Syracuse basketball 4-star big-man recruit vaults from unranked into top 25

One of the hottest prospects across the country is Syracuse basketball 2023 four-star recruiting target Ugonna Kingsley, whom some national analysts and scouts have suggested lately is perhaps the best rim protector in the entire rising-senior cycle.

The 7-foot center, offered a scholarship by the Orange in February, has performed at a ridiculously high level of late on the AAU circuit, both during NCAA live periods in April and at more recent grassroots-basketball competitions.

As such, Kingsley’s list of offers has absolutely blown up, with a range of impressive high-major programs pledging him offers or showing interest in him.

To that end, his national rankings in 2023 have also skyrocketed, and the latest update from one of the primary recruiting services is a perfect example of this trend.

Syracuse basketball has its hands full in trying to win out for four-star big man Ugonna Kingsley.

In the 2021-22 campaign, as a junior, Kingsley was part of an undefeated Putnam Science Academy in Putnam, Conn., which is one of the premier prep-school teams nationwide.

On the AAU circuit, he suits up for the Team New England Basketball Club as well as the NY Jayhawks, which runs in the Adidas league.

Not too long ago, Kingsley caught the attention of numerous analysts and scouts for his performance at the inaugural Mayhem in Maryland event in Baltimore, where he competed for the NY Jayhawks.

Just in the past few days, 247Sports refreshed its national ratings of the top-150 prospects in the 2023 class, and Kingsley went from unranked to four stars, No. 23 overall, No. 4 at center and No. 1 in Connecticut within this cycle. That’s a huge, huge jump.

Multiple other recruiting Web sites place him in the top-40 nationally at this juncture. The industry-generated On3 Consensus, for one, has Kingsley at No. 24 overall, followed by On3 at No. 25, ESPN at No. 36 and the industry-generated 247Sports Composite at No. 40.

In 2023, Kingsley is a consensus four-star player, and the majority of recruiting services deem him as a top-four center in this class, as well as the No. 1 or the No. 2 prospect out of Connecticut.

Besides Syracuse basketball, his other offers have arrived from squads such as UConn, Kansas, Maryland, Florida, Mike Hopkins-led Washington, LSU, Ohio State, Kansas State, Ole Miss, Georgia, Providence, Georgetown, Texas Tech, Washington State, Clemson, Seton Hall, California and Iowa.

I’ve seen recent media reports detailing that Kentucky, Oregon, Baylor and Duke, among others, are showing interest in Kingsley as well.

Despite this intense competition, the Orange is reportedly recruiting him at a consistent pace, led by ‘Cuse assistant coach Gerry McNamara.

We’ll certainly continue to monitor whether Kingsley decides to travel to the Hill for a visit. A recent article from Rivals.com basketball recruiting director Rob Cassidy says that Kingsley may be eying visits to Kansas, Kentucky and UConn in the near future.