Syracuse basketball recruiting: Orange staff busy working on class of 2017

Earlier this morning, Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters posted a pretty thorough rundown of Syracuse Orange basketball’s week in recruiting. The Orange have a lot of offers out to fill the various openings that will be on the roster for next season, but as of yet, have not locked up a commitment. Hopefully that drought ends soon as the program looks to gain some momentum for what needs to be a bigger class in 2017.

Among this week’s visits for head coach Jim Boeheim, as well as assistants Gerry McNamara and Adrian Autry:

Quade Green

Four-star Philadelphia point guard who’s also being pursued heavily by Kentucky. The Wildcats staff came around to Neumann-Goretti High School where he plays in Philly the day after Syracuse visited with the prospect (per Ben Sigel).

Oshae Brissett

Four-star small forward from Ontario (but playing in Nevada). His offers are all over, from both Northeast and West Coast programs. Waters notes that Autry visited with him up in Canada on Wednesday.

Mohamed Bamba

The five-star center has long been on the Orange’s radar for this year’s class, and they’ll have their work cut out for them to get his commitment. Currently playing at Westtown School in West Chester, Penn., he holds offers from all of the country’s top programs, including frequent recent recruiting foe Kentucky.

Brandon Randolph

Randolph is Bamba’s teammate at Westtown and included Syracuse in his “top four” this week. The four-star shooting guard will choose between Wake Forest, Oregon, Arizona and the Orange at some point. It should be noted that both Bamba and Randolph are originally from New York (Harlem and Yonkers, respectively).

Barouma Sidibe

The 3-star Newark, N.J. player is a Mali native and holds offers from SU, along with Maryland, UConn, Virginia and several others in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast region. Waters notes he may be a little more of a long-term project than the other big men Syracuse has offered. But the team can start to make those types of investments again as the scholarship reductions close out.

Nick Richards

The 5-star New Jersey center has a ton of suitors, including Kentucky, but Syracuse keeps pushing to potentially sign him. He’ll apparently choose between the Wildcats, Orange, Arizona, UConn and Indiana.

Lonnie Walker

Syracuse continues to be in hot pursuit of 5-star shooting guard Lonnie Walker, long thought to be a hard Villanova lean. The Orange saw him this morning, while Kentucky did so on September, per Ben Sigel. His top five includes Syracuse, UK, ‘Nova, Miami and Arizona.

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As mentioned, SU has a lot of spots to fill in this recruiting cycle as it finishes up its NCAA scholarship reductions. Andrew White III, Tyler Roberson, Dajuan Coleman and John Gillon are all gone after this season, and should a younger player like Tyus Battle break out, it could mean even more spots available on the roster for next year’s likely youth-focused squad.