The 2023-24 season is winding down in high school hoops, and numerous Syracuse basketball recruits have put forth terrific campaigns for highly ranked programs.
Later this spring, the annual GEICO Nationals will take place, an eight-team tournament that will ultimately crown a high school national champion.
It looks fairly likely that at least a couple of Orange four-star and five-star targets will get to suit up in the GEICO Nationals, although the field isn’t yet finalized.
In recent days, I caught up with two of the top experts in high school hoops to get their takes on which teams are in the mix for bids to the upcoming GEICO Nationals.
Syracuse basketball recruits should get to compete for a national title.
For this article, I communicated with the X account 24/7 High School Hoops as well as Jordan Divens, who is the national basketball editor for high school sports media outlet MaxPreps.
Both of these experts seemed to agree that five of the eight participants in this spring’s GEICO Nationals are likely locked in, although to reiterate, nothing is set in stone at this juncture.
Those five groups are the Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va., Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., Prolific Prep in Napa Valley, Calif., and Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.
St. Paul VI’s 2023-24 roster includes two 2026 prospects who hold ‘Cuse scholarship offers, and they are five-star shooting guard Jordan Smith Jr. and fast-rising point guard Anthony Brown.
Smith has indicated that he would like to visit Syracuse basketball at some point, while Brown took an unofficial visit to the Hill in late August of 2023 to compete in the Orange’s annual Elite Camp.
Long Island Lutheran’s stacked backcourt features two ‘Cuse 2025 priority recruits, four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony and four-star point guard Nigel James. Both have Orange offers and have officially visited Syracuse basketball.
Divens says that it’s likely the Link Academy in Branson, Mo., will secure a bid to the GEICO Nationals. Link won this tournament in 2023, by the way.
In the running for the last two to three spots are a handful of elite units, according to 24/7 High School Hoops and Divens, and some of these contenders have ‘Cuse recruiting connections.
Keep an eye on the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and Myers Park High School in Charlotte, N.C.
One of the stars of La Lumiere is 2025 five-star point guard Jerry Easter II, who has an Orange offer in hand and is interested in taking an official visit to Syracuse basketball.
IMG’s roster includes Syracuse basketball 2024 signee Donnie Freeman, a five-star power forward who has been named a McDonald’s All-American for the 2023-24 season and also has been selected to play in the Allen Iverson Roundball Classic, another All-America showcase.
Myers Park, in the midst of a stellar 2023-24 stanza, is led by 2025 four-star forward Sadiq White Jr., who picked up an Orange scholarship offer in late April of last year.
White has taken two unofficial visits to Syracuse basketball. One was in mid-September of 2023, and the second was last Saturday when the ‘Cuse squeaked past Notre Dame and SU Athletics honored the legendary career of Hall of Famer and former long-time Orange head coach Jim Boeheim.