Syracuse Basketball: 4-star target joins 5-star recruit at prep powerhouse

One of the top prep-school programs across the country will feature two Syracuse basketball recruiting targets in the upcoming 2023-24 season.

According to social media posts, 2025 four-star combo guard Darius Adams is transferring to the powerhouse La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. The Lakers suit up in the prestigious National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”), a 10-team super league that includes some of the nation’s top independent basketball academies and prep-school squads.

As a sophomore during the 2022-23 campaign, the 6-foot-3 Adams earned All-America honors in helping lead Manasquan High School in Manasquan, N.J., to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (“NJSIAA”) Group 2 tournament championship.

Offered a scholarship by the Orange coaching staff in late August of 2022, when he attended the team’s annual Elite Camp, Adams has played quite well this spring and summer on the AAU circuit competing for the Bronx, N.Y.-based PSA Cardinals in Nike’s EYBL league.

Syracuse basketball 2025 four-star recruit Darius Adams is headed to the NIBC.

According to high-school hoops analyst and scout Samad Hines, in 2022-23, Adams averaged 20.4 points, 2.8 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game for Manasquan. MaxPreps named him to its 2022-23 sophomore All-America third team.

Another sophomore All-American, per MaxPreps, was 2025 point guard Jerry Easter II, who was offered by the Orange in July of 2022. As I noted in several other recent columns, the 6-foot-4 Easter has transferred from the Emmanuel Christian School in Toledo, Ohio, to La Lumiere for his junior year.

In recently updated 2025 national rankings from ESPN, Easter moved to five stars, No. 21 overall and No. 5 at point guard. He, too, has shined in grassroots basketball this spring and summer, playing up a division for the Columbus, Ohio-based All Ohio Red in Nike’s EYBL league.

Easter and Adams, who is a consensus top-50 national prospect in the 2025 cycle, should form a fabulous backcourt for La Lumiere in the upcoming 2023-24 stanza.

Another Syracuse basketball recruit who, in 2023-24, will play in the loaded NIBC is 2025 four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony. The 6-foot-5 Anthony, who has jumped inside the top 40 according to several recruiting services, was offered by the ‘Cuse last November and will spend his junior season at the Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y.

By the way, Orange rising sophomore J.J. Starling, a transfer guard from Notre Dame, previously suited up for La Lumiere before joining the Fighting Irish.

In 2022-23, according to MaxPreps, the Lakers went 18-10 and were ranked No. 8 nationwide. I’d expect La Lumiere to be a preseason top-25 group ahead of the 2023-24 stanza.

When the contact period opened up in mid-June, allowing college coaches to initiate direct communication with 2025 prospects, reports stated that Syracuse basketball reached out to Adams.

Besides the ‘Cuse, his offer sheet includes Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Mike Hopkins-led Washington, Fordham, Florida State, Penn State, Nebraska and Virginia Tech.

According to several of the primary recruiting services, Adams is a top-25 overall player, a top-five combo guard and the No. 1 prospect in New Jersey within his class. He’s absolutely a contender for five-star status in the 2025 cycle.