Carmelo Anthony spent only one season at Syracuse, but his impact on the team was tremendous. The No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft arrived from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia with huge expectations and he lived up to the hype. After becoming an NCAA champion, he had plans to return to help the Orange defend their title.
However, former Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was against that idea and pushed him to the pros.
"I really wanted to come back though," Anthony said on his '7PM in Brooklyn' show on Thursday. "I told [Jim] Boeheim I was coming back. It wasn't one-and-done. One-and-done was unheard of at that point in time. ... I'm going to college, I'm going to hoop, I'm going to enjoy college. I'm like, 'Yo, Boeheim, I'm coming back.' We had a real heated argument before that--I told him, 'Yo, I'm thinking about coming back.'"
"He told me, 'Listen, they'll leave your s**t, whatever you got in the apartment. Leave it. You don't need that. Get the f**k out of here. I better not see you back on the campus.'"
Explore the NBA Draft 2024 with our free NBA Mock Draft Simulator & be the GM of your favorite NBA team.
Carmelo Anthony played 35 games with the Orange and averaged 22.2 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, while shooting 45.3% from the field, 33.7% from deep and 70.6% from the free-throw line.
He was a Consensus All-American, named to the 2003 East Regional Team and won the 2003 East Regional Most Outstanding Player and 2003 Final Four Most Outstanding Player awards, among others.
Syracuse Orange interested in landing Carmelo Anthony's son Kiyan
Over 20 years after Carmelo Anthony won the NCAA title, Syracuse coach Adrian Autry is trying to stay close to the Anthony family. Carmelo's son, Kiyan Anthony, a four-star recruit, is yet to decide on where he'll play in college. However, Syracuse already showed interest in him two years ago. (0:50 mark)
In September, Kiyan explained why he the Orange was trying to get him. Besides his father's connection, his talents caught the attention of the program's officials. Kiyan plays for Lutheran High School and is the No. 1 prospect from New York in the 2025 class.