Tuesday marked the 38th annual McDonalds All-American game. For Syracuse fans who elected to watch the High School “All-Star Game” they had a first glance at one of the widely talked about recruits for 2015, Malachi Richardson.
Richardson is the Orange’s highest ranked recruit for the class of 2015 and the Shooting Guard received All-American Honors on January 28th. Tuesday was a chance for him to show his abilities against the other top players who are headed to Division I college programs next year.
Unfortunately for Richardson and the Orange faithful, the nineteen year old struggled in his 14 minutes on the floor going 0-6 from the field and picking up only one rebound and one assist. While these numbers may be glaring, perspective is really important.
This was little more than an All-Star Game or a scrimmage. It is much more of a relaxed, casual kind of game and nothing that comes out of it should be taken too seriously.
Something fans can and should take away from the game is Richardson‚Äôs post-game comments. He said all of the right things following his disappointing performance. He told Syracuse.com “I’m just glad I could be a part of this, to be a McDonald’s All-American. It can only get better from here, so I’m not too worried about how I performed.”
In addition to commenting on his poor play, Richardson had something else to say that would intrigue Syracuse fans. He revealed that he has been talking to Thomas Bryant throughout the week.
Despite all of the signs pointing to Bryant signing with Indiana University, Richardson remains optimistic about landing the star forward. According to Syracuse.com Richardson said, ‚ÄúTrying to figure out if [Bryant‚Äôs] going to definitely come. I think we have a good chance for him now.”
Only time will tell if Richardson was able to help Syracuse out in the Bryant saga. With that said, there is no reason to expect Bryant to be at Syracuse come the fall as it seems pretty clear he is favoring IU. Until Bryant makes a decision, Orange fans will continue to look at Richardson as the crown jewel of the 2015 recruiting class.
Posted: Logan Grossman
