Syracuse Basketball: City Rocks wing bolts into rankings, should be higher

Syracuse basketball recruiting target Damarius Owens, who hails from Upstate New York, put forth a bunch of massive performances in grassroots basketball during the spring and summer months.

The 6-foot-7 wing, a talented and underrated guard/forward who received an Orange scholarship offer this past April, continues to pick up new offers, thereby increasing competition for his future services.

Owens’ recruitment is growing on a national stage, and his recent success on the court has helped propel him into the national rankings for the 2024 class.

When 247Sports updated and expanded its national ratings for the junior cycle not too long ago, Owens checked in as three stars, No. 111 overall, No. 27 at small forward and No. 3 in Ohio.

At the time of this writing, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite placed him as three stars, No. 137 across the country, No. 33 at small forward and No. 3 in Ohio.

Syracuse basketball got involved with Damarius Owens early on in his recruiting process.

On the AAU circuit, Owens suits up for the Albany City Rocks in Nike’s EYBL league, a top-flight program that ‘Cuse fans are quite familiar with, since numerous City Rocks alumni have gone on to play for Syracuse basketball.

During various grassroots basketball sessions for the City Rocks, Owens landed a lot of high praise from national analysts and scouts for his performances.

Previously, Owens competed for the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, N.Y., but these days he is heading into his junior season at the Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio.

Recently, the fall recruiting period opened up, enabling college coaches, analysts and others to visit with high-school players in off-campus settings, such as open gyms.

According to Owens’ Twitter page, the Orange was one of several squads that recently made a trip to the Western Reserve Academy, presumably to watch Owens.

https://twitter.com/DamariusOwens1/status/1568424578375983106

At this juncture, besides Syracuse basketball, his offer sheet includes Dayton, Marquette, St. Bonaventure, Creighton, Iona, Cincinnati, UMass, UMBC and Siena.

I am extremely confident that many more high-major programs will end up pursuing Owens throughout his recruitment.

While I’m glad to see that Owens is nationally ranked by 247Sports, and such a rating is well-deserved, I honestly believe he should be ranked higher within the 2024 class.

Certainly, throughout the course of the upcoming 2022-23 high-school campaign, and then later on amid more grassroots basketball sessions, the main recruiting services will refresh their 2024 ratings.

For my money, Damarius Owens should be a consensus four-star prospect who is ranked within the top 75 to the top 100 in this cycle.