Friday was a great recruiting day for Syracuse women's and men's basketball. Both programs landed a key 2027 target, and each pledge is a top player hailing from the Empire State, which is huge for the teams.
Obtaining New York-based talent is, and always will be, paramount for SU sports teams, whether we're talking about basketball, football, lacrosse or other groups.
On Friday morning (and I knew about this ahead of the announcement), Syracuse men's basketball and first-year head coach Gerry McNamara landed 2027 five-star wing/small forward Moussa Kamissoko, who hails from the Bronx, N.Y., and picked the 'Cuse after officially visiting the Hill toward the beginning of September.
While the 6-foot-8, 180-pound Kamissoko is spending his senior year at the powerhouse Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, he previously played at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., and this spring and summer, he was a standout on the AAU circuits for the 17U team of the Bronx-based PSA Cardinals in Nike's EYBL league.
Ranked as high as No. 7 nationally in the high school senior class by Rivals, Kamissoko is a consensus top-20 overall player in 2027 and a huge get for McNamara and his staff, who have pushed hard for Kamissoko in recent months.
Oh, and in SU's 2027 cycle, Kamissoko joins another New York product, three-star wing Jack Donohue, who is a senior at The Newman School in Boston. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Donohue, who hails from Albany, missed 10 months last season due to open-heart surgery; multiple analysts and scouts whom I've spoken with say that he could easily evolve into a four-star prospect with a strong senior year at Newman.
Syracuse women's basketball also got a recruiting triumph on Friday.
While SU men's hoops got its dose of dope news on Friday morning, the Orange women's program received its dose on Friday evening, when 2027 point guard Josephine Pinnock verbally committed to the 'Cuse over other finalists Seton Hall, Hofstra and Stony Brook.
Syracuse's recruitment of Pinnock was a bit different than SU's pursuit of Kamissoko, who was first offered by the former 'Cuse staff in late December 2024. The 5-foot-10 Pinnock, meanwhile, received her Orange scholarship offer on July 19 of this year, as she went on an unofficial visit to the Hill.
More recently, Pinnock took an official visit to head coach Felisha Legette-Jack's team earlier this month, as Inside the Loud House first reported. Pinnock revealed her college choice on Friday night at her high school, Christ the King in Middle Village, N.Y.
As a junior last season, Pinnock averaged 19.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, and she was the New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association ("CHSAA") AAA player of the year. While Pinnock, to date, isn't nationally ranked, she is the No. 3 senior in New York state, according to Prep Girls Hoops.
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