Syracuse Basketball: 5-star target, the No. 1 junior, daunting docket ahead

Syracuse basketball 2023 recruiting target D.J. Wagner and his teammates at their New Jersey high school will endure a really challenging schedule in their 2021-22 campaign.

Jordan Divens, the national basketball editor for MaxPreps, recently detailed some of the key upcoming games for Wagner’s squad, Camden High School in Camden, N.J., in the 2021-22 term.

First and foremost, Camden High School enters this coming season on a 38-game winning streak, according to media reports. In Divens’ pre-season top-25 rankings of the best traditional high schools around the country, Camden High School checks in at No. 4.

The 6-foot-3 Wagner, who is on the MaxPreps pre-season All-America first team, is a five-star point guard in the 2023 cycle. He is also the consensus No. 1 prospect across the country in his recruiting class.

Syracuse basketball prospect D.J. Wagner has some big games in the near future.

One terrific encounter to monitor is when Camden High School goes up against the juggernaut Montverde Academy out of Montverde, Fla., in mid-January.

In that duel, Wagner will face off with two other Orange targets who suit up for the Montverde Academy. They are 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr. and 2024 five-star power forward Derik Queen, who both hail from Baltimore.

Evans, Queen and Wagner are all top-five overall prospects in their respective classes. Syracuse basketball coaches offered Wagner this past August at the team’s annual Elite Camp, while Queen and Evans landed their ‘Cuse offers in October, according to media reports.

Camden High School, by the way, will compete against numerous other squads in the MaxPreps top-25 rankings. They include No. 1 Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, Calif., No. 2 Milton High School in Milton, Ga., No. 10 Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., No. 14 Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, N.J., and No. 15 Roselle Catholic High School in Roselle, N.J.

One of the stars of Roselle Catholic High School is 2023 five-star combo guard Simeon Wilcher, who was an Orange target until recently when he verbally committed to blue-blood team and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference foe North Carolina.

Wagner’s other scholarship offers include from Memphis, Kentucky, Villanova and Temple. Some national analysts and recruiting insiders view Kentucky and Memphis as potential front-runners for Wagner.

He put forth a stellar sophomore year, and he’s primed for another special term as a junior. Camden High School has captured 11 state championships, per MaxPreps, and with Wagner leading the way, the team will significantly contend for another one in 2021-22.