Syracuse Basketball: 5-star big man target heads to elite prep-school team

Fast-rising five-star big man Yves Missi, who was offered a scholarship by Syracuse basketball coaches late last year and has proven stellar in grassroots basketball in recent months, is headed to one of the country’s top high-school squads for his upcoming junior campaign.

The 6-foot-11 center recently said via his Twitter page that he will spend the 2022-23 season at Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif. Most recently, as a sophomore, Missi attended the West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Md.

A stand-out over the spring and summer months for the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals in Nike’s EYBL league, Missi picked up an Orange offer in December of 2021, before his recruitment really blew up.

More recently, Missi has vaulted to five stars and into the top-15 nationally within the 2024 class, per multiple recruiting Web sites. At the EYBL’s recently held Peach Jam tournament in North Augusta, S.C., ‘Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim was in attendance for at least one PSA Cardinals game.

Syracuse basketball faces intense competition for five-star big man Yves Missi.

To date, per recruiting services and his Twitter page, Missi holds offers from teams such as Seton Hall, Kansas, Baylor, LSU, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, UConn, Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Harvard, UCLA, St. John’s, Rutgers, DePaul, Norfolk State and USC Upstate.

Recent media reports also suggest that collegiate heavyweights including Kentucky and North Carolina are among those showing interest in Missi.

In 2021-22, Prolific Prep was a top-10 group in many final national rankings, sporting a 26-6 overall mark, according to maxpreps.com.

Missi’s future prep team was selected for the prestigious 2022 GEICO Nationals held earlier this spring in Fort Myers, Fla.

Prolific Prep, as the No. 8 seed in this annual high-school showcase, shocked the No. 1 seed, Sunrise Christian Academy from Bel Aire, Kan., before falling in the semifinals to the No. 4 seed Link Academy in Branson, Mo.

In a recent interview, Missi told national analyst Jacob Polacheck on zagsblog.com that he’s likely to start thinking about planning some campus visits in the near future.

As we noted not too long ago, Missi said to Rivals.com national analyst Travis Graf that Baylor, Kansas and UCLA are sticking out to him.

Additionally, Missi told On3 national analyst Joe Tipton that schools recruiting him hard include Michigan, UCLA, Kansas, Stanford, Georgetown and DePaul.

It’s unclear to me at this juncture how much, if at all, Syracuse basketball coaches are assertively recruiting Missi. He’s a stellar big man in his class, and I’d love to see the Orange get him to the Hill for an official visit sooner rather than later.