Syracuse basketball 4-star, 5-star recruits to check out at GEICO Nationals

The prestigious 2022 GEICO Nationals, with its eight-team field compromised of some of the premier independent hoops academies and prep-school squads around the country, will commence on Thursday, and it will feature a handful of Syracuse basketball four-star and five-star recruiting targets.

The GEICO Nationals, which is in its 14th year and will anoint a high-school national champion for the 2021-22 campaign, runs from March 31 to April 2 at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Ft. Myers, Fla.

The No. 1 seed in this season’s GEICO Nationals is the Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kan., followed in order by the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., the Link Academy in Branson, Mo., the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., the AZ Compass Prep School in Chandler, Ariz., the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., and Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif.

Five of this year’s participants in the GEICO Nationals are teams within the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”), a super league of sorts that began its operations in 2021-22. Those that aren’t NIBC members are the Link Academy, the AZ Compass Prep School, and Prolific Prep.

Several Syracuse basketball recruits are playing in the 2022 GEICO Nationals.

One of the standouts for the Oak Hill Academy is 2022 four-star guard Judah Mintz, who is expected to announce his collegiate destination in the next day or so.

Mintz, previously committed to Pittsburgh, has a final four of the Orange, DePaul, Wake Forest and N.C. State. According to some national recruiting analysts, Big East Conference team DePaul is the favorite to land Mintz, who has had a stellar senior stanza for the Oak Hill Academy and was selected to the NIBC All-Conference second group.

Aden Holloway, a 2023 four-star point guard, has put forth a wonderful junior term for the La Lumiere School. Holloway, on the NIBC All-Conference third team, received a scholarship offer from the ‘Cuse back in the summer of 2019, according to recruiting services.

Central New York native J.J. Starling, a 2022 four-star guard who had the Orange in his top five before choosing Notre Dame, also suits up for the La Lumiere School.

The Montverde Academy has proven perhaps the best independent basketball academy nationwide in recent years, and the Eagles are strong contenders to cut down the nets at the 2022 GEICO Nationals.

Two stellar high-school prospects on the Montverde Academy roster hold scholarship offers from Syracuse basketball. They are 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr. and 2024 five-star power forward Derik Queen.

Evans and Queen, who both hail from Baltimore, are in the running for the No. 1 overall ranking in their respective recruiting cycles. Orange coaches offered each of them last October.

Finally, although he’s no longer a ‘Cuse recruiting prospect, 2022 four-star guard Chance Westry is a star player for the AZ Compass Prep School.

A long-time former recruiting target of Syracuse basketball, Westry has had a strong senior year for the Dragons. He is committed to Auburn.

If you want to see how you can watch these Syracuse basketball recruiting targets and others play in the 2022 GEICO Nationals via various ESPN channels, check out this article that we penned a few weeks ago.