For the past month or so, just about everything our team at The Fizz has been working on is covering the introduction of Fran Brown as Syracuse’s new football coach and the immense work he has done on the recruiting trail (let’s erase the memory of the Boca Raton Bowl), and the play of Adrian Autry’s team on the court as the Orange finished non-conference play 9-2 (with a loss to Virginia in early December mixed in). So, as we approach 2024, let’s move back to a topic that is very important and has major implications for the future of SU basketball: recruiting.
It’s been pretty quiet for the Orange since Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore signed their NLI a couple of weeks ago, and because of the depth of the current roster and how young it is, no big pushes were made for other class of 2024 recruits, which has SU rated as the 31st best class on 247 Sports thanks to those two four stars (Freeman 28th, Moore 52nd overall). With the transfer portal also a huge asset, there was no need to overload this incoming freshman class, with the only person likely to not be on the team next year Judah Mintz, who will probably head for the NBA.
So, looking to the future, 2025 is a class that is headlined for Syracuse by Kiyan Anthony, son of Carmelo, who has visited Central New York before, and SU’s coaches have watched him recently during his junior year of high school. There are plenty of other targets out there for the Orange with offers, but the one taking an official visit this weekend is London Jemison, a 6’8 185lb forward from St. Thomas More Prep in Connecticut, who is rated 3 stars and 124th overall in the class by 247 Sports. While the rating and stars might not be flashy, he holds offers from the aforementioned Virginia and Villanova among some other smaller Northeast schools.
“Jemison’s national rankings belie his potential as an athletic forward who can stretch the floor with his outside shooting ability,” syracuse.com’s Mike Waters wrote about him.
The overall recruiting strategy in terms of position and who is the highest priority targets remains unclear to the outside for Syracuse in 2025 after signing one big lanky forward and a shooting wing in 2024 to go along with the current roster, but one thing is clear: where the players they’ve offered are from. According to 247 Sports, the Orange have given out 18 offers to the class of 2025 recruits and the distribution is as follows: New York (3), DMV (2), Indiana (2), Ohio (2), and then California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont, and West Virginia all with 1. It’s an interesting list, as it differs a bit from the areas we’ve highlighted in the past (New York City, Philadelphia, and the DMV areas).
Overall, the hardest recruit in a class is always the first one, and once Autry and his staff secure that for 2025, they can start building a group that will help maintain the momentum and culture of Syracuse basketball that has been reestablished heading into 2024. More visits and sure to come as the ACC schedule continues.
