The Syracuse Orange are gearing up for a huge 2017 recruiting class. It continues to seek prospects to build two years down the road. More recently Syracuse has shown interest in 2017 point guard Jose Alvarado, according to Ben Sigel.
Alvarado is a six-foot point guard currently on the summer circuit with the NY Rens, the same club that targets Hamidou Diallo and Jordan Tucker play for. Alvarado attends Christ the King Regional High School and has already been offered by St. John's, Seton Hall, Iona, Indiana, Rutger, Georgia Tech and VCU. Manhattan was the first to offer him.
Alvarado is noted as a savvy, physical guard who likes to dig in on the defensive end. "I'm not taking anything away from him," Alvarado told the NY Daily News after holding Stony Brook commit Michael Almonacy to four points early last basketball season. "But it's just my game, I'm a defensive player."
Syracuse has yet to offer the guard, but it looks like Gerry McNamara will be Alvarado's primary recruiter should the Orange continue to pursue him. "Coach Gerry Mac called earlier today," Alvarado told Sigel. "He talked about how they love my game and they are going to be around. If I get an offer, I definitely would think about taking a visit. My recruitment is pretty wide open right now. Hopefully I get the offer."
Should Syracuse offer Alvarado, he would mark the sixteenth offer to the 2017 class. Syracuse has yet to pick up a commitment from that class but it's still early in the ball game. We're not even halfway through the biggest basketball recruiting month.
Watch some of Alvarado's highlights against James Southerland's former high school below.