Syracuse Basketball: 4-star commit, 5-star targets will vie for national title

A new Syracuse basketball commit and a pair of Orange five-star prospects are suiting up for teams this coming season that are highly ranked in a recently released national poll.

Jordan Divens, the national basketball editor for MaxPreps, has released his first pre-season independent top-20 national ratings ahead of the 2021-22 stanza.

Divens notes in his piece that these rankings are for independent squads, such as prep schools, and that MaxPreps will have a separate set of national ratings for traditional high schools. I think that’s quite logical, because prep schools often have stacked rosters for which traditional high-school groups really can’t compete.

In the independent top-20 national rankings, there are multiple teams that will likely compete for a national championship whose rosters include players with ‘Cuse connections.

Syracuse basketball recruits are suiting up for top-flight prep teams.

In the MaxPreps independent rankings, the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah, is No. 11 overall. The Wasatch Academy line-up includes 2022 four-star wing Chris Bunch, who recently gave his verbal commitment to the Orange after having a final three of Syracuse basketball, Mike Hopkins-led Washington and Rutgers.

The Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., a powerhouse prep-school unit, is No. 2. According to Divens, the Montverde Academy is the two-time defending national champs.

This team’s roster is absolutely loaded, and two new additions to its line-up for this coming season are 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr. and 2024 five-star power forward Derik Queen.

Both Evans and Queen hail from Baltimore and are top-five overall prospects within their respective cycles. A term ago, Evans played for the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, while Queen competed for the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore.

As we’ve documented in several columns of late, the ‘Cuse coaching staff offered scholarships to Queen and Evans not too long ago.

The IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., is No. 3, and this juggernaut is led by 2022 five-star power forward Jarace Walker, who had received an offer from Syracuse basketball.

Plus, suiting up on the IMG Academy’s post-grad team for their senior years are Orange 2022 four-star commits Justin Taylor, a shooting guard, and Quadir Copeland, a point guard.

The AZ Compass Prep School in Chandler, Ariz., is No. 1, by the way. There are three other squads to note here. Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif., is No. 6, Hillcrest Prep in Gilbert, Ariz., is No. 8, and the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., is No. 9.

Former Syracuse basketball 2022 commit Dior Johnson, a five-star point guard who is headed to Oregon, attends Prolific Prep. Former Orange 2022 pledge Kamari Lands, a four-star wing, is with Hillcrest Prep.

And Central New York native J.J. Starling, a former ‘Cuse target, is out of the La Lumiere School. Starling, a 2022 four-star guard, recently announced that he would attend Notre Dame.