Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Donnie Freeman has improved 3-point range

Syracuse basketball, Donnie Freeman (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)
Syracuse basketball, Donnie Freeman (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

Syracuse basketball 2024 commit Donnie Freeman, for several years, has been regarded as a highly talented prospect nationwide in his recruiting class.

The four-star player, per several recruiting services, resides in the top 30 overall, and the 6-foot-9 Freeman is also deemed one of the best power forwards across the country, an athletic big man who shines on the boards and in the paint.

Yet at a recent showcase event, multiple national analysts and scouts discussed how Donnie Freeman is displaying a much-improved perimeter jumper these days.

Freeman, who hails from Washington, D.C., and is spending his senior year at a powerhouse basketball academy in the Sunshine State, appears to be fine-tuning his all-around game, and many Orange fans are understandably excited for him to don a ‘Cuse uniform a year from now.

Experts weigh in on Syracuse basketball four-star commit Donnie Freeman.

Should Freeman continue to consistently add long-range shooting to his offensive repertoire, watch out for this young man. He’s already an athletic, high-energy player who excels on the glass, in the interior and getting out in transition.

At the college and pro levels, stretch-four bigs who are proficient from 3-point land, to me, are highly sought after, and Donnie Freeman is evolving into that type of prospect.

Not too long ago, he was named a top performer by several analysts and scouts for his performances at the Wootten 150, an invite-only evaluation camp that was held in Las Vegas and featured top-flight players in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 cycles.

I’ve already detailed what 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi had to say about Donnie Freeman at the Wootten 150.

Bossi noted that Freeman, who verbally committed to the Orange in May over Alabama, Iowa, Texas and Georgia Tech, has added strength and looked good with his perimeter shooting.

"Rob Cassidy, a national analyst with Rivals.com, echoed Bossi’s sentiment. Cassidy wrote, “The long, athletic big man has always been known as a weapon in the paint, but he put on a bit of a shooting clinic on Thursday, showing a much more reliable jumper from deep than he used to possess. … Freeman has been a highly regarded prospect for years now, so it’s encouraging to see him continue to develop new aspects of his game despite his lofty ranking.”"

Freeman officially visited Syracuse basketball a few weeks ago, and he also took an official visit to the Orange in April. He is a senior at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which competes in the loaded 10-member National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”).

At this juncture, the ‘Cuse has two verbal pledges in its 2024 class. The other is four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore, who verbally committed to the Orange in late January and is a senior at the Our Saviour Lutheran School in the Bronx, N.Y., which is part of the Atlanta-based professional league Overtime Elite.