Syracuse Basketball: Big-man recruit boosts stock in AAU, 5 stars in reach

Two live periods have come and gone in the month of April, with experts noting a variety of high-school prospects who have raised their stocks on a national scale, including several with offers and interest from Syracuse basketball.

Following the conclusion of the most recent live period, which enabled college coaches, recruiting analysts, scouts and others to watch high-school players in person for a second time this month, I’ve come across numerous comments from experts that speak to Orange 2024 four-star recruit Yves Missi playing at a high level for his AAU squad in recent weeks.

The 6-foot-11 Missi, who received a scholarship offer from the ‘Cuse coaching staff last December, is already viewed by several recruiting services as a top-40 overall prospect in his class, as well as a top-10 center.

Missi’s recruitment is clearly heating up, and his national rankings in 2024 are poised to soar even more. I could envision him attaining five-star status in this cycle when all is said and done.

Competition is growing for Syracuse basketball big-man target Yves Missi.

About a week ago, the shoe-sponsored AAU circuits held games in a couple of locations around the country during this second April live period.

Missi, a sophomore out of the West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Md., plays on the grassroots hoops circuit in Nike’s EYBL league for the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals.

Multiple national analysts and scouts, including Rivals.com basketball recruiting director Rob Cassidy and Tony McNiff of MADE Hoops, have praised Missi for his play of late for the PSA Cardinals.

McNiff included Missi among his standouts during this second live period on the EYBL circuit. Cassidy wrote in a piece that Missi is collecting nearly 10 rebounds per game in AAU competitions so far this spring.

At the time of this writing, Rivals.com placed Missi at No. 39 nationally in the 2024 class, while he is No. 30 according to 247Sports and No. 31 per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

After watching him in person several times, Cassidy said that Missi’s “current ranking of 39th seems a bit too low.”

According to recruiting services and media reports, some of Missi’s other offers include from UCLA, St. John’s, Rutgers, DePaul, Norfolk State and USC Upstate.

However, just in the last few weeks, heavyweights Michigan, Kansas (the 2022 NCAA Tournament winner) and Indiana have pledged scholarships to Missi. That’s certainly telling of the expansion in his recruitment.

I’m not a recruiting analyst or scout, but the way that he has performed, and the huge offers coming in, signify to me that Missi could absolutely evolve into a five-star, top-25 player in the 2024 cycle.

As is often the case, Syracuse basketball coaches should be commended for identifying Missi’s talents early on in his recruiting process.

It’s encouraging that the Orange is pursuing him. The hiccup is that more and more stellar suitors are likely to begin targeting Missi in the near future.