The high school hoops season is upon us, and various prospects with Syracuse basketball ties find their programs way high up in national rankings at the onset of the 2024-25 campaign.
Recently, numerous media outlets, recruiting Web sites and scouting services have unveiled their initial high school national ratings as the 2024-25 season is getting underway.
In this article, I'm going to focus on three top-flight players. One is Orange 2025 commit Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C., a five-star forward and a top-15 national prospect who verbally pledged to the 'Cuse in late May of this year.
Preseason Rankings Alert 🚨 Sports Illustrated Top 25, MaxPreps Top 25 and MaxPreps National Top 10 — who got it right? 👀 pic.twitter.com/dT65cGC4pi
— League Ready (@LeagueRDY) November 7, 2024
The second is Syracuse basketball 2025 priority recruit Kiyan Anthony from New York City, a four-star shooting guard and a top-30 national prospect who has the Orange in his final three and will make his commitment announcement on November 15.
Crown Scouting Preseason Top 25 National HS Basketball Rankings 🏀 pic.twitter.com/AmlsbM4SIh
— Nigel Carter (@CrownScouting) October 23, 2024
Thirdly, we have 'Cuse 2026 priority target Jordan Smith Jr. from the Washington, D.C., market, who is a five-star shooting guard and a top-10 national prospect in his class. Smith took an unofficial visit to the Hill in late September of this year.
Where the high school teams of Syracuse basketball recruits are ranked at the start of the season.
Sadiq White Jr.
White is spending his senior year at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which is a member of the powerhouse 14-team Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Scholastic ("EYBL Scholastic").
IMG's preseason national rankings
Sports Illustrated top 25: No. 9
MaxPreps top 10: No. 4
The Circuit top 25: No. 4
Ballislife.com top 50: No. 4
Crown Scouting top 25: No. 10
Kiyan Anthony
Anthony is a senior and will be a key contributor in 2024-25 for Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., which like IMG is a member of the EYBL Scholastic.
Long Island Lutheran's preseason national rankings
Sports Illustrated top 25: No. 3
MaxPreps top 10: No. 5
The Circuit top 25: No. 11
Ballislife.com top 50: No. 6
Crown Scouting top 25: No. 17
Jordan Smith Jr.
Smith is a junior at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va., where he earned All-America honors a term ago as a sophomore. St. Paul VI competes in one of the top high school leagues around the country, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (“WCAC”).
St. Paul VI's preseason national rankings
Sports Illustrated top 25: No. 17
MaxPreps top 25: No. 9
The Circuit top 25: No. 22
Ballislife.com top 50: No. 23
Crown Scouting top 25: No. 13