Perhaps, I’m wrong but I did read a statement from Boeheim before he stepped down that a number of players contacted Syracuse last year inquiring about Transferring in. I made a leap of faith that one of them was Starling who announced his transfer to Syracuse on the first day of the portal. Surely this was not done with no pre thought or conversation especially since Brey announced early on he was not returning to coach ND.
.Second, Westry had plenty of time being during the season while he was injured where he may have inquire/talk/reach out to McNamara his Syracuse recruiter about the possibility of coming to Syracuse.
sure, Red once he became the head coach had the final say but these transfers had previous discussions/inquiries to see if they could transfer To Syracuse.