This spring and into the summer, two of the hottest 2026 prospects are five-star point guard Deron Rippey Jr. and 2026 combo guard Neiko Mundey, a four-star player. Both hold Syracuse basketball scholarship offers, and both have unofficially visited the Orange in the past.
Later this month, the various AAU circuits will hold their season-ending playoffs amid NCAA-permitted live periods with college coaches in attendance. I expect Syracuse basketball coaches to be in the house for recruiting targets.
In the Adidas 3SSB league, the 6-foot-2 Rippey, who is from New York City, and the 6-foot-3 Mundey, who is from Maryland, have played lights out during the spring sessions ahead of the season-ending playoffs in July.
I might add that both of these 'Cuse targets have earned high praise from national analysts and scouts for their performances in other recent settings, including this past weekend when they suited up for their respective high school programs during a scholastic live period where the Orange staff was on hand.
Syracuse basketball targets land top Adidas honors.
In May, the 3SSB league held two spring sessions. Recently, the scouting experts at The Circuit doled out their spring honors for the 3SSB circuit in the main 17U division.
The Circuit named Rippey and Mundey to its All-3SSB first team for the spring sessions. Rippey, a top-20 national prospect, has averaged 15.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game while connecting on 42.4 percent from beyond the arc. He also resides on The Circuit's All-Defensive squad.
Mundey, a top-50 national prospect, has tallied averages of 19.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals per contest while making an impressive 46.0 percent from downtown.
Rippey plays for the New York-based New Heights, and Mundey suits up for the Washington, D.C., area-based New World. Each of those teams went 5-3 overall during the two 3SSB spring sessions.
A rising senior at the Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., Rippey was offered a scholarship by the Orange in late August of 2023 and unofficially visited the Hill in late February of last year, on Jim Boeheim Day, as I first reported. His dad has told me that Rippey will officially visit Syracuse basketball at some point.
Mundey, meanwhile, unofficially visited SU in late August of 2023 to compete in the Orange's annual Elite Camp, around which time he picked up a Syracuse basketball offer. He is a rising senior at the Prince George’s Christian Academy in Landover, Md. It's unclear to me whether Mundey is interested in taking an official visit to the 'Cuse.