Syracuse Basketball: Predictions flooding in for Chance Westry, Zion Cruz

Two of the top guards in the 2022 class, five-star Zion Cruz and four-star Chance Westry, each of whom holds a Syracuse basketball offer, are receiving a ton of projections from national analysts and recruiting insiders.

At the time of this writing, on Thursday late evening, the 6-foot-5 Cruz had six predictions from analysts in the direction of Memphis on the 247Sports Web site and Rivals.com.

The 6-foot-5 Westry, meanwhile, was up to 10 projections from analysts in the direction of Auburn on the 247Sports Web site and Rivals.com.

Now, these sorts of predictions aren’t always correct, but I have to say that with such a sizable amount for each 2022 prospect, it does look like Memphis and Auburn are the front-runners for Cruz and Westry, respectively.

Zion Cruz and Chance Westry, each with a Syracuse basketball offer, have a lot of buzz with two specific teams.

Both Westry and Cruz received scholarship offers from the Orange more than two years ago. Westry, a consensus top-40 prospect in this class, appeared to have some buzz related to the ‘Cuse a while back.

He took an official visit to the Hill over the summer and had Syracuse basketball in his top 10, along with Mike Hopkins-led Washington, Maryland, Auburn, LSU, Connecticut, Southern California, Arizona State, Nebraska and DePaul.

I’ve seen some media reports suggesting that Westry may announce his college decision on October 31, and I imagine that Auburn is the likely destination. He is a senior at Hillcrest Prep in Gilbert, Ariz.

Cruz, a consensus top-60 player who is ranked in the top 20 of the 2022 cycle by some recruiting services, is a senior at the new Donda Academy in Simi Valley, Calif.

In September, Cruz was set to reveal his college choice, with a final three of North Carolina, Creighton and Auburn. But he delayed his commitment announcement and reopened his recruitment back up.

Since then, a handful of college teams have gotten linked to Cruz, according to media reports and comments from analysts. But Memphis does appear as the favorite to land him at this juncture.

He recently went on an official visit to the Tigers and has said a lot of positive things about the Memphis program and its head coach, former NBA star and ace recruiter Penny Hardaway, in some recent interviews.

I’m not a recruiting analyst, however, I get the sense that the Orange was never really a significant contender for Cruz. I would have loved to see him, or Westry, in the Syracuse basketball 2022 cycle.

That being said, I’m pretty darn happy with the Orange’s five-member class. So is Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim.