Syracuse basketball just gained the commitment of class of 2024 guard Elijah Moore over the weekend, and now the Orange are zeroing in on another target. Forward Marcus Adams Jr, has placed SU in his top-5 schools after taking an official visit to the university over the weekend. Adams attended the Virginia game on Monday, and also placed UCLA, Oregon, Texas, and Mississippi State in that top 5.
There are rumors that Adams could reclassify into the class of 2023, which would be great for Syracuse considering the Orange have ZERO players committed in that class. Adams also wants to take another visit to Syracuse to meet with Adam Weitsman, and learn about the NIL opportunities he has to offer. Syracuse has two weekend home games left (Duke and Wake Forest), which would make the most sense for the California native to attend.
According to 247 Sports, Adams is expected to choose his destination rather quickly after naming his top 5, and it should be seen as a good sign for Syracuse that immediately after leaving one visit he wants to come back for another. Here’s what he said about his visit and his recruitment from SU:
“They tell me I’m a one-and-done, a good player, they need me, and I love the coaches. I saw on my visit that Boeheim, coach Griff, coach Gerry, and coach Autry are all good coaches. Also, the fan base is crazy and Syracuse checks all the boxes. The only thing is that they’re far from but that’s not an issue for me. They still treat you like a family.”
Adams can add another dimension to the Orange’s forward room at 6’8, with good length and athleticism. Currently with a chunk of forwards in front of him, depending on how things shake out in the offseason, Adams could have Benny Williams (could leave), Chris Bell (could leave), Justin Taylor (can play guard), Maliq Brown, and Quadir Copeland (can play guard) in front of him by seniority, but expect him to play a lot of minutes early on, similar to Judah Mintz.
“I’d be a multi-level scorer,” Adams said. “I could go make an impact when it comes to scoring, athleticism, shooting, and rebounding. I could make a big impact on that. Defense and rebounding too.”
All in all, Adams should be nearing a decision by the end of February, and based on recent trends, the Orange seem to be once again in a good spot to land a highly-touted recruit. Not bad for a program that had come up empty for the last six months on everything recruiting-oriented.
“It was crazy,” Adams said. “I love the atmosphere and love the fans. They were walking up to me and saying ‘we need you. We want you’ and stuff like that. ‘You’d fit in here’ and ‘Orange looks good on you.’ Took some pictures, signed some autographs, and things like that. It was pretty cool out there.”
