ST. CATHARINES, Ontario– Cole Anthony has graduated from being simply Greg Anthony’s son.
His famous father played for UNLV’s 1990 NCAA championship team and later with the NBA New York Knicks for 12 years before becoming an analyst at CBS-TV. His playing career ended with Cole was just two-years old and Cole watched brief clips of his games. He was a quick study.
But it has reached a point where Greg stopped playing one on one with his son in ninth grade once he realized the enormous potential his son exhibited at a young age and needed to play against better competition. “I beat him a couple times,’’ Anthony admitted.
“I now live vicariously through him,’’ Greg once said.
“He’s given me so much knowledge,’’ Anthony said. “We talk every day. It’s a blessing to have that resource.’’
Anthony, a 6-3 rising senior guard from Archbishop Molloy in Queens, who is averaging 25.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and is shooting 90 percent from the line for the PSA Cardinals and is the leading scorer in the EBYL U17 spring competition, has emerged as the next great point guard from that fabled New York Catholic League high school, following in the footsteps of former All Americans Kenny Smith of North Carolina and Kenny Anderson of Georgia Tech.
He is generally considered the best point guard prospect in the class of 2019, the best to come out of the city since Stephon Marbury.
Anthony put his skills on display here at the FIBA U18 Americas tournament, scoring a game high 18 points as Team USA defeated the Dominican Republic, 105-73, Sunday in the opening game of an eight-team tournament which will determine which four teams will represent the Hemispheres in the U19 World Championships next year. Then, he came back to score 14 more on 6 of 9 shooting with three rebounds and 3 assists Monday night as the U.S. got out to a staggering 43-0 lead on Panama after one quarter that set Twitter on fire and cruised to an insane 92-point, 118-26 victory at the Meridian Center.
“Basketball is always fun for me,’’ he said. “It’s just hard to lower your level to a team that’s not as good as you.’’
Anthony has a unique set of skills with the ability to see two or three moves ahead of the curve in game situations. He may be the point guard of the future with an opportunity to participate in both the Slam Dunk contest and the three-point shooting contest at an NBA All Star game.
“He’s tough,’’ USA coach Bill Self said. “He can rally shoot the ball. He can score, can make plays himself in paint and he’s getting better in trying to make plays for others. Really close to get a lot of assists in second half.’’
Anthony is a future NBA player, who gave up playing football in eighth grade at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep to concentrate on one sport because he didn’t want him to get injured.
The biggest decision appears to be where he will attend college. Anthony is a strong student who is aware of the hype surrounding him. He has developed other interests—the stock market and museums—fostered by his mother and Greg’s ex-wife Crystal McCrary, who is a director, producer and author who informed her son basketball could be put on hold if he got anything less than a B on his report card.
As of right now, he says his recruiting is wide open. He doesn’t even have a date set to narrow down his schools. But that hasn’t stopped schools like UCLA, Oregon, Miami Kentucky, Georgetown, Kansas, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Pitt, Ohio State Duke and Villanova—who are permitted by the NCAA to watch U.S. players participate in international competitions before the July Live period– from making the pilgrimage up across the border to watch him perform.
Anthony is one of four blue chip guards on this team. The tryouts for spots on this 12-man roster at the tryouts in Colorado Springs was so competitive, Anthony had to beat out three other elite guards with New Jersey roots—Bryon Antoine and Scotty Lewis of Bishop Ranney in Triton and Jalen Lecque of Christ School in Teaneck.
Anthony not only did that, but he quickly worked his way into the starting three guard lineup with 6-4 Quentin Grimes of The Woodlands, Tex., who will be a freshman at Kansas; and 6-2 Tyrese Maxey of Dallas South Garland High and has become the team’s leading scorer.
Anthony, who plays for the PSA Cardinals, is following in the footsteps of center Mo Bamba and point guard Quade Green, who both made the USA Basketball’s U18 team two years ago. The 6-11 Bamba, who signed with Texas, should be a Top 5 pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Green, who signed with Kentucky, has the most experience of John Calipari’s three candidates for the starting point guard role.
If there is one personality trait separates Anthony from other players at this level, it has been his drive to win at all costs in anything he attempted and has fit perfectly into Bill Self’s style of pressure defense and up-tempo game that was fueled by 38 assists off an endless series of run outs against a team that struggled to get two defenders back.
