While the transfer portal will be a huge part of how the Orange are built next year, it might not be the only way they are built.
On Monday, the Syracuse men's basketball team secured an international commitment from 6'7 sharpshooter Mark Morano Mahmutovič of Slovenia.
Now, the Orange are working to change their luck on the high school side of recruiting as well. The program famously didn't have one single high school commit for next season under previous head coach Adrian Autry, who was fired in mid-March.
Gerry McNamara is hoping to change that. The transfer portal is obviously important to the growth of a power program like Syracuse, but it's still important to develop young players.
In that vein, 247 Sports says that Syracuse offered former Siena commit Ryan Moesch a scholarship on March 28. Moesch, from Massachusetts, had previously committed to play for McNamara at Siena. He de-committed on March 26 with Syracuse offering him almost immediately. He's a four-star recruit.
As noted by 247 Sports, he also had previous interest from Providence, Bowling Green and Akron.
What they're saying
Per Adam Finkelstein of 247 Sports, who evaluated Moesch in July of 2025.
Moesch is undersized and not a dynamic athlete, but the southpaw separates himself with his skill and mind for the game. He has elite feel and craft. He’s a maestro making reads out of ball-screens, a creative passer off the dribble, has a ton of finishing tricks with his lay-up package at the rim (58% FG at the rim), and is a much better shooter than he showed in the UAA (27% 3pt on over 5 attempts per game). He’s even got some flair and style to his game when everything is clicking.
When Moesch is playing with confidence and rhythm, he’s a threat to make threes in bunches off both the catch and the dribble.
The big question here
The big question is whether or not Moesch can truly play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Some of his previous offers were from mid-major schools in the MAC and then Siena in the MAAC. Is he ready to step into the physicality of the ACC? We will have to find out if he ultimately takes the offer.
There's also the possibility that Moesch could simply grow into that player. Because of the transfer portal, NIL and guys leaving early, we are no longer used to seeing players who simply develop over the course of four years.
Maybe Moesch is a MAAC player today and maybe he won't play much at Syracuse in year one. That doesn't mean he can't grow into an ACC player over the course of four years.
Other Syracuse news
The Orange announced a trio of new assistant coaches on Monday, including one former SU standout who returned home to Central New York.
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