Syracuse Basketball: Orange’s 2024 class moves into the top 5 nationwide

The Syracuse basketball two-member 2024 class is ranked in the top five across the country, according to one of the primary recruiting services.

When I penned this column on Wednesday, the On3 Industry Ranking had the Orange’s 2024 cycle at No. 5 nationally. Naturally, the team’s 2024 class ratings will ebb and flow as the ‘Cuse and other college squads add to their junior cycles.

At this juncture, the two verbal commitments for Syracuse basketball in 2024 are four-star power forward Donnie Freeman and four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore.

Last month, the 6-foot-9 Freeman, out of Washington, D.C., chose the ‘Cuse over other finalists Alabama, Iowa, Texas and Georgia Tech. He is a top-40 national prospect and a top-five power forward in the 2024 class, according to multiple recruiting services.

The 6-foot-4 Moore, who verbally committed to the Orange in late January over Alabama, Arkansas, Miami and Oklahoma State, is a top-70 overall player and a top-20 shooting guard in the junior cycle, per several recruiting services.

Syracuse basketball is off to a great start with its 2024 class.

Here is where the Orange’s junior cycle presently stands on a national scale, according to some of the main recruiting services:

On3 Industry Ranking
No. 5 (No. 3 in the ACC)

247Sports Composite
No. 8 (No. 3 in the ACC)

Rivals.com
No. 8 (No. 3 in the ACC)

In all three sets of ratings, within the Atlantic Coast Conference, North Carolina and Duke are ahead of Syracuse basketball. The Tar Heels’ 2024 class includes five-star guard Ian Jackson, a former ‘Cuse recruit who plays alongside Moore with the Bronx, N.Y.-based Wiz Kids in the Adidas 3SSB league as well as for Cardinal Hayes High School, which is also located in the Bronx.

It’s difficult to tell at this point exactly how large the Orange’s 2024 class will end up being, since we won’t know until down the road how many scholarships the ‘Cuse will have available for this cycle, given the explosion of the NCAA’s transfer portal.

Besides Moore and Freeman, who is a standout for St. John’s College High School in D.C., Syracuse basketball coaches appear to be focused on four other prospects in the 2024 class.

They are four-star guard Jalil Bethea, four-star wing Caleb Williams, four-star center Patrick Ngongba II and four-star point guard Mikey Lewis.

The Orange coaching staff offered scholarships to the 6-foot-7 Williams, the 6-foot-10 Ngongba and the 6-foot-3 Lewis all in late April. The 6-foot-4 Bethea was offered by the ‘Cuse last September and took an official visit to the Hill the following month.

Williams is out of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington. Ngongba suits up for the St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va. Lewis is a rising senior at Accelerated Prep in Lakewood, Colo., and Bethea is an All-American player at Archbishop Wood Catholic High School in Warminster, Pa.