UPDATED: Sept. 2, 2018 at 6:50 p.m.

Syracuse basketball doesn’t begin its regular season until Nov. 6 against Eastern Washington, but the next three months are critical for the future of the Orange as Jim Boeheim and his staff look to fill out the rest of the 2019 recruiting class.

Both Frank Howard and Paschal Chukwu will be seniors on the 2018-19 team, which has 10 players under scholarship, not including Buddy Boeheim, out of an allotted 13. The potential NBA status of junior Tyus Battle and rising sophomore Oshae Brissett remains in question. Should all leave, Syracuse could have to replace four or more players next season.

Brycen Goodine, from the Class of 2019, has verbally committed to SU. Goodine is a 6-foot-4, 170-pound guard from St. Andrews (Rhode Island) School. Goodine is a combo guard who will likely help replace the graduating Howard and potentially NBA-bound Battle in the Orange’s backcourt in 2019. Goodine verbally committed in September 2017, prior to his junior season at St. Andrews.

He is ranked No. 69 on ESPN’s top 100 list after not being in the top 100 when he first committed. He was named the 2017-18 Gatorade Rhode Island Boys Basketball Player of the Year after his junior season and will be a favorite to win the award again as a senior.

Joe Girard III, a 6-foot-1 guard from Glens Falls (New York) High School, broke the record for the most points in New York state high school history during his junior year — he averaged 50.1 points per game that year. He plans to announce his college choice prior to basketball season.

He released his top six schools on June 16: Syracuse, Michigan, Duke, Notre Dame, Boston College and Penn State. Girard has taken two official visits, one to Boston College in August and one to Syracuse in late June.

This summer, Girard joined fellow SU recruit Isaiah Stewart in North Augusta, South Carolina to play at Peach Jam. In 22 games with City Rocks, five at Peach Jam, Girard averaged 11 points per game while shooting 36.8 percent from the field and 40-41 (97.6 percent) from the free throw line.

Stewart is the No. 4 2019 recruit in the nation, per ESPN. He’s 6-foot-9, 245-pounds with a 7-4 wingspan. Stewart hails from Rochester, but transferred to La Lumiere (Indiana) School for his junior season. This summer, playing for City Rocks, he averaged 18 points per game in 22 EYBL games, while shooting 57 percent from the field.

Stewart’s top six include Syracuse, Duke, Washington, Villanova, Michigan State and Indiana. He said during his sophomore season that he has a close relationship with current Washington head coach and former SU assistant Mike Hopkins, per The Democrat and Chronicle, but Duke remains the favorite to land Stewart, according to 247Sports’ projections.

Six-foot-10 center Qudus Wahab recently cut his list down to 12 schools. Wahab is from Flint Hill (Virginia) School and has spent the last few weekends touring VCU, Temple and Georgetown. He will visit Syracuse on Sept. 8, per rivals.com. The We R1 big man averaged 8.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game on the Under Armour circuit.

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Wahab also played at Hoop Group Elite Session II in Reading, Pennsylvania, where Boeheim personally watched him play during the July live periods. At Hoop Group, Wahab was named one of the top 20 players at the camp, which featured multiple high and mid-major Division I prospects.

Akok Akok is another big that the Orange is recruiting closely in the class of 2019. Akok plays his high school basketball at Putnam Science (Connecticut) Academy and shined this summer playing in the Adidas Gauntlet event with Mass Rivals AAU. Akok is a 6-foot-9 power forward with an even longer wingspan, 7-foot-1. He possesses excellent shot blocking ability and a capable jump shot.

Boeheim watched Akok multiple times this summer, including in New York at the Gauntlet event. Syracuse, Texas Tech, Providence, Georgetown and Connecticut are the schools recruiting him the hardest, he told Prep Circuit in July. ESPN ranks him No. 39 on its top 100. Akok’s shot blocking and improving offensive ability could help replace Chukwu. 247Sports has upgraded him to a five-star recruit.

 

 

 

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, Brycen Goodine’s status with SU was misstated. Goodine has verbally committed. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on August 28, 2018 at 11:36 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @AnthonyDabbundo