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Five-star point guard Deron “Ron Ron” Rippey Jr. was in Syracuse this weekend for his official visit. Rippey Jr., 247Sports’ No. 16 class of 2026 recruit visited with his father, mother and grandmother from Friday to Sunday.

The Daily Orange spoke with Deron Rippey Sr. following the visit, who spoke highly of his son’s visit and recruitment process with the Orange. Rippey Sr. highlighted the strong relationships he and Rippey Jr. have built with SU’s coaching staff. Rippey Sr. said they’re impressed with what head coach Adrian Autry and general manager Alex Kline are building and said it’s a place where Rippey Jr. could envision himself playing.

Rippey Jr. is still considering Kentucky, Duke, Miami, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Louisville and NC State alongside Syracuse. He’s visited or is planning to visit all nine schools, with his final visit scheduled for November. Rippey Sr. said they’ll likely cut his list down to five after he visits each program, but there’s no timetable for his final decision.

“Everybody has a chance, but you know, Syracuse is Syracuse,” Rippey Sr. said. “This school’s about tradition, we’re from New York. I think Syracuse showed us how much they really want Ron Ron and want Ron Ron to be a part of the Orange family.”

New York’s own highly touted PG Deron Rippey Jr put on a show in his city last night 🗽@rippey_deron @SLAM_HS pic.twitter.com/cDHGUHqXjs

— MADE Hoops (@madehoops) August 20, 2025

Though he attends Blair Academy (N.J.), Rippey Jr. is from Brooklyn, N.Y., and his father grew up playing basketball in New York City. As a high schooler, Rippey Sr. played with and against SU assistant coach Allen Griffin and was part of the same AAU organization as Autry, he said.

Rippey Sr. added that Griffin was the first Syracuse coach to watch his son, the Orange were one of the first schools to offer him and that the coaching staff has done a great job building a relationship.

Meanwhile, Rippey Sr. said he was introduced to Kline while he was a scout with the New York Knicks. He said they’ve built a relationship since then, and Kline has frequently watched his son since taking over as the Orange’s GM last year.

“I give Red (Autry) a lot of credit, and I give Alex a lot of credit,” Rippey Sr. said. “It takes time to get the right players, especially when you’re dealing with the portal, the way that you want to teach, the way that you want to play and the way that Syracuse has always been — bringing back that electricity and that intensity and that fire.”

This all culminated in Rippey Jr.’s official visit, which began upon arrival on Friday night. Rippey Sr. said they had dinner in the JMA Wireless Dome, did a photoshoot and met with the coaching staff. Additionally, freshmen Sadiq White and Kiyan Anthony — who Rippey Sr. noted are both friends with his son — were in attendance.

“We’re looking forward to seeing these two (Sadiq and Kiyan) make a huge impact for Syracuse,” Rippey Sr. said. “(They’re) two highly talented players that are going to be freshmen that can come in, start right away and make a huge impact on what Coach Red and the coaches want Syracuse to look like and become.”

“It’s a perfect fit for Ron Ron, too, to see these guys. They play different positions than Ron Ron, so he can be a piece too.”

On Saturday, they began the day by eating breakfast at the Carmelo Anthony Center, where Rippey Sr. said they met with SU’s strength and conditioning staff, academic advisors and more players on the team. They then headed back to the JMA Wireless Dome in the afternoon to watch Syracuse’s football game versus Duke.

5-star basketball recruit Deron Rippey Jr. is at Syracuse’s football game vs Duke during his official visit today.@NunesMagician pic.twitter.com/jAWpSCGlni

— Christian De Guzman (@CTDeGuz) September 27, 2025

Following the game, they watched the basketball team practice. There, Rippey Sr. said they met Jim Boeheim, who was SU’s head coach for 47 years and led it to its lone national championship in 2003.

Dating back to his final two seasons as head coach and Autry’s first two, the Orange have missed four straight NCAA Tournaments — the program’s longest drought since missing six consecutive from 1967-72.

“Coach Boeheim, he definitely wants to see Syracuse get back to where it’s at, get back to where it used to be. It was great to have him at practice, too,” Rippey Sr. said.

After practice, Rippey Sr. said they had a small dinner at Attilio’s — an Italian restaurant 10 minutes from campus — where they were joined by White, Autry and Autry’s wife, Andrea.

To conclude the visit, Rippey Sr. said they had breakfast, watched film and met with the coaching staff afterward, which included individual meetings with Autry and Kline.

As part of the meeting with Kline, Rippey Sr. noted they discussed name, image and likeness and adjacent topics. Rippey Sr. said it’s one of the conversations he wants to have with each school they visit, so they can be transparent in how it sees his son’s value and worth.

“From an NIL perspective, I mean, you’re talking about the No. 1, No. 2 point guard in the country,” Rippey Sr. said. “So like, the value and the worth in being able to see where he’s at on the market, it really doesn’t have a lot to do with it, but at the same time, he’s just looking forward to going to a place where all the boxes are checked off.”

One of those key boxes, Rippey Sr. highlighted, is the opportunity for his son to come in right away and have the ball in his hands. Rippey Sr. recalled his son mentioning that the Orange ran similar sets to Blair Academy, making them a place he could envision himself playing early and playing the way he wants to.

As for where Rippey Jr. ends up, the ball is in his court. He’s one of the best point guard prospects in the country, with top-tier programs lining up for him to join their program. And to this point, Syracuse has made a strong impression.

“He said he liked everything he’s seen,” Rippey Sr. said of his conversation with Rippey Jr. after visiting SU.

“He was impressed.”

Published on September 29, 2025 at 5:58 pm
Contact Justin: justingirshon@gmail.com | @JustinGirshon