Syracuse Basketball: Duke recruits full-court press for 4-star J.J. Starling

Syracuse basketball 2022 high-priority target J.J. Starling plans to make his collegiate destination known in the next two weeks, he said in an interview.

The 6-foot-4 Starling, a four-star combo guard and a consensus top-40 prospect nationally in his class, is done with his official visits. He says that he’s “fully in decision mode right now,” according to an interview he gave with Jason Jordan, the director of basketball recruiting for Sports Illustrated.

Starling, the Central New York native who is a senior at the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., has a top five of the Orange, Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Stanford.

"He told Jordan that he’s not sure which way he’s leaning at this point, “but I’m planning to make my decision in the next two weeks in order to get it done before my season starts. I don’t want all of this stress going into my last year.”"

Syracuse basketball will soon know the final decision of four-star J.J. Starling.

As I’ve said before, Starling, his family and the rest of his inner circle have kept his recruiting process close to the vest, so any predictions from national analysts or others are likely just a guess at this point.

Here’s my take. Starling values a strong education, so all five of these finalists would prove an excellent choice. The word in chat rooms is that Notre Dame and Stanford are formidable contenders.

Duke is, well, Duke. The Blue Devils have crushed it on the recruiting trail of late. That being said, Duke did recently get verbal commitments from a 2022 four-star shooting guard and a 2023 five-star point guard.

As it pertains to 2022 commits at each finalist, Starling said to Jordan that Blue Devils recruits “definitely come at me the hardest,” and that includes former ‘Cuse target Kyle Filipowski, a five-star big man in the 2022 cycle.

I’m sure that some Orange fans are concerned by this, and maybe we should be. Then again, let’s keep in mind that the Syracuse basketball 2022 class to date includes a four-star point guard and a four-star wing, so it wouldn’t surprise me if those guys aren’t aggressively trying to recruit Starling to the Hill.

What the Orange does have working in its favor, at least in my humble opinion, is that Syracuse basketball is Starling’s hometown team.

If he chooses the ‘Cuse, he can play in front of family and friends. Plus, he plays on the AAU circuit with the Albany City Rocks, whose alumni include Orange players Buddy Boeheim, Joe Girard III and Symir Torrence.

Also, while I’m not an expert on the Duke basketball program, I imagine if he went with the Blue Devils, he might not get a lot of minutes on the court initially, whereas if Starling goes to the ‘Cuse, I could see him starting right away.

Naturally, I hope that Starling picks Syracuse basketball. He can’t go wrong with any of his finalists. And, soon enough, we’ll know where he’s headed after his prep-school career culminates.