As big man’s stock blows up, hoping Syracuse basketball lands official visit

One of the hottest prospects in the 2023 recruiting cycle is Syracuse basketball big-man target Joseph Estrella, a 6-foot-10 power forward/center who had been flying under the radar on a national basis but isn’t any longer.

Estrella, as a junior, was a total stud for South Portland High School in South Portland, Maine, in the recently concluded 2021-22 campaign. He’ll suit up against some of the best competition in the country as a senior, when he plays for the powerhouse Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.

And during a recent round of AAU sessions on the various shoe-sponsored circuits during an NCAA live period, Estrella had numerous college coaches watching him, and the young man did anything but disappoint.

In fact, Estrella made have helped out his stock as much as anyone a few days ago when he performed at a stellar level for his AAU squad, the New England-based Middlesex Magic, a team that went 4-0 in a recent Under Armour Association (“UAA”) session.

Syracuse basketball coaches got involved in Estrella’s recruiting process relatively early on, offering him a scholarship this past August at the Orange’s annual Elite Camp.

But the competition for Estrella, who is likely to leap into the 2023 national rankings as a top-100 to a top-150 player at some point sooner rather than later, continues to intensify all the time.

Let’s see if Syracuse basketball emerges as a significant contender for big man Joseph Estrella.

Since that recent UAA session transpired, Estrella has picked up new offers from college squads including Xavier, California, Maryland, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Wisconsin and Virginia Tech.

Besides the ‘Cuse, other prior offers to him have arrived from Boston College, Iowa, Providence, Tennessee, Harvard, Maine, Penn State and Marquette, according to media reports, recruiting services and Estrella’s own Twitter page.

Jamie Shaw, a national analyst with On3, named Estrella as the most outstanding player in that first UAA session, writing in part about the Syracuse basketball recruit, “Still developing, there is a lot to like with his current game and even more to enjoy looking toward the future.”

In a recent interview with Shaw, Estrella said of the schools that had offered him up until the present, he had been hearing the most from Tennessee, Marquette and Penn State.

"Estrella had some positive things to say about the Orange, telling Shaw, “It was awesome talking with Coach (Jim) Boeheim. He is just a legendary coach, and that was awesome. The coaching staff there has been awesome, and their facility is great. They like athletic big guys who can make plays. They really like my game.”"

With so many high-major programs offering Estrella and contacting him of late, he is still sorting on which campuses he would like to take official visits to as part of his junior year.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that one of those official visits is to the Hill.