Kiyan Anthony is following in his father’s footsteps. He’s going to play basketball at Syracuse.
Carmelo Anthony’s son — a highly touted shooting guard from Long Island Lutheran High — made it official on Friday, two years after the Orange offered him a scholarship.
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Kiyan Anthony is a 6-foot-5 shooting guard and generally considered the top recruit in New York state as well as one of the nation’s top prospects. Syracuse had to beat out Southern California to get the commitment; Auburn and a slew of other schools also recruited him.
"At the end of the day, only one could stay," Kiyan Anthony said on his father's “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast, with his mother La La Anthony seated next to him as well for the announcement. “And with that being said, I'll be committing to Syracuse University.”
He put on a Syracuse cap, then hugged his parents.
“Now we can get to working,” Carmelo Anthony said.
Added La La Anthony: “I can breathe now.”
Kiyan Anthony lived up to plenty of hype this past summer, putting on plenty of scoring displays while averaging nearly 20 points per game on the Nike EYBL circuit playing for Team Melo, a program co-founded by his father. He even starred in a game at New York's famed Rucker Park this summer, with plenty of former NBA players watching.
“I'm harder on him when it comes to basketball than his dad is, way harder on him than his dad is. ... And then it just started clicking and we're seeing all the hard work and all the hours pay off,” La La Anthony said.
It had long been assumed that Kiyan Anthony would pick the Orange, just as his father did on his way to leading Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA championship in his lone college season. Syracuse’s basketball office and practice complex is named the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center, since the longtime NBA star donated $3 million toward the $19 million facility.
“My message to him was, don’t be afraid of it, embrace it,” Carmelo Anthony said on the podcast. “The guys that looked at me, that watched me, is not your fans. You have an opportunity to carve out a whole new fan base. My (time) was 20 years ago. ... You’ve got a new fan base, you’ve got new energy."
Carmelo Anthony left a massive impact in that one year at Syracuse. He averaged 22.2 points and 10 rebounds per game, was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four when the Orange won the national title, and was the national freshman of the year and a second-team All-American selection by The Associated Press.
He would go on to play 19 NBA seasons, make 10 All-Star teams, finish with a scoring average of 22.5 points, still ranks 10th all-time on the league’s career scoring list and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team. He won three Olympic gold medals for USA Basketball and was courtside in Paris — along with Kiyan — when the Americans won gold at the Paris Games this past summer for their fifth consecutive Olympic title.
Kiyan Anthony already has landed some name, image and likeness deals and has his own business interests, plus has worked for some time with famed basketball trainer Chris Brickley — whose long list of clients, among others, includes LeBron James.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll