Syracuse Basketball: Top analyst praises 4-star target’s scoring prowess

Judah Mintz, who is ranked as high as No. 35 overall in the 2022 cycle by one of the primary recruiting services, is taking an official visit to Syracuse basketball this weekend as the Orange prepared to host top-10 Duke on Saturday night.

I came across an interesting social-media tidbit that I wanted to pass along to my fellow ‘Cuse fans about the 6-foot-3 Mintz, who is a four-star guard in his class.

Paul Biancardi, the national recruiting director for ESPN and one of the top analysts around the country, shared some statistics on Mintz on both Instagram and Twitter, and it’s pretty impressive stuff.

A one-time verbal commit to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Pittsburgh, Mintz is a senior at the powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

The Oak Hill Academy, for context, is part of the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (NIBC), a super league of sorts that features some of the premier independent basketball academies nationwide.

Syracuse basketball is hosting 2022 four-star guard Judah Mintz on an official visit.

In the 2021-22 campaign, the Oak Hill Academy has played a grueling slate. The team is presently rated No. 8 nationally in ESPN’s latest top-25 rankings, and a large reason for the Oak Hill Academy’s success is due to Mintz.

According to Biancardi, Mintz is averaging 16.8 points per contest, which puts him in a tie for 4th place in the NIBC. What’s more, the Orange recruiting target connects on a stellar 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc, and 86 percent from the charity stripe.

"Noted Biancardi, Mintz is “one of the most efficient scorers in the country. A 186 shooter when you add up his percentages. That is outstanding.”"

Besides his trip to Central New York, Mintz has visited DePaul and N.C. State, and he will travel to Wake Forest on March 2-4, per media reports. There is some talk that Xavier might also be in the mix for Mintz, who is eyeing a commitment decision in April, according to Biancardi.

As we’ve discussed a lot lately, Syracuse basketball already has a strong five-player class in 2022, but I could definitely foresee there being room for Mintz as well.

Per reports, ‘Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim said earlier this week that senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim, graduate student forward Jimmy Boeheim and senior forward Cole Swider are all departing the Hill after 2021-22.

Add in graduate student center Bourama Sidibe there, and if my numbers are correct, that would leave the Orange with seven scholarship players heading into 2022-23.

With 13 scholarship guys allowed on a roster, and five 2022 commits coming in, it appears that Syracuse basketball would still have one scholarship available for next season.

I’m not a recruiting analyst, but the news about the Boeheim brothers and Swider, perhaps, could be helpful in enticing Mintz to choose the ‘Cuse.

Regardless, whichever college team wins out for Mintz is going to pick up one heck of a high-school prospect.