2025 Guard Earns ACC Offer
Twenty years ago, a Brooklyn-born freshman who came out of Baltimore put up gaudy statistics and authored scoring sprees at Syracuse, his emergence rapidly developing into the headline story in NCAA basketball
The 6-foot-8 forward, Carmelo Anthony, brought national prominence to the program with highly anticipated ESPN televised games and feature stories in Sports Illustrated and SLAM Magazine.
The analysts often discussed Anthony and LeBron James, then a senior at St. Vincent St. Mary's HS in Ohio, as the no brainer of top picks of the 2003 NBA draft alongside legendary flameout Darko Milicic.
With his megawatt smile and knack for hitting big shots, Anthony wound up leading Syracuse to a 2003 national championship victory over a Kansas team led by Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich. That spring, he would get drafted No.3 overall by the Denver Nuggets. It was the start of a career defined by longevity and underscored by an MVP caliber season in Manhattan with the New York Knicks.
Back to the current.
Kiyan Anthony, Carmelo's son and now a four star prospect as a 6-foot-3 shooting guard at Christ The King HS, has now earned an offer from Syracuse.
Nepotism and Kiyan's status as a legacy, however, hardly play a role here.
Anthony improved incrementally with his shooting this past summer, showing an adeptness for the deep jumper and also knifing his way through traffic to score with either hand.
The 2025 Anthony has developed quickness, a motor, and the type of defensive versatility that enables him to block shots and instigate turnovers.
Just how ready made his game is for the next level remains to be seen.
And the 2022-23 campaign will be a considerable barometer for that. Anthony is a role player on a loaded Christ The King team featuring 6-foot-9 UCLA commit Brandon Williams and 6-foot-7 St. John's commit Brandon Gardner, who will soon pen his national letter of intent.
The CHSAA heavy hitter also features a highly coveted high major prospect in 6-foot-6 guard/wing Dwayne Pierce, who Syracuse is expressing high interest in.
Syracuse is still under Jim Boeheim, who is in his 47th year as head coach. Boeheim's championship season, which features Anthony as the alpha back in 2003, is forever embedded in program lore.
Gerry McNamara, whose six first half 3-pointers sparked that Syracuse team in the aforementioned 2003 national title win alongside Carmelo's poised scoring, is now on staff as an assistant coach under Boeheim.
Kiyan Anthony also holds offers from Memphis, Bryant, George Mason, and Manhattan.