Syracuse Basketball: Pair of Tigers may be biggest threat for 4-star guard

Syracuse basketball 2023 priority recruiting target Mike Williams from Maryland, who recently visited the Hill on an official visit, is set to announce his college choice in the near future.

In all fairness, you never entirely know how these decisions will shake out until a high-school player actually makes his commitment announcement.

Remember how things went down with 2022 four-star guard Judah Mintz? DePaul received heavy analyst buzz for the Syracuse basketball freshman, but then Mintz ultimately picked the Orange at the end of March.

So in the case of the 6-foot-4 Williams, a four-star guard, we’ll have to see how everything shakes out. When I wrote this column on Friday evening, there weren’t any analyst predictions in his recruitment on the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com or the On3 Web site.

That being said, I have come across media reports and analyst commentary of late that suggests there could be some “front-runners” for him, if you want to call them that.

Syracuse basketball will soon know if it has landed four-star guard Mike Williams.

Recently, Williams has made official visits to the ‘Cuse, Clemson, DePaul, Wake Forest and, most recently, LSU. He also went on an unofficial visit to VCU not too long ago.

Per 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein, those six schools are Williams’ finalists. He will reveal his college decision on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 3 pm EST on the 247Sports Channel, according to Finkelstein.

Williams, a top-100 player who has obtained around 20 scholarship offers throughout his recruiting process, is a senior at the Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland, Md. Over the summer, he helped lead the Baltimore-based Team Thrill to the 17U division title in the Under Armour Association league.

Regarding Syracuse basketball, Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy said that the Orange is “very much alive” with Williams, adding that for the ‘Cuse, “there’s reason to be cautiously hopeful at the very least.”

In a separate recent article, On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw, who is among the best in the business at forecasting these sorts of recruiting decisions, noted that as it pertains to Williams, keep a watchful eye out for both LSU out of the Southeastern Conference and Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Another ACC member, Wake Forest, is among Williams’ half-dozen finalists. However, I don’t think that Williams is going to select the Demon Deacons, as only a few days ago, 2023 four-star shooting guard Aaron Clark verbally committed to Wake Forest.

There are also DePaul and VCU here. If I had to venture a guess, though, I think Williams is going to end up at either LSU, Clemson or the Orange.

I don’t have a super warm and fuzzy feeling that Syracuse basketball will prevail, and it’s frustrating that the ‘Cuse still remains without a commitment from a 2023 player after having offered more than 20 prospects in this cycle.

But as we all remember from Mintz’s recruitment, nothing is a guarantee until a high-school player dons the hat, uniform or other apparel of the college team for which he will ultimately suit up.

For now, though, two schools with Tigers as their mascot seem to be the biggest threat to Syracuse basketball in Williams’ recruitment.