Syracuse Basketball: It’s super early, but ‘Cuse 2025 class is in top 10 nationally

We have a way to go, but Syracuse basketball could end up with a truly special 2025 class when all is said and done.

The Orange, last week, picked up its first verbal commit in the rising high school senior cycle, as five-star forward Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C., pledged to the ‘Cuse over other finalists Alabama, Southern California, Georgetown, LSU, Tennessee, and Texas.

That development is big time, as the 6-foot-8 White is a consensus top-35 national prospect in the 2025 cycle. What’s more, as I recently noted, the first two high school prospects to verbally commit to the program under head coach Adrian Autry are both five stars, with White joining 2024 commit Donnie Freeman from Washington, D.C., a consensus five-star power forward rated as high as No. 6 nationwide in his class.

While I readily acknowledge that it’s super duper early on, when I wrote this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite placed the Orange’s 2025 cycle at No. 6 around the country.

To date, the ‘Cuse staff has offered scholarships to more than 20 prospects in the 2025 cycle, although these days, the Orange is prioritizing a handful of rising high school seniors.

Beyond White, Syracuse basketball 2025 recruits to monitor include four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony from New York City, four-star point guard Tyler Jackson from Baltimore, four-star combo guard Acaden Lewis from Washington, D.C., four-star small forward London Jemison from Connecticut, four-star small forward Shon Abaev from Florida, four-star shooting guard Dante Allen from Florida, three-star power forward/center Asher Elson from New York City, and three-star wing Ryder Frost from Massachusetts.

Numerous of these 2025 players are highly ranked in this cycle. Anthony, Jackson and Jemison have officially visited the ‘Cuse, while targets including Lewis, Abaev and Frost have said lately that they are highly interested in making trips to Central New York.

Now, we don’t know at this point how big the Orange’s 2025 class will end up being, due in large part to the explosion of the transfer portal. However, if Syracuse basketball coaches can land several recruits to join White down the line, I could envision the ‘Cuse having a 2025 cycle that is in the top 10 nationally.

Looking toward the 2024-25 season, the Orange so far has five commits in its 2024 class. Two are at the high school level in Freeman and New York City four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore.

Via the transfer portal this off-season, the ‘Cuse has secured pledges from at least three college transfers, all of whom are rated four stars. They are Hofstra junior point guard Jaquan Carlos, Delaware senior forward Jyáre Davis, and Colorado senior center Eddie Lampkin Jr.

Here are some of the latest national rankings for the Orange’s 2024 class:
247Sports: No. 27 overall, No. 31 (high school level), No. 55 (transfer portal)
On3: No. 12 overall, No. 43 (transfer portal)
Rivals.com: No. 22 (high school level)