Basketball Recruiting

Syracuse basketball recruiting: Orange reportedly makes cut for Class of 2016 big man Cheickna Dembele

Class of 2016 center Cheickna Dembele has trimmed his list of potential schools to 10 and Syracuse made the cut, according to multiple reports.

The Scotland Performance (Pennsylvania) Institute product is unranked by ESPN and Scout.com, but has a three-star rating from 247Sports.com’s composite rankings and Rivals.com.

The list reportedly includes UNLV, Missouri, Iowa State, Temple, Pittsburgh, St. Joe’s, Maryland, Michigan State and Baylor. The only official visit planned for Dembele is UNLV on April 27, per Syracuse.com.

The Orange only has two open Class of 2016 offers remaining. The other belongs to four-star big man Taurean Thompson of Brewster (New Hampshire) Academy. Thompson, who is ranked 75th in ESPN.com’s class rankings, will visit SU this weekend.

Dembele is listed by multiple recruiting sites as 6-foot-10 or 6-foot-11 and roughly 235 pounds.



If Dembele were to commit to the Orange, barring any unforeseen circumstance, he’ll join a frontcourt of seniors Tyler Roberson and Dajuan Coleman, as well as sophomores Tyler Lydon and Paschal Chukwu. He’d arrive with fellow freshman forward Matthew Moyer.

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





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