Syracuse Basketball: 'Cuse reaches out to guard transfer who averaged nearly 18 PPG

Syracuse basketball is among numerous teams that have reached out to Dakota Leffew, a prolific-scoring senior guard at Mount St. Mary's who has entered the transfer portal, according to a media report.

The transfer portal opened on Monday, and numerous reports stated that the 6-foot-5, 185-pound Leffew had entered the portal as a graduate transfer. On Monday evening, in a post on X, On3 national reporter Joe Tipton said that Leffew had already heard from more than 20 college squads, including the Orange.

Others who have reached out to him, per Tipton, include Gonzaga, BYU, Notre Dame, Indiana, Clemson, Arizona State, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Villanova, Xavier, Minnesota, George Mason, Richmond, Loyola Chicago, George Washington and VCU, among others.

Leffew, who hails from Georgia, had an impressive senior season during the 2023-24 campaign for Mount St. Mary's, which is located in Emmitsburg, Md., and is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ("MAAC").

Syracuse basketball may have an interest in Mount St. Mary's guard transfer Dakota Leffew.

In the most recent term, Mount St. Mary's went 13-19 overall, falling earlier this month in the opening round of the 2024 MAAC Tournament to Canisius.

During 2023-24, as a senior, Leffew averaged 17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals per contest, while connecting on 43.0 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.5 percent from the free-throw line, according to ESPN data.

For those efforts, he was named to the All-MAAC first team, and deservingly so. As a junior in 2022-23, Leffew averaged 13.1 points per game for the Mountaineers.

Leffew, who is from Hampton, Ga., was a member of the 2020 recruiting cycle. According to his bio on the Mount St. Mary's athletics department Web site, he played at Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Ga., and also was on the post-grad team at Middle Georgia Prep in Barnesville, Ga.

The Orange's 2023-24 season came to an end last week when the squad fell in the Atlantic Coast Conference's second round to N.C. State. Syracuse basketball (20-12, 11-9 in the ACC) elected to opt out of the 2024 NIT, assuming it would have received an invite to that annual post-season event.

As the transfer portal opened on Monday, at least two Orange players were hitting the portal. They are sophomores Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland, both of whom can play guard and small forward on the wing.

It's entirely possible that sophomore point guard Judah Mintz will leave the program to pursue a professional career. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that Syracuse basketball coaches will look to the portal to potentially bring in another guard.

I would expect sophomore guard J.J. Starling to return. We'll have to see about other current 'Cuse players. The Orange's 2024 recruiting class includes two members, one of whom is four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore from New York City.

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