Kyle Filipowski Discusses Syracuse Official Visit
Syracuse basketball hosted its first official visit in more than a year and a half this past weekend. Highly coveted 2022 forward Kyle Filipowski took the trip to Central New York to get a closer look at the program for what was his first official in a busy June. Filipowski has official visits to Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa and Duke scheduled with unofficials to Northwestern and Connecticut on the agenda as well.
AllSyracuse.com caught up with Filipowski to discuss his Orange official.
Q: How did the visit go and what did you get to do during the trip?
Kyle Filipowski: "It was a really great experience for me. Especially for my first visit in the books, that being Syracuse. It was a lot of fun. Some of the things I did were I ate meals with the coaches and the players. Had a barbecue at coach Boeheim's house. We went to see the business school because that's what I'm looking to take in college, so we looked into the academics. I was able to see the Whitman School. I hung out with some of the guys on the team, got to meet them. See the living arrangements, see the Dome, saw the Melo Center. Really where I'd be going about my day. Saw the campus, where I'd be taking some of my other classes, like the main campus. The locker rooms, the facilities, which was great."
Q: What was it like hanging out with the players?
Filipowski: "It just felt normal. It felt natural. It was a very comfortable setting. The guys were great, all open arms towards me. I played some Spikeball and Kan Jam with them at the barbecue. Played some pool as well. Everyone was open arms. It was great to meet all of them. Great group of guys. It was definitely a family setting, for sure."
Q: Who won Kan Jam?
Filipowski: "I know Jimmy Boeheim won one game, I forget who his parter was. Buddy and me won spike the ball the last game."
Q: What was it like meeting the coaches in person for the first time?
Filipowski: "It was awesome. It was great to see them face to face for once. They all are a great group of guys. You can really tell how much of a family setting it was just spending time with them. It was very enjoyable. Their messages to me was just the way they'd play me of course. They expressed to me what Syracuse University is, what Syracuse basketball is. If I were to be a part of their team, that would be a big stepping stone towards bringing another National Championship there since 2003 and Melo. They were just expressing that to me."
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Q: How does Syracuse plan to use you?
Filipowski: "They related me to Marek (Dolezaj) and Tyler Lydon for a couple of players. But just let me be in a position to make plays and be a decision maker expanding the floor."
Q: What did the visit do for your interest in Syracuse and where it stands with you?
Filipowski: "I'm still not planning on cutting my list for a while. I want to get out and see some other schools. I'm sure things are always bound to change with where schools rank on my list and stuff. I'll just leave it at I really enjoyed the visit to Syracuse. It felt natural. I loved everything they showed me."
Q: What is the plan for your recruiting process after this month of visits?
Filipowski: "After this month, I'll take a step back after these visits in June. I have AAU all of July for Peach Jam, so I'm just going to focus on basketball and winning Peach Jam in July. Just enjoying that, my last year of AAU. August, kind of taking a step back, talking with the family and stuff. Then planning on taking some more visits in the fall, because I'll have my senior officials, either taking some new officials in the fall or return to some of the schools I visited in June. Not entirely sure, that will be determined depending on how this month goes. I'll take my officials and then I'll determine where things go from there. I think I'll start getting a better feel for things after all the visits are all over."