Syracuse Basketball: 5-star Sadiq White to decide and why I like the Orange's chances

Syracuse basketball coaches will know on Wednesday night if they have landed their first verbal pledge in the 2025 class.

Five-star forward Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C., a consensus top-35 national prospect in the rising senior class, will make his college decision on Wednesday, May 29, at 6:00 pm EST, per On3 national reporter Joe Tipton.

The 6-foot-8 White, an elite defender with an offensive game that continues to evolve and expand, has a top seven of the 'Cuse, Alabama, Southern California, Georgetown, LSU, Tennessee, and Texas.

When I wrote this article on Tuesday evening, I didn't see any analyst predictions for White between the 247Sports Web site, Rivals.com and the On3 Web site.

White, a priority recruit for Syracuse basketball in the 2025 cycle, received a scholarship offer from the Orange staff in late April of 2023. Per Rivals.com, he holds more than 20 high-major offers.

Syracuse basketball 2025 five-star priority target Sadiq White Jr. is set to make his commitment announcement.

The 'Cuse coaching staff has prioritized White for a while now. He has unofficially visited the Hill twice, in mid-September of last year, and then in late February of this year on Jim Boeheim Day.

Also in September of last year, Syracuse basketball assistant coach Brenden Straughn was in attendance for White during an open gym at his high school, the nationally ranked Myers Park High School in Charlotte.

More recently, earlier this month during an NCAA live period on the various shoe-sponsored AAU circuits, Orange head coach Adrian Autry, along with assistants Allen Griffin and Straughn, were on hand out for at least one of White's games amid the spring evaluation period at an EYBL session in Indianapolis.

White is a standout for the Charlotte-based Team United in Nike's EYBL league. By the way, it's entirely possible that the Syracuse basketball staff has visited with White on other occasions or checked him out at other AAU events.

According to his bio on the On3 Web site, White has also taken unofficial visits to South Carolina, Texas, Cincinnati and N.C. State. Recent media reports had indicated that White planned to schedule upcoming official visits to all seven of his finalists.

This is solely my opinion, but the fact that White is announcing on Wednesday, he hasn't even visited all of his finalists, and he's visited 'Cuse twice, leads me to believe that the Orange has a great chance to prevail for White.

Now, I do not know if name, image and likeness opportunities are a factor here. And we could see analyst predictions pop up before White's commitment announcement on Wednesday night. But as it stands now, I feel good about the 'Cuse.

In the 2023-24 season, as a junior, White averaged 16.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game for Myers Park, which finished 27-3 overall and was ranked in the top-25 nationally by several media outlets. MaxPreps, not too long ago, gave White an honorable-mention nod for its 2023-24 junior All-America teams.

During a recent interview published on zagsblog.com, White said of the Syracuse basketball staff, "Those guys have been consistent with me since Day 1 since they started recruiting me. Just the genuine love they show, the relationship that we built has been very, very strong at the moment, and I’m just continuing to build with those guys."

Should Sadiq ultimately commit to the Orange, that would prove a monumental get for Autry and his top-flight staff to kick off what could prove a special 2025 class at the 'Cuse.