Introducing Al Freeman

Al Freeman is a 2013 combo guard, who is expected to visit SU this weekend. He's currently ranked #9 by ESPN, #18 by Scout, and #24 by Rivals. Outside of SU, Freeman has interest and offers from Arizona, Georgetown, Villanova, and many more.

2013 Spotlight: Goodluck Okonoboh

The next Syracuse University target in the class of 2013, is a 6'9 215 center and goes by the name Goodluck Okonoboh. Goodluck is a very bouncy, high energy big man that gets off his feet quickly and plays mostly above the rim. He is very active around the rim with most of his points coming off of put backs and dunks. His main asset though is his top notch shot blocking ability. As has been a recent trend for SU recruits, Goodluck seems to be no different in that he has a long wingspan that would prove to be handy in the back of the 2-3 zone. Besides Syracuse, he currently is receiving interest from Minnesota, Missouri, Gonzaga, Pittsburgh and West Virginia to name a few.

-Christian Claps

Christian can be contacted at Christian.Claps@gmail.com 

Coleman picks the hometown Orange

After some strong pushes by UK and OSU during the past few months. DaJuan Coleman in the end decides to stick with the hometown school and will play his college ball at Syracuse.

Coleman to announce decision tomorrow

Turns out that SU did indeed get the last official visit, which should definitely make the odds big in SU favor on where he plans to play his college ball. UK and OSU are the other options but as I've stated before it looks to have been a race between SU and UK. Update: All signs point towards SU winning this battle but there is also some UK buzz as well to add to the suspense.

DaJuan Coleman to visit SU this weekend

According to the Syracuse Post Standard, instead of visiting Ohio State this weekend, Coleman will be officially visiting Syracuse. Personally I would've loved to see SU get the last visit as originally planned, but expect the coaching staff to put their best foot forward in closing the deal here.

Post Midnight Madness update

-SU has currently put themselves in good shape as the current favorite for Nerlens Noel. Nothing as far as an upcoming commitment has been brought to my attention at the moment though. 

-I'm now hearing that OSU is currently running out of steam and it's looking like SU vs UK till the end for DaJuan Coleman. Signs still point towards SU having the slight edge but I would still be cautious if I'm a SU fan.

-Expect to hear the name Tyler Ennis a lot moving forward. Both sides have mutual interest as of late, so it should be interesting to see where things go in this recruitment.

Midnight Madness tonight!

After what looked to be an embarrassing and lame scheduled of events, SU has put together one of the best Midnight Madness nationwide for tonight. Below will be the list of SU recruits planning to attend, and a list of where other recruiting targets are attending.

SU
Jerami Grant Commit
Nerlens Noel 2013
Goodluck Okonoboh 2013
Tyler Ennis 2013
Isiah Briscoe 2015
Zach Radz 2015

Others targets
Jaylen Brantley 2013-UConn
Amile Jefferson 2012-UConn
Noah Vonleh 2014-UConn
DaJuan Coleman 2012-Kentucky
Al Freeman 2013-Kansas
Monte Morris 2013-Marquette
Stanford Robinson 2013-Rutgers
Jermaine Lawrence 2013-St. John's

2013 Spotlight: BeeJay Anya

There are big boys in the 2013 class, and then there's Beejay Anya from DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, MD. Beejay Anya at 6'8 and 255 pounds is an absolute load in handle in the paint and strong as a bull. Anya possesses an incredible 7'9 wingspan. Longer then anyone else in the 2013 class. Over the past two seasons Anya has been working hard to shape up his body and it has certainly shown an increase in productivity in his game. Anya currently holds offers from Virginia, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Texas, Ohio State and UCLA to name a few.

-Christian Claps

Christian can be contacted at christian.claps@gmail.com

Scouting Amile Jefferson

Jefferson's recruitment has been kind of an mystery as of late. Over the past year it seemed as though Villanova would be tough to beat, but as of now they're hardly mentioned in the recruiting battle. As far as SU is concerned, I've been told that landing Jefferson is going to be tough. He's looking for a school where he can play right away and have an immediate impact. SU which has Rak Christmas, CJ Fair, and 2012 commit Jerami Grant already in the fold. Is going to make it a tough sell on Jefferson for minutes at the forward spot.

Moving on, here goes an scouting report that I did on Jefferson back in the late spring.

The following breakdown is a game between Jefferson's Philly's Finest against a tough B-More Elite squad. His team ended up losing a close game but he put up an impressive stat line in do it all fashion of 21pts, 11rbs, 7ast, 5blks.

Positives: Very active with a long and lean frame, which enables him to play multiple positions. Solid ball handler able to breakdown defenders and take it inside with ease. Terrific finisher that is able to score with either the left or right hand. Good passer with a high B-Ball IQ and good feel for the game. Despite slim frame he has no problem playing inside, battling for boards and blocking shots. Despite being the best player on his team, he never forced the issue and pretty much let the game come to him by picking and choosing his spots when to become aggresive.

Negatives: Needs to get stronger, looks to be no more than 180lbs at this point. Easily blocked out of the post by bigger and stronger players due to lack of strength. Has a slow release on his jumper in which he only attempted a couple but missed them both. Decent athleticism but not an run n jump super athlete. His team wasn't that talented so I would've liked to see him display a little bit more leadership on the court, as he was a little too interested in whining to the refs about calls than getting his teammates to settle down.

Overall Projection: Jefferson has the qualities to be a very good college player right away. The best thing about him is that he is far from a finish product and once he gains weight and develops an consistent jumpshot lookout. IMHO I believe he's a 3,4 in JB's system but probably more suitable for the 3 anywhere else.

Nerlens Noel sticking with 2013

According to Adam Zagoria, Noel has decided to stay in the 2013 class. I still believe this could end up like the Andre Drummond recruitment. We'll just have to wait until the spring/summer to see how things will play out. Expect SU to firmly be in the mix throughout.

A few notes

-DaJuan Coleman tells the Post Standard that he expects to make a decision around early November. It's still a three team race between SU, OSU, and UK. A few things to watch out for is that OSU is really trying to lock Tony Parker down for an commitment. Which would definitely knock Coleman out of the mix. UK on the other hand is currently one of the favorites for Willie Cauley, who could make an commitment to them after he visits their midnight madness. October should be an interesting month to see how things break down in this recruitment.

-Nerlens Noel still hasn't made it official yet about joining the 2012 class. My thoughts is that this could end up just like the Andre Drummond situation, if he claims to still be in 2013. No sense of a player of his talents to stay another year in High School if he finds the right situation for college in 2012. Expect SU, UConn, UK, and Providence to battle it out in this one.

-Outside of Noel, who may or may not be a 2013 recruit, the SU staff has shown the most interest in big man BeeJay Anya during the open/contact. Anya as most would know is an teammate and close friend of recent commit Jerami Grant. It's also worth noting that the big man has a ridiculous wingspan of 7'9.

-Keep an eye out on Dwayne Morgan, 2014 SF from Baltimore. Morgan who currently attends the same High School that CJ Fair went to, blew up in a big way last week impressing the likes of Dave Telep in the process. Not much is known about Morgan at the moment but SU, UConn, Maryland, and UNC among others have already shown interest.