Syracuse Basketball: Big-time offers, interest for talented big-man target

Syracuse basketball 2023 target Joseph Estrella is seeing his recruitment heat up on a national scale.

Per his Twitter page, the 6-foot-10 power forward recently picked up scholarship offers from fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Boston College, as well as Big Ten Conference squad Iowa.

That’s in addition to other recent offers from Providence, Tennessee and Harvard. Orange coaches offered the talented and under-rated Estrella this past August at the team’s annual Elite Camp, and I believe that this was the first college scholarship offer for the junior at South Portland High School in South Portland, Maine.

It’s likely that Estrella has a way to go with his recruiting process before making a decision, but these are already some impressive offers.

Iowa, for example, does a really great job of recruiting and developing big men. Former Hawkeyes star center Luka Garza was a recent national player of the year, and former ‘Cuse 2021 big-man target Riley Mulvey chose Iowa.

Syracuse basketball has steep competition for big man Joseph Estrella.

But there’s more to unwrap here. I recently came across an intriguing piece on Estrella by Steve Craig, a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald.

On the grassroots basketball circuit, Estrella suits up for one of the best AAU groups in the New England region, the Middlesex Magic. In the Portland Press Herald article, Estrella’s recruitment is discussed by Michael Crotty Jr., who is the Middlesex Magic’s head coach.

Crotty says that high-major teams such as Duke, Kansas, Notre Dame and Marquette are looking forward to watching Estrella play. “And the attention from Kansas and Duke assistant coaches is very real,” Crotty says in Craig’s story.

This is why I often like to say that recruiting rankings, while useful for context, don’t always tell the entire story about a high-school prospect.

Yes, at this juncture, I haven’t come across a primary recruiting service that has Estrella nationally rated. That, I’m confident, will change.

Plus, look at the schools that have already offered Estrella. Duke and Kansas are showing interest. Need I say more? The Blue Devils and the Jayhawks are blue-blood programs, and they annually bring in some of the top recruits in the sport of college basketball.

As we’ve noted in prior columns on Estrella, the New England Recruiting Report ranks him as the No. 1 player in the state of Maine and No. 10 overall in New England within the 2023 cycle.

Comments that I’ve read about Estrella from analysts and scouts praise him for a strong work ethic, humility, a formidable paint presence, good ball-handling skills, rebounding and defensive prowess, and a more than capable 3-point shot.

So, I imagine, the national rankings will arrive for Estrella at some point sooner rather than later. But regardless, coaches from big-time college programs have already taken notice.