Syracuse Basketball: Despite dropping from 5 stars, Sadiq White having strong season

Sadiq White Jr., one of four Syracuse basketball signees in its 2025 class, is no longer a five-star prospect.

The 6-foot-8 forward from Charlotte, N.C., though, is having a terrific senior season to date for his powerhouse program, a school that is expected to contend for a high school national title as the 2024-25 season carries onward.

I'm the first to readily acknowledge that I rely on recruiting rankings when I write these sorts of stories. I also often opine that these sorts of ratings are somewhat subjective and have to get taken with the proverbial grain of salt.

To that end, when ESPN refreshed its 2025 rankings earlier this week, White checked in as four stars and No. 29 around the country in the high school senior class. Before that update, ESPN had him as five stars and No. 16 overall.

Does this mean White is no longer a tremendous recruiting win for the Orange? Of course not. White is a big reason why the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., is currently ranked No. 3 nationally in ESPN's latest top 25.

What's more, analysts say IMG is well-positioned to be selected for early April's Chipotle Nationals in Fishers, Ind., an eight-team tournament that crowns a national champion in high school hoops.

Syracuse basketball 2025 4-star commit Sadiq White is shining for IMG.

While he's not currently rated five stars, White is inside the top 35 nationally of his cycle, according to the majority of recruiting services. He's part of an Orange four-member class that is No. 10 overall, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.

Another 'Cuse 2025 signee is four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony, who was No. 32 nationwide in the latest ratings from ESPN. Anthony is a senior at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y.

Both Long Island Lutheran and IMG are members of the loaded 14-team Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Scholastic (“EYBL Scholastic”). Anthony had missed some games lately due to an injury, but he's back now, and Long Island Lutheran is coming on strong to potentially earn a bid to the spring's Chipotle Nationals as well.

When I wrote this story on Tuesday, in EYBL Scholastic regular-season competition so far, White was both a top-20 scorer and rebounder in this high school hoops conference. He also, at the time of this writing, was leading the EYBL Scholastic in field-goal shooting percentage, at 69.6 percent.

So don't fret, Syracuse basketball fans. Sadiq White is an excellent prospect. Earlier this week, the rosters for the 2025 McDonald's All-America game, to be held on April 1 in Brooklyn, N.Y., came out.

Per media reports, Anthony wasn't eligible for this showcase, because of how many contests he's missed to date in 2024-25. Several national recruiting analysts, however, said that White was among those high school seniors who were possibly snubbed by not making the cut for the 2025 McDonald's All-America game.