Syracuse Basketball: 5-star Zion Cruz finalists named, reveal date set

After his initial commitment date was delayed last month, it now looks like 2022 five-star combo guard Zion Cruz, who has a Syracuse basketball offer, is ready to reveal his collegiate destination.

The 6-foot-5 Cruz, who is heading into his senior year at The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J., reportedly will announce his college choice this Sunday afternoon, according to a tweet from recruiting guru Joe Tipton.

Tipton says that Cruz’s three finalists are Atlantic Coast Conference member North Carolina, Southeastern Conference team Auburn and Big East Conference participant Creighton.

The Orange, which offered a scholarship to Cruz more than two years ago, didn’t seem to have received any buzz at all for Cruz in a long while, if ever.

Cruz, who runs on the AAU circuit with the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals, owns more than 20 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs, such as North Carolina, Arizona State, Florida State, Baylor, Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa, Alabama, UCLA, Connecticut, Louisville, Maryland, Seton Hall, St. John’s and Indiana.

Five-star Zion Cruz, who holds a Syracuse basketball offer, is set to announce his college pick.

Earlier this summer, he visited Auburn and Oregon. For several months now, the chatter online has been that Auburn is the speculated front-runner for Cruz.

Media reports said that Cruz originally was going to announce his college decision on August 19, but that plan was delayed. As of this past Friday afternoon, multiple national analysts and recruiting insiders on the 247Sports Web site and Rivals.com were projecting Cruz to Auburn.

Cruz is a top-20 prospect in his class, according to most recruiting services, but he recently came in at No. 56 overall via ESPN, a rating that I found way too low.

The Tar Heels offered Cruz in early July. He has said in interviews that UNC was his dream school while growing up.

Creighton offered Cruz in the spring, and personally I was a little surprised that the Bluejays are a finalist for him. Then again, Creighton has done quite well on the recruiting trail of late.

It’s a bummer that the Orange couldn’t make a strong run for Cruz, but whichever of his three finalists wins out is getting a total star in the 2022 cycle.