Syracuse Basketball: Big weekend as 5-star commit, 5-star priority recruit will visit

This weekend will prove a huge one for Syracuse basketball coaches.

Both Orange 2025 five-star commit Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C., and 'Cuse 2026 five-star priority target Jordan Smith Jr. from the Washington, D.C., area are expected to visit the Syracuse basketball program this weekend.

The great Mike Waters of Syracuse.com first reported that the 6-foot-8 White will take an official visit to the Orange this weekend. Not too long ago, top analyst/scout Colby Giacubeno first reported (and confirmed to me directly) that the 6-foot-3 Smith will unofficially visit the 'Cuse from September 21 to September 22.

White, an elite power forward who recently vaulted to No. 15 nationally in the 2025 cycle per ESPN, verbally pledged to Syracuse basketball in late May of this year. He has unofficially visited the Orange twice - in mid-September of last year and then again in late February of this year on Jim Boeheim Day.

Smith, a top-10 national prospect in the 2026 class, received a scholarship offer from the 'Cuse in early May of 2023. As far as I can tell, he is one of the top targets for the Orange in this cycle, and the Syracuse basketball staff has been in attendance for him over the past few months on the AAU circuit and at other events, including this past July when Smith helped guide the USA Basketball U17 national team to the gold medal at the 2024 FIBA World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey.

Syracuse basketball coaches have a big recruiting weekend on tap.

White, who was excellent this spring and summer while starring for the 17U squad of the Charlotte-based Team United in Nike's EYBL, will spend his senior season at the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which is a member of the loaded 14-team Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Scholastic ("EYBL Scholastic").

Orange freshman power forward Donnie Freeman, who was rated as high as No. 6 nationally in the 2024 class, was stellar as a senior at IMG, playing in a couple of All-America games while helping lead the Ascenders to a berth in the Chipotle Nationals this past spring.

White, in the upcoming 2024-25 season, has the same opportunity. High school basketball experts have told me that IMG is likely to be a preseason top-10 national team, and the Ascenders should be a significant contender for an EYBL Scholastic title and a return trip to the Chipotle Nationals in the spring of next year.

Syracuse basketball coaches got involved with Smith early on. He was named an All-American as a sophomore at the juggernaut St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va., which reached the final game of the 2024 Chipotle Nationals.

Similar to IMG, St. Paul VI is expected to reside in the preseason national top 10 ahead of 2024-25 commencing, when Smith will be a junior. During the most recent AAU season, Smith was also lauded for his play for the 17U group of the D.C.-based Team Takeover in the EYBL league.

Smith has spoken highly of the Orange program in interviews. Several 'Cuse coaches have deep and long-standing recruiting ties to St. Paul VI, which competes in the terrific Washington Catholic Athletic Conference ("WCAC"), and Team Takeover.

That being said, Smith's recruitment has blown up, particularly once the 2026 contact period opened on June 15 of this year. His offer sheet now totals more than 20. Other suitors include Duke, North Carolina, two-time defending national champion Connecticut, Kansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Houston, among many others.

Via his X page, this week, Smith said that he had received a scholarship offer from blue-blood program Kentucky. As Giacubeno reported, Smith plans to unofficially visit Duke on September 28.

It's encouraging that the Orange staff is getting Smith on campus, although competition to prevail in his recruitment is steep, to say the least. I also think it's a good thing that he's visiting Syracuse basketball on the same weekend as White, a fellow five-star prospect who hopefully will help recruit Smith to ultimately join the 'Cuse.