Syracuse Basketball: Brutal docket for 4-stars Nigel James, Kiyan Anthony

Syracuse basketball 2025 priority recruits Nigel James and Kiyan Anthony will face some absolutely elite competition in the upcoming 2023-24 season for their powerhouse New York high school.

Not too long ago, I came across on X the enticing 2023-24 schedule for Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., where both the 6-foot James, a four-star point guard, and the 6-foot-5 Anthony, a four-star shooting guard, are juniors in a loaded backcourt for the Crusaders.

James, a top-100 national prospect, was offered a scholarship by the Orange in late August. He took an official visit to the Hill in mid-September. Anthony, a top-40 overall player, picked up a ‘Cuse offer last November. He officially visited Syracuse basketball in late October of this year.

Long Island Lutheran is a member of arguably the country’s top high-school league, the 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”). A stanza ago, the Crusaders finished second in the NIBC regular-season standings and competed in the 2023 GEICO Nationals.

Looking ahead to 2023-24, various high-school hoops experts are forecasting the Crusaders as a top-10 national squad that will significantly compete for both an NIBC crown as well a national championship.

Let’s look at the 2023-24 schedule of two Syracuse basketball four-star targets.

Well-respected national media outlet MaxPreps, which extensively covers high-school hoops, recently released two sets of national rankings as the 2023-24 term gets going. One is a top 10 where MaxPreps includes independent basketball academies and other programs that don’t generally compete for state-affiliated titles.

A second ranking by MaxPreps, this time a top 25, features all other types of high-school teams, including public high schools and prep schools.

As I share some of Long Island Lutheran’s key match-ups below, I’ll also include where the Crusaders’ opponents reside in either of these MaxPreps national rankings. By the way, in the MaxPreps national top 25, Long Island Lutheran is No. 2 around the country, and I anticipate some of its games will air on national broadcasts throughout the upcoming season.

Highlights of the Long Island Lutheran 2023-24 schedule:
•November 30, versus the Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., at the Marshall County Hoopfest in Benton, Ky. (Oak Hill is No. 10 in the MaxPreps national top 10)

•December 7, versus the Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kan., at The Bash in Columbia, S.C.

•December 15-16 at the Hoopfest in Paradise in Nassau, Bahamas (potential opponents could include the Link Academy in Branson, Mo., which won the 2023 GEICO Nationals this past spring and is No. 2 in the MaxPreps national top 10)

•December 19-23 at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. (this loaded showcase features an abundance of powerhouse teams, such as the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va., Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., and the Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, N.J. – all of these squads are in the top 10 of either MaxPreps national ranking)

•January 4, versus the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. (La Lumiere is No. 4 in the MaxPreps national top 10)

•January 13 and 15, versus Christopher Columbus High School in Miami and then the AZ Compass Prep School in Chandler, Ariz., at the Spalding Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. (Christopher Columbus is No. 1 in the MaxPreps national top 25, while AZ Compass is No. 6 in the MaxPreps national top 10)

•February 2, versus the Link Academy in Branson, Mo., at the Metro Classic in Union, N.J. (Link is No. 2 in the MaxPreps national top 10)

•February 9, at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. (IMG is No. 5 in the MaxPreps national top 10 and features Syracuse basketball 2024 commit Donnie Freeman, a four-star power forward)

•February 16 and 17, versus the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., and then the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., at the Bob McKillop Invitational in New York (Montverde is No. 1 and Brewster is No. 9 in the MaxPreps national top 10)

•February 23 and 24, the LuHi Postseason Invitational in Brookville, N.Y., with the opponents TBD

•March 8, versus the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah (Wasatch is No. 8 in the MaxPreps national top 10)