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Carmelo Anthony expressed his immense pride in his son, Kiyan Anthony, after the 17-year-old committed to Syracuse on Friday.
In a video shared on social media, Carmelo was visibly emotional as he discussed what Kiyan’s commitment to his alma mater meant:
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Carmelo Anthony gets emotional at Kiyan Anthony’s Syracuse announcement party & says Kiyan has a chance to bring New York back to where it’s supposed to be pic.twitter.com/KNHdTgGOdX
Carmelo Anthony was one-and-done at Syracuse in 2002-03, but his imprint at the school will not be forgotten. He led Syracuse to its first-and-only national championship in April 2003. Six years later, he gave back in the form of Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center, a practice facility that houses the men’s and women’s hoops teams.
Anthony chose Syracuse over USC and made the announcement on his father’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast.
The 6’5″, 185-pound Anthony is a decorated class of 2025 prospect in his own right. He’s ranked as the No. 6 shooting guard and No. 32 overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings.
“Overall, Anthony already has an advanced game and a proven track record of continuing to make notable improvements with each passing season,” 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein wrote.
“There’s plenty of potential to continue ascending too as he gets stronger, embraces the details on the defensive end of the floor, and becomes more efficient offensively by picking his spots and improving his shot-selection without dominating the ball so frequently.”
Now he’ll follow in his father’s footsteps in Syracuse. Anthony mentioned that Kiyan could bring Syracuse back to “where it’s supposed to be.”
It’s been a mostly rough go for Syracuse of late, with the team missing four of the last five NCAA tournaments (and three in a row and counting). Syracuse did show some promise last year under first-year head coach Adrian Autry, as the team won 20 games and went 11-9 in the ACC.
That wasn’t good enough for the NCAA tournament, but the future is looking bright with the Class of 2025 as Anthony in the mix alongside two other 4-stars who have signed letters of intent in Sadiq White Jr. (No. 26 overall) and Luke Fennell (No. 124 overall).
Ultimately, Kiyan Anthony can certainly carve his own basketball legacy in college and beyond, and his father is understandably quite proud of him as he charts that path.
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