Syracuse Basketball: 5-star recruiting targets named All-American finalists

Sports Illustrated All-American has published its list of finalists for its All-American team and its Player of the Year during the 2021-22 campaign, and several Syracuse basketball recruiting targets remain in the running.

As we noted in a column last December, Sports Illustrated All-American had originally unveiled its 99 seniors and five underclassmen who were nominees for the 2021-22 SI All-American squad, and now that list has gotten whittled down to 57 high-school prospects who are in contention as finalists.

The 2021-22 SI All-American group and its Player of the Year will get named in April, according to an article on si.com. The finalists consist of 46 seniors in the 2022 recruiting cycle, along with 11 underclassmen.

Sports Illustrated All-American says that it evaluated hundreds of players as potential All-American candidates, with prospects selected based on a variety of criteria, “including production, consistency, future projection and competition level.”

Let’s see which Syracuse basketball recruiting prospects made the cut.

First and foremost, one of the SI All-American finalists is 2022 four-star guard Judah Mintz, who is a senior at the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

The 6-foot-3 Mintz took an official visit to the Hill this past weekend and is reportedly eyeing a commitment decision sometime in April. He had previously given a verbal commitment to Pittsburgh and looks to also be reportedly considering DePaul, N.C. State, Wake Forest and possibly Xavier.

A couple of underclassmen who are SI All-American finalists include 2023 five-star point guard D.J. Wagner, 2023 five-star power forward G.G. Jackson and 2024 five-star guard Ian Jackson.

The 6-foot-3 Wagner, a junior at Camden High School in Camden, N.J., was offered by the Orange last August at the team’s annual Elite Camp. He is the No. 1 prospect in the 2023 cycle, according to most recruiting services.

Rivals.com, though, recently placed the 6-foot-8 G.G. Jackson in the No. 1 spot within the 2023 class. He is a junior at Ridge View High School in Columbia, S.C., and received a ‘Cuse offer in August of 2020.

The 6-foot-6 Ian Jackson, meanwhile, is one of the top overall high-school players in the 2024 cycle. He is a sophomore at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y.

Recent media reports suggest that ‘Cuse coaches may have interest in Jackson, who was ranked No. 2 nationally when 247Sports came out with its first set of player rankings for the 2024 class not too long ago.

By the way, Syracuse basketball 2022 four-star commits Justin Taylor, a shooting guard/small forward, and Chris Bunch, a small forward, were on the original list of SI All-American nominees this past December but unfortunately are no longer in the running.

The 6-foot-6 Taylor is a senior on the post-grad team at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., while the 6-foot-7 Bunch is a senior at the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah.