Syracuse basketball was involved with the class of 2022 prospects for years before their class became seniors. The Dior Johnson commitment gave SU fans hope of a top-ten class, but that did not come to fruition. Throughout June and July, the Orange coaching staff was hosting prospects on visits to the 315, leading to two commitments over the summer from Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland.
That noise has been silenced this summer, as SU has not been in the headlines recruiting-wise, and does not seem to be as aggressively targeting players for the class of 2023 as they were a summer ago. So, why is that? There seem to be multiple reasons for what could be a small/quiet class next season.
The first is that there is no space on the roster, which will not likely be true come next offseason. Joe Girard, Symir Torrence, and Jesse Edwards are all seniors who could choose not to use their extra year of eligibility, and of course, there will likely be one or two transfers out of the program like every season in the transfer portal era.
So with all those potential departures, is Jim Boeheim resigned to only using the transfer portal to replace players because of the inexperience of this year’s incoming class? Or, is he just playing the long game recruiting, as he did with Judah Mintz, who did not commit until the spring.
The second theory is that this is Boeheim’s last season coaching, and he is not recruiting anymore. Maybe Adrian Autry and Gerry McNamara are doing the heavy lifting, but Boeheim has not been seen much out on the trail, and there has not been much news about any SU coaches hosting visits or going to see any specific players.
Offers are still being handed out, but the serious interest and pursuit of players are not the same as last summer when a handful of players visited over a two/three-week span in June. The Orange set the foundation for the program’s future with this year’s six-man freshman class. Besides Mintz, it’s unlikely any of them will go one-and-done to the draft, and he would have to have an exceptional year to do that.
This year was about building for the future, and maybe the next two classes are about solidifying the roster with one or two strong fits and maybe shooting for a player a little above SU’s class to infuse talent into the roster. Or, maybe it’s just Boeheim working behind the scenes where no one can see him. Regardless, Syracuse fans are intrigued by the workings of the next couple of recruiting cycles, and what SU will do to finally try and get back into the top-25 consistently instead of being an annual bubble team.
