Syracuse basketball makes cut for elite Class of 2018 forward

Class of 2018 four-star forward Cole Swider released his top eight schools on Wednesday evening.

That list included the Orange.

Syracuse made the list along with Indiana, Creighton, Xavier, Providence, Michigan, Villanova and Miami.

Swider doesn’t have any current visits scheduled, but Syracuse has been recruiting Cole as hard as anyone else in the 2018 class — and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Syracuse is expected to be in it all the way to the end, according to a source familiar with his recruitment. The high interest is mutual, and the staff is in communication with him often.

Swider is a very, very good shooter from deep, and can get into the paint with ease. He is currently seventh in the EYBL in scoring, and is shooting 42 percent from 3-point range. He’s also a very good defender, which is something that stuck out to the SU staff, he said.

Swider was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Rhode Island this year.

Here are some highlights of Swider from this past weekend on the EYBL circuit: