Syracuse Basketball: 5-star recruits aiming for spots on U.S. national team

Two Syracuse basketball five-star recruiting targets are among those invited to an upcoming training camp in Colorado where they will vie for a spot on the 2022 USA Basketball U17 national team, according to an announcement.

Those two Orange recruits are 2023 five-star point guard D.J. Wagner from New Jersey and 2024 four-star guard Ian Jackson from New York.

Per the press release from USA Basketball, 35 players have been invited to participate in the U17 national team’s training camp from June 18 to June 25 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

These 35 invitees will compete for one of 12 spots on the U17 national squad’s roster that will compete at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup in Málaga, Spain, from July 2 to July 10.

Syracuse basketball recruits are competing for roster spots on a U.S. national team.

The 6-foot-6 Jackson, according to USA Basketball, was on the roster of the U.S. national group that captured the 2021 FIBA U16 Americas Championship.

The 6-foot-3 Wagner has attended prior junior national team minicamps, per the media statement.

The ‘Cuse coaching staff offered a scholarship to Jackson in April. He is ranked No. 2 nationally in his class by multiple recruiting services.

Jackson has said in at least two recent interviews that Syracuse basketball is among the college teams heavily involved in his recruitment, at least for the time being.

He is a stand-out for Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y., and on the AAU circuit, Jackson runs with the Bronx, N.Y.-based Wiz Kids in the Adidas league.

For his stellar play in the 2021-22 campaign for a top-10 Cardinal Hayes squad, Jackson was named the national sophomore of the year by MaxPreps.

Wagner, meanwhile, is ranked the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 cycle by several recruiting Web sites. He received an Orange offer last August at the team’s annual Elite Camp.

A star for Camden High School in Camden, N.J., as well as for the New Jersey Scholars Elite Basketball Club in Nike’s EYBL league, Wagner’s other offers include from Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Villanova and Temple.

Throughout his recruitment, Kentucky has gotten a lot of buzz from analysts for Wagner, but more recently, Louisville has appeared to emerge as a possible favorite in his recruiting process.

Another Syracuse basketball five-star recruit, big man Derik Queen from Baltimore, had been competing for a spot on the USA Basketball U18 national team roster.

The 6-foot-9 Queen, a power forward/center, was one of 13 finalists but didn’t make the cut for the final 12-player roster.

The USA Basketball U18 national squad is suiting up at the 2022 FIBA U18 Americas Championship from June 6 to June 12 in Tijuana, Mexico.

Offered by the Orange last October, Queen attends the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., and plays in grassroots basketball for the Baltimore-based Team Thrill in the Under Armour Association (“UAA”) league.