Look for Syracuse basketball to ramp up recruitment of these 5-star targets

Damarius Owens

In April, Syracuse basketball coaches extended an offer to underrated wing Damarius Owens, who is from Upstate New York.

The 6-foot-7 guard/forward is just starting to see his recruitment pick up, and undoubtedly the Orange will witness the competition for Owens grow as college coaches can reach out to him directly.

As a sophomore in the 2021-22 season, he suited up for the Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. But prior to that, Owens played for the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, N.Y.

Given his New York roots, my hope is that the ‘Cuse can evolve into a big-time contender for Owens.

In AAU, he is a member of the Albany City Rocks in Nike’s EYBL league. As all of my fellow Orange hoops fanatics know, the City Rocks is a strong AAU program, and numerous of its players have gone on to don a Syracuse basketball uniform in college.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Owens had a monster game at the third EYBL session of the spring circuit, which took place in Louisville, Ky.

As we discussed in a separate column, Owens tallied 18 points, three rebounds and three blocks in that encounter. Additionally, he was highly efficient in shooting the ball, connecting on 7-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

Owens also put forth a couple of massive performances in grassroots basketball during the month of April, when college coaches were in attendance.

So with these types of recent outings in AAU events, one would assume that Owens’ offer list will continue to grow, particularly after college coaches can communicate with him directly later this month.

He said via Twitter on April 10 that the Orange had offered him, and some of his other early offers are from Creighton, Cincinnati, UMass, Siena and UMBC.

While it doesn’t seem that Owens is nationally ranked by the main recruiting services, for now, considering how he’s fared in grassroots basketball so far this spring, he should be positioned to enter the 2024 ratings at some point.

Owens has said in at least one interview that he was excited by the Syracuse basketball offer. I hope that the ‘Cuse becomes a legit contender for him.