Bryan Hodgson is in the middle of a full-on recruiting battle with Syracuse basketball, and the prize pieces are piling up in the 2027 class.
At the center of it is five-star wing/small forward Moussa Kamissoko, a Syracuse priority recruit who has already checked out the Orange and now has another heavyweight program lined up for an official visit. Joe Tipton of On3/Rivals reported on Sunday via X that Kamissoko will visit Providence from Oct. 23 to Oct.
- He had taken an unofficial visit to the Friars in late August.
Kamissoko, who recently transferred to the Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, for his senior year, was on an official visit to Syracuse from Sept. 3 to Sept. 4. Inside the Loud House said it will try to gather more information on that trip to Central New York soon.
The 6-foot-8, 180-pound Kamissoko is ranked No. 8 nationally in the high school senior cycle by Rivals. Along with Syracuse and Providence, he has already officially visited Florida State and has future official visits lined up with Oklahoma State, BYU, Illinois, UConn, Louisville and Baylor.
Providence is also set to host another five-star from Spire, combo guard King Gibson, who will take an official visit there from Sept. 11 to Sept. 12, per Tipton. Gibson recently included Syracuse in his top 10, but Inside the Loud House has reported that the Orange are not prioritizing him.
Another major Syracuse target, five-star point guard Nasir Anderson, is also in the mix with Providence and a long list of high-level programs. Anderson, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound guard from Prolific Prep in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently revealed a top 10 that includes Syracuse, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Providence, Tennessee, UConn and Virginia.
Anderson was expected to officially visit Providence this weekend and has several other official visits scheduled, including one to Syracuse later this month, according to Inside the Loud House.
Hodgson and Syracuse coach Kevin McNamara are also going head-to-head for a number of five-star prospects in the 2027 class. That’s a little extra spice for a matchup that already has some built-in familiarity: Hodgson was rumored this past spring as a possible candidate to replace Adrian Autry at Syracuse before leaving South Florida to take the Providence job, while McNamara was hired last March to rebuild his alma mater after two strong seasons at Siena.
The Friars and Syracuse are scheduled to meet on Saturday, Dec. 19, at TD Garden in Boston.
For now, Syracuse’s lone 2027 verbal commitment is Jack Donohue, a three-star wing from Albany, N.Y., who plays at The Newman School in Boston.
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For Syracuse, the timing of that impression matters. Gibbs already holds an offer from the Orange, and he has made clear he has real interest in the program, so a positive campus stop only adds to the momentum. He also arrived with some confidence of his own after reporting good progress in his high school season, which gives Syracuse another promising name to keep tracking as the recruiting picture continues to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
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Syracuse May Have Found A Way To Make The Dome Matter More
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The timing mattered, too, with Syracuse taking care of New Hampshire on the field while the school tested a different approach to the day around it. The hope is that if the Dome feels more welcoming and more alive before the opening whistle, it can start to draw larger crowds for the games still to come. For a program that knows how much home-field energy can matter, this was a small but meaningful step toward making the building feel like an event again. [Read more 🡒]
