Syracuse basketball doesn’t have an ESPN 100 recruit for first time ever

As if this season could get any worse for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program...

The Orange — for the first time since the rankings were created in 2007 — hasn’t signed a Top 100 player in the ESPN rankings.

In every single rankings from 2007-2016, Syracuse has had at least one player sign with the school. Until this year.

2007: Donte Green (17), Jonny Flynn (23), Scoop Jardine (48), Rick Jackson (51)

2008: Kris Joseph (50), Mookie Jones (67)

2009: DaShonte Riley (58)

2010: Fab Melo (14), Dion Waiters (15), C.J. Fair (63)

2011: Rakeem Christmas (20), Michael Carter-Williams (21), Trevor Cooney (65)

2012: Dajuan Coleman (14), Jerami Grant (37)

2013: Tyler Ennis (20), Tyler Roberson (31), B.J. Johnson (82)

2014: Chris McCullough (24), Kaleb Joseph (50)

2015: Malachi Richardson (23), Moustapha Diagne (58), Tyler Lydon (76), Frank Howard (94)

2016: Tyus Battle (35), Matt Moyer (74), Taurean Thompson (75)

2017: None

Some notes:

• Mookie Jones was a garbage-time player at SU.
• DaShonte Riley was never the player most hoped he would be (and he transferred to Eastern Michigan).
• B.J. Johnson never panned out at Syracuse, but is having a great year at La Salle this season.
• Kaleb Joseph transferred after two seasons.
• Moustapha Diagne never made it to campus.

The 2017 class:

Both Oshae Brissett and Bourama Sidibe are expected to be solid players for the Orange, but neither have the one-and-done hype like years past. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But if you take a deeper look into the 2017 recruiting cycle, the Orange missed out on quite a few top prospects.

In the ESPN 100, here’s a list of players that Syracuse either showed interest in or offered a scholarship: Michael Porter Jr. (1), Trevon Duval (4), Mohamed Bamba (5), Kevin Knox (7), Nick Richards (11), Lonnie Walker (18), M.J. Walker (19), Billy Preston (20), Quade Green (22), Matt Coleman (27), Shai Alexander (32), Brandon Randolph (34), Jordan Tucker (40), Jermaine Samuels (45), Ethan Thompson (49), Kimani Lawerence (52), Alex O’Connell (84) and Isaiah Washington (88).

That’s 0-for-18 if you’re scoring at home.

This season — and the 2017 recruiting class — are historic lows for the Orange. Syracuse’s 11-9 start through 20 games was the worst in Jim Boeheim’s 41-year coaching tenure, and SU failed to signed a player in the ESPN 100 for the first time ever.

All you can do is hope things go up from here as Syracuse desperately needs to make additions for next year’s roster as soon as possible.