Syracuse basketball recruiting target Bryce Golden commits to Butler

At least it wasn’t Georgetown.

With Darius Bazley essentially decommitting from Syracuse late in favor of the G League, the Syracuse Orange basketball staff took its open scholarship and went after 2018 forward Bryce Golden — formerly committed to Pitt — late in the recruiting cycle. After narrowing his list down to Syracuse, Illinois, Georgetown and Butler, Golden visited all four schools and ultimately chose the latter of the aforementioned.

On his pledge to Butler, Golden had this to say:

“The connection I had with Coach LaVall (Jordan) and Coach (Emerson) Kampen was big, they really related well to me. I fell in love with them, the guys and the school, and it was just the best fit for me,” he told rivals. “St. James School and my coaches did a great job of helping me with all of this and in keeping my academics up with this crazy schedule and getting the chance to visit with Aaron Thompson this weekend, who is a big time winner just really excites me.”

Tough to lose out this late in the game but with Golden now out of the picture it’s likely the staff will pursue Robert Braswell, a late riser in the 2018 class whom Allen Griffin just saw less than two weeks ago. The Orange only have two natural forwards on the roster in Oshae Brissett and Marek Dolezaj, although it remains possible that Elijah Hughes could slide to the forward position if need be. Still, no need to sound the alarm.

Broadcasters everywhere can now breath a collective sigh of relief knowing they won’t have to confuse Brycen Goodine with Bryce Golden in the 2019-2020 season. Carry on.

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