Syracuse basketball isn't playing in the NCAA Tournament this season, but Orange legend Carmelo Anthony is front and center during March Madness hitting the television airwaves in a couple of fun advertisements.
Anthony, the former 'Cuse and NBA star who led Syracuse basketball to its only national championship in 2003, is in a hilarious AT&T advertisement alongside Kendrick Perkins and T.J Ford, where Melo can be seen wearing a 'Cuse headband. Love that.
Credit to Gilbert McGregor of The Sporting News for detailing this AT&T television spot. Perkins, who won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 2008, is currently a pro analyst with ESPN. For my money, he's one of the top experts out there covering the NBA.
Ford also played in the NBA. In college, he was a star at Big 12 Conference member Texas, which is moving to the Southeastern Conference for the 2024-25 stanza.
During the 2002-03 season, he won multiple national player of the year awards and was a first-team All-American. Ford also led Texas to the 2003 Final Four, where the Longhorns fell in the national semifinals to the Orange.
Syracuse basketball icon Carmelo Anthony is front and center in several March Madness TV spots.
Anthony is also in a television advertisement for Corona where he stars alongside former New York Giants quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning. By the way, I simply love Manning and his brother, Peyton, a Hall of Fame quarterback who claimed Super Bowl trophies with the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos.
As my FanSided colleague and editorial director Michael Collins noted in a piece on Sunday via the Busting Brackets Web site, the Corona advertisement features Eli Manning and Anthony watching a hoops game courtside.
Manning chats up his friend about one of the teams not being able to buy a bucket, and that turns into a fun joke about "buying a bucket of Corona."
Now, as Collins wrote, Manning was easy to identify in this television spot, but his buddy might have not have been so easy to recognize (except for among Syracuse basketball fanatics).
Melo had a great line in this advertisement, per Collins, when Anthony said, "You think you slick, you not slick." Great stuff from Melo.
While 'Cuse fans lamented in the 2023-24 season that the Orange missed the Big Dance for the third straight time, it's beautiful to see Anthony on the airwaves during March Madness, as we all can reminisce about that magical 2003 championship run.
Oh, and looking toward the future, Melo's son is a Syracuse basketball 2025 priority recruit. Kiyan Anthony, a four-star shooting guard who officially visited the 'Cuse last October, is part of a stacked backcourt at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y.
Happy Birthday @kiyananthony! Watching you build yourself into the man you’re meant to be is the biggest blessing. Proud of you, son. pic.twitter.com/JetlJUis17
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) March 7, 2024
In early April, the younger Anthony and his LuHi teammates will vie for a high school national title when they suit up in the eight-team Chipotle Nationals in Brownsburg, Ind., near Indianapolis.