Patience is a virtue, and it’s never been more important for Syracuse fans. Over the past couple years, Jim Boeheim and company have developed a habit of chasing down recruits at the last possible second and locking them down just before the buzzer. It happened last season with Taurean Thompson and Andrew White III (technically not a “recruit,” but it’s the same idea); now, it’s happening with a pair four-star players who could elevate the Orange’s Class of 2017 from mediocre to solid.
Jordan Tucker confirmed a strong interest in SU when he visited campus over the weekend. He has reportedly narrowed his potential destination list to four schools: Syracuse, Villanova, Georgia Tech, and Oregon. (Side note: what a strange group for a four-star recruit, who typically seem to limit their search radius to one region. Syracuse and Georgia Tech make sense, because he’s lived close to those schools at different times in his life, and most kids from the northeast at least consider Villanova. But Oregon? That’s kind of out of left field.)
On Wednesday, Tremont Waters gave the Orange a stamp of interest. SU is still “in the running” for his signature, along with Kansas, UConn, and Creighton, according to Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register (the local paper in Waters’ hometown). That doesn’t constitute Waters’ top four, necessarily — he could still be considering other schools — but it’s encouraging to see Syracuse make the cut.
Waters, who cracks the top-40 on every major recruiting site — 33 on ESPN, 35 on Scout, 37 on 247sports — had been signed on with Georgetown, but was granted a release from his Letter of Intent in early March when John Thompson III went on the hot seat (Thompson was fired later in the month).
‚ÄúI‚Äôm not going to put a timeframe on it,‚Äù Waters told Fuller regarding a possible deadline for choosing a new school. ‚ÄúJust as soon as possible.”
Waters could be the answer to the enormous question mark currently slated to start at point guard for the Orange in 2017-18. Unfortunately, that question mark might be taller than the 5-foot-11 Waters — but John Gillon just proved that a sub-6-foot floor general can thrive with SU, even if it neutralizes some of the zone’s havoc-wreaking potential on defense.
Waters is a crafty offensive player who makes up for his size deficiency with pinpoint passing, deadly shooting, and old-man savvy. He’d be a perfect conductor of the Syracuse offense. Now, all we can do is wait.
