Syracuse Basketball: Orange priority target is 5 stars in composite rankings

Several media reports in recent months have noted that Syracuse basketball coaches are prioritizing top-flight guard Darius Adams in the 2025 class.

While the sophomore recruiting cycle is in its early stages, the ‘Cuse coaching staff has doled out scholarship offers to a handful of 2025 prospects, including the 6-foot-3 Adams, who is a combo guard/shooting guard.

Last August, he took an unofficial visit to the Hill to compete in the Orange’s annual Elite Camp, at which time he picked up a ‘Cuse offer. Lately, Adams has put up some strong performances during the 2022-23 season for Manasquan High School in Manasquan, N.J.

In the past, Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim has given high praise to Adams, who on the AAU circuit runs with the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals in Nike’s EYBL league.

Syracuse basketball 2025 recruit Darius Adams is rated five stars by one composite service.

Several of the primary recruiting services have updated their 2025 national rankings of late. For example, over at Rivals.com, in its refreshed ratings for the sophomore class, Adams checked in at four stars and No. 24 nationally (he moved up one spot here).

At the time of this writing, though, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite had Adams as five stars, No. 21 overall, No. 3 at combo guard and No. 1 in New Jersey.

To date in the early parts of his recruitment, he holds offers from the Orange, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Fordham, according to recruiting Web sites. I’ve come across reports and social media commentary that suggest other college squads showing interest in Adams include Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland.

Trust me when I say that his offer sheet is growing to expand significantly in the future. For one, college coaches can’t initiate direct communication with 2025 high-school players until mid-June of this year.

Adams could certainly grab additional offers between now and then, but once the contact period opens up for the 2025 cycle, I would imagine that his recruiting process will absolutely start to take off.

As it pertains to other national rankings from primary recruiting services, Adams is four stars per the industry-generated On3 Consensus, On3 and 247Sports.

The On3 Consensus, when I penned this piece, rated him at No. 28 nationwide, No. 9 at shooting guard and No. 1 in New Jersey. On3 has him at No. 39 around the country, No. 12 at shooting guard and No. 1 in New Jersey.

And the 247Sports recruiting service puts Adams at No. 23 overall, No. 3 at combo guard and No. 1 in New Jersey.

Assuming that Adams continues to shine for Manasquan and the PSA Cardinals, I could envision him reaching five stars and residing in the top 20 of the 2025 class, according to all of the main recruiting services.

At this juncture, I believe that Syracuse basketball coaches have offered scholarships to five 2025 prospects, including Adams. The remaining four are four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony of Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, N.Y., four-star wing Brandon Stores Jr. out of the St. Raymond High School for Boys in the Bronx, N.Y., four-star guard Jerry Easter II with the Emmanuel Christian School in Toledo, Ohio, and four-star wing Efeosa Oliogu, who attends the United Scholastic Academy in Toronto.