Syracuse basketball will have to beat out former SU coaches for 4-star, 5-star targets

The Syracuse basketball staff, led by first-year head coach Gerry McNamara, is ramping up its high school recruiting efforts, now that the team's roster for the 2026-27 season is nearly complete.

In recent weeks, Orange coaches have offered a scholarship to a handful of highly ranked prospects in the 2027 class, while showing an interest in other 2027 and 2028 prospects (and beyond, perhaps).

As more NCAA-permitted evaluation periods arrive in the coming weeks, along with the 2028 contact period opening on June 15, it's likely that the 'Cuse staff will offer more scholarships to high school players.

And as Syracuse basketball coaches begin to pursue more high school prospects across various recruiting classes, the 'Cuse will find itself in recruiting battles for some of these players with programs that include former Orange coaches, such as Adrian Autry and Brenden Straughn.

Autry, who served as SU's head coach for three campaigns, is now an assistant at fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Virginia, while Straughn is an assistant coach at another ACC member, Boston College, whose new head coach is former UConn assistant Luke Murray.

By the way, both the Cavaliers and the Eagles will head to the JMA Wireless Dome for conference contests in the upcoming 2026-27 stanza. Fun.

Syracuse basketball is recruiting players who are being pursued by UVA and BC.

In late April, the new Orange staff offered a scholarship to 2027 five-star point guard Nasir Anderson of Prolific Prep in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Per national analyst Sam Kayser, both the 'Cuse and Virginia are among the schools in frequent contact with Anderson these days.

Another 2027 prospect who holds an offer from Syracuse basketball and UVA is four-star shooting guard RJ Moore of the Ambassador Christian School in Huntersville, N.C. Moore, too, was offered by SU late last month.

Keep an eye on 2027 four-star point guard J'Lon Lyons of the Clinton Grace Christian School in Clinton, Md. He was offered by Boston College on Friday, per his X page. Lyons also has offers from the Cavaliers and the Orange, although his offer from SU was doled out by the former Syracuse basketball staff in late June of last year.

Lyons is close with Straughn, so his new offer from the Eagles is no surprise at all. Let's see if McNamara and his assistants end up offering Lyons, too.

In recent days, 2027 four-star power forward Ian Condon of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., landed new offers from Syracuse basketball and Boston College, per his X page.

Two other 2027 prospects who have picked up offers from the Eagles are four-star wing Declan Griffiths and fellow four-star wing Markus Kerr. As I've noted in recent articles, the 'Cuse staff is showing some level of interest in Griffiths, out of The Newman School in Boston, and Kerr, who attends the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.

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