Syracuse basketball commit Donnie Freeman into top 20, nearing 5 stars

Buoyed by a strong AAU circuit this spring and summer, Syracuse basketball 2024 four-star commit Donnie Freeman from Washington, D.C., continues to make moves up the charts in the national rankings for his class.

At this juncture, he’s a consensus top-45 national prospect in the rising-senior cycle, per the main recruiting services (247Sports, ESPN, Rivals.com, On3, the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Industry Ranking).

However, another recruiting Web site, MADE Hoops, has the Orange pledge even higher than that. Not too long ago, Max Feldman, an excellent scouting analyst, noted some of the biggest risers in MADE Hoops’ recently updated 2024 national rankings.

Freeman, a 6-foot-9 power forward, checks in at No. 18 across the country, according to MADE Hoops. Should he keep on seeing his rating climb, and I think that will happen, Donnie Freeman should be able to make a serious run at five-star status in this cycle.

Syracuse basketball 2024 four-star commit Donnie Freeman has vaulted into the top 20 nationwide.

As a junior during the 2022-23 campaign, Freeman earned All-America honors in helping lead St. John’s College High School in D.C. to a fabulous season in which it was placed in national top-25 rankings.

In the most recent grassroots basketball circuit, Freeman proved a key contributor for the D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike’s EYBL league. From late April to late May, Team Takeover was one of the top squads in the 17U division during the EYBL’s regular season.

Then in early July, at the annual Peach Jam tournament in North Augusta, S.C., Freeman was a standout as Team Takeover won the 17U championship. For his efforts last month at Peach Jam, Donnie Freeman received inclusion on The Circuit’s All-Peach Jam first team.

Recently, Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters conducted an interesting podcast interview with college basketball insider Adam Zagoria, who dished out some nice praise on Freeman.

Zagoria says that Freeman is a winner who knows to compete in big games. He is a long, athletic player who can shoot a bit from the perimeter and likes to get out in transition, Zagoria said, adding that Freeman is a versatile prospect who can play multiple positions as well as defend multiple positions.

In May, Donnie Freeman verbally committed to Syracuse basketball over other finalists Alabama, Iowa, Texas and Georgia Tech. He and four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore from New York City, who verbally committed to the ‘Cuse in late January, make up a two-member 2024 class for the Orange that, lately, has been ranked in the top 10 around the country.

In mid-July, 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein took a detailed look at some of the best 2024 forwards during the most recent EYBL season, and Freeman was discussed here.

"Finkelstein wrote in part, “There aren’t many more naturally talented four-men in the national class of 2024 than Donnie Freeman. … He has a wealth of tools with good size, soft hands, touch, mobility, and athleticism, that give him the potential to be a versatile two-way player. Those gifts made him a high-profile prospect early on in his high school years, but he’s just now beginning to turn potential into production on a more consistent basis.”"

In addition to entering the top 20 nationally, per MADE Hoops, Freeman is deemed by several recruiting services as a top-five power forward and the No. 1 prospect in our nation’s capital within the 2024 cycle.