Syracuse Basketball: 6-foot-10 wing makes huge debut in national rankings

Athletic and versatile 6-foot-10 wing Tafara Gapare has shined on the AAU circuit of late, leading to a bunch of new scholarship offers from Syracuse basketball and numerous other high-major programs.

Now as Gapare’s recruitment continues to take off, he has appropriately entered the national rankings for his cycle, which at the moment is the 2023 class, although Gapare is weighing a potential move to 2022.

Recruiting service 247Sports recently updated its 2023 national ratings of the top-150 prospects in this cycle, and Gapare was a big-time stock-riser.

He went from unranked by 247Sports to vaulting into the mix as four stars, No. 46 overall, No. 11 at power forward and No. 2 in Connecticut.

Syracuse basketball offered fast-rising wing Tafara Gapare at the end of April.

As other individual recruiting services such as ESPN, On3 and Rivals.com refresh their national rankings for 2023, I’d imagine that Gapare will find himself highly rated by these other media outlets as well.

That, in turn, should propel him into the 2023 rankings according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the industry-generated On3 Consensus.

Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Gapare is out of the South Kent School in South Kent, Conn. He was a star in April during NCAA live periods on the grassroots-basketball tour for the Baltimore-based Team Melo in Nike’s EYBL league.

More recently, Gapare has earned praise from national analysts and scouts alike for his play in various AAU events, such as the GymRat Challenge in Albany, N.Y., and the Battle of Baltimore, which pitted the Team Melo program against the Baltimore-based Team Thrill out of the Under Armour Association league.

A one-time commit to George Washington, Gapare holds other scholarship offers from squads such as Illinois, UMass, Washington State, Hawaii, Towson, Rutgers, Maryland, Arizona State, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Missouri, Virginia Tech and Xavier. Virginia is also reportedly showing interest in him.

Per 247Sports, Gapare has recently made an official visit to DePaul and an unofficial visit to Maryland. I’d of course love to see him travel to the Hill for an official visit, although if he does reclassify to the 2022 cycle, I don’t know how much of a realistic contender the ‘Cuse would prove for Gapare.

"Dushawn London, a national analyst for 247Sports, recently wrote in part about this Orange recruiting target, “Gapare is another international prospect who has made a big name for himself this spring. Gapare has been one of the most intriguing prospects on the east coast due to his length, athleticism, shooting, and versatility at 6-foot-10.”"