Syracuse Basketball: Orange misses out on four-star wing Reid Ducharme

Syracuse basketball remains without a commitment in the 2023 recruiting cycle, after four-star wing Reid Ducharme picked another one of his suitors on Thursday afternoon.

In an announcement that he held with 247Sports, the 6-foot-6 Ducharme said that his future collegiate home would be Big East Conference member Xavier. The consensus four-star, top-100 prospect had a final three of the Orange, Xavier and Penn State.

It’s a bummer that this talented shooting guard/small forward is headed somewhere besides the ‘Cuse, although his selection of the Musketeers isn’t super surprising. In mid-July, On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw logged a prediction for Xavier in Ducharme’s recruitment.

More recently, leading up to his commitment announcement, at least six projections were made in the direction of Xavier for Reid Ducharme between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

Syracuse basketball did not prevail in the recruiting battle over four-star wing Reid Ducharme.

Orange coaches pursued Ducharme for quite some time. The Syracuse basketball coaching staff offered a scholarship to him last August at the team’s annual Elite Camp. Ever since then, when Ducharme would conduct interviews, he would often note that the Orange was recruiting him hard.

Penn State coaches were also involved with Reid Ducharme relatively early on in his recruiting process, while Xavier offered him this past May. It’s important to note that Sean Miller is now the head coach of the Musketeers for the second time around.

Miller, who is an excellent recruiter, previously was the head coach at Pac-12 Conference powerhouse Arizona.

Throughout his recruitment, Reid Ducharme obtained more than 15 offers from a variety of high-major programs, including Syracuse basketball, Penn State, Xavier, Virginia Tech, Miami, Rhode Island, Northwestern, Columbia, Connecticut, Iowa, Providence, Creighton, DePaul, Stanford, Harvard, Brown and UMass.

Over the spring and summer months in grassroots basketball, Ducharme was stellar for the Boston Amateur Basketball Club in Nike’s EYBL league on the AAU circuit.

His performances in recent months, which included a couple of massive scoring outputs, landed him a ton of high praise from national recruiting analysts and scouts. Orange head coach Jim Boeheim and his assistants watched Ducharme suit up in AAU contests on numerous occasions during NCAA live periods this spring and summer.

Plus, as we noted in a column earlier this week, Reid Ducharme has seen his 2023 national rankings skyrocket according to several of the primary recruiting services. He is entering his senior year at the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.

Let’s reset the guard situation for the ‘Cuse as it pertains to the 2023 recruiting cycle. Ducharme is headed elsewhere. Four-star Elmarko Jackson recently put out his top 11, and he didn’t include the Orange.

Also, not too long ago, four-star Elijah Gertrude revealed his top five, and Syracuse basketball wasn’t listed among his finalists.

So as far as I’m aware, that leaves Syracuse basketball coaches to pursue another 2023 target, four-star Mike Williams. The fast-rising Williams, a 6-foot-4 combo guard, plans to take an official visit to the Hill on September 16, according to media reports.

Williams suits up for the Baltimore-based Team Thrill in the Under Armour Association league, and he is a rising senior at the Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland, Md.

Getting back to Reid Ducharme, I had hoped to see him don a ‘Cuse uniform down the line, but I’m wishing him all the best in the Big East. He’s a fine young man!