Syracuse basketball isn’t among the finalists for 5-star Kentucky de-commit

Syracuse basketball coaches had made contact with 2022 five-star guard Skyy Clark, who de-committed from blue-blood squad Kentucky and reopened his recruitment back up several weeks ago.

The Orange, though, will not be landing the 6-foot-3 Clark, a consensus top-50 prospect who is a senior at the powerhouse Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla.

According to media reports on Tuesday, including one from On3 national recruiting expert Joe Tipton, Clark has revealed his list of a half-dozen finalists.

The ‘Cuse didn’t make the cut. Those college squads that did are fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Louisville, Illinois, Tennessee, USC, Maryland and Mike Hopkins-led Washington.

Syracuse basketball is out of the running for five-star guard Skyy Clark.

Since I’m not a recruiting analyst, and I’m also not in Clark’s inner circle, I wouldn’t pretend to know how much mutual interest there was, if any, between him and the Orange coaching staff.

It’s true that, per reports, the ‘Cuse reached out to Clark following his de-commitment from Kentucky, but so did a bunch of other high-major squads.

As we noted in previous columns on Clark, reports suggested that those teams making contact with him included Gonzaga, Illinois, Tennessee, Arizona State, South Carolina, Butler, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Washington, Xavier, USC, Oklahoma State and Marquette.

More recently, Maryland and Louisville had been reportedly communicating with Clark. The Terrapins have a new head coach in former Seton Hall boss Kevin Willard, while Kenny Payne is the new leader of the Cardinals program. Payne previously was a former assistant coach at both Oregon and Kentucky.

In recent days, multiple national analysts have discussed the possibilities of Illinois and Washington being in a good position with Clark, who is rated as high as No. 25 across the country in the 2022 cycle according to ESPN. He is from Nashville, Tenn., so the Volunteers being in the mix certainly sounds logical.

Although Clark won’t be in the Orange’s future, Syracuse basketball does have two four-star guards within its five-member 2022 recruiting class.

The ‘Cuse has also been pursuing 2022 four-star guard Judah Mintz, a senior at the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., who is expected to announce his collegiate destination in the coming days. Several analysts, though, are forecasting that Mintz will ultimately pick Big East Conference team DePaul.