Elijah Gertrude was thought to be a player that fit the Syracuse system. He attends Hudson Catholic in Jersey City, N.J., and played for the Albany City Rocks Nike EYBL team. He was intrigued by the zone. He wanted to visit the Hill. Orange fans were keen to bring on one of the fastest-rising prospects in the class of ’23. Once rated at No. 157 in the nation by 247sports, Gertrude shot up 50 spots after big performances at the Nike Peach Jam. Jim Boeheim offered the 6-foot-3 combo guard a scholarship in early July. The Orange were Gertrude’s 11th of 12 reported offers.
However, just like many other prospects in the class of 2023, Gertrude chose to go elsewhere.
In fact, Syracuse didn’t even make his final five.
Hudson Catholic head coach Nick Marinello told jerryratcliffe.com that Gertrude was “comfortable with his schools.”
There were a lot of other schools that wanted to get involved, but Elijah was very comfortable with his schools,‚Äù Marinello said. ‚ÄúSchools from all over the country wanted to come in, but he wasn‚Äôt fixated on coming into college as a heralded player. He just wanted to work harder to get better.”
https://jerryratcliffe.com/gertrudes-coach-on-newest-wahoo-he-has-just-scratched-the-surface/
So does that mean Syracuse was late on the draw? Virginia offered Gertrude 18 days before SU, and the only official visit he took was to Charlottesville. Were Boeheim and his assistants put aside as people who didn’t recognize Gertrude’s talent before he shone on the big stage? Either way, the Orange are missing out on a talent player with a very high ceiling, who’s following in the AAU footsteps of Buddy Boeheim, Joe Girard and Symir Torrence.
