Syracuse, N.Y. ― Recruiting never ends, or so goes the old saying among college basketball coaches. But there are times when the recruiting efforts really ratchet up.

This period between Labor Day and the start of the season is one of those times.

These weeks in the early fall see coaches crisscross the country, taking advantage of open gyms at high schools, conducting in-home visits with recruits and then trying to wedge in official campus visits amid everyone’s congested schedules.

Syracuse basketball coach Adrian Autry and his staff have been busy, traveling for open gyms and in-home visits. Syracuse’s fall schedule is filling up with official visits from players in the 2026 recruiting class.

And there will be an intriguing visitor to the SU campus this weekend from the 2027 class.

Here is a rundown of the prospects the Syracuse coaches have been recruiting based on information from sources, social media and other media reports.

DaKari Spear

Spear, a 6-foot-4 guard from Dallas, Texas, took an official visit to the Syracuse campus on Sept. 5.

Spear is a consensus top-100 prospect in the ‘26 class, ranked No. 74 by On3.com, No. 83 by 247Sports and No. 60 by ESPN.

This weekend, Spear will be on an official visit to Texas Tech. He’s scheduled to visit Vanderbilt on Sept. 26. He’s also being recruited heavily by Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

Vaughn Karvala

Karvala, a 6-6 wing, is from Oregon, Wisconsin, but he attends Bella Vista College Prep in Phoenix, Arizona. Karvala plays on the AAU circuit with Team Herro, the same AAU club that current SU freshman Tiefing Diawara played for this past year.

Most recruiting services put Karvala in the Top 50 for the ‘26 class, with ESPN ranking him at No. 30 and On3 putting him at No. 43.

Karvala will take an official visit to Syracuse on the weekend of Sept. 26-27. He visited Xavier back in June. Other schools recruiting him include Alabama, Iowa, Arizona State and more.

Deron Rippey Jr.

Rippey Jr., a 6-foot-2 point guard, will visit SU on the same weekend as Karvala.

Rippey is considered one of the top players in the class, being ranked No. 13 by On3 and No. 18 by ESPN.

The Syracuse coaching staff made an in-home visit with Rippey just this past Wednesday. The SU contingent included Autry, assistant coaches Brenden Straughn and Allen Griffin and general manager Alex Kline.

Rippey has a full calendar. He visited Kentucky, Miami and North Carolina in August. He will be at Alabama this weekend. He’s scheduled to visit Texas on Sept. 19-21 and then comes his trip to Syracuse.

After that, Rippey has set up visits to Indiana (Oct. 17-19) and Tennessee (Oct. 25-26).

Asher Elson

Elson, a 6-foot-10 power forward from Brooklyn, plays for Overtime Elite in Atlanta. He’s long and very thin, but he can run the floor and has a fluid 3-point shot.

Elson is generally ranked just outside the top-100 prospects in the class, but his list of schools includes Syracuse, Maryland, Georgia Tech and Creighton. He visited Maryland on Sept. 4.

Elson will come to Syracuse for a visit on Oct. 10.

Ralph Scott

Scott is an interesting case study. He’s a 6-7 small forward from Bermuda and now attends IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

He’s ranked No. 48 in the ‘26 class by On3.com, but he’s not in ESPN’s Top 100. Meanwhile, 247Sports.com has him at No. 35.

This might be a situation where ESPN’s rankings haven’t caught up with an emerging prospect.

Safe to say, though, that college coaches are onto him. Scott has already visited Houston and Texas A&M. He will visit Tennessee this weekend.

The Syracuse coaches have set up an Oct. 17 campus visit for Scott.

Jordan Smith

Smith, a 6-foot-2 guard from St. Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Virginia, is easily one of the top-five prospects in the ‘26 class. He made the roster for the USA Under-19 team that played in the FIBA World Cup this past summer.

Smith has trimmed his list to six schools: Syracuse, Kentucky, Duke, Georgetown, Indiana and Arkansas. He has scheduled official visits to Arkansas, Kentucky and Duke through the fall.

Sources indicate that Smith, who has previously been to the SU campus, will probably come to Syracuse on an unofficial visit this fall and then return for an official visit during the season in order to take in a game at the JMA Dome.

Theo Edema

OK, here’s the Class of 2027 player mentioned at the beginning of this story.

Edema, a 6-11, 235-pound center, attends Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He’s ranked 35th in the class by Rivals and 53rd by 247Sports.

Edema will visit Syracuse this weekend. Syracuse is going to have a lot of competition for the powerfully built big man. His offer sheet includes Maryland, Villanova, Alabama, Clemson, Georgetown, Kansas and many more schools.

Other recruits?

The above list is by no means comprehensive. The Syracuse coaches are generally very cautious in giving out information on which players they are recruiting. Not all of SU’s recruiting targets are public knowledge.

It’s hard to determine if recruits that were on SU’s radar a year ago remain so. New names could appear on recruiting lists in the next few months.

For example, a year ago no one had heard of Tiefing Diawara, the 7-foot center who committed to Syracuse in June.

For that matter, an international recruit, like current freshman Luke Fennell of Australia, could appear out of nowhere at any minute.

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