Basketball Recruiting

Syracuse basketball recruiting: Class of 2016 target big man Cheickna Dembele reportedly picks UNLV

Syracuse target Cheickna Dembele, a Class of 2016 center, committed to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday morning, per multiple reports.

Syracuse’s only remaining open offer for the Class of 2016 is to Brewster (New Hampshire) Academy big man Taurean Thompson.

On April 26, Syracuse reportedly made the cut for Dembele’s top 10 schools. On April 27, he reportedly visited UNLV.

Three days after the visit, the Scotland Performance (Pennsylvania) Institute product decided to return to Las Vegas longterm. He also held offers from Missouri, Iowa State, Temple, Pittsburgh, Saint Joseph’s, Maryland, Michigan State and Baylor, amongst others.

The 6-foot-11, roughly 235-pound Dembele is unranked by ESPN and Scout.com, but has a three-star rating from 247Sports.com’s composite rankings and Rivals.com.



Here is an updated look at Syracuse’s scholarship situation.

Scholarships 6

The Orange frontcourt next season will, as of now, consist of two seniors (Tyler Roberson and Dajuan Coleman), two sophomores (Tyler Lydon and redshirt Paschal Chukwu) and one freshman (Matthew Moyer).

The offer stands to Thompson, ESPN.com’s 75th ranked in this class, who is expected to visit SU this weekend. He also holds offer from Kansas, Connecticut, Xavier, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, North Carolina State and Arizona.

Here is part of Dembele’s story and some highlights:





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