Syracuse Basketball: 5-star targets haul in new offers, competition balloons

A handful of Syracuse basketball prospects in the 2023 cycle have landed impressive new scholarship offers of late, as the competition for the Orange to win out in these recruiting battles continues to climb.

As we’ve noted on a couple of occasions in recent columns, the ‘Cuse is pursuing numerous top-flight players in the 2023 class, including multiple guys who are five stars and ranked in the top-20 nationally.

One of those prospects is five-star small forward Justin Edwards from Philadelphia. The 6-foot-7 Edwards has vaulted into the top-10 overall, according to several recruiting services.

Edwards, who received an offer from the Orange coaching staff in mid-July, said on Twitter that LSU out of the Southeastern Conference has pledged an offer to him.

The junior at the Imhotep Institute Charter High School in Philadelphia already boasts a ton of big-time offers. We recently penned an article on Edwards, describing how blue-blood programs such as Kentucky are in the mix, too.

Let’s take a look at three other Syracuse basketball 2023 prospects.

Four-star guard Blue Cain said on Twitter that the ‘Cuse offered him this past February. A junior at Knoxville Catholic High School in Knoxville, Tenn., he is one of the most prolific scorers throughout the 2023 cycle.

The 6-foot-4 Cain recently disclosed via his Twitter page that he picked up an offer from fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Georgia Tech.

https://twitter.com/BlueCain1/status/1440775609076965379

Cain, who has entered the top-75 nationally per Rivals.com, holds offers from other teams such as Virginia Tech, Tennessee, South Carolina, Belmont, Howard and ETSU.

Four-star point guard Aden Holloway, a top-50 prospect in this class, also got a new ACC offer, from Notre Dame, he said recently on Twitter.

According to the Verbal Commits Web site, the 6-foot-1 Holloway acquired a Syracuse basketball offer back in the summer of 2019. His other offers include from Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Winthrop, per media reports and recruiting services.

For his junior season, Holloway is suiting up for the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., which is the same prep-school powerhouse that Orange 2022 high-priority target J.J. Starling also attends.

Starling, a four-star combo guard and consensus top-40 player, has the ‘Cuse among his top-five finalists, along with Notre Dame, Duke, Stanford and Northwestern.

Finally, five-star combo guard and top-15 prospect Simeon Wilcher has scheduled an official visit to North Carolina on October 8-10, per a recent tweet from college basketball insider Adam Zagoria.

The 6-foot-4 Wilcher received an offer from Syracuse basketball in mid-July and attended the Orange’s annual Elite Camp in August. He is a junior at Roselle Catholic High School in Roselle, N.J.

Wilcher, who is eyeing a possible visit to the Hill in the near future, has a boatload of offers and interest from high-major groups. Among them are Michigan, UNC, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Memphis, Ohio State, Iowa, Kansas, Auburn, Illinois, Duke, Kentucky, Miami and UCLA, according to media reports and recruiting Web sites.