Syracuse Basketball: 4-star commit’s team in danger of falling out of top 20

Syracuse basketball 2022 four-star commit Chris Bunch and his teammates at a prep-school powerhouse have played a daunting schedule to date in the 2021-22 season, and that has led to a handful of defeats.

Bunch, a stellar wing, is a consensus top-100 prospect in the 2022 cycle who is rated in the top-60 overall according to 247Sports. A senior at the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah, Bunch chose the ‘Cuse over Rutgers and Washington in October, and he has signed his national letter of intent to suit up for the Orange.

We’ve noted in a couple of columns of late that the Wasatch Academy went 1-2 at the recently held Bob Kirk Invitational Showcase in Cumberland, Md.

More recently, the Wasatch Academy fell in a pair of games to talented, top-10 squads at the 2021 Hoophall West tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Syracuse basketball commit Chris Bunch is competing versus top-flight competition.

At Hoophall West, former Syracuse basketball 2022 four-star target Chance Westry, who is committed to Auburn, led AZ Compass Prep School out of Chandler, Ariz., to a blow-out win over the Wasatch Academy.

And the Montverde Academy from Montverde, Fla., cruised to a victory against the Wasatch Academy in a contest where Bunch struggled from the field.

The Montverde Academy roster includes two prospects who were offered by the ‘Cuse in October, 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr. and 2024 five-star power forward Derik Queen.

At the time of this writing, the Wasatch Academy had a record of 5-4, according to Jordan Divens, the national basketball editor for MaxPreps.

In his latest national top-20 rankings of independent academies and prep schools, Divens has the Wasatch Academy at No. 16, although he added that the “Tigers will need to bolster their resume at the Tarkanian Classic to remain in the National Top 20 next week.”

Per the 2021-22 schedule for the Wasatch Academy, Bunch and his teammates are expected to play three games in the 2021 Jerry Tarkanian Classic at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.

By the way, the new No. 1 team in Divens’ top 20 is the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which is led by 2022 five-star power forward Jarace Walker, a former Syracuse basketball target who is committed to Houston.

The Montverde Academy, which has lost two really close games so far in 2021-22, is No. 3.