Syracuse Basketball: Orange has interest in 4-star PG on country’s top team

I’ve written a couple of columns in the past stating that Syracuse basketball coaches were reportedly showing interest in 2024 four-star point guard Curtis Givens III, according to his bio on the 247Sports Web site.

To add to that, a few days ago, Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy published a piece where he discussed the Orange’s recruiting efforts within the junior class. In that article, Cassidy noted several 2024 targets whom we’ve covered a lot lately, but the Rivals.com analyst also mentioned the 6-foot-3 Givens.

I scrolled around the primary recruiting Web sites and haven’t seen anything about the ‘Cuse having offered a scholarship to Givens, who is a consensus four-star, top-100 player in the 2024 cycle. I’ll of course continue to monitor whether the Orange does end up offering him.

Givens is a native of Memphis, Tenn. He previously suited up for the Memphis University School but prior to the 2022-23 season commencing, Givens transferred to the powerhouse Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla.

Syracuse basketball is displaying interest in 2024 four-star point guard Curtis Givens III.

Per recruiting services, Givens has amassed more than 15 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs, including Memphis, Ole Miss, LSU, Illinois, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, Georgetown, St. John’s, Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Xavier.

On the 247Sports Web site, college squads apparently showing interest in Givens include the Orange, Florida State, Duke, Houston, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt.

It’s worth pointing out here that Syracuse basketball is pursuing 2024 five-star point guard Boogie Fland from New York state and 2024 four-star combo guard Jalil Bethea from the Philadelphia area. Both the 6-foot-4 Bethea and the 6-foot-3 Fland have received sizable name, image and likeness offers from businessman, philanthropist and top SU booster Adam Weitsman.

In late January, the ‘Cuse coaching staff landed its first 2024 pledge when four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore from New York City gave a verbal commitment to the team. Weitsman has verbally agreed to a major NIL deal with the 6-foot-4 Moore.

Getting back to Givens, at present, he is rated as high as No. 52 nationally in the 2024 cycle by On3. Multiple recruiting services rank him as a top-15 point guard across the country in his class.

During the current 2022-23 stanza, Givens is playing for an absolutely loaded Montverde Academy roster. You can check out his statistics for the Montverde Academy via the MaxPreps Web site.

The Montverde Academy, in recent years, has proven the premier high-school squad nationwide. The Eagles won the 2022 GEICO Nationals and are expected to be a high seed in the 2023 GEICO Nationals, a prestigious event that will take place this spring.

This past week, the Montverde Academy held the top spot in a set of national rankings from MaxPreps. The Eagles are a member of the 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”).

I came across a recent story on Givens by Dorian Alerte on zagsblog.com. In that piece, Givens said he is likely to take official visits in the spring. Regarding his recruiting process, some of the teams that Givens mentioned were LSU, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Michigan State and Clemson.