Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Donnie Freeman is officially Orange – BOOM!

Donnie Freeman, a four-star power forward and a top-20 national prospect in the 2024 class, signed his national letter of intent (“NLI”) to play for Syracuse basketball on Wednesday, according to a national recruiting analyst.

Jake Weingarten, the founder of Stockrisers.com, said via his X page on Wednesday morning that, per a source, the 6-foot-9 Freeman would be signing his NLI “this afternoon,” which is fabulous news.

At 11:23 am on Wednesday, Weingarten said on X that Freeman had inked his NLI with the Orange. Wednesday, by the way, marked the first day of the early signing period for 2024 players.

A huge congrats to Donnie, who hails from Washington, D.C. I have every confidence that he will become a future star on the Hill.

Freeman, who verbally committed to the ‘Cuse in May over other finalists Alabama, Iowa, Texas and Georgia Tech, took official visits to the Orange in early April as well as toward the end of September.

Syracuse basketball has highly rated Donnie Freeman as a part of its 2024 cycle.

In his junior season, Freeman was a standout in helping lead St. John’s College High School in D.C. to a 32-4 record, a top-25 national ranking, and the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (“WCAC”) tournament title.

In early July, Freeman earned high marks from national analysts and scouts for his play with the Washington-based Team Takeover, which captured the 17U Peach Jam championship on Nike’s EYBL circuit. As I’ve documented many times, the Syracuse basketball coaching staff has strong recruiting ties to Team Takeover.

In the upcoming 2023-24 term, Freeman will suit up at the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which competes in the loaded 10-member National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”).

At IMG and during NIBC play as well as at other showcase events, Donnie Freeman will compete against some of the top high-school players across the country, and some of his contests should air on national broadcasts.

In a recent interview with scouting service Pro Insight, Donnie Freeman says he’s focused on winning games in his senior year and helping get IMG back to the GEICO Nationals in the spring of 2024, where the Ascenders could vie for a high-school national title.

Individually speaking, in the 2023-24 campaign, Freeman noted that he’d like to earn invites to prestigious events such as the McDonald’s All-American Game, the Jordan Brand Classic, and the Nike Hoop Summit.

Most recruiting Web sites, in the 2024 class, rank him as a top-40 overall player and a top-six power forward. Earlier this week, On3 updated its national ratings for the senior cycle, and Donnie Freeman checked in at No. 20 nationally, No. 3 at power forward and No. 4 in Florida. A top national analyst told me in recent days that Freeman could make a push for five-star status in his class.

The other member of the Syracuse basketball 2024 cycle is four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore from New York City, who is a top-60 national prospect in this class. The 6-foot-4 Moore, who verbally committed to the Orange in late January over other finalists Alabama, Arkansas, Miami and Oklahoma State, is expected to sign his NLI to play for Syracuse basketball on Saturday, according to a post on X from college basketball insider Adam Zagoria.