Syracuse Basketball: Kentucky offers 5-star target and will be tough to beat

I had a feeling that Kentucky would offer a Syracuse basketball 2023 five-star target on his recent official visit to the Wildcats, and that’s exactly what transpired.

According to his Twitter page, elite forward Kwame Evans Jr. from Baltimore has landed a scholarship offer from recruiting juggernaut Kentucky, and that could spell trouble for the Orange and Evans’ many other high-major suitors.

The 6-foot-9 Evans, a consensus five-star, top-five overall player nationwide in his recruiting class, is a junior at the powerhouse Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., a team that he transferred to from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.

Orange coaches offered Evans about a month ago. His other offers include from Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, Memphis, Texas, Southern California, Florida, Illinois, Pittsburgh, Kansas, LSU, Maryland, Tennessee, Texas A&M, St. John’s, Georgetown, Virginia Tech and Auburn.

A blue-blood team is in the mix for Syracuse basketball target Kwame Evans Jr.

Kentucky, a member of the Southeastern Conference, isn’t the first recruiting giant to offer Evans, as other heavyweights such as Memphis and Kansas are vying for him as well. And I’m confident that other blue-bloods will end up courting Evans.

But whenever the Wildcats and their ace recruiter, head coach John Calipari, get into the fray for a top-flight prospect, that will undoubtedly make things quite challenging for the ‘Cuse and others to win out for Evans.

According to media reports, Evans took an unofficial visit to Maryland a few months ago, and I’m sure that he will make other official visits in the future. Hopefully, one of those trips is to the Hill.

As we detailed in a recent column, one national analyst has logged a prediction for Evans in the direction of Oregon, but let’s see how his new Kentucky offer potentially changes his recruitment.

Numerous national analysts and recruiting insiders have said of late that they believe Evans will make a serious run for the top spot in the 2023 class.

"Regarding the Orange’s chances with him, 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi recently said to me via Twitter, “Evans has EVERYBODY after him and could be some work to do in order to catch up on him already.”"

With the Wildcats involved, Syracuse basketball definitely appears to have a lot of work to do if it wants to ultimately secure Evans. We’ll have to see how this plays out, and we’ll of course continue to closely monitor Evans’ recruiting process.