Syracuse Basketball: 5-star target talks teams that he hears from the most

Syracuse basketball coaches recently made a trip to the powerhouse Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., to watch a couple of top-flight 2023 prospects, according to a tweet from Mike Waters of Syracuse.com.

One of those players was 6-foot-8 Taylor Bowen, a five-star wing and a consensus top-30 prospect across the country within this cycle.

The Orange coaching staff is pursuing a range of 2023 players who are rated in the top-25 to the top-50 nationally, including Bowen, who is a junior at the Brewster Academy.

I recently came across a couple of interviews with Bowen in which he detailed some of the college squads that he hears from the most. Let’s take a look.

Syracuse basketball faces intense competition for five-star wing Taylor Bowen.

In an interview with Rivals.com national analyst Jamie Shaw, Bowen says that the three groups reaching out to him the most frequently are Kentucky, Arkansas and former Big East Conference rival Connecticut.

In another recent interview, a Q&A with Pro Insight, Bowen said that the teams reaching out to him the most are UConn, Arkansas, Kentucky and Kansas.

"But Bowen did add, “My recruitment is 100% open and I just look forward to just going through the process and just learning and finding a school that fits me the best.”"

Naturally, it would be better for the Orange’s chances if Bowen mentioned Syracuse basketball among the schools reaching out to him the most, but that doesn’t mean the ‘Cuse is out of the running for him.

Frankly, I can’t imagine that the ‘Cuse coaching staff would have recently traveled to the Brewster Academy to see Bowen if there wasn’t some level of interest among the Orange and him.

As a high-school prospect who just began his junior year, Bowen could certainly have a way to go in his recruiting process, so we’ll of course continue to monitor any and all involvement that he has with Syracuse basketball.

According to recruiting services and media reports, Bowen holds a range of high-major offers, from squads such as Dayton, Marquette, Southern California, Maryland, Penn State, Connecticut, LSU, Arkansas, Providence, Rutgers, Iowa, Vermont and George Mason.

I’ve also seen reports, and his bio on recruiting Web sites, which suggest that Bowen holds interest from heavyweights like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State and Florida State.

So it will prove extremely difficult for the Orange to win out for Bowen, but the ‘Cuse has fared well in recent stanzas recruiting guys from the Brewster Academy.

Bowen is an elite talent. Recruiting services rate him as a top-10 small forward in his cycle, and the industry-generated 247Sports Composite placed him at No. 19 overall in the 2023 class when I penned this column.