Two weeks ago, following the conclusion of the NCAA men's basketball title game, Syracuse standout Donnie Freeman entered the transfer portal.

While it wasn't guaranteed that Freeman would leave, it was always likely. He visited Kentucky and had another visit planned at UConn before canceling. It seemed as if Kentucky was in the driver's seat until Monday night, when Freeman officially committed to join Rick Pitino and St. John's.

The Red Storm won the Big East regular season title, narrowly beating out UConn. They advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The rivalry between those two programs was already intense, but perhaps Freeman's portal decision will add some more spice to their matchups in 2026-27.

At 6'9, Freeman is now a rising junior. He's a very talented player, but that talent never translated to wins for the Orange, who went under .500 in both his seasons on campus. Of course, it's not all his fault.

In his two seasons in Central New York, he averaged 15.3 ppg and 7.5 rebounds, all while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor. He averaged 16.5 ppg in 2025-26 as the Orange went 15-17. He played just 37 games because of multiple foot injuries in his career.

On the positives, he represents everything about modern-day offense. With his height, he has the ability to play in the paint if he needs to, but he also is capable of shooting the three-pointer (30.2 percent this year), or taking a defender off the dribble. His versatility should suit him well at St. John's, and gives him an excellent opportunity to carve out a chance in the NBA when his college career is done.

On the negative side of things, he played a lot of isolation ball with the Orange. Is that because he's a ball dominant player that doesn't play as well inside of a system, or is that because Syracuse's offense didn't really have a system other than "let Donnie make plays?" That's for Pitino to figure out.

In his words, because of the coaching change. He told the following to 247 Sports about his decision to go to St. John's.

"I realized it was time to leave Syracuse during the coaching change. I played under a great coach for two years, and when they moved on from him, I realized I had to do what was best for me," Freeman says.

Adrian Autry spent three seasons as the SU head coach, going 49-48 but never making the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse alum Gerry McNamara was hired, but Freeman evidently didn't want to stick around for his tenure.

Freeman isn't the only player to leave the program. Starting point Naithan George has committed to Pitt and role player Tyler Betsey is off to BYU. Nate Kingz also recently entered the transfer portal. 

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