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Four-star small forward Chris Bunch, a 6-foot-7 senior from Wasatch (Utah) Academy, committed to Syracuse on Thursday evening. He is the Syracuse Class of 2022’s fifth and highest-profile commit in the cycle. After Bunch announced his decision, SU’s national ranking for that class jumped from No. 10, according to a CBS Sports broadcast.

Bunch, who selected the Orange over other schools such as Rutgers and Washington, is ranked the No. 72 overall player in the 2022 cycle, according to 247Sports, while also checking in as the No. 19 small forward. He visited SU in June and September, according to syracuse.com, and made campus visits to each of the finalists.

“I always told my dad at a young age I wanted to play for a legendary coach,” Bunch said in an interview on the broadcast after he committed. “I just want to come in and listen. I’m all ears.”

He joins a Syracuse recruiting cycle that added Maliq Brown on Oct. 16, adding to a group that already included Justin Taylor, Quadir Copeland and Peter Carey — a group of five that, if its new national ranking holds, would be the highest for SU since 2015 when the Orange received commitments from Malachi Richardson, Tyler Lydon and Frank Howard. Brown, Carey and Copeland are three-star recruits, according to 247Sports, while Taylor joins Bunch as four-star verbal commits.

Syracuse’s class of five commits also serves as its largest group of incoming freshmen since 2019. This year, the Orange only added one — forward Benny Williams — while securing Jimmy Boeheim, Cole Swider and Symir Torrence from the transfer portal. And the year before, during the 2020 cycle, they received commitments from Kadary Richmond, Woody Newton and Frank Anselem, and transfer Alan Griffin joined the program from Illinois.

Bunch’s decision comes less than three weeks before the Orange open their 2021-22 season on Nov. 9 against Lafayette, with preseason exhibitions taking place against Pace and Le Moyne leading up to the opener.

Published on October 21, 2021 at 10:24 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew