Syracuse Basketball: Amid portal's explosion, a more relaxed environment at Peach Jam

Amid the NCAA transfer portal's explosion and the evolution of name, image and likeness opportunities, Syracuse basketball coaches and their peers around the country are dealing with roster construction in the off-season like they've never had to before.

Case in point, following the completion of the 2023-24 campaign, the Orange saw seven players from the last term transfer to new schools, while point guard Judah Mintz departed for a pro career.

Conversely, the 'Cuse has hauled in a 2024 recruiting class inclusive of two high school seniors and a quartet of four-star transfers. Undeniably, this is a significant roster overhaul for Syracuse basketball ahead of 2024-25, and programs nationwide are experiencing similar trends.

As a result of the NCAA allowing all transfers to immediately play at their new school, and the growth of NIL, coaches on the Hill and elsewhere are putting more emphasis these days on recruiting via the portal, while their focus on high school recruiting, to some extent, has perhaps diminished.

That's according to a variety of media reports I've come across in recent months, including this new one from CBS Sports columnist and analyst Gary Parrish. I recommend carving out some time for Gary's piece; it's insightful.

Syracuse basketball and its peers have adjusted how they recruit in the portal and at the prep level.

To be clear, the Orange and other college squads aren't stopping their recruiting efforts in the high school ranks. Not in the least. But things are changing for sure.

With more of a concentration on the portal, per Parrish's report, that has resulted in a less stressful environment at this week's Peach Jam, the annual season-ending tournament on Nike's EYBL circuit that runs through July 21 in North Augusta, S.C.

Other AAU leagues, too, are conducting their season-ending playoffs. There was an NCAA live period last weekend, and there's another evaluation period this coming weekend from July 19 to July 21.

And, based on various reports from recruiting analysts, the 'Cuse staff, led by head coach Adrian Autry, was in attendance for high school prospects last weekend, and I assume that Orange coaches will do the same this weekend.

Parrish, in his article, talked to numerous college coaches. One coach said to the CBS Sports columnist: "The most stress-free Peach Jam in history."

Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans put it this way. "Unless you're a program that's gonna recruit all portal-kids, you're still gonna want to sign some good high school players -- but you just don't have to sign as many anymore. So the pressure probably isn't as fierce as it once was for the whole staff. Because [in this era of recruiting], if you sign one or two [high school prospects early], you're going to feel pretty good about it."

To that end, in the Orange's 2024 class, it has two high school commits in five-star power forward Donnie Freeman from Washington, D.C., and four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore from New York City. But the 'Cuse brought in four college transfers.

Looking ahead to the 2025 cycle, in late May, Syracuse basketball secured a verbal pledge from five-star forward Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C. And the Orange staff is heavily involved with a handful of other four-star and five-star high school players in the 2025 class.

Yet at the same time, in the off-season after the 2024-25 campaign concludes, it's entirely possible - and likely - that Syracuse basketball coaches will end up bringing in more college transfers than high school seniors for the following term.

Parrish chatted with Baylor's Scott Drew, one of the top college coaches out there who won a national championship in 2021. When asked by Parrish if he has become more selective with high school prospects than in the past, Drew said, "I think everybody is. Used to be, if we needed a big class, we [felt like we had to] get six high school kids. Now, no one feels that way. If we can get the right ones, we might sign three or four. But it's not like we're signing four early, you know? ... It's made it harder for every high-schooler."

The simple truth is that, by and large, experienced transfers - whether at the mid-major or high-major level - will likely be more productive in their first year with a new program than an incoming freshman would prove.

With that additional focus on the transfer portal, rather than the prep level, Parrish made an interesting observation. In years past, whether at Peach Jam or the season-ending playoffs of other AAU leagues, "you would read reports about this player getting a Kentucky offer or that player getting a UCLA offer. It was offers on top of offers on top of offers," Parrish wrote. "But now there's way less of that."

Syracuse basketball coaches, and their peers, will continue to attend Peach Jam and other grassroots hoops events amid live periods, because they'll continue to recruit high school prospects. But as Parrish and others have opined, things are different now.

Added Parrish: "Because Peach Jam is no longer the place most high-major coaches come to build future teams as much as it's the place they come to see a bunch of 17 year-olds who probably can't help them now but just might in three or four years after a couple of productive seasons at the collegiate level leads to them entering the transfer portal."

My how college basketball has changed.