After making an unofficial visit to Syracuse University with 2011 commit Trevor Cooney last week, Rakeem Christmas announced his decision on Friday to join the Orange.
“I had a lot of great options, but I fell in love with Syracuse,” Christmas told Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman. “I know a lot of the guys on the team and that made a difference in my decision. I also felt that I could fit in well with their system.”
Christmas, who is 6-foot-9 and 230 pounds, is ranked on Scout and Rivals as the No. 1 center in the class of 2011 and is known for his shot-blocking skills.
According to Goodman, Christmas ultimately chose Syracuse over Georgetown and Florida International. At the beginning of July, Adam Zagoria reported that Christmas had narrowed his list down to Georgetown, Florida, Florida International, Texas and Oklahoma, with Rutgers trying to get in the mix.
But AAU Team Final teammate and SU commit Cooney told NBE Basketball reporter Alex Schwartz in July that he was working on getting Christmas to consider Syracuse.
Christmas, a native of St. Croix, has lived with his aunt in Philadelphia since eighth grade. His mother died of kidney failure when he was five-years-old.
“I trusted my aunt to help me through the process,” Christmas told Goodman. “My aunt is basically my mom now.”
Christmas, Cooney and fellow Orange commit Michael Carter-Williams are in Oregon this weekend competing in the Nike Global Challenge. Christmas was also selected this week to play in the Boost Mobile Elite 24 event, which is scheduled for August 27 and 28 at Venice Beach in Los Angeles.
» Fox Sports: Adversity hasn't slowed Christmas down