Syracuse Basketball: 4-star, 5-star recruits among top impact transfers

In recent months, there has been a lot of movement among high-school players to different prep teams and public high schools around the country, and these transfers include some Syracuse basketball top-flight commits and targets.

Jordan Divens, the national basketball editor for MaxPreps, recently published an informative piece as he ranked the top-50 impact transfers nationwide ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

So we’re taking a look at those Syracuse basketball four-star and five-star recruits who made the cut in Divens’ piece.

We’ll start with 2022 four-star wing Chris Bunch, who visited the Hill earlier this summer. Bunch is moving from De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., to the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah, which is one of the premier prep-school squads nationally.

Two Syracuse basketball commits in the 2022 cycle, four-star wing Justin Taylor and four-star point guard Quadir Copeland, will both suit up for the post-grad team at the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Taylor made the top-50 ranking published by Divens, while Copeland is noted in the “other key transfers” category.

Let’s look at some other impact high-school transfers with Syracuse basketball ties.

Hillcrest Prep in Gilbert, Ariz., is getting a lot of national buzz as a pre-season top-20 squad.

Among those on the Hillcrest Prep roster are three new players in 2022 four-star guard Chance Westry, 2022 four-star wing Kamari Lands and 2024 wing Jason Asemota, who we featured in a recent column.

Westry, who has had the Orange among his top-10 finalists, and former ‘Cuse commit Lands made the top-50 rating, while Asemota is listed in the same category as Copeland.

Another impact transfer is 2023 target Aden Holloway, a four-star point guard. Holloway recently said that he was moving from the Covenant Day School in Matthews, N.C., to the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., which is a prep-school juggernaut.

Last but certainly not least, one of the biggest transfer moves of late involved 2024 five-star power forward Derik Queen, who has reportedly received interest from Syracuse basketball at one time or another.

Queen, who is a significant contender for the No. 1 overall ranking in his class, has left the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore to suit up for the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., which is arguably the best prep-school squad across the country.