Syracuse basketball offers talented wing who plays for Albany City Rocks

Syracuse basketball coaches continue to ramp up their scholarship offers to, and interest in, high-school prospects who are part of the 2024 recruiting cycle.

To that end, the Orange coaching staff has offered a scholarship to Damarius Owens, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward in the 2024 class. Owens, who hails from Upstate New York, revealed the ‘Cuse offer via his Twitter page.

In the 2021-22 campaign, Owens was a sophomore at the Western Reserve Academy, a prep school in Hudson, Ohio. Prior to that, he suited up for the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, N.Y.

On the grassroots basketball circuit, Owens competes for the Albany City Rocks, an excellent AAU squad that plays in Nike’s EYBL league. Over the years, numerous Albany City Rocks players have ultimately gone on to the Orange.

Syracuse basketball has entered the recruiting mix for 2024 wing Damarius Owens.

Owens is in the early stages of his recruiting process. According to his Twitter account and the Verbal Commits Web site, his other offers include from Cincinnati, UMass, Siena and UMBC.

Pro Insight director of scouting Andrew Slater said via Twitter in October of 2021 that Owens was also garnering interest from college teams such as Butler, Penn State, Xavier and Providence.

Last August, SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister noted in an article the high-school prospects who were expected to attend the Orange’s annual Elite Camp, and Owens was included here.

I’m not seeing Owens’ name within the 2024 national ratings from the primary recruiting services, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that changes at some point in the future.

From some of the comments that I have read on social media about Owens from recruiting analysts and scouts, he appears to be a tremendous defender who is quick and has great instincts.

https://twitter.com/EliteHSscouting/status/1511150869844312067?cxt=HHwWhoC-8bXt1_gpAAAA

On the offensive end of the floor, I get the sense that Owens can score with proficiency at all three levels – that is, from beyond the arc, in the mid-range, and around the basket.

I’m glad to see that the Syracuse basketball coaching staff has gotten involved with Owens early on in his recruitment. As he presumably shines for the Albany City Rocks at AAU events in the spring and summer months, and with college coaches being able to directly communicate with 2024 prospects come mid-June, I have no doubt that Owens’ list of scholarship offers is going to significantly expand.

By my count, the ‘Cuse has offered scholarships to a half-dozen players in the 2024 cycle. Three other recent Syracuse basketball offers in this class went out to four-star point guard Robert Wright III of Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia, four-star center Yves Missi out of the West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Md., and five-star point guard Elliot Cadeau at Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, N.J.