Fizz Nation, I owe you all a sincere apology. On Wednesday, I said that “I don’t see a world where Kiyan Anthony chooses Syracuse.” Well, I was met with a lot of disagreement about that take, and here I am, sitting wrong. Just a few minutes ago, four-star recruit Kiyan Anthony announced on the “7 P.M. In Brooklyn” podcast that he is officially committed to Syracuse men’s basketball.
Now listen, we all know the history here. Carmelo’s son has been a player that SU fans have expected to play here since he was born. The storylines are some that you couldn’t script any better, with the possibility of Anthony leading the Orange to the promised land just like his father did in 2003. But his actual skillset as a player might be even better.
Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247 Sports, said “Anthony is a skilled, smooth scorer and high-volume shot-taker and maker. He plays with an aggressive scoring mentality and is constantly hunting buckets. He’s had the ultimate green-light, and so he has a tendency to settle for tough shots at times (38% FG, 29% 3pt in EYBL), but there are few players in high school basketball better equipped to make shots with such high degrees of difficultly. He has pull-ups, step-backs, floaters, and deep threes, all with naturally soft touch, and instinctive feel for putting the ball in the basket.”
Anthony’s skill set makes him a perfect fit for an up-and-coming Orange team, especially with Sadiq White’s talent joining him in 2025. Those two on the floor at the same time make the offense so versatile, being able to beat you in all facets of the game. It’ll almost be too easy for Coach Autry to get his players going with two major spark plugs in the lineup.
Not only that, this is a marking of the tides finally changing for Syracuse basketball. Since Jim Boeheim’s retirement, SU has felt like it’s been missing something, and falling off that pedestal of being a true blue blood of college basketball. With now three major commits in the past two seasons (Freeman, White, Anthony,) you’d hope the 315 is becoming a wanted destination.
So enjoy this one Orange fans, and keep clowning me for being wrong. I deserve it, but at the end of the day, we all got what we wanted, which was the heir to the throne choosing Syracuse.
