Michael Porter pared his list down to 17 – no that’s not a joke – and Syracuse was a part of it. But does that mean he is really interested in SU? Probably not.
But this does: Syracuse.com spoke with Porter and he told Donna Ditota that he called Gerry McNamara after rooming with Matt Moyer at a camp in Virginia. Moyer used the rooming opportunity to do a little recruiting himself, and the phone call with McNamara ended with the Syracuse assistant offering Porter a scholarship.
Syracuse really should be all over this kid. In the Syracuse.com article, Porter says he is an Orange fan even though he plays his high school ball in Missouri and added, “That used to be my dream school.”
Sounds great right? But wait, he said “used to be” so what is the rest of that quote? “That used to be my dream school until I heard about their violations or whatever. I don’t really know what they did.”
Ok, so, mixed bag there, lets go through that quote. First, Syracuse used to be his dream school. That’s great. Next, until he heard about the violations or whatever. Not so great, stinks to hear that it knocked SU out of a top slot for a recruit. Third, he claims to not know what happened. That’s fine, maybe it gives SU a chance to get him back.
This really isn’t all bad. Yeah, on the surface it looks like the sanctions hurt. But at the same time he claims he doesn’t really know what happened. What is important now is that SU actually follows through and goes after Porter. It is important for SU to actually talk to this kid now. According to Syracuse.com, McNamara asked Porter “Do you want to be recruited?” And Porter said “yes.”
That makes it all the more important that Syracuse actually recruits the kid. As we have talked about many times, the sanctions really have just one impact on the basketball program, and that is the reduced sanctions make it imperative the Orange hit on all their recruits.
Look, there are no guarantees, but usually the number 2 recruit in the country is a pretty solid player and somebody that comes through as a top talent. That is the kind of player the Orange could use while under these sanctions.
