Syracuse has been hot on the recruiting trail to begin the 2021 college basketball offseason. Although the Orange lost plenty of talent, most recently Quincy Guerrier, SU has reloaded quickly. Jim Boeheim grabbed three transfers in the portal, and also made a big splash in the class of 2022.
With Boeheim’s recent success, it begs the question: Where does Syracuse stand as a program recruiting-wise in comparison to the rest of the ACC? ESPN+ ranked the various programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and here’s what they garnered about SU.
There are some obvious disadvantages. One coach said, “It’s cold as [explitive] and snows in October.” However, SU’s geography is also considered an advantage. “It’s still one of the real iconic college basketball programs, and its in an area of the country where there’s a lot of good college basketball players,” one coach said. “Not necessarily in Upstate New York, but they’re within striking distance of New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston. There’s a lot of players there, and there’s not a lot of basketball programs of Syracuse’s stature in those locations.”
The other thing ESPN+ considered is that Coach Boeheim’s departure from the program is still looming, and for prospects, that uncertainty can cause them to turn away from Syracuse. ESPN+ posed the question, “How much success is because of head coach Jim Boeheim, and how far will [the program] fall once he leaves?”
Nobody really has the answer to question number two. As for number one, SU is hoping that its status as one of the premier basketball schools in the Northeast can draw some of the top prospects from New England, such as Donovan Clingan. Syracuse also has capitalized on its connections to cities on the Eastern seaboard in the past, snagging guys like Kadary Richmond from New York City, Scoop Jardine from Philadelphia and Rakeem Christmas from Baltimore.
Syracuse has been on a roll as of late in the portal. Now the hope is future stars grab the positives of the SU program, and forget about the snow.
