Syracuse Basketball: Newly offered big man jumps into national rankings

Syracuse basketball held its annual Elite Camp this past weekend, and the Orange coaching staff doled out numerous scholarship offers to high-school prospects in the 2023 and 2024 cycles.

One of those offers went out to a 2023 big man who had previously received interest from the ‘Cuse, according to media reports. His name is Papa Kante, and he is a talented, under-rated prospect in this class.

The 6-foot-10 Kante, a power forward/center, is heading into his junior year at the South Kent School in South Kent, Conn., where former Orange guys Elijah Hughes and Matthew Moyer also suited up.

On the AAU circuit, Kante runs with the Boston-based Expressions Elite Basketball. In recent weeks, I’ve read numerous comments from national analysts and recruiting insiders that speak to Kante performing well at Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League, which culminated with the 2021 Peach Jam tournament in North Augusta, S.C., earlier this summer.

Syracuse basketball has gotten into the fray for an intriguing 2023 big man.

Multiple reports, including a tweet from Pro Insight director of scouting Andrew Slater, delivered the news about Kante landing an offer from the ‘Cuse.

Kante’s other offers to date include from Pittsburgh, Georgia, Rutgers, TCU, UMass, East Carolina, Bryant and Siena, according to recruiting Web sites, media reports and Kante’s Twitter page.

When we published a column several weeks back that detailed how Syracuse basketball was showing interest in Kante, we highlighted that other squads displaying interest in him included Mike Hopkins-led Washington, Kansas, Virginia, Miami, Connecticut, Ohio State, Tennessee, Arizona and Marquette, according to a recent story by Jacob Polacheck, a national analyst for ZAGSBLOG.com.

At this juncture, Kante isn’t nationally rated by all of the primary recruiting services, but it seems that likely could change in the future.

For one, Rivals.com updated its national rankings for the 2023 class a few days ago, and Kante bolted into these ratings. Rivals.com has him as three stars and No. 123 overall within the 2023 cycle.

As he continues to play well in AAU events and for his prep-school team, I could absolutely envision Kante evolving into a four-star, top-100 prospect in his class.

I’m excited that Orange coaches have offered him. It does appear that competition for Kante is going to continue to grow, and probably pretty fast.