Like father, like son. Kiyan Anthony, the son of NBA legend Carmelo Anthony, has announced that he will be playing basketball at Syracuse University.
Kiyan, a consensus top-40 prospect and the top prospect in the state of New York, had also been considering USC in his recruiting process.
The commitment, revealed on Carmelo’s ‘7pm in Brooklyn’ podcast, comes over eleven years after his father won the school’s only NCAA title as a freshman back in the spring 2003.
‘I chose Syracuse because the coaches recruited me from day one,’ Anthony told 247Sports. ‘They really showed me they were recruiting me for who I was and that it had nothing to do with my Dad.
‘I could see the vision with [power forward commit] Sadiq (White) going over there and being one of the most athletic people in the class, an overseas guard coming [commit Luke Fennell], and the potential of seniors like JJ Starling and Chris Bell coming back.
‘Next, we just need a big man. From the vision and what they’re telling me my role could be, it all made sense. USC was right there with them I’m not going to lie. There was a point where I was about to choose USC but I kept talking with my parents and ultimately decided to go with Cuse.’
As Kiyan said on the podcast, the decision was closer than one may expect – considering his father’s connection to the school.
‘I went to a USC visit last month and I almost committed on the spot,’ Kiyan revealed on the show.
‘I almost told the coach [Eric Mussleman] I was coming. It was crazy. USC feels like a movie when you’re on campus – the girls, basketball, the dorms are like an apartment. It’s like a lavish lifestyle…
‘So I was looking at all of that and then just coming back–looking at Syracuse and seeing what could be done over there.
‘If I was to go over there and they already have top people coming in who I’m close with, young coaching staff that I could connect to, close to home, 45 minute flight– they would have to be catching six hour flights to California every day so just all of that and then in the ACC, they play Duke, Carolina– they play all the good schools so I feel like all of that plays a part into why I chose Syracuse.’
He follows in the footsteps of his father, who is by far the most well-known basketball player from the school – which is the sixth winningest basketball program in history.
In the 2002-03 season, Anthony led the Orange to a Big East regular season co-title before falling to UConn in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.
But in that year’s NCAA Tournament, Anthony led Syracuse all the way to the national championship game – defeating Kansas 81-78 to clinch their first and only title.
From there, Carmelo was selected third-overall in the star-studded 2003 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He would go on to have a lengthy NBA career, with other stops with the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Lakers before his retirement in 2023.
Kiyan is the son of Carmelo and television personality Lala Anthony, who both appeared on the podcast as he made his announcement. The pair split in 2017.
