In mid-December of this year, Syracuse basketball 2025 four-star recruiting targets Nigel James, a point guard, and Kiyan Anthony, a shooting guard, are expected to play in a loaded showcase event in Paradise.
Their team, the powerhouse Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., is one of numerous squads in the field of the second-annual Hoopfest in Paradise, according to social media posts. Long Island Lutheran is a member of the prestigious 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”).
The 2023 Hoopfest in Paradise will take place on December 15 and December 16 at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium in Nassau, Bahamas.
— LuHi Basketball (@LuHiBasketball) September 26, 2023
Other expected participants include the Riviera Preparatory School in Miami, Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., the Dynamic Preparatory High School in Irving, Texas, the Faith Family Academy in Dallas, and Link Academy in Branson, Mo., which won the 2023 GEICO Nationals this past spring.
Later this year, Syracuse basketball targets Nigel James and Kiyan Anthony will be Bahamas bound.
A season ago, when James and Anthony were suiting up for other high schools, Long Island Lutheran tallied a 23-3 record, finished second in the NIBC regular-season standings, and earned a berth in the 2023 GEICO Nationals.
High-school hoops experts rated Long Island Lutheran as a top-five national squad in 2022-23, and looking ahead to the 2023-24 stanza, when James and Anthony will be juniors, analysts also have the Crusaders as a preseason top-five group.
The 6-foot James, who was born in New York City and grew up in the town of Huntington on Long Island, received a scholarship offer from the Orange in late August, when he took an unofficial visit to the ‘Cuse to play in the team’s Elite Camp.
In mid-September, he took an official visit to Syracuse basketball, and I’ve been told that the Orange is one of the leading contenders for him at this point in James’ recruitment. He recently vaulted into the top 100 nationally, per 247Sports.
His offer sheet includes Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, George Mason, Iowa, Marquette, UMass, Minnesota, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Southern California, Wake Forest, Xavier, Manhattan, Saint Joseph’s and UAB, among others.
James has other official visits scheduled or potentially in the works to Providence, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Marquette and Oklahoma State. In the most recent AAU circuit, he was a standout for the Boston-based Expressions Elite in Nike’s EYBL league, and James previously suited at the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass.
The 6-foot-5 Anthony, meanwhile, was offered by the Orange last November. He has said several times that he will officially visit the ‘Cuse at some point, and that trip could coincide with a visit to Syracuse basketball by 2025 five-star point guard Tyler Jackson, a 6-foot-3 prospect from Baltimore who picked up an Orange offer in late April.
Anthony this spring and summer earned high praise from analysts and scouts as he competed for the Baltimore-based Team Melo in Nike’s EYBL league. That has led to him vaulting up the 2025 national rankings, with multiple recruiting services placing Anthony inside the top 40 overall these days.
Anthony, who formerly played for Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, N.Y., holds offers from college squads such as West Virginia, UCF, Michigan, Maryland, Dayton, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Albany, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Seton Hall, UMass, Providence, Memphis, Bryant, George Mason and Manhattan.
Florida State is expected to get an official visit from Anthony from October 13 to October 14. Besides the Seminoles and Syracuse basketball, he has said he wants to officially visit Indiana and Michigan.