With Brandon Triche entering his senior campaign, point guard was a position of need for the Syracuse Orange in their 2013 recruiting class.
That need was satisfied on Thursday as Toronto native Tyler Ennis (St. Benedict’s Prep, Newark, NJ) announced his decision to attend Syracuse by way of a video posted on the CIA Bounce (his AAU team) website, which can be viewed below.
Ennis has been a Syracuse fan for quite some time, and the Orange beat out four other programs for his services. Illinois, Louisville, Memphis and UCLA were the other four schools on his list.“I picked them because I felt comfortable with the coaching first of all,” Ennis told Scout.com in an exclusive interview.
“Also the position that they have for me coming in is going to give me a chance to play a lot as a freshman,” he added. “I’ll be able to make mistakes and not have someone itching down my back my first year.”
Ennis also noted that Syracuse showed him the most attention on the recruiting trail this summer, and that along with the aforementioned rooting interest helped him in the decision-making process.Also helping Ennis through the process was his older brother Dylan, who will be playing at Villanova this season after transferring from Rice.
“The main thing where I knew where I wanted to go there was when my brother asked me what’s the one school that if someone committed there before you, you’d be mad at. I thought about it and the only school I could think of was Syracuse.”
“That pretty much helped me make my decision,” he said. “I knew if someone would commit there before me, I’d be upset because that’s a school I really wanted to go to.”
Ennis is the consummate floor general, who remains in control and makes sound decisions be it to pass or shoot.
Two of his CIA Bounce teammates are 2013 guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes and 2014 wing Andrew Wiggins, with the latter joining Ennis as a selection for next weekend’s Boost Mobile Elite 24 event in Venice Beach.
Photo credit: CIA Bounce
Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.