Recruiting is always important. No matter what the previous class or future class looks like, there should always be impotence on getting players in the door every year. But, the class of 2023 is shaping up to look more like the class of 2021 than 2022. Just two cycles ago, SU brought in only one recruit and three transfers, while in 2022 it brought in six recruits and one transfer.
The Syracuse roster has three seniors, Joe Girard III, Symir Torrence, and Jesse Edwards who all have an extra year of eligibility, but could be done after this season. That leaves Mounir Hima, John Bol Ajak, and Benny Williams as the most experienced players on the roster. Yikes.
Thus, the Orange will not need more freshmen next season. They will need guys on the roster to build experience, and bring in guys in the portal who have college basketball experience to compliment the innocence of this season’s roster. Those transfers are not coming now, but next offseason, Jim Boeheim can look into bigger splashes in the portal (if he’s still the coach).
So, in the class of 2023, Boeheim, Autry, and McNamara can look into finding one, two, or maybe three names that can make a big impact, and search for quality, compared to the quantity of the class of 2022. That’s not to say there are not quality players in this year’s class, but imagine three players of Judah Mintz’s caliber in one class.
That’s the standard of Syracuse recruiting up until the move to the ACC, and where it should be going forward. Five and four stars were the norm for decades, and now it’s a lack of talent that is having a big effect on the Orange’s ability to compete with big-name ACC teams.
The class of 2024 is a bit too hard to project right now. SU usually recruits year-to-year, unlike teams like Duke who are just stacking up players far into the future. The focus is on 2023 right now, and the search for quality players is on.
In recent weeks, there has been plenty of coverage on our site talking about guys like Papa Kante, Reid Ducharme, JP Estrella, and others. These are all players who could make a big difference in the future of Syracuse basketball. It may be hard to see Jim Boeheim’s vision right now, but maybe his pitch becomes stronger if multiple freshmen start and play right away in 2022, and then the class of 2023 can believe in his ideas.
The numbers may not look good right now, but fortune favors the brave, and Jim Boeheim always makes things work in the end. There will be members of the class of 2023 who end up wearing Orange, it’s just hard to predict right now. This class is important, just not in the way you might think.
