Syracuse Basketball: 5-star target balls out in EYBL, offered by Coach Hop

Last weekend, during an NCAA live period on the AAU circuit, Syracuse basketball five-star recruit Darius Adams earned a lot of high praise from national analysts and scouts for his play.

He’s also received a scholarship offer from Washington, whose head coach is former long-time Orange assistant coach Mike Hopkins. That offer from the Huskies was disclosed via Twitter by top scout Andrew Slater of Cerebro Sports.

Adams, a 6-foot-3 combo guard in the 2025 class, suits up for the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals in Nike’s EYBL league.

This past weekend, Adams proved one of the top scorers in the EYBL’s 16U division, as the Nike league’s first session of the spring circuit was held at the LakePoint Champions Center in Emerson, Ga.

Syracuse basketball will see competition expand for 2025 five-star target Darius Adams.

According to the EYBL Web site, over five games in the first session, Adams averaged 16.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 27.2 minutes per encounter. He had a high scoring mark of 22 points in one affair, as the PSA Cardinals went 3-2 overall.

In these contests, Adams hit on 38.5 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.0 percent from the free-throw line.

Travis Branham, a top-notch national analyst with 247Sports, watched Adams in person during the recent live period and had this to say about the Orange recruiting target. “He stands out on first glance just based on his size, length and fluidity for a guard but he has a lot of game to go with his natural talent. He’s a skilled scorer that can also create and facilitate to those around him.”

Adams had a terrific sophomore season, helping lead Manasquan High School in Manasquan, N.J., to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (“NJSIAA”) Group 2 tournament championship.

Not too long ago, MaxPreps national basketball editor Jordan Divens named Adams to his 2022-23 All-America third team within the 2025 cycle.

Syracuse basketball coaches offered a scholarship to Adams in late August of 2022 when he took an unofficial visit to the Hill to compete in the team’s annual Elite Camp.

Besides the ‘Cuse and Washington, Adams’ early offers include Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Fordham. As the contact period opens up in mid-June, allowing college coaches to initiate direct communication with prospects in the sophomore class, I envision Adams seeing his offer sheet substantially grow, if not sooner than that.

Multiple recruiting services rate him as a top-30 national prospect in the 2025 cycle. When I penned this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite ranked Adams as five stars, No. 21 across the country, No. 3 at combo guard and No. 1 in New Jersey within his class.