Syracuse Basketball: 4-stars, 5-stars emerging as priority recruits in 2025

Syracuse basketball has offered scholarships to 19 prospects in the 2025 class, according to media reports, recruiting services, comments from analysts, and social media posts.

Several of these 2025 players have eliminated the Orange from contention, whether through list cuts or based on reports that suggest the ‘Cuse isn’t a contender for them. By extension, there are likely some 2025 prospects who were offered by the Orange, but Syracuse basketball coaches aren’t actively pursuing them these days.

In any event, it does seem like a handful of four-star and five-star players in the 2025 cycle have emerged as priority recruits for the ‘Cuse coaching staff, evidenced by a lot of these guys taking visits to the Hill in recent months.

Naturally, the recruiting processes of top-flight prospects will ebb and flow, so I’ll continue to monitor various things, including new scholarship offers, official visits scheduled, updated national rankings, and so on.

Priority targets have unfolded for Syracuse basketball in the 2025 class.

This article is strictly my opinion, although I base my thoughts here in part on interviews given by players, reports, visits taken, my discussions with national recruiting analysts, and other resources.

As it stands right now, here are the top-five recruiting targets for the Orange in the junior cycle, in no particular order:

Kiyan Anthony
The four-star shooting guard, who attends Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., was offered by Syracuse basketball last November and took an official visit to the Hill in late October of this year.

Nigel James
The four-star point guard, a teammate of Anthony’s at Long Island Lutheran, picked up a ‘Cuse offer in late August. Not long thereafter, in mid-September, he went on an official visit to Syracuse basketball.

Derek Dixon
The four-star combo guard, a standout at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., was offered by the Orange on June 15 of this year, when the contact period for the 2025 class first opened up. Dixon officially visited the ‘Cuse toward the end of September.

Matthew Gilhool
The four-star power forward/center, out of the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, secured a ‘Cuse offer in late August. He went on an official visit to Syracuse basketball at the end of September, on the same weekend that Dixon also made a trip to Central New York.

Sadiq White Jr.
The four-star forward, a star for Myers Park High School in Charlotte, N.C., received his Orange offer in late April and went on an unofficial visit to Syracuse basketball in mid-September, when James was also on the SU campus. White has said that he plans to take an official visit to the Orange at some point in the future.

While I believe those are the five main priority targets for the ‘Cuse at this time, to reiterate, this is simply my opinion. What’s more, there are a handful of other 2025 prospects who hold Syracuse basketball offers, some of whom have said that they have a high interest in the Orange and also may want to visit the ‘Cuse program down the line.

So I’d also monitor the following seven juniors who have landed Syracuse basketball offers (again, in no particular order):
•Five-star point guard Tyler Jackson
•Four-star center Malachi Moreno
•Four-star combo guard DeMarco Johnson
•Four-star small forward London Jemison
•Three-star point guard Keyshuan Tillery
•Five-star wing Joson Sanon
•Four-star shooting guard Dorian Jones