Syracuse basketball in slight lead for visiting 4-star Kiyan Anthony, per On3

Kiyan Anthony, a 2025 four-star shooting guard out of New York City, is expected to officially visit Syracuse basketball this coming weekend, according to media reports.

This past weekend, he took an official visit to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Florida State, and the 6-foot-5 Anthony has said on numerous occasions that he also wants to officially visit Big Ten Conference members Indiana and Michigan.

When I penned this column on Monday night, recruiting service On3’s recruiting prediction machine had the Orange in a slight lead for Kiyan Anthony over FSU, however, the son of Syracuse basketball legend and long-time NBA star Carmelo Anthony likely has a way to go before his recruiting process wraps up.

Also, at this juncture, there aren’t any formal predictions from national analysts and other recruiting insiders as it relates to Kiyan Anthony’s recruitment. That may not come for several more months.

Still, it’s encouraging to see that the ‘Cuse is on top, albeit by a small margin, for Kiyan Anthony, according to On3’s RPM. Then again, if and when he takes official visits to Indiana and Michigan, or any other school, the Syracuse basketball lead for him in the RPM absolutely, positively could change.

Syracuse basketball is prioritizing 2025 four-star shooting guard Kiyan Anthony.

To date, I’m aware of at least 17 prospects in the junior cycle who have received scholarship offers from the Orange coaching staff. Anthony was offered by the ‘Cuse last November, and as far as I can tell, he is among a handful of 2025 players who have emerged as the top recruiting targets for Syracuse basketball in this class.

In a recent interview with 247Sports, Kiyan Anthony said that Orange coaches, led by first-year head coach Adrian Autry, are showing him a lot of love.

Beyond Syracuse basketball, Anthony’s full offer sheet includes college squads such as West Virginia, UCF, Michigan, Maryland, Dayton, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Albany, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Seton Hall, UMass, Providence, Memphis, Bryant, George Mason and Manhattan.

He is a junior at the powerhouse Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y., which is a member of the loaded 10-team National Interscholastic Basketball Conference (“NIBC”).

This spring and summer, Kiyan Anthony put together a lot of strong performances on the AAU circuit while playing for the Baltimore-based Team Melo in Nike’s EYBL league. That helped fuel a surge in his offer list and his 2025 national rankings, as numerous recruiting services now rank Anthony as a top-40 overall player, a top-10 shooting guard and the No. 1 prospect in New York state within the junior cycle.

Kiyan Anthony has made no secret that he has a high interest in the ‘Cuse, and that the possibility of carrying on his dad’s legacy on the Hill is intriguing. At the same time, Anthony has also made it no secret that he’s keeping his options open, and it’s by no means a guarantee that he will don an Orange uniform in the future.

Earlier this month, national analysts and scouts heaped a bunch of praise on Kiyan Anthony for his play at a USA Basketball junior national team minicamp in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he competed against some of the top high-school players around the country in the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes.

Naturally, this coming weekend is a big one for the Syracuse basketball coaching staff, with Anthony taking an official visit to Central New York. I have every confidence that this trip will go well.

Some reports have indicated that Anthony could trim down his list of contenders to a half-dozen or so schools in the coming months, and if I were a betting man, I’d bet that the ‘Cuse will make this list cut.

But whether Kiyan Anthony ultimately makes a verbal pledge to Syracuse basketball remains to be seen. Regardless of where he ends up, I’ll be cheering on this talented young man.