SYRACUSE -- Syracuse has signed guards Michael Carter-Williams and Trevor Cooney and center Rakeem Christmas to letters of intent.
Carter-Williams, out St. Andrew's School in Rhode Island, is ranked third among shooting guards in the class of 2011 and 16th overall by Rivals.com.
The 6-foot-9 Christmas, from the Academy of the New Church in Pennsylvania, is the top-rated center in the Class of 2011, according to Rivals.com.
Cooney, a 6-4 guard from Sanford School, was the 2010 Delaware state player of the year. He averaged 17.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists in leading Sanford to a state championship.
More on this story from SU Athletics:
Syracuse head men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim has announced that Marcus Carter-Williams, Rakeem Christmas, and Trevor Cooney have signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) to play for the Orange next season.
Carter-Williams is a 6-5 guard at St. Andrew's School in Rhode Island. He is coached by Mike Hart, who also coached former Syracuse performer Demetris Nichols at St. Andrew's. Carter-Williams missed the first 10 games of 2009-10 with a knee injury but recovered enough to earn Rhode Island Gatorade Player of the Year honors. He was also a first team New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B selection.
Carter-Williams is third among shooting guards and 16th overall in Rivals.com rankings of the Class of 2011. He is rated as the 11th shooting guard and 31st overall prospect in the by ESPNU.
Christmas is a 6-9 center from Academy of the New Church. He is the top-rated center in the Class of 2011 according to ESPNU and Rivals.com. He is ranked 10th overall by ESPNU and 12th by Rivals.com. Christmas helped his club to the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) State semifinals last year. He averaged 13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game according to MaxPreps.com. He is coached by Kevin Givens.
He attended the LeBron James Skills Academy in July and competed at the fifth annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 in August.
Cooney is a 6-4 guard from Sanford School in Delaware. He is the 17th ranked shooting guard and the 57th overall prospect according to ESPNU. He started playing varsity basketball as an eighth grader in 2006-07 and was part of a state runner-up squad. Last season he was part of Sanford School's state championship club. Cooney averaged 17.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
He was the 2010 Delaware State Basketball Player of the Year and a first-team all-state selection by the Delaware Sportswriters & Broadcasters Association (DSBA). He was second-team all-state in 2009 and third-team all-state the season before while playing for Coach Stan Waterman.
Christmas and Cooney both played AAU basketball for Team Final. The duo also participated in the Nike Global Challenge for the Team USA East squad in August.
The National Letter-of-Intent program was started in 1964. Administered by the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), the program was designed with prospective student-athletes in mind. A signed letter-of-intent indicates a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete, provided the student-athlete is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules.
Information courtesy Associated Press and SU Athletics
