Syracuse Basketball: Experts view 5-star recruit as future NBA lottery pick

Ever since word broke on social media that the Syracuse basketball coaching staff was reportedly showing some level of interest in 2024 five-star guard Trentyn Flowers, I’ve been keeping tabs on his recruiting process as well as what experts are saying about his overall game.

In the last week or two, I’ve come across numerous articles and comments from national analysts and scouts that speak to the 6-foot-8 Flowers having all kinds of potential and promise as a future player in the NBA.

This is logical, considering that he’s a consensus top-25 prospect in this class, with some recruiting Web sites placing Flowers in the top-10 nationwide within the 2024 cycle.

Some experts have noted of late that Flowers, a sophomore at the Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., is a significant contender for the No. 1 overall ranking in his class.

Syracuse basketball would likely be a long shot to ultimately land five-star Trentyn Flowers.

Flowers, who has been running this spring on the AAU circuit with the Maryland-based Team Durant in Nike’s EYBL league, has a boatload of scholarship offers and interest from a range of blue-blood programs and other recruiting heavyweights in the sport of college basketball.

According to recruiting services, Flowers holds around 20 scholarship offers at this juncture, if not more than that, from teams such as Kansas, Georgetown, Michigan, Auburn, Southern California, Memphis, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Illinois, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech and Texas Tech.

Others, such as Duke, UCLA, North Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon and TCU, are reportedly displaying interest in Flowers, if they haven’t already offered him.

Dwayne Wise, the director of recruiting for Team Durant, recently said on Twitter that Syracuse basketball coaches have shown interest in Flowers, although I don’t think that the Orange has officially offered him.

Taylor Hicks, the founder of scouting service NextUpRecruits, said in a recent piece that he envisions Flowers as a McDonald’s All-American prior to, most likely, playing one year for an elite college team.

Hicks added, “After that, stay tuned for the 2025 NBA Draft because there is a good chance that Flowers will hear his name called in the lottery.”

In a recent Q&A with On3 national analyst Joe Tipton, when asked which college teams are currently the most involved with him, Flowers said, “Texas Tech, TCU, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Oregon, UCLA.”

Flowers has also said in several interviews of late, including the one with Tipton, that Duke was his dream school growing up. So if the Blue Devils ultimately offer him – yikes.

I assume that would probably make it super hard for the ‘Cuse to prevail here, although the competition for Trentyn Flowers already appears so substantial for Syracuse basketball that I can’t see the Orange winning out.