Syracuse basketball gets into the fray for 4-star, top-60 prospect from D.C.

As the contact period recently opened up for the 2025 class, Syracuse basketball coaches have offered a scholarship to a four-star combo guard from the fertile Washington, D.C., market.

On June 15, college coaches could start initiating direct communication with 2025 high-school prospects, and media reports suggest that the Orange coaching staff has reached out to a variety of players in this cycle.

One 2025 prospect who has picked up a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball is four-star, top-60 national player Derek Dixon. He disclosed the ‘Cuse offer via Twitter. Some of his other newer scholarship offers have arrived from Xavier, Penn State and Maryland.

According to recruiting services, Dixon’s offer sheet also includes Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Bryant, George Mason, Fordham, East Carolina and Norfolk State.

Per a recent tweet from Tom Keller, the vice president of scouting in the Northeast region for ELITE High School Scouting, Dixon has heard from a variety of teams since the contact period opened up on June 15, including Marquette, Providence, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia, Arizona and Indiana, among others.

Syracuse basketball has offered 2025 four-star combo guard Derek Dixon from our nation’s capital.

Dixon is a rising junior at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., which competes in the loaded Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.

In the 2022-23 season, when Dixon was a sophomore, Gonzaga went 26-11 overall and finished at No. 83 in final national rankings from MaxPreps. Looking ahead to the 2023-24 stanza, MaxPreps has Gonzaga as just outside of its preseason top 25.

On the AAU circuit, Dixon is a key contributor for the 16U squad of the Washington, D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike’s EYBL league.

The annual Peach Jam tournament will run from July 3 to July 9 at the Riverview Park Activities Center in North Augusta, S.C., and Team Takeover’s 16U group has qualified for Peach Jam.

Syracuse basketball coaches have proven quite active in pursuing Team Takeover players of late. Last month, 2024 four-star power forward Donnie Freeman verbally committed to the Orange.

In late April, the ‘Cuse offered 2024 four-star wing Caleb Williams, who has Syracuse basketball in his top seven, and 2024 four-star center Patrick Ngongba II.

Orange head coach Adrian Autry and assistant coach Brenden Straughn both previously served as assistant coaches with the Team Takeover program a while back.

During the EYBL regular season that ran from late April until late May, per the Nike’s Web site, Dixon averaged 12.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, while connecting on 43.6 percent from the field, an impressive 45.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 84.0 percent from the free-throw line.

When I penned this column, Dixon was rated No. 53 nationally by Rivals.com. At the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, he checked in at No. 66 overall, No. 17 at shooting guard and No. 2 in Washington, D.C., within the 2025 cycle.