Syracuse basketball offers another 4-star from loaded AAU team in D.C.
By Neil Adler
Syracuse basketball coaches continue to recruit the fertile Washington, D.C., market extremely hard.
The Orange has offered a scholarship to 2024 four-star guard/small forward Caleb Williams, he revealed on Twitter.
The 6-foot-7 Williams, a top-100 national player, is a standout junior at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. In grassroots basketball, he suits up for an excellent AAU squad, the D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike’s EYBL league.
Two of Williams’ AAU teammates are 2024 four-star center Patrick Ngongba II and 2024 four-star power forward Donnie Freeman. The ‘Cuse, just in the past few days, also offered the 6-foot-10 Ngongba.
The 6-foot-9 Freeman, meanwhile, is a high-priority target for Syracuse basketball coaches in the junior cycle. The Orange is receiving some buzz for him on recruiting Web sites these days.
Syracuse basketball has gotten into the fray for 2024 four-star wing Caleb Williams.
About a year ago, I wrote a column stating that the ‘Cuse coaching staff was showing interest in Williams, per his bio on the 247Sports Web site. Well, that interest has now turned into a formal scholarship offer.
Last weekend, amid an NCAA live period, Syracuse basketball coaches were in attendance for Team Takeover games as the EYBL held a session at the LakePoint Champions Center in Emerson, Ga.
Both Orange head coach Adrian Autry and new assistant coach Brenden Straughn previously served as assistants with the Team Takeover program, and the ‘Cuse coaching staff is making it clear that the Washington market is an important recruiting region for Syracuse basketball.
This past weekend, Team Takeover went 2-2 overall at this EYBL session. Per the EYBL Web site, Williams averaged 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 18.0 minutes per contest. He connected on 44.8 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line.
During his junior year at Sidwell Friends, according to the MaxPreps Web site, Williams averaged 12.9 points per encounter, but he missed 12 games due to an injury.
In the 2022-23 term, Sidwell Friends went 28-4 overall and was a nationally ranked squad, per MaxPreps. In its super early top 25 ahead of the 2023-24 stanza, MaxPreps has placed the Quakers at No. 5 across the country.
From a 2024 national rankings standpoint, when I penned this column, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite had Williams at No. 93 overall. ESPN put him at No. 86 nationally. And multiple recruiting services rated Williams as a top-four prospect in D.C. within his class.
Per recruiting Web sites, he holds more than 20 offers from a range of high-major programs, including Michigan, Indiana, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Providence and Ole Miss, among others.