Five-star point guard Boogie Fland, a consensus top-15 national prospect in the 2024 class who was offered a scholarship by Syracuse basketball this past January, has disclosed his top eight.
The Orange, unsurprisingly, didn’t make the cut for the 6-foot-3 Fland, who is generally deemed a top-two player in the state of New York within the rising-senior cycle.
Earlier this year, the ‘Cuse coaching staff was in attendance for at least one of Fland’s post-season games during the 2022-23 season for Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y. National recruiting analysts also had suggested that Orange coaches were trying to get Boogie Fland on the SU campus for an official visit.
In early April, he said in an interview that he was keeping an eye on how ‘Cuse head coach Adrian Autry and his staff were doing this year with the legendary Hall of Famer, Jim Boeheim, having retired last March.
Candidly, I’m not sure how much Syracuse basketball coaches were recruiting Boogie Fland in recent months, or whether he had a high level of interest in the Orange.
Five-star point guard Boogie Fland, who held a Syracuse basketball offer, has revealed his eight finalists.
According to reports from recruiting analysts and scouts, Fland’s top eight consists of Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, fellow Atlantic Coast Conference team North Carolina, Rick Pitino-led St. John’s and 2023 national champion UConn.
https://twitter.com/Andrew__Slater/status/1680969877249732608
Throughout his recruiting process, Boogie Fland has picked up more than 20 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs. He has officially visited North Carolina, Michigan, and Indiana, while taking unofficial visits to both UConn and St. John’s, per an article from On3 national analyst Joe Tipton.
Tipton writes that “Fland hopes to visit Kentucky, Alabama, UConn, and Maryland in the month of September.”
Besides starring for Archbishop Stepinac, Boogie Fland earned a lot of high praise from experts for his play this spring and summer for the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals in Nike’s EYBL league on the AAU circuit.
Within the 2024 cycle, multiple recruiting services rank him as a top-10 overall player and the No. 1 point guard across the country in this class.
To date in the rising-senior cycle, Syracuse basketball has scored two verbal commitments. They are from four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore of New York City and four-star power forward Donnie Freeman of Washington, D.C.
As far as I can tell, in the 2024 class, the Orange coaching staff continues to pursue two other recruits. One high-priority target is five-star guard Jalil Bethea, who plays for Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pa., and the Philadelphia-based Team Final in Nike’s EYBL league.
A recent media report stated that the ‘Cuse is in the top six of the 6-foot-4 Bethea, along with Miami, Kansas, Villanova, UConn and Alabama. The Orange offered him in September of 2022, he took an official visit to the Hill the following month, and Bethea has said more recently that he may visit Syracuse basketball again.
The other 2024 recruit who the ‘Cuse coaching staff appears to remain in pursuit of is four-star point guard Mikey Lewis. The 6-foot-3 Lewis, offered by the Orange in late April, has said that he may look to officially visit Syracuse basketball at some point, although he continues to see his offer sheet expand.
Lewis played quite well in the most recent AAU season as a member of the Oakland, Calif.-based Oakland Soldiers in Nike’s EYBL league. For the upcoming 2023-24 campaign, he is transferring for his senior year from Accelerated Prep in Lakewood, Colo., to the powerhouse Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif.
While I had hoped that the Orange would have emerged as a contender for Boogie Fland, I’m wishing this talented young man all the best moving forward!