Syracuse Basketball: 4-star target 2nd SU visit great, Duke visit worrisome

Syracuse basketball high-priority target J.J. Starling, an elite combo guard, continues to take his time with his recruitment, and he’s planning another round of official visits in September.

A contingent of Orange fans on social media and in chat rooms is of the belief that the four-star Starling is likely headed somewhere besides the ‘Cuse.

I am not a recruiting analyst. I am not in Starling’s inner circle. And I do not have insider information from the Orange coaching staff. With that as context, though, I still personally feel that Syracuse basketball is right there in the mix for Starling, who is a consensus top-40 prospect nationally in the 2022 class.

According to a recent tweet by Andrew Slater, Pro Insight’s director of scouting, Starling will take four official visits in September. They are to Notre Dame on Sept. 3-5, the Hill on Sept. 10-12, Northwestern on Sept. 17-19, and Duke on Sept. 24-26.

Previously, while still a junior at the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., Starling made visits to the Orange, Maryland, Connecticut and Alabama.

According to media reports, Starling has traveled to Stanford as part of the five official visits he’s allowed by the NCAA during his senior year.

Syracuse basketball will get another visit from four-star J.J. Starling.

Starling, a Central New York native who suits up for the Albany City Rocks on the AAU circuit, doesn’t currently have any predictions from national analysts as to his eventual collegiate destination.

I’m encouraged that the ‘Cuse has landed a second visit from Starling, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Orange remains a finalist for his services all the way to the end of his recruiting process.

For me, and again this is just my personal opinion, but I feel that Starling’s ultimate decision will boil down to three contenders, and they are Syracuse basketball, Duke and Stanford.

A few weeks ago, as we discussed in an article, 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi said that those three squads stood out to him in Starling’s recruitment.

It’s true that the ‘Cuse has a four-star point guard and a four-star shooting guard who have both verbally committed to the program in its 2022 cycle. But Starling is reportedly being recruited by Orange coaches as a point guard and a shooting guard.

When the Blue Devils offered Starling earlier this summer, I said at the time I felt worried about that. Even though the legendary Mike Krzyzewski is retiring after the upcoming season, his replacement, Jon Scheyer, is crushing things on the recruiting trail.

For one, Duke recently picked up a verbal pledge from 2022 five-star big man Kyle Filipowski, a former ‘Cuse recruiting target, as well as 2022 five-star wing Dariq Whitehead.

The Blue Devils do have offers out to a couple of other 2022 guards, but I’m guessing that Starling is a priority for Duke. That he is taking a trip to Durham, N.C., certainly would seem to suggest he is highly interested in this blue-blood group, and that could make it more challenging for Syracuse basketball to win out.

Then again, the Orange has recruited Starling hard for a long time, and he is from the CNY region. Starling’s recruitment will prove an interesting one to watch play out.