On Friday, October 11th, all of the focus surrounding Syracuse basketball was centered on the Melo Center. Both the men’s and women’s teams were hosting media day and media members and fans alike were getting their first look and listen into what the Orange have in store for the 2019-20 season. At least that was the focus until some seemingly big news whipped everyone into a frenzy.
It looked as if Jim Boeheim and company had picked up their second top-100 commit in the class of 2020 after Woody Newton pledged to the Orange back in May. It looked like what may have been a slow recruiting class was finally starting to pick up some momentum. That was until even more confusing news hit the Twittersphere less than a half hour later.
Just like that, a four-star guard to pair with the four-star forward in Newton was gone. It’s usually never a good sign when you hear about a commitment and then hear that something went wrong and it’s been called off, or the player decommitted. Not really a recipe for success. The good news is, though, that Evans and others reported that Syracuse was still heavily involved in Richmond’s recruitment and decision-making process. More good news came on Monday night from Richmond’s coach at Brewster Academy.
That announcement means that Richmond will almost certainly be in attendance for the Orange’s scrimmage against Daemen this weekend and will get an up close and personal look at what his future could be if he comes to Central New York.
After Andre Jackson spurned SU for UConn in a bit of surprising move, the Orange extended an offer to Richmond in early October and he’s the type of player that could give an automatic boost to this class.
He’s got Syracuse-level connections in that he’s from Brooklyn and he also attends Brewster Academy where Buddy Boeheim also played his final year of high school basketball. Those will both be huge recruiting tools in trying to secure a commitment this upcoming weekend.
As a player, Richmond is your prototypical combo guard with an explosive first step off the dribble and a knack for making difficult and athletic finishes in traffic when he gets to the rim. He’s also a pretty darn good three-point shooter which is something that it always seems SU is in need of and that’s not to mention that he’s got great size at the two-guard spot at 6-foot-5, 175 pounds (he looks a bit bigger than that figure) and has the potential to be a great defender in the zone.
Right now, 247’s Crystal Ball has him listed at an 80% chance of picking Syracuse when all is said and done with the other 20% of the prediction going the way of UConn. Unfortunately for the ‘Cuse that sounds eerily similar to the situation they were in with Andre Jackson, but maybe that fake-out commitment from Richmond is a good sign and this weekend will reaffirm his desire to don the White and Orange.
