JP Estrella. Papa Kante. Zion Cruz. Drew Fielder. Elijah Gertrude. The list of recruits in this year’s batch of high school seniors that Syracuse has swung and missed on is jarring, not in a good way. As the New Year approaches, SU has the same number of commits from the class of ’23 as cookies Santa left uneaten. Zero. But with the new year approaching, a big opportunity to acquire a big-time recruit nears.
A shiny five-star recruit! Wouldn’t that be a wonderful late Christmas/Hanukkah present? Here’s the thing though. Cadeau is a Class of ’24 product and wouldn’t provide immediate help.
That is, on the court. Sure, we and SU brass would have to wait almost two years to finally see the Missouri native take the floor, but Cadeau pledging to head to Central New York would make life easier on various other fronts.
Jim Boeheim’s impending retirement and the uncertainty surrounding it have been rumored to be partially why a lot of top recruits aren’t choosing Syracuse. Bringing in a recruit of Cadeau’s caliber would almost squash that in a way, especially if we’re assuming one of the current assistants (Gerry McNamara, Adrian Autry, or Allen Griffin) takes over when Boeheim finally decides to call it quits. It shows confidence in every coach as well as the program’s long-term goals.
And then there’s the whole transfer portal thing. We all know it shows no mercy once the offseason hits. But having someone like Cadeau in your back pocket for the future keeps current players, especially younger players, excited about the future. How can it not?
And finally, Cadeau’s arrival would lead to the arrival of other recruits, yes in the class of ’23 too. The odds that Judah Mintz committed to SU in April certainly would not have been as high as they were had the bevy of other current freshmen already pledged. Might we interest you in bringing in Tyler Betsey or Elijah Moore? Or, dare we say it, someone from the class of ’23? Not all of them leave for the NBA or transfer after their first season. Sure, it isn’t immediate, but it certainly helps all the same.
Hopefully we aren’t just teasing Cadeau’s decision just to find ourselves down in the doldrums again. If he pledges to join the program, he might just save what has been a rather disastrous recruiting period as of late.
