As Syracuse basketball prioritizes 4-star point guard, he’s on a tear in AAU

You’d be hard-pressed to find a point guard in the rising junior class who has been playing at a higher level of late on the AAU circuit than Syracuse basketball priority recruit Robert Wright III from Philadelphia.

The 6-foot-1 Wright, a four-star prospect who is easily one of the fastest risers in the 2024 cycle in recent months, capped off a stellar sophomore season by putting forth elite performance after elite performance in grassroots basketball.

In April, with college coaches including the Orange basketball staff in attendance during NCAA live periods on the AAU tour, Wright earned a ton of praise from national analysts and scouts for his play.

At various other AAU events more recently, he’s been deemed a stand-out performer by experts. For example, at the third session held by Nike’s EYBL league this spring, with this latest slate of games occurring over the Memorial Day weekend in Louisville, Ky., Wright was simply phenomenal, according to media reports.

Syracuse basketball began pursuing four-star point guard Robert Wright III early on.

Per an article from Griffin Greenberg, the creator of The Green Hoop Web site, in Louisville Wright averaged 20 points, 6.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds per encounter, while connecting on a ridiculous 60.6 percent from the field and 48.1 percent from beyond the arc.

By the way, we should note that in grassroots basketball, Wright suits up for the excellent Philadelphia-based Team Final in Nike’s EYBL league.

"Greenberg wrote in part about this Orange recruiting target, “Wright was arguably the top performer of the weekend (in Louisville) and he’s been very impressive all summer. … The shifty guard is quick on the court, finishes through contact at the hoop, hits the three-ball at a high rate, and is great at finding his teammates as he delivered two 12-assist games in Session 3 and is now 3rd in assists per game in EYBL.”"

Well-respected high-school hoops analyst and scout Samad Hines recently said in a tweet that Wright is “one the biggest stock-boosters this spring” in the 2024 class.

All of these exquisite AAU efforts come not long after Wright, as a sophomore in the 2021-22 campaign, played a pivotal role in Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia going 23-4 overall and capturing the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (“PIAA”) 4A state title.

In 2021-22, Wright received an All-America honorable-mention accolade from MaxPreps, when he tallied 19.3 points, 4.3 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game.

Though only a sophomore, he received the Pennsylvania All-State Class 4A player of the year award.

Understandably, Wright’s recruitment is picking up steam, and that should only increase as college coaches can initiate direct communication with 2024 prospects in mid-June.

Syracuse basketball coaches, who are reportedly recruiting him hard, offered a scholarship to Wright in March. Two of his more recent offers are from Penn State and Kansas State.

His offer list also includes Maryland, Miami, Wake Forest, Seton Hall, VCU, Wichita State, La Salle and Delaware State.

I’m not a recruiting analyst nor a scout, however, when recruiting services update their 2024 national rankings in the future, from my perspective Wright should arrive as a five-star, top-25 player in his class, as well as a top-five point guard across the country in this cycle.