Syracuse Basketball: Big offers pour in for 4-star target Marcus Adams Jr.

At this rate, Syracuse basketball four-star priority recruit Marcus Adams Jr. is going to have amassed 30-plus offers in no time at all.

The 6-foot-8 small forward, who put the Orange in his top five at the beginning of February and recently took an official visit to the Hill, said via Twitter not too long ago that his recruitment remains open.

That’s totally understandable. Beyond his top five and other prior scholarship offers, just in the last week or so, the top-65 prospect has collected numerous new offers from multiple big-time programs, such as Tennessee, Kansas State, Xavier, Arkansas, defending national champion Kansas, Indiana, Southern California and UCLA (the Bruins were in Adams’ top five but hadn’t officially offered him when he disclosed his initial group of finalists).

Per the 247Sports Web site, Marcus Adams Jr. has 20 offers at this juncture, but trust me, that number is going to expand – and quickly, based on current trends in his recruiting process. The ‘Cuse coaching staff offered him last December.

Syracuse basketball faces growing and intense competition for four-star small forward Marcus Adams Jr.

Adams, whose top five included the Orange, Texas, UCLA, Oregon and Mississippi State, is a standout for Narbonne High School in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles.

During the 2022-23 season, he has averaged nearly 30 points per game, making him one of the leading scorers around the country. This past Friday night, Narbonne fell by four points in the L.A. City Section Open Division playoffs.

Social media posts indicated that Marcus Adams Jr. may have suffered an injury, and we of course hope that he’s okay moving forward.

He has the option available to be a member of either the 2023 or the 2024 recruiting class. In grassroots basketball, he has suited up for the Los Angeles-based Elev8 Elite, which is an Adidas-sponsored program.

Recent media reports have stated that should Adams play in the upcoming AAU circuit, he will compete for the Compton, Calif.-based Compton Magic in the Adidas league.

Cory DeSanti, Adams’ AAU head coach at Elev8 Elite, told me a few days ago that Adams is eyeing a commitment decision in mid-April.

Adams is likely to take more official visits in the near future, and DeSanti mentioned teams like UCLA, Southern California and Kansas for those visits, but with all of these new suitors emerging for Adams, this is certainly a fluid situation.

There is also a possibility that Adams may take an unofficial visit to the Hill on Saturday, March 4, when Syracuse basketball hosts Wake Forest in the Orange’s 2022-23 regular-season finale.

Despite all of these massive new offers, DeSanti did say to me last Thursday evening, “Syracuse is definitely in it.”

As I first reported last month, businessman, philanthropist and top SU booster Adam Weitsman has offered a significant name, image and likeness deal to Marcus Adams Jr. Weitsman has told me that his NIL offer to Adams is for the 2023 class.

At this juncture, 247Sports rates Adams as No. 61 overall, No. 16 at small forward and No. 6 in California within the 2024 class. My sense is that as the primary recruiting services update their 2024 national rankings in the near future, Adams will vault into the top 50, if not higher.

In late January, when Adams took an official visit to the ‘Cuse and was in attendance for the Orange’s home game against Virginia, that trip went extremely well, DeSanti has told me.

Even with all of this attention surrounding Marcus Adams Jr., I still maintain that Syracuse basketball is in a good spot with him. However, it’s important to note that some of his new offers are from heavyweight programs.

In this past week’s Associated Press top-25 poll, Tennessee was No. 6, UCLA was No. 7, Kansas was No. 9, Kansas State was No. 12, Xavier was No. 13 and Indiana was No. 18. We’ll have to see how this all pans out.

As I reported on Saturday evening, Syracuse basketball coaches have made their first foray into the 2026 class, offering a scholarship to Adams’ younger brother, Maximo Adams.

Maximo Adams, a 6-foot-6 small forward, is a freshman at Narbonne and also a member of the Compton Magic.