Syracuse Basketball: Competition soars for recruit, including from champs

Maximo Adams is only a freshman in high school out on the west coast, but already he has picked up some big-time suitors, including Syracuse basketball and the 2022 national champion.

Not too long ago, the Orange coaching staff offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-6, 180-pound small forward in the class of 2026. The offer to Adams is believed to be first doled out by the ‘Cuse in the freshman recruiting cycle.

Adams is the younger brother of Syracuse basketball four-star priority recruit Marcus Adams Jr., a 6-foot-8 small forward who has the option to be in either the 2023 or the 2024 class and was offered by ‘Cuse coaches last December.

Both of the Adams brothers attend Narbonne High School in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles and run with the Los Angeles-based Elev8 Elite, an Adidas-sponsored program.

In late January, Marcus Adams Jr. took an official visit to the Hill. A few days later, he included the Orange in his top five. He has said that his recruitment remains open, and media reports have indicated that Adams may announce a new list of top schools in the near future.

Meanwhile, both he and Maximo Adams were eyeing a possible unofficial visit to Central New York to be in attendance for the team’s 2022-23 regular-season finale versus Wake Forest this coming Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome. However, that unofficial visit is no longer happening, unfortunately.

New Syracuse basketball recruit Maximo Adams has added some impressive offers lately.

Maximo Adams recently said on social media that he has gotten a scholarship offer from Kansas, which won the 2022 NCAA Tournament and will be one of the favorites this spring to cut down the nets yet again.

https://twitter.com/MaximoAdams7/status/1629561167009009666

We should point out here that his older brother, Marcus Adams Jr., was on an official visit to the Jayhawks from February 24 to February 26.

Maximo Adams, who has put forth a really solid freshman campaign for Narbonne, now has an offer sheet approaching 10, and his recruiting process likely has a long way to go.

Besides Kansas and Syracuse basketball, Adams’ other offers are from teams such as Texas, Kansas State, Xavier, Oregon, Mississippi State, Missouri-Kansas City and California Baptist.

The Jayhawks’ pedigree doesn’t need further discussion. Texas and Kansas State are both having strong 2022-23 seasons out of the Big 12 Conference.

In the current campaign, Xavier has proven one of the better teams in the Big East Conference. And while Oregon isn’t having a great year by its usual standards, the Ducks are an excellent program in the Pac-12 Conference and do well on the recruiting trail.

Naturally, as Adams shines in high school and on the AAU circuit, his offer sheet is going to continue growing, which means more intense competition as Syracuse basketball coaches try to prevail in his recruitment (and his older brother’s recruitment as well).