Syracuse Basketball: As blue-bloods pursue, Acaden Lewis should be 5 stars, No. 1 PG

It's proven quite a tremendous last couple of months for Syracuse basketball 2025 target Acaden Lewis, a fast-rising four-star point guard from Washington, D.C.

He was excellent as a junior for his high school in our nation's capital. But then starting in the spring, the 6-foot-3 Lewis began to capture the attention of national analysts and scouts alike for his play on the AAU circuit and at other showcase events.

This, in turn, has resulted in college coaches galore pursuing him. Lewis' offer sheet currently stands at around 30, and all of the sport's blue-blood programs have offered him of late.

For the 'Cuse, its coaching staff continues to recruit Lewis hard, although competition is growing by leaps and bounds. If we turn to the subject of 2025 national rankings, well, Lewis in recent weeks has seen his ratings skyrocket just about as much as anyone in the rising senior class.

Syracuse basketball is in a recruiting battle for 2025 four-star point guard Acaden Lewis.

The Orange staff offered a scholarship to Lewis in late April. Just since the beginning of June, per recruiting Web sites, Lewis has hauled in offers from squads such as two-time defending national champion UConn, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, Tennessee, Indiana and Auburn, among others.

That's. Impressive.

Also per recruiting services, lately, Lewis has unofficially visited Kentucky, UConn and North Carolina. He has an official visit planned to Louisville in late August, and an official visit scheduled to UNC in early October.

Previously, Lewis had officially visited Virginia and Florida State, while he also went on unofficial visits to Georgetown and Virginia Tech.

Now, regarding our beloved 'Cuse, Lewis has said more than once in interviews that he anticipates making a trip to the Hill. I'm hopeful that will transpire, even with all these elite programs in pursuit of Lewis.

In the 2023-24 season, as a junior, Lewis captured numerous awards in guiding the Sidwell Friends School in D.C. to a 27-4 overall mark, a top-20 national ranking, and both the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference ("MAC") title and the District of Columbia State Athletic Association ("DCSAA") Class AA tournament championship.

In various spring sessions on the AAU circuit, national analysts and scouts time and time again named Lewis as a top performer as he shined for the 17U squad of the Oxon Hill, Md.-based Team Durant in Nike’s EYBL league.

This past May, as the EYBL held a session in Indianapolis amid an NCAA live period, Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry was in attendance for Lewis. More recently, last weekend during a live period where prospects suited up for their high school teams, the Orange staff was on hand for Lewis at the Philly Live event.

Lewis, who has spoken highly of his strengthening relationship with Autry and assistant coach Brenden Straughn, was last month anointed by On3 national analyst/scout Jamie Shaw as a top performer at the prestigious National Basketball Players Association ("NBPA") Top 100 Camp in Orlando, Fla.

Lately, numerous recruiting services have refreshed their 2025 national rankings. Over at 247Sports, Lewis climbed more than 40 spots to No. 32 overall. He has jumped into the top 40 via ESPN, at No. 39 nationwide.

At Rivals.com, Lewis ascended to No. 53 overall, an improvement of 52 spots. Both the industry-generated 247Sports and the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking, at the time of this writing, had him in the top 50 nationally, while multiple recruiting Web sites list him as a top-10 point guard.

Based on his current trajectory, I could envision Lewis making a run at five stars and the top 25 in his class. What's more, I believe he's trending as the country's No. 1 point guard in the 2025 cycle.

To that end, national analyst/scout Patrick O'Brien of Phenom Hoops recently published a piece where he discussed whether Lewis is the nation's top-ranked PG in 2025.

Similar to sentiments from Shaw and other experts, O'Brien noted that Lewis was one of the best players on the court at the recent NBPA Top 100 Camp.

O'Brien, in his insightful story, wrote in part, "Lewis (in my eyes) clearly made it apparent that he should be regarded as one (if not the) top point guard in the country."

I recognize that Syracuse basketball likely faces a truly tall task in attempting to prevail for Acaden, given all of his juggernaut suitors. Then again, the Orange staff has deep recruiting ties to the D.C. market, and if the 'Cuse can get Lewis to Central New York for a visit (or two), I think that Syracuse basketball has a legit shot to win out.

Stay tuned.