Decision come early! That’s three for 2018 now.
Big news today for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball program. Four-star 2018 point guard Jalen Carey committed to SU on Wednesday. The news was first reported by MADEHoops’ Pat Lawless, tweeting out the following video:
Breaking: Jalen Carey (@yungswae5) announces his commitment.
— Pat Lawless (@PatLawless_) October 4, 2017
: @HoopMajor pic.twitter.com/L1Wj5M4dol
Carey was originally slated to pick between Syracuse, UConn and Miami on October 11, but he eliminated the Hurricanes immediately following last week’s pay-for-play news. Since he didn’t wait long to decide on the Orange afterward, it would seem Miami’s elimination pretty much made up the star recruit’s mind.
At 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds, the Harlem, N.Y. product is the 11th-ranked point guard in the class of 2018, according to 247Sports. He’s ranked among the top 50 or 60 players in the country, depending on who you ask. The ESPN 100 has him all the way up at 34th.
He’d previously told Adam Zagoria that he liked how much faith Syracuse had in him for this recruiting class, and how much he was the team’s only option at point guard for 2018.
Committing to the Orange, he told Lawless:
“I just felt like Syracuse was the best fit for me and for my family. At first, I wanted to get far away from home, but then when I really looked at it, Syracuse was the best place for me. My parents will also be able to get to a portion of the games, which was a big factor for me.”
HA! Sixth Borough my ass, Uconn!
He credited Jim Boeheim, Adrian Autry and Gerry McNamara with getting him excited to join SU. The staff also sold him by way of the number of former Orange guards currently in the NBA. That list currently includes Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis, Michael Gbinije, Andrew White III and of course, Dion Waiters.
Carey is now the third member of this very promising 2018 class for Syracuse. Five-star Darius Bazley and three-star Buddy Boeheim have both committed already. Additionally, East Carolina transfer Elijah Hughes will be eligible next season after arriving this offseason. He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining.
Congrats to Jalen! And hopefully this calms the nerves of some Orange fans as well as we stare out at the future of this program.
