Syracuse Basketball: Big-man commit grabs player of the year crown in Va.

Simply put, Syracuse basketball 2022 three-star signee Maliq Brown was sensational in his senior season for his prep school in Virginia.

The 6-foot-9 power forward, part of a stellar six-member 2022 class for the Orange that is presently rated in the top-10 nationally according to Rivals.com, was a key force in the Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va., going 30-5 during the 2021-22 campaign and capturing the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (“VISAA”) Division II championship.

As we’ve noted in other recent columns on Brown, in his senior year for the Blue Ridge School, averaged 15.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocks per contest, according to the MaxPreps Web site.

He showed an ability to put the ball in the bucket, for sure, but what excites me the most about Brown are his defensive prowess, keen rebounding skills, and physical presence in the interior.

Let’s take a look at a recent award doled out to Syracuse basketball commit Maliq Brown.

In a recent article, The Daily Progress out of Charlottesville, Va., published its All-Central Virginia team for the 2021-22 stanza. I’m pleased to share that this media outlet has named Brown its Player of the Year, which is a beautiful achievement.

Last month, we had a piece detailing that Brown received the VISAA Division II Player of the Year prize, and he was also on the Division II All-State first squad.

In 2021-22, by the way, the Blue Ridge School not only amassed a 30-5 overall mark, but it also went 11-0 in Virginia Independent Conference competition and finished up that term ranked No. 4 across all of Virginia, per MaxPreps.

Other signees in the Orange’s 2022 cycle are rated higher than Brown on a national scale, but I’m telling you, this young man is talented and will be an impact player for the ‘Cuse, maybe not a tremendous amount as a freshman, but certainly over the course of his tenure on the Hill.

He is a consensus three-star prospect in 2022. At the time of this writing, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rated him the No. 233 overall prospect and the No. 49 power forward in his class.

ESPN’s new 2022 national ratings place Brown as the No. 42 power forward, while Rivals.com put him as the No. 31 power forward when it recently unveiled its final rankings for this cycle.

What’s more, virtually all of the primary recruiting services deem Brown to be a top-10 prospect coming out of Virginia in the 2022 class.