seen any predictions from analysts or other recruiting insiders regarding a potential collegiate destination for Bunch.

It doesn’t appear that Bunch is in a super rush to make a commitment announcement. In a Q&A by Mike McAllister, the publisher of SyracuseOnSI, Bunch said that he plans to trim his list of contenders “by the end of the summer.”

I’m not in Bunch’s inner circle, but based on interviews that I’ve read as well as comments from analysts, the Orange absolutely has a solid chance at landing Bunch.

Let’s see where Syracuse basketball four-star target Chris Bunch is nationally rated.

Many of the primary recruiting services have updated their 2022 rankings of late, and Bunch made a huge leap in new ratings from 247Sports. He’s now up to No. 59 overall, No. 15 at small forward and No. 8 in California.

ESPN doesn’t have Bunch among its top-100 players, which I personally think is non-sense. Rivals.com places him at No. 125 nationally, although only as a three-star prospect.

Finally, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite says that Bunch is No. 106 across the country, No. 28 at small forward and No. 14 in California.

As Bunch performs well in AAU competitions and for his high school on the west coast, I expect him to emerge as a top-50 to top-75 player in the 2022 class, according to all of the recruiting services.

Bunch told Zagoria that his “three-point shot is by far my best quality. I can jump out the gym so I can play point guard and shooting guard.”

Based on those comments, perhaps Bunch has the versatility to suit up at point guard, shooting guard and small forward. That should certainly excite Syracuse basketball fans.