Syracuse Basketball Recruiting: Taurean Thompson Sets Official Visit

Better late than never.

Scout.com reports that center Taurean Thompson has scheduled an official visit to the Syracuse campus for September 25-26. This visit comes following a scholarship offer from the Orange he received on September 2nd.

The Syracuse Orange basketball team had previously shown some interest in Thompson but only mild interest; the expectation was that top-recruit Moustapha Diange would be on campus by now preparing to anchor the front court. Since the news of Diange's visa situation, finding a center has jumped to the top of the priority list for Boeheim.

The Syracuse front court has big shoes to fill following the loss of Rakeem Christmas. While it's unlikely to find someone who can step in and contribute 17.5 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game on 34 minutes per game, anything might be better than the current situation.

Thompson is a 4-star center recruit according to Scout and and ESPN (though ESPN has him listed as a power forward). He stands 6-feet 9-inches and is said to have a huge wing span. His AAU coach in New Jersey described him as a "Syracuse type of kid" and compared him to legendary Orange forward Hakim Warrick.

Thompson recently had a visit with Xavier but there hasn't been any reports of him committing there. All signs point to Syracuse right now.