Delusion Train? 5-Star Class of ‘19 PG Cole Anthony Lists Georgetown in Top 6

UPDATE 10/29:

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Top 2019 guard Cole Anthony has listed Georgetown and 11 inferior schools/programs as potential landing spots when he makes his decision in the spring. Admittedly it’s hard to get too excited about a 5-star naming Georgetown as part of a long-term selection plan by a dozen schools, but Cole Anthony news still needs to be acknowledged, if not celebrated.

This sure-fire-college-superstar will likely show his face on the hilltop for an unofficial visit or two, but the questions are: is Patrick Ewing’s connection to the family enough to stay in the mix until the spring and can a developing Hoyas program afford to spend time and effort recruiting a one-and-done guard?

Well, here are some notes about Cole Anthony and any potential connections to Ewing and Georgetown.

5-Star PG, No. 3 Recruit In Nation Announces Final Schools | The Spun

The top point guard in the nation made a major announcement Monday night. Cole Anthony has named his finalists.

Anthony, the son of former NBA point guard Greg Anthony, is a five-star prospect and the third-ranked player in the 2019 cycle according to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings. He holds dozens of scholarship offers.

Tonight, he trimmed his list down to a final 12...

Anthony played the first three years of his high school career at Archbishop Molloy in New York. He will finish his high school career at Oak Hill Academy.

Cole Anthony visiting UCLA; Georgetown, Villanova, Miami up next | Zagsblog

Anthony averaged 26.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists for the PSA Cardinals during the Nike EYBL regular season.

In June, Anthony helped lead the USA U18 team to a gold medal at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship in Ontario, averaging 14.3 points and 4.2 assists.

“He’s tough, he can really shoot the basketball, he can score,” Kansas and U18 coach Bill Self said. “He can certainly make plays for himself in the paint and I think he’s really getting better and trying to make plays for others, too. He was really close to having a lot of assists in the second half and for whatever reason, he was just a little bit off. But I think he’s really trying to be aggressive and still be a point guard. I think he’s got a pretty good balance of that.”

NYC’s best high school prospect in years won’t stop until he’s on top | NYPOST (JULY 2018)

“My drive is just to be one of the best players to ever play the game,” Cole said.

He’s come a long way already, the most highly touted New York City point guard in several years. Some experts would go all the way back to Stephon Marbury for the last time the city had a point guard prospect so skilled, while others say Sebastian Telfair or Kemba Walker...

“He’s freaking awesome,” one college coach said. “He’s got the whole package. He’s competitive, he can run a team. He’s a good teammate and he can score the basketball.

“Kemba wasn’t this good in high school.”

NB: Does that “one college coach” sound like Ewing ... in the NYPost? Maybe if you change “freaking” to ... never mind.

Cole Anthony’s plan for making his college choice | NYPOST (JULY 2018)

“The plan is to do a late commitment,” Anthony, a rising senior, said in an interview in his Upper West Side home. “We just want to wait until the last minute possible, when we’re sure the same coaches are going to be there. You don’t want to commit [to a school], a coaching change happens, and you have to decommit. It doesn’t look good on your part.” ...

Duke has been linked to Anthony for multiple reasons. It has landed many of the top prospects in the country in recent years, has produced a number of one-and-done players and is a strong academic school. But he laughed off any notion he’s leaning towards the Blue Devils... “I don’t know how people are going to tell me where they think I’m going before I even have an idea where I’m going,” Anthony said. “That’s what I find hilarious.”

NB: Is this saying he is really considering programs with less-than-stable coaching situations (schools outside of Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, UNC, Villanova, etc.) or is he concerned with assistant coaches leaving? Well I guess Calipari could get indicted...

Kentucky vs Memphis Headlines 6 Burning Recruiting Questions For August - What’s going on with Cole Anthony’s recruitment? | FLOHOOPS (Adam Zagoria)

While at the Chris Paul Elite Guard Camp, Anthony took unofficial visits to Wake Forest and North Carolina. Wake coach Danny Manning and UNC coach Roy Williams, as well as Oregon’s Dana Altman, tracked Anthony throughout the July live period. He figures to take more visits as the summer progresses.

It will be interesting to see which programs involved in his recruitment take point guards in the fall. If, for example, Duke or Villanova lands a floor general in November, you can probably cross those schools off the list for Anthony. Schools that don’t land a point guard in November and are still looking to hand someone the reins in April figure to be strong options for Anthony, the son of former NBA point guard and current analyst Greg Anthony.

Crystal McCrary, Greg Anthony’s Ex-Wife: 5 Fast Facts | Heavy

McCrary and Rita Ewing, who was then married to New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing, a teammate of Greg Anthony’s, co-wrote Homecourt Advantage, a racy novel about the lives of the fictional “New York Flyers” basketball team and their wives and girlfriends. The book came out in 1998.

Washington Post reviewer Kevin Merida described the book as “336 pages of lust and distrust, gossip and innuendo, the trappings of money and the seductions of power. Love and heartache turn in strong performances. So do friendship and betrayal. And, oh yeah, basketball makes a cameo. That’s because basketball is just a prop for the narrative, which centers on the dysfunctional off-court lives of multimillionaire athletes and their significant others.”

There is no question that Patrick Ewing wants the Hoyas to be listed as a favorite of every five-star recruit, especially a kid with as much talent and potential as Cole Anthony, but strategy has to come with a player of this caliber (i.e., ostensibly “one-and-done”).

Is this recruitment something more than a favor between Greg Anthony and Patrick Ewing to build press and attention? Can the Hoyas stay on the list until the spring while other schools fill scholarships? Will there be a scholarship left for Anthony at GU? Will another guard recruit be disappointed by Ewing still recruiting Anthony in early 2019? Can they risk leaving a spot open?

Let’s find out on the next episode of Homecourt Advantage...