5-star guard and No. 2 national prospect Jordan Smith Jr. on SU: 'I love Syracuse.'

This week, 2026 five-star shooting guard Jordan Smith Jr., the Syracuse basketball priority recruit, has one thing on his mind.

To cut down the nets at Peach Jam. The annual season-ending tournament on Nike's EYBL circuit is taking place in North Augusta, S.C. In the main 17U division, the 6-foot-3 Smith and his colleagues with the Washington, D.C.-based Team Takeover are one of the favorites to win this prestigious event, although the powerhouse grassroots program did suffer a stunning early loss in pool play that I noted in this article.

After Peach Jam, though, the nation's No. 2 prospect in the rising high school senior class will likely turn more attention to his recruitment, where the Orange is in the thick of trying to prevail for this elite DMV product.

Last September, Smith took an unofficial visit to Syracuse basketball. He's also visited Duke, Georgetown and Louisville. The chatter these days is that Smith is likely to visit the Hill again.

Syracuse basketball is heavily involved with 5-star guard Jordan Smith Jr.

In a recent interview with top national writer Sam Lance on zagsblog.com, Smith said of the Orange: "I love Syracuse. They have Takeover and PVI’s system. So they play just how we play at PVI, so I feel like I can fit their system."

Based on what I'm hearing, besides Syracuse basketball, other top suitors for Smith, who holds more than 20 high-major offers, may include schools such as Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, Indiana, and Georgetown.

He is an All-American rising senior at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va. Earlier this month, Smith helped lead USA Basketball to the gold medal at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland.

At the event, Smith received top defensive honors, and 'Cuse assistant coach Brenden Straughn was in attendance for him. Both Straughn and Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry served as assistants for Team Takeover, and Autry was also an assistant coach at St. Paul VI a while back.

The Orange offered a scholarship to Smith in early May of 2023 and has recruited him as hard as any other college program ever since, visiting Smith in countless settings over the past two-plus years.

In multiple interviews, he has spoken highly of his relationship with the Orange staff, particularly Straughn. Do I think that the 'Cuse will prevail for Smith? It's possible, although the competition is steep, yet Syracuse basketball coaches have prioritized Smith for a long, long time.