Syracuse basketball recruiting: Reactions to Chris McCullough committing

Rich Barnes-US PRESSWIRE

Reactions and quotes from Syracuse landing five-star forward Chris McCullough

On Monday, the Syracuse Orange men's basketball program received a verbal commitment from Class of 2014 target Chris McCullough. The Bronx, N.Y., native, who's the 17th-ranked junior in the country according to ESPN's Recruiting Services, announced his decision via Twitter and since then the 6'10, 220-pound power forward has been talking about it.

First, McCullough spoke with the New York Post's Zach Braziller and said he chose SU because he felt they gave him the best chance to get to the NBA.

"I love their style of play," he said. "It fits me."

Most of all, McCullough said he picked Syracuse because of the program's penchant for producing pros, especially forwards.

"I feel like I know what they're doing," he said.

The Post-Standard then spoke to the Orange's first commit for the Class of '14, and found out Brewster Acadeny teammate Ron Patterson, a Class of '13 verbal commit for SU, helped him make his final decision. McCullough also had scholarship offers from St. John's Red Storm, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Connecticut Huskies, Kansas Jayhawks and Louisville Cardinals.

"I talked to Ron,'' McCullough said. "I asked him if he liked it. If he saw us both fitting in there. He said we'd both fit in good. We're both athletic players.''

SNY.TV's Adam Zagoria spoke with New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski about McCullough. Said Konchalski:

"There’s no ceiling to his potential. He’s gotta learn to play hard every possession, to play with more sustained intensity.

"But talk about a guy who’s long, a guy who changes ends effortlessly, who explodes off the floor. He has good hands, has a good touch, has some perimeter skill. He’s gotta get tougher, develop more of an inside game and learn to play hard all 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, Syracuse sports talk radio host Mike Lindsley posted this YouTube video discussion SU's latest get.