Syracuse basketball should make a run at 5-star moving to IMG Academy

Syracuse basketball coaches have already doled out scholarship offers to, and shown interest in, a wide range of four-star and five-star prospects in the 2024 class.

Come June 15, Orange coaches and their peers around the country will be able to start making direct contact with players in this cycle. That could result in the ‘Cuse ramping up its recruitment of current targets while also possibly making new offers to others in 2024.

One top-flight guy in this class whom I am really high on is five-star wing Bryson Tucker, who had a brilliant sophomore term in 2021-22 for his prep-school squad in Baltimore.

The 6-foot-6 small forward, who is a consensus top-10 national prospect in the 2024 cycle according to the primary recruiting services, should see his offer list expand when the contact period opens, and I’d love to see the ‘Cuse coaching staff get involved with this elite player.

Syracuse basketball, hopefully, is taking a close look at five-star wing Bryson Tucker.

During the 2021-22 term, Tucker was a stand-out for Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore. In his sophomore year there, he averaged 22 points, six rebounds and four assists per game and was named to the MaxPreps sophomore All-America first team.

According to an article from MaxPreps, Tucker was a pivotal piece as Mount Saint Joseph High School went 32-7 overall and captured the Baltimore Catholic League tournament crown.

I acknowledge some bias here. I grew up near Baltimore, and I had several friends who attended Mount Saint Joseph back in the day.

But regardless of that, Tucker is a significant contender for the No. 1 overall ranking in the 2024 class. Per several recent media reports, including a tweet from On3 national analyst Joe Tipton, Tucker is transferring from Mount Saint Joseph to the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for the 2022-23 stanza.

His recruiting process likely has a way to go, but his early offers have arrived from college teams such as Duke, Indiana, Notre Dame, George Mason, LSU, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Georgetown, Illinois and Maryland, according to recruiting services.

Understandably, it would likely prove a big challenge for Syracuse basketball to win out for Tucker over a blue-blood program such as Duke, but as I always like to say, you can’t prevail in a player’s recruitment until you offer him first.

Tucker will be a terrific addition to the IMG Academy, whose post-grad squad has featured three Orange players over the past two seasons in rising sophomore forward Benny Williams, along with 2022 four-star wing Justin Taylor and 2022 four-star point guard Quadir Copeland.

According to the main recruiting services, Tucker is deemed a top-five small forward and the No. 1 prospect in Maryland within the 2024 cycle. He’s also rated as a top-five overall prospect in this class by the majority of recruiting Web sites.