Syracuse Basketball: Scout digs long-term upside of 4-star Brewster recruit

Four-star shooting guard Reid Ducharme, who plans to take an official visit to Syracuse basketball in mid-June, entered the latest set of national rankings for the 2023 class from 247Sports, and one expert says he is likely to continue climbing the charts.

The 6-foot-6 Ducharme is without question a high-priority recruiting target for the Orange coaching staff in the rising senior cycle.

He had a stellar junior year for the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., in a 2021-22 term where he was named to the All-NEPSAC (“New England Preparatory School Athletic Council”) Class AAA second team.

National analysts and scouts also deemed Ducharme a top performer last month on the AAU circuit during NCAA live periods when college coaches could watch him compete in person.

Ducharme, by the way, runs with the Boston Amateur Basketball Club in Nike’s EYBL league on the grassroots-basketball tour.

A well-respected scout says Syracuse basketball recruit Reid Ducharme has loads of potential.

When 247Sports recently updated its 2023 national ratings of the top-150 players in this cycle, Ducharme made his debut as three stars, No. 119 overall, No. 21 at small forward and No. 5 in Massachusetts.

But Ducharme, who played for the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass., before heading to the Brewster Academy, is bound to move higher in the 247Sports national rankings for 2023 assuming he keeps on progressing with his development, according to Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247Sports.

"Finkelstein wrote in part about Ducharme that he’s “an elite competitor with toughness and all the intangibles. In short, he’s the type of guy that I want to bet on, both in terms of doing whatever is necessary to win games, and also to develop his individual game.”"

It’s no wonder that ‘Cuse coaches are recruiting Ducharme hard. As we recently noted, he will travel to the Orange campus for an official visit from June 14 to June 16, according to SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister.

Ducharme, who received a scholarship offer from the ‘Cuse last August at the team’s annual Elite Camp, has earned offers from other squads like Xavier, Rhode Island, Northwestern, Columbia, Connecticut, Iowa, Providence, Penn State, Creighton, DePaul, Stanford, Harvard, Brown and UMass, per media reports and recruiting services.

And even with his initial 247Sports rating just inside the top-120 nationally, that has propelled his industry-generated rankings within the top-100 overall.

The 247Sports Composite, for one, had Ducharme as four stars and at No. 90 around the country when I penned this piece, along with No. 19 at small forward and No. 4 in Massachusetts.

The On3 Consensus, meanwhile, places Ducharme as four stars, No. 83 nationwide, No. 21 at shooting guard and No. 3 in New Hampshire.

Additionally, ESPN, On3 and Rivals.com situate him as four stars. Ducharme is No. 62 overall from On3, No. 84 via ESPN and No. 104 over at Rivals.com.

Ever since Syracuse basketball coaches offered Ducharme, I’ve been really high on him.

I get the sense that the Orange has a good shot at prevailing in his recruitment, and I adamantly believe that Reid Ducharme could carve out an excellent hoops career in Central New York if he ultimately picked the ‘Cuse as his collegiate destination.