Syracuse basketball targets blanket new junior rankings; one player too low

A bunch of 2023 players who hold scholarship offers from Syracuse basketball is featured in a new set of national ratings for the junior cycle.

The recently published rankings on theseasonticket.com highlight the top-100 players in the 2023 recruiting cycle. The Orange doesn’t yet have a verbal commitment in this class, although according to media reports and recruiting services, the ‘Cuse has doled out offers to more than a dozen prospects in this cycle.

I’m counting five guys in these new ratings who have Orange offers and are placed as five stars. They are point guard D.J. Wagner, power forward G.G. Jackson, guard/wing Matas Buzelis, forward Kwame Evans Jr. and small forward Justin Edwards.

Wagner, from Camden High School in Camden, N.J., is No. 2 overall. Jackson, who attends Ridge View High School in Columbia, S.C., is No. 3.

Buzelis, a stand-out at the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., is No. 7. Evans, with the powerhouse Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., is No. 8. And Edwards, a star for the Imhotep Institute Charter High School in Philadelphia, is No. 17.

Let’s see where other Syracuse basketball recruiting prospects are ranked.

A handful of high-school players with ‘Cuse offers are detailed as four-star prospects. Isaiah Miranda, an elite big man from the Springfield Commonwealth Academy in Springfield, Mass., is No. 22.

Elijah Fisher, a wing from the Crestwood Preparatory College in Toronto, Ontario, is surprisingly low at No. 33. Most recruiting services that I’ve come across have him as five stars and in the top-20 overall.

Gavin Griffiths, a talented wing who attends the Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn., is No. 47. Checking in at No. 70 is point guard Aden Holloway with the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind.

And Papa Kante, a power forward/center from the South Kent School in South Kent, Conn., is No. 84 nationally. Kante is reportedly interested in taking an official visit to the Hill.

Several Syracuse basketball 2023 targets didn’t make the cut in these rankings. They include big man Joseph Estrella of South Portland High School in South Portland, Maine, guard Reid Ducharme with the Brewster Academy, and shooting guard/wing Spencer Mahoney, who goes to Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.