Syracuse men’s basketball recruiting: 4-star Justin Taylor commits to Orange

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program has a lot of pressure on it to bring in a strong recruiting class for 2022. And at least for now, it seems like Jim Boeheim and his staff are putting together a pretty impressive group — especially after Saturday’s news that four-star Justin Taylor would commit to the Orange.

Taylor is a 6-foot-6, 200-pound wing out of Charlottesville, Va. and currently playing at St. Anne’s-Belfield School. Syracuse beat out hometown Virginia, plus Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Indiana for his services — a really good sign that we’ve got a talented player coming aboard.

According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Taylor’s the 84th-ranked player in the class of 2022, though 247 itself has him 56th. He’s technically a small forward, though at 6-foot-6, he’s likely to slot in at the shooting guard spot, especially given the other player committed already in this cycle: five-star SF Kamari Lands, who stands at 6-foot-8.

While it’s still pretty early, Syracuse’s 2022 class is currently ranked ninth overall. They’ll need at least another player or two to round out the group. But if they’re looking to signal to top targets that they’re trying to make another run here toward the end of Boeheim’s career, getting commitments from both Lands and Taylor would certainly do that.

We’ll have updates on recruiting as more news comes there. Welcome aboard, Justin! And check out his tape below.