Syracuse basketball recruiting: More scouting reports from Donnie Freeman McDonald’s performance

The Orange recruit more than held his own

Syracuse Orange men’s basketball fans got a brief look at the future of the program on Tuesday night.

Incoming forward Donnie Freeman was part of the West squad in the McDonald’s All-America Game. While the East squad pulled out an 86-84 win, Freeman came off the bench to play just under 13 minutes, scoring 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-3 from 3) with 1 rebound, 1 steal, and two turnovers. Freeman was a +15 during his minutes, which led the West team.

It’s not the game stats that should really jump out to Orange fans, it’s what multiple outlets had to say after watching him in action against the best of the best. Freeman had some mixed reviews among the major recruiting sites this year, but as we discussed on Monday, he’s opening more eyes.

Here’s what Finklestein had to say about Freeman from the workouts

Another player who has helped himself thus far, first in the practices and then in the scrimmages, is Syracuse signee Donnie Freeman. It started from the moment the players first walked onto the court Saturday night. How could that be? Because it immediately became clear whose height was an exaggeration and whose wasn’t. Freeman is one of the tallest players here. The fact that he’s been shooting the ball consistently from three and showing some lateral mobility for his size has only added to the intrigue thus far.

Tobias Bass of The Athletic had this to say about Freeman:

One of the biggest stock risers this week was Syracuse commit Donnie Freeman. On Day 1 of the practices, it felt like he didn’t miss a shot from behind the arc. Several scouts would look at the roster and make slight comments like “Who is that kid” or “Has he missed yet?” He has a chance to be an elite pick-and-pop guy at the next level with his 6-foot-9 frame. Every year there’s always one guy who comes out of this event and helps himself going into their freshman campaign; this year it was Freeman. He is one to look out for going into the 2024-25 college basketball season.

And SBNation’s Ricky O’Donnell added his thoughts:

And Freeman himself is not afraid of the high expectations as he prepares to join the Orange.