Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Kiyan Anthony can push into top 35, per expert

Syracuse basketball recruit Kiyan Anthony has earned high praise of late from national analysts and scouts for his performances this spring on the AAU circuit.

The 6-foot-5 Anthony, a four-star shooting guard, is already a top-70 national prospect and in the top 20 at his position within the 2025 class, but the son of ‘Cuse legend and recently retired NBA star Carmelo Anthony has the potential to rise further in the sophomore cycle’s rankings, according to experts.

In recent weeks, Kiyan Anthony has witnessed his scholarship offer sheet expand. His list of offers is likely to further grow at an accelerated rate come mid-June, when the contact period opens up in his class, enabling college coaches to initiate direct communication with 2025 prospects.

Orange coaches offered Anthony last November. Media reports have said that the ‘Cuse coaching staff was in attendance late last month for Kiyan Anthony when he competed in AAU games amid NCAA live periods.

Syracuse basketball four-star target Kiyan Anthony has the attention of many college coaches.

This spring in grassroots basketball, Anthony has played quite well. While just a rising junior in high school, he is already known for his long-range shooting. But more recently, Kiyan Anthony has displayed a more comprehensive all-around game, getting to the rim and finishing through contact, showing off his athleticism, and earning positive comments from experts for his defense and rebounding.

As he has starred for the 16U squad of the Baltimore-based Team Melo in Nike’s EYBL league, he has received more recent scholarship offers from schools such as Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Seton Hall, UMass and Providence.

His offer sheet also includes Syracuse basketball, Memphis, Bryant, George Mason and Manhattan.

"Dushawn London, a national analyst with 247Sports, wrote in an article that Anthony “has made massive strides” in recent months. Later on in the same piece, London said, “Kiyan is emerging as a national level prospect who has the attention of college coaches. It’s not unrealistic to think that his growing skillset and NBA genetics will make him a collegiate star and a pro prospect.”"

Eric Bossi, 247Sports’ national basketball director, Adam Finkelstein, the 247Sports director of scouting and 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham recently discussed Anthony in a roundtable.

Bossi says that Kiyan Anthony has “really taken things up a notch this year. … He can really play.” Bossi notes that while Anthony is in the top 60 to the top 70 at present, he could make a push into the top 50 or maybe even the top 35 in the 2025 class.

Finkelstein added that Kiyan Anthony, lately, has been “turning potential into production” at a relatively rapid pace.

Carmelo Anthony, when he announced his retirement from the NBA in the past week or so, said that his legacy is his son and that now is the time for Kiyan Anthony “to carry this torch.”

The 247Sports experts said that could prove a sizable amount of pressure for Kiyan Anthony to carry with him, but Melo’s son seems up to the task. He’s not shying away from the spotlight.

To that end, this past February, Kiyan Anthony said that he would transfer from Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, N.Y., to Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y.

Long Island Lutheran, a top-five team during the 2022-23 season, played in the prestigious 2023 GEICO Nationals earlier this spring. The Crusaders are a member of the loaded 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”), which is arguably the country’s best high-school hoops league, with numerous of its games on national broadcasts.

At Long Island Lutheran, which is expected to compete for a national championship in 2023-24, Kiyan Anthony’s junior stanza, he “will be looking to stand out at a program that is quickly becoming a national powerhouse by displaying the skillset he’s honed during the spring,” London writes.