Syracuse basketball legend Carmelo Anthony, who helped the program win its only national championship during the 2002-03 season, recently dished on the explosion of the transfer portal in collegiate athletics.
Anthony, whose son, Kiyan, is a 2025 four-star shooting guard and a priority recruit of the Orange coaching staff in the junior class, discussed the portal not too long ago on his podcast, “7PM In Brooklyn,” per an article from On3 national writer Sam Gillenwater.
Since college athletes are, these days, able to transfer to a different program and retain immediate eligibility, Carmelo Anthony says the part of the portal that he doesn’t like is that “there’s no more university pride, like, with the athlete.”
To be fair, Melo only played one season on the Hill, and it was a glorious one for the Orange. But that was also more than two decades ago, and the landscape in collegiate athletics was so much different back then.
Former Syracuse basketball player Carmelo Anthony discusses the transfer portal.
Anthony, in talking about the portal, was referring to younger players, such as freshmen. These underclassmen don’t necessarily have a strong sense of what their opportunities may end up being at the team they’re playing for, and transferring so early on in their college careers isn’t necessarily the best move, when they could stick around for longer and carve out a bigger role with their current squad.
Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, the legendary former head coach of the ‘Cuse who coached Anthony in that magical 2002-03 term and retired last March, has discussed this topic on many occasions, saying that oftentimes, a young player who isn’t happy with his playing time as an underclassman may transfer out, but his career at the new school doesn’t necessarily end up being better than if he would have stayed put.
Anthony, on his podcast, noted the changes and differences in being a college athlete – and a college student – between one’s freshman and sophomore years.
“You don’t get that pride, that feeling until the next year when you in college,” Anthony said. “The first year? You’re just going through it. You happy to be a freshman in college. You still don’t got your classes right, you still trying to get your feet wet. You don’t know the parties yet. You don’t know who’s who on campus. You may see somebody in October that you don’t see again until May.”
He continued, “That next year is when you, like, ‘Aight. I got one under my belt.’ I’ve been here, I got a little bit of familiarity. I know how to move now. That’s when you get the love. The first year? You don’t get the love.”
I hear what Melo is saying. Looking back to my time as a Syracuse University student, I definitely didn’t have much of a clue at all as a freshman about campus life, but I also wasn’t on the Orange hoops team, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison for me.
I agree with Anthony in that college basketball players are quick to jump ship if things aren’t exactly going their way from the onset. And they have a right to transfer, and I’m fine with that.
But as the saying goes, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.