Syracuse basketball enters the recruitment of fast-rising, explosive wing

An explosive-scoring wing in the junior class who significantly boosted his stock during the recent live period has received a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball.

Three-star Kaden Cooper, a 6-foot-6 guard/small forward who is from Oklahoma and suits up for a prep team in Atlanta, recently said on Twitter that he landed an Orange offer.

According to multiple national recruiting analysts, Cooper is one of the hottest prospects around the country in the 2023 class, after he put forth strong performances on the AAU circuit in April.

It’s really encouraging to see the ‘Cuse coaching staff get into the mix for Cooper, although competition for him will prove fierce, as he boasts at least 20 offers and additional interest from some big-time college programs, per media reports and recruiting services.

Syracuse basketball is one of many high-majors to offer talented wing Kaden Cooper.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Cooper suited up for The Skill Factory in Atlanta. He previously competed for Ada High School in Ada, Okla., and Cooper is a member of the Oklahoma-based Team Trae Young on the AAU circuit in the Adidas league.

About a week ago, the second of two live periods was held in several locations around the country, as college coaches, analysts, scouts and others could watch high-school prospects play in person.

In this most recent live period, the Adidas league held its AAU contests in Spartanburg, S.C. Some experts note that Cooper may have helped raise his stock on a national scale as much as, or even more than, any other prospect who competed in Spartanburg.

"Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247Sports, wrote in part about Cooper that he “has made massive strides in his game since last summer and now mixes explosive dunks with tough threes, all with an ideal basketball body and positional size to match.”"

Rivals.com national analyst Travis Graf said that this new Orange recruit “plays violently at both ends, attacking every possession. … Cooper projects as one of the best two-way perimeter players in the class.”

Besides the ‘Cuse, other teams that have offered Cooper include 2022 national champion Kansas, Illinois, Rutgers, Texas Tech, LSU, Wake Forest, Texas, Georgia Tech, St. John’s, DePaul, Creighton, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, among others, according to recruiting Web sites.

In Graf’s recent piece, Cooper noted that he has also garnered interest from the likes of Kentucky, Gonzaga, Maryland, TCU, West Virginia, Oregon, Butler, Connecticut and the NBA’s G League.

At present, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, 247Sports and Rivals.com rate him as a three-star prospect in 2023, but from what I’ve read about him, Cooper is going to end up as a four-star player, if not higher than that.

We’ll of course continue to track his recruitment moving forward.