Syracuse Basketball: First 2024 offer is to star wing in our nation’s capital

Syracuse basketball has verbal commitments from two four-star, top-100 players in the 2022 cycle. The Orange has scholarship offers out to a wide range of elite prospects in the 2023 class.

And now the ‘Cuse has entered the 2024 cycle with a bang, offering a scholarship to a highly talented wing from the talent-rich Washington, D.C., market.

The Syracuse basketball coaching staff has offered Donnie Freeman, a 6-foot-9 wing. Freeman disclosed the offer via his Twitter page.

Recently, he participated in the Orange’s Elite Camp, where ‘Cuse coaches pledged scholarship offers to several high-school players in the 2023 and 2024 classes.

We’ve written pieces in recent months about Syracuse basketball coaches reportedly showing interest in a handful of 2024 prospects, including five-star power forward Derik Queen out of Baltimore.

The 6-foot-8 Queen, the No. 1 overall player in this cycle according to ESPN, recently said that he would transfer from the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore to the powerhouse Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla.

But to my knowledge, the offer doled out by Orange coaches to Freeman is the program’s first in the 2024 recruiting cycle.

Syracuse basketball has joined the recruiting fray for 2024 wing Donnie Freeman.

Freeman is heading into his sophomore year, and he attends St. John’s College High School in the District of Columbia. On the AAU circuit, he runs with D.C.-based Team Takeover.

Justin Taylor, a 2022 four-star wing who earlier this summer gave a verbal commitment to the Orange, has competed for Team Takeover. So has Benny Williams, a 2021 five-star forward and current freshman for the ‘Cuse.

Not all of the primary recruiting services have published national rankings for the 2024 class, however, from what I’ve read about Freeman online, it does seem he could emerge as one of the top prospects in this cycle.

According to Verbal Commits, Freeman has other offers from Maryland, Old Dominion and Georgetown.

Additionally, some recent tweets that I came across suggest he has garnered interest from squads including Villanova, Connecticut, Rutgers, Xavier, Marquette, Louisville, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall.

Besides Freeman, other high-school prospects to receive offers at the Orange’s Elite Camp are 2023 big man Joseph Estrella, 2023 four-star guard Reid Ducharme, 2023 three-star power forward/center Papa Kante and 2023 five-star point guard D.J. Wagner, the No. 1 player in his cycle.