Syracuse Basketball: Fast-rising City Rocks guard ‘absolutely’ plans to visit

Soaring three-star combo guard Elijah Gertrude, who is one of the hottest prospects in the 2023 class, said in an interview that he plans to visit Syracuse basketball.

At the beginning of July, the Orange coaching staff offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-3 Gertrude, who suits up on the AAU circuit for the Albany City Rocks in Nike’s EYBL league.

In recent days, amid the annual Peach Jam tournament in North Augusta, S.C., media reports indicated that Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim and several of his assistants had been in attendance for at least one of Gertrude’s games.

By the way, if you want to check out some of Gertrude’s box scores during Peach Jam, they are available on the EYBL Web site.

Syracuse basketball recruit Elijah Gertrude has balled out in grassroots basketball lately.

A rising senior at Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, N.J., Gertrude is presently ranked as three stars and inside the top-150 nationally in the 2023 cycle, according to numerous recruiting services.

However, his national ratings are poised to skyrocket, based on his play this spring and summer in AAU competitions. For my money, Gertrude is going to end up as a four-star, top-50 prospect in his class.

He told college basketball insider Adam Zagoria in a recent interview that he “absolutely” anticipates taking a visit to the Hill at some point, which is highly encouraging.

Not too long ago, 2022 national champion Kansas offered Gertrude, whose other offers include from Virginia, St. Bonaventure, Seton Hall, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Iona, Saint Peter’s, Rutgers and Temple.

Even though the Orange only recently offered Gertrude, my sense is that the ‘Cuse is making him a priority in the rising-senior cycle. Dushawn London, a national analyst with 247Sports, recently wrote in a piece, “As of now Gertrude plans on making a decision this fall.”

We’ll certainly monitor when Gertrude ends up traveling to Central New York for a visit. As we noted in two other recent columns, 2024 three-star shooting guard Elijah Moore and 2024 wing Tyler Betsey have also said that they would like to visit the Orange.

The 6-foot-4 Moore, offered by Syracuse basketball in April, is a rising junior at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y., and competes for the Bronx, N.Y.-based Wiz Kids in the Adidas league.

Orange coaches offered the 6-foot-8 Betsey earlier this month. He is a rising junior at the St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Conn., and runs with the New York City-based NY Renaissance on Nike’s EYBL circuit.