Syracuse Basketball: Brilliant seasons for 5-star Donnie Freeman, 4-star Elijah Moore

Facing elite competition in their senior seasons during the 2023-24 campaign, Syracuse basketball 2024 signees Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore played at an ultra-high level.

The 6-foot-9 Freeman, a five-star power forward from Washington, D.C., spent his senior year at the powerhouse IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which plays in arguably the country's toughest high school hoops conference, the 14-team Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Scholastic (“EYBL Scholastic”).

The 6-foot-5 Moore, a four-star shooting guard from New York City, was lights out as a senior suiting up for the Our Saviour Lutheran School in the Bronx, N.Y., which is part of the Atlanta-based professional league Overtime Elite, operating there as JellyFam.

In 2023-24, both Freeman and Moore proved top-10 scorers in their respective leagues. Freeman helped guide IMG to the recently held Chipotle Nationals, while Moore, on his squad's senior night last month, dropped a ridiculous 67 points.

Syracuse basketball 2024 commits Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore had magical senior stanzas.

Freeman recently earned high praise for his play at the McDonald’s All-America game in Houston. He's also set to compete at the Jordan Brand Classic on April 21 in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Allen Iverson Roundball Classic on May 4 in Hampton, Va.

At the recent Chipotle Nationals in Brownsburg, Ind., an eight-team tournament that annually crowns a high school national champion, the No. 7 seed IMG fell to the eventual runner-up, the No. 2 seed St. Paul VI Catholic High School from Chantilly, Va.

Per a box score provided by our friends at Legit Sport Stats, against St. Paul VI, Freeman produced 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He was 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.

In EYBL Scholastic regular-season games, Freeman averaged nearly 17 points and more than eight rebounds per affair. He was No. 7 in this league in points per game and No. 2 in boards per encounter.

Ranked the No. 10 national prospect and the No. 1 power forward in the 2024 cycle by On3, Freeman was named to the 2023-24 All-EYBL Scholastic second team. In a recent post on X, Synergy Basketball said that Freeman was one of the most efficient high-volume scorers in high school hoops this past season.

Moore, meanwhile, is a top-60 overall player in the senior class and rated a top-10 shooting guard nationally, per 247Sports. On April 3 at an event in Phoenix, per SU Athletics, Moore won a 3-point shooting competition in which he defeated several other four-star and five-star prospects to claim the grand prize.

In the Overtime Elite 2023-24 regular season, per that league's Web site, Moore was the No. 8 overall scorer, averaging 16.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per contest, while connecting on 42.2 percent from the field, 78.8 percent from the free-throw line, and 34.0 percent from 3-point land.

During the Overtime Elite playoffs for JellyFam, Moore averaged 20.5 points per game, which was No. 4 in the post-season, while hitting on 40.0 percent from deep.

Despite the Orange's 2024 class being relatively small in size, all of the primary recruiting services rank this 'Cuse cycle within the top 30 around the country, if not higher than that. Needless to say, Syracuse basketball fanatics can't wait to see Donnie and Elijah don an Orange uniform starting with the 2024-25 season.