Well, this is certainly fortuitous timing (for me). Syracuse basketball won’t have many open spots in it’s 2020 recruiting class, but one of the team’s primary targets has announced he will be making his decision a week from today, per a report from Syracuse.com.
That target is Woody Newton, a 6-foot-9 forward who looks like the prototypical Syracuse front-line player: long, thin, and very, very athletic. Newton is a Baltimore kid who attends Mt. Zion Prep and plays for Team Takeover on the Nike EYBL circuit.
And of course, that last part is what makes it fortuitous timing. The EYBL circuit comes to Dallas this weekend, and I plan on being in attendance on either Saturday or Sunday to check out a number of Syracuse targets. Newton was already high on the list, along with Andre Jackson, but given Newton’s commitment coming next Tuesday, I’m going to watch a full game of his to get a real feel for what he brings to the table.
Newton holds offers from Seton Hall, Maryland, Kansas State, Arkansas, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and a few others but right now the Orange look to be in good position to land him. He’s a 4-star recruit, rated in the top 100 nationally, and has the combination of size, skill, and athleticism that make him an ideal fit for Syracuse.