Amid the fall recruiting period that began in early September, Syracuse basketball coaches have hit the road to check out various four-star and five-star recruits during open gyms at their respective high schools.
One of the more recent developments in this regard centers on Orange 2026 five-star target Alex Constanza, who received a scholarship offer from the 'Cuse coaching staff in mid-January of this year.
Top recruiting analyst Jake Weingarten, who is the founder of Stockrisers.com, first reported that both Illinois and Syracuse basketball were in for the 6-foot-8 Constanza on October 3 amid an open gym at his school, the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which is one of the best squads in the Sunshine State.
Illinois and Syracuse were in yesterday for Top-15 junior Alex Constanza, a source told @Stockrisers. Recently scored 32 points in a Jamboree game versus Monteverde Academy. One of the top recruits in the country.
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) October 4, 2024
Orange assistant coach Allen Griffin is the lead recruiter for Constanza, an elite guard/small forward who received All-America honors at Westminster as a sophomore in the 2023-24 season. Ed Constanza, Alex's dad, confirmed to me via text messages that Griffin was at Westminster last Thursday to check out the younger Constanza.
Syracuse basketball appears to be recruiting 2026 five-star prospect Alex Constanza hard.
Constanza is a consensus top-25 national prospect in the junior class. He is rated as high as No. 10 nationally in this cycle by Rivals.com. When I wrote this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, within the 2026 class, placed Constanza as five stars, No. 11 overall, No. 3 at small forward and No. 2 in Florida.
He is one of at least 11 players in the junior cycle who to date have obtained scholarship offers from the Orange staff, with the most recent one going out to 2026 four-star shooting guard Dakari Spear of The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas.
Constanza is likely to make a trip to Central New York in the near future, his dad has told me several times. In his latest text messages to me on Monday, Constanza's dad says that he told Griffin that Constanza is eager to take an official visit to Syracuse basketball sooner rather than later.
The kid (@_alexconstanza) showed out this past weekend and proved proved why he is considered one of the top players in the class of 2026. Had 32 pts against Montverde Academy @HoopExchange jamboree. @PaulBiancardi @HoopExchange @AdamFinkelstein @cityofpalms1 @kingcottonholi1… pic.twitter.com/gEnKuYsioa
— WA Lions Basketball (@WALionsBasketb1) October 4, 2024
So far in his recruiting process, Constanza has secured around 30 scholarship offers, his dad has told me. Some of his more recent offers have arrived from schools such as Cincinnati, Southern California, Oregon, Miami, Tennessee and Arkansas, among others.
Similar to other top-flight juniors, Constanza's recruitment has picked up steam since mid-June, when the 2026 contact period opened and college coaches could begin initiating direct communication with prospects in this class. Around mid-June, Constanza heard from a ton of college squads, including the 'Cuse.
Welcome to the Family, @_alexconstanza 💎 #RocNationSports pic.twitter.com/exHG9IDNtb
— Roc Nation Sports (@RocNationSports) October 3, 2024
In 2023-24, Constanza helped guide Westminster to a 23-6 overall record while averaging 20.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.8 blocks per contest for the Lions. MaxPreps, at the end of last season, named Constanza to its 2023-24 sophomore All-America third team.
Some high school basketball experts view Westminster as a potential preseason top-25 national group ahead of 2024-25 commencing. As I wrote about recently, the Lions are expected to compete in the loaded 2024 City of Palms Classic, which will take place from December 18 to December 23 in Fort Myers, Fla.