Five-star point guard Boogie Fland, one of the top prospects nationwide in the 2024 cycle, was offered a scholarship by Syracuse basketball in January of this year.
However, a lot has changed for the Orange between then and now. Legendary Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim has retired and taken on a new role with SU Athletics.
Adrian Autry, about a month ago, was named the new Syracuse basketball head coach. His staff includes associate head coach Gerry McNamara, assistant coach Allen Griffin and a relatively new hire in assistant coach Brenden Straughn, who has deep recruiting ties in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
The 6-foot-3 Fland, an elite prospect coming out of New York state, has a slew of offers, from squads such as Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Villanova, UCLA, UConn, Oregon, Indiana, LSU, Auburn, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Miami, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, TCU, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, Louisville, Florida and Oklahoma, among others.
Syracuse basketball has a huge challenge in trying to prevail for 5-star Boogie Fland.
Fland has taken an official visit to North Carolina, and he has also unofficially visited Seton Hall and St. John’s, per reports. He may be eyeing additional junior-year official visits in the near future.
A recent article from 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham noted that other suitors who could end up getting near-term official visits from Fland include Kentucky, St. John’s, UConn, Kansas, Michigan, Providence and Alabama, among others.
Earlier this year, some recruiting experts said that Syracuse basketball coaches were making an aggressive push to get Boogie Fland on the Hill for an official visit.
In a recent piece by On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw, Fland discussed a variety of college groups, including the Orange. This is a subscriber-exclusive story, so I won’t be sharing full details here.
I’ll just pass along one nugget. Fland says that he wants to see how Autry and his staff fare in their first year without Boeheim at the helm of the program.
At this point, Syracuse basketball appears to have a lot of ground to make up in Fland’s recruitment, but I was able to confirm that it does seem there is at least some level of mutual interest between Orange coaches and Boogie Fland.
He is a standout for Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y., as well as the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals in Nike’s EYBL league on the AAU circuit.
All of the primary recruiting services rate Boogie Fland as a top-15 national player, the No. 1 or No. 2 point guard/combo guard, and the No. 2 prospect in New York within the 2024 class.
For what it’s worth, he does know Syracuse basketball 2024 commit Elijah Moore, a four-star shooting guard out of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y.
The two played against one another several times during the recent 2022-23 stanza, and perhaps Elijah can talk up the ‘Cuse to Boogie Fland.