Just before the Tuesday morning practice at the McDonald's All-American Game, Darius Bazley was on the floor at Emory Sports Medicine Complex just north of Atlanta talking and playing with a young boy with leukemia named Alex.

Alex's brother and parents then thanked Bazley for taking some time with the boy.

"For me to be able to just put a smile on his face and engage with him and make sure he's smiling and happy and I'm able to make someone's day, that meant a lot," the 6-foot-9 Bazley said later Tuesday.

Syracuse commit Darius Bazley spending some time with a little boy here at @McDAAG pic.twitter.com/2uaCQsdH64

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 27, 2018

Bazley seemed to fully grasp and appreciate all that comes with being a McDonald's All-American, from the off-the-court responsibilities to the on-the-court honor. He was set to play with the West team in Wednesday night's game (7 PM ET, ESPN).

"I looked up to all of these dudes so you [if] tell me a few years back that I'm going to be on the same stage and platform with these guys, I wouldn't have believed it," he said.

Bazley, out of Cincinnati's Princeton High School, is part of a three-man recruiting class at Syracuse that also includes Montclair (NJ) Immaculate Conception point guard Jalen Carey and Wolfeboro (NH) Brewster Academy small forward Buddy Boeheim, the son of Hall of Fame Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

But Bazley will bring a unique size and skill set to the Orange, who lost to Duke in the Sweet 16 of this month's NCAA Tournament.

"I'm so versatile at my size, I don't think there's anybody here who can do what I do at my size," he said. "I think my size and skill set and my upside takes over everybody else's."

Bazley, who currently weighs 195 pounds, wants to get up to about 210 by the time he plays at Syracuse. He went so far as to compare himself to Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons, the favorite to win 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year honors. Bazley also said Magic Johnson is one of his favorite players.

"I honestly if I put weight on myself, I can see myself in like a Ben Simmons-type position, more as a point-forward-type thing," he said. "I can break down defenses without scoring because I'm so tall I can see the floor. I can handle the ball well and come off pick-and-rolls."

Syracuse-bound forward Darius Bazley showed out at today's @McDAAG practice. pic.twitter.com/WoDLaw6Un7

— FOX Sports South (@FOXSportsSouth) March 27, 2018

Bazley said Boeheim and the staff have told him that they will use him in a variety of ways.

"Me and Oshae [Brissett] will exchange different spots," he said. "He'll have me coming off the screen, setting the screen. Getting the ball, pushing it in transition, making plays for other people, rebounding and making my teammates better."

Brissett is being mentioned in various 2019 NBA mock drafts and Bazley says the two of them will be "very tough" together.

"We can be very scary, too," he said, "especially with these guys being only an 11 seed in the tournament and going that far. With the new pieces we'll be adding and the experience we'll have, I think we'll go even farther."

It remains to be seen if Tyus Battle will return to Syracuse for his junior season or enter the NBA, but Syracuse could have a potentially loaded roster with Carey, Battle, Boeheim, Frank Howard, and Elijah Hughes in the backcourt and Brissett, Bazley, Marek Dolezaj, Paschal Chukwu, and Bourama Sidibe up front.

"I haven't talked to [Battle] at all; I just want the best for him," Bazley said. "If he feels comfortable, if he's getting good feedback, and wants to go to the draft, then I wish the best for him. Of course, it would be nice to play with him just to say I got the opportunity and experience to play with him. but if he comes back then I'll be glad to play with him. But if he does leave then obviously it was best and I'm happy for him."

As for his own plans, Bazley hopes to play in the NBA himself one day. And if there were no one-and-done rule, he might consider trying to go straight to the NBA.

"I think if you're a one-and-done, you're basically a none-and-done to me," he said. "I mean, if we're being honest, if you're one-and-done, you're basically none-and-done. The only reason kids that are one-and-done are going to school is because they have to, it's the rule."

So if he had the chance to go straight from high school, would he?

"If I had good feedback, I wouldn't just go because," he said. "But if coaches were telling me, 'Hey, you're a one-and-done, you could play in the league right now,' then yeah, I would because my ultimate goal is to play professional basketball so going that route, that would be great for me."

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Adam Zagoria is a basketball insider who runs ZAGSBLOG.com and contributes to The New York Times. Follow Adam on Twitter.