Syracuse Basketball: Elijah Moore shows he’s a 5-star, top-25 player; expert agrees

I’ve covered 2024 four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore from New York City, the Syracuse basketball signee, for a while now.

That includes, naturally, following his recruiting process. The 6-foot-5 Moore officially signed with the Orange last November after verbally committing to the ‘Cuse in late January of 2023 over other finalists Alabama, Arkansas, Miami and Oklahoma State.

I’ve also tracked his high school performances as a junior and a senior, as well as his stellar AAU campaign last spring and summer.

While I’ll always readily acknowledge that I’m not a national recruiting analyst nor a scout, my adamant contention is that Elijah Moore has shown he deserves to be rated five stars and in the top 25 nationally within the 2024 cycle.

Now, once he dons an Orange uniform next season, none of these high school rankings will matter. But I’ll tell you, Moore has been a lights-out player these past two years.

Syracuse basketball 2024 commit Elijah Moore is an elite shooting guard who had a historic night.

Moore, on Tuesday evening during his program’s senior night, put forth arguably the most impressive performance I’ve ever come across at the high school level, and it came in his final game, which is even more remarkable.

My good friend Zach Smart, who is one of the top writers out there covering high school basketball and recruiting in New York City and throughout the Empire State, provided the scoop on Moore’s epic performance. Smart had this development first and should be credited by every other reporter out there for his work.

Suiting up for his squad, the Our Saviour Lutheran School in the Bronx, N.Y., Moore helped lead the way in a 133-86 victory versus the Compass Basketball Academy from Bridgewater, N.J.

According to Smart, Moore connected on 13-of-19 from beyond the arc and finished with a totally ridiculous 67 points.

Throughout this contest, I traded a bunch of messages with Zach, and he said he was just floored by Moore’s output. On Wednesday, I caught up with Smart some more, asking him to weigh in on where Moore’s performance ranks among games that Smart has watched in person.

Smart said in part to me, “I would honestly say, as far as shooting performances go, this has to be No. 1. … As far as I have seen with my own two eyes, this has to be number one. Moore was four for his first five from 3, nine for his first 10 from the field. In the second half, when he morphed into the mad bomber, his only real misses were via heat checks.”

Currently, several recruiting services rank Moore, within the senior class, as a top-60 national prospect, a top-10 shooting guard, and a top-four player coming out of New York state.

However, other recruiting Web sites don’t have Moore within the top 100 or even the top 125 across the country in this cycle, which I’ll never fully understand. Then again, I readily admit that these sorts of ratings are subjective in nature.

Still, my personal take is that Moore, over these past two years, has played like a five-star, top-25 overall prospect in the 2024 class.

Let’s review. In 2022-23, as a junior at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, Moore received inclusion on the New York state Catholic High School Athletic Association “AA” All-League first team.

Last year, in his final run on the AAU circuit for the Bronx-based Wiz Kids in the Adidas 3SSB league, he averaged nearly 20 points per game and shot roughly 46 percent from deep, earning offensive MVP honors in the 3SSB league from the experts at The Circuit.

For his senior year in the 2023-24 campaign, Moore transferred to Our Saviour Lutheran, which is part of the Atlanta-based professional league Overtime Elite, where it has operated as JellyFam.

In the Overtime Elite regular season, facing top-flight competition, Moore was a top-10 scorer, averaging 16.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per affair, while connecting on 42.2 percent from the field, 34.0 percent from long range and 78.8 percent from the charity stripe.

During the Overtime Elite playoffs, while JellyFam got knocked out earlier than it would have hoped for, Moore again was a leading scorer, averaging 20.5 points per game while hitting on 40.0 percent from deep.

Here’s another reason why I think that Moore isn’t getting his due in the 2024 national rankings. He’s certainly proven his ability to drill 3-pointers in droves and score in bunches.

However, as numerous recruiting experts have told me in recent months, Elijah has matured and evolved his all-around game. He’s not just a 3-point threat.

Moore is also scoring in the mid-range and around the rim, showcasing his athleticism and court vision. He’s facilitating for teammates. He’s getting after it defensively and rebounding at a solid clip for a shooting guard.

I’m a Syracuse University alum, so I have Orange-colored glasses on. That’s fair. But even if Moore was committed somewhere besides the ‘Cuse, I’d still argue for him to be ranked much higher on a national scale in his class.

More from Smart: “When you consider not only his shooting, but Elijah’s defensive play and his athleticism, he’s one of the best players in the country. And, he’s putting up these type of performances while playing a national schedule. People so soon forget, Moore was one of the best scorers in a talent-loaded CHSAA “AA” the last few seasons. The crazy part about it all, Neil, is he wasn’t really getting any high major offers or attention until the end of his sophomore year and leading into that summer. Nobody really knew about him outside of the city. And to think that he is still underrated, is mind boggling.”

Smart noted that Moore, at least to some extent, is fueled by these national rankings that don’t do him justice, and a “desire to prove people wrong. … He’s had a pair of great coaches in his corner in Joe Lods of Cardinal Hayes and of course Pete Wehye at Our Saviour Lutheran, and they’ve really held him to a high standard.”

Smart closed with this, and I totally concur with his statements here. “As far as the rankings though, there is nothing this kid has to prove to anyone at all anymore. (Moore) belongs in the Top-25. Last night, it was pure theater. Nothing he really does surprises me anymore. Syracuse is getting a special player. And a great kid.”

Well said, Zach.

Looking ahead, the Syracuse basketball 2024 high school cycle is small in size, but huge in quality. Besides Moore, the Orange has signed Donnie Freeman, a five-star power forward from Washington, D.C., who is rated No. 10 nationally and No. 1 at his position by On3.

So stew on this. The ‘Cuse 2024 class includes a top-shelf shooting guard who just scored nearly 70 points in a game, along with a top-10 national prospect.

When I wrote this article on Wednesday, despite this Orange cycle “only” having two members, it was rated No. 15 nationally by the industry-generated On3 Industry Ranking and No. 23 overall by Rivals.com.

That’s exquisite.