Syracuse Basketball: 2 main contenders for 5-star Zion Cruz, analyst says

One of the top guards in the 2022 cycle, five-star Zion Cruz, holds a Syracuse basketball scholarship offer, which he received more than two years ago.

Although let’s be real. The 6-foot-5 Cruz isn’t choosing the ‘Cuse, which has solidified its own stellar five-member class in 2022. Still, the consensus top-60 Cruz did reopen his recruitment not too long ago, and for a second or two I had held out hope that maybe Syracuse basketball coaches would pursue him.

In any event, Cruz was set to reveal his college decision in September, and he had a final three of North Carolina, Creighton and Auburn. But then he delayed this announcement, reopening his recruiting process back up a few days later.

Since then, I’ve seen a handful of high-major programs being discussed in media reports as possible suitors for Cruz. At this point, though, it looks like he may have two primary contenders, according to one national analyst.

Five-star Zion Cruz, who holds a Syracuse basketball offer, could decide soon.

In a recent article, 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham, one of the best in the business, said that at this juncture, recruiting juggernaut Memphis and the professional route, specifically the NBA G League Ignite, appear to be the two main contenders for Cruz.

Branham said that Memphis may have the edge as a leader for Cruz at this time, with the 247Sports analyst adding that “we could have a decision from Cruz during the early signing period.”

I always kind of figured that Cruz, who is ranked in the top-20 overall of the 2022 class by some recruiting services, could end up going the pro route.

But if he doesn’t take that path, Memphis certainly seems to have had a lot of buzz with Cruz of late. He took an official visit to the Tigers not too long ago, and per Branham, Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway recently traveled to see Cruz.

Hardaway, a former NBA star and ace recruiter, has done quite well on the recruiting trail in recent months, and if he landed Cruz, that would be a major pick-up for the Tigers in the 2022 cycle.

As we’ve noted in a couple of recent columns, multiple national analysts and recruiting insiders have logged predictions for Cruz in the direction of Memphis on the 247Sports Web site and Rivals.com.

Although I’m not a recruiting analyst, I got the sense that the Orange didn’t appear to have much of a realistic chance at landing Cruz, at least not anytime lately.

Cruz is a senior at the Donda Academy in Simi Valley, Calif., after recently transferring there from The Patrick School in Hillside, N.J.