Jalen Carey – Montclair, NJ
Guard | 6-foot-3 | 170 lbs | No. 59 overall
Easily the top incoming recruit for Syracuse this year, Jalen Carey projects as an excellent combo guard at the college level. He is a highly effective scorer who can fill up the basket from all three levels. A solid creator and finisher around the basket, Carey is difficult to stop because of his wide variety of moves as well as his elite shooting ability. In addition, Carey sees the floor extremely well and is a sound playmaker as well in terms of finding the open man in transition or running an offense in the halfcourt.
Heading into this season, Frank Howard looks to be a lock for the starting point guard position. However, with the addition of Carey, Syracuse has a legitimately solid back-up for the lead guard spot. This means that Howard will not need to be pushed to play ~40 minutes per game again like he did last year. Developing a bit of a balance at that position could greatly help Syracuse, especially down the stretch in close games so everyone can have fresher legs.
Syracuse has set up many guards for potential NBA futures over the years and Carey could easily be the next player in line. In order for Carey to succeed at the next level, he will likely need to develop a bit more as a playmaker. Regardless, though, he is already a well-balanced scorer and creator with next-level potential. He will be an immediate impact player for Syracuse as a freshman and could be one of the players that can push the team to the next level.
Carey reportedly had this to say regarding his decision to attend Syracuse (247Sports):
"“I was being recruited as a point guard by all schools, but I felt like Syracuse would put me in the best position. Jim Boeheim is willing to let me play with the ball in my hands. They will let me make mistakes and learn from them. They want to get me to the next level and when you hear that from a hall of fame coach, you can’t beat that.”"
Next: Updated preseason top-25
With these recruits coming in, Syracuse not only has bolstered its depth for 2018-19 but also found some building blocks for the future. These three players all bring very different sets of skills and therefore have the potential to balance each other out well on both ends of the floor.