After losing its penultimate game of the regular season on Tuesday night against Louisville, the Syracuse University men's basketball team will close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon (4:30 p.m. ET) against Pittsburgh at the JMA Wireless Dome.

The Orange would surely like to play well for many reasons:

--Ending the regular season with a win and some momentum heading into the ACC Tournament

--A better seed in that ACC Tournament

--Sending the fans home with a win in the final home game of the campaign

--Moving to 16-15 on the season, which guarantees the program a winning regular season and at least a .500 season overall

--And giving Adrian Autry a win in his possible final home as head coach, as its possible that the program will make a coaching change after the season concludes

However, the game matters for another reason as well: Recruiting.

As noted by Mike Waters of Syracuse.com, the Orange will have 2028 top recruit Tai Bell out of Florida in the building. He is the son of former guard Raja Bell. The visit is an unofficial one.

According to 247 Sports, Bell also has interest from Florida State, Houston, Kansas State and Purdue, as well as TCU, South Florida, Old Dominion, Florida International, UMass, Dayton and Jacksonville.

Just a sophomore, that list will surely grow in the next calendar year.

His brother Dia is signed onto play football at the University of Texas. Bell also just took an unofficial visit to Texas himself.

If the Orange are eventually able to land Bell, he'd join Kiyan Anthony (Carmelo Anthony) as the son's of former NBA players to play in the program recently.

The 49-year-old Bell played his college ball at Boston University and FIU before spending 12 years in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Charlotte Hornets and Golden State Warriors.

A two-time member of the NBA's All-Defensive team, he averaged 9.9 ppg for his career. He got to the playoffs in six different seasons, playing 68 playoff games. He was on the 76ers team that got to the NBA Finals in 2000-01, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.

--The women's basketball team earned the No. 7 seed in the ACC Tournament and will open play on Thursday night at 5 p.m. ET against the winner of Cal and Wake Forest, who play Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET. The Orange went 22-7 in the regular season and 12-6 inside league play.

--The Orange football team has added defensive backs coach Brandon Napolean into the mix for 2026. Here's what you need to know.

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