Class of 2025 SG Kiyan Anthony (NY) COMMITTED & SIGNED TO SYRACUSE (11/15/24)

[Dmcnabbrules]

Haha this is an accurate statement. I will say what’s different this year is we have legit options. If a starter isn’t playing well, we have players like Kiyan, Sadiq, Betsy and Fennell off the bench. A couple of those guys probably start on last years team.

The young guys off the bench have me low key excited for next season.

 

[CuseMan4]

The young guys off the bench have me low key excited for next season.

Yup and even if 2 of them are “hits” that’s 2 good players off the bench, plus Betsy and a high energy back up center. I think we know what we have in our starters other than Kyle. So I’m pretty confident in this years team pending the coaching

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Boeheim likes Kyle a lot.

 

[Dinkyspond]

Gotta love this kid!

 

[sufan59]

Gotta love this kid!View attachment 252031

The Melo 15 Syracuse jersey is proper Knicks attire!

 

[jdubs30]

Boeheim likes Kyle a lot.

And he’s never been wrong!

 

[atlanticuse]

we can all make stats lie. Compare 2009-10 with 2024-25. Some things are real similar/close, some are different.
Not having a fourth scorer was responsible for 3-4 overall points per game (81.5 vs 74.7). Our efficiency (shooting percentage) is almost identical to those numbers.
But blocks and steals are the real telling story. More than double the steals (10.0 vs 4.9) and blocks (6.6 vs 2.5).
Is Kiyan or JJ (since this thread has morphed into another JJ Starling thread) going to fix that?

 

[23Zone]

Bottom line, Kiyan knows how to put it in the hole

 

[orange79]

Bottom line, Kiyan knows how to put in the hole

To all posters in this thread:

 

[DaCuse]

Bottom line, Kiyan knows how to put it in the hole

but can he score in a basketball game?

I don't want to talk his personal bizz

 

[23Zone]

but can he score in a basketball game?

I don't want to talk his personal bizz

Let me elaborate. If you watch him play it is clear that he can score in a multitude of ways and is tremendous at altering his pace, positioning and angles, far ahead of others in his peer group at creating space. Reminds me of Moten in many ways. And about the same size. My prediction is he is going to be a big-time scorer and is going to surprise people this year who thought he might not be a major contributor. From my perspective, already far ahead of what JJ can do at the 2G

 

[CardiacCuse]

I’ll say it again, this time directly to you.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years anemic defensive squad.

The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

I’m thrilled Starling chose to stick around, and I think he’s going to be great.

Edit: I’m going to cross post this, because I just spent a few minutes researching a rant, and it isn’t even in the right thread. Dang it.

JJ Starling was stuck as the only viable offensive threat last season on a team decimated by injuries and lack of talent. Red’s best, sometimes only, offensive play call was Starling Isolation. There was nothing else.

On top of that, Starling was our de facto point guard, playing away from his strengths.

JJ Starling was put in am extremely difficult position last season, and all he did was score 28 points, pull pull down 4 rebounds and dish out 3 assists per game, while maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. His scoring wasn’t as efficient as you would like, mostly because he was dribbling into the teeth of the defense every possession with nobody to pass to, and he shot too many threes at the end of the shot clock. But he shot.480 on two point shots on the season, despite being the guy that every team knew they had to stop.

Even Starling’s defense isn’t as bad as his detractors suggest. He has improved each year, and this past season, Starling was a -.4 DBPM… Win Shares had him a positive dWS, also by a hair, this time positive. A hair under average, by those two rate stats that break out defense. All while playing a blistering 35 minutes a game as the team’s only offensive threat. If Starling had gotten a rest, even by not having to bring up the ball, do you think he might have been a little quicker in stopping defensive penetration? Probably. Oh, by the way, starling was second in steals and fourth in blocks on last years endemic defensive squad. The kid busts his butt, playing for his hometown team.

Can we stop complaining about Starling? The dude could have gone anywhere, and probably made more money doing it. Yet he’s here, a McDonald’s All American that is going to finish his career in Syracuse! Somehow half the posters here act like we are saddled with him.

JJ Starling College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

JJ Starling - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

i like jj...im not trying to bash him.

but he is a career 29% 3pt shooting shooting guard in an era where 3pters matter a lot. 29% isnt good enough!! he shot sub 27% from 3 last year!

i think the idea of jj....is better than the actual production we have seen...hes a whole lot of potential that hasnt figured it out (yet)...you can blame that on a million excuses...but hes down to 1 more year to do something with all that talent he has.

jj has never made the tourney in his career...time to put up or shut up. a real all american (as you call him) would take his team to the tourney.

furthermore, a negative def metric matches my eye test. he just spaces out on d a lot. its just not good enough.

is he talented? sure is. is that enough in and of itself? no.

i think kiyan is a better shooter than jj. which is all I was trying to say before you wrote me a novel.

 

[Niastri]

i like jj...im not trying to bash him.

but he is a career 29% 3pt shooting shooting guard in an era where 3pters matter a lot. 29% isnt good enough!! he shot sub 27% from 3 last year!

i think the idea of jj....is better than the actual production we have seen...hes a whole lot of potential that hasnt figured it out (yet)...you can blame that on a million excuses...but hes down to 1 more year to do something with all that talent he has.

jj has never made the tourney in his career...time to put up or shut up. a real all american (as you call him) would take his team to the tourney.

furthermore, a negative def metric matches my eye test. he just spaces out on d a lot. its just not good enough.

is he talented? sure is. is that enough in and of itself? no.

i think kiyan is a better shooter than jj. which is all I was trying to say before you wrote me a novel.

Yeah, you just happened to be the last guy to say something about Starling when it was bugging me. I realize my “now I’m saying it to you” made it sound personal. Not my intent. I was just making a point I’ve made before, and you were the one that prompted it.

I realize I didn’t pay much attention to tone there.

I do tend to write novels, don’t I?

 

[Zelda Zonk]

i like jj...im not trying to bash him.

but he is a career 29% 3pt shooting shooting guard in an era where 3pters matter a lot. 29% isnt good enough!! he shot sub 27% from 3 last year!

i think the idea of jj....is better than the actual production we have seen...hes a whole lot of potential that hasnt figured it out (yet)...you can blame that on a million excuses...but hes down to 1 more year to do something with all that talent he has.

jj has never made the tourney in his career...time to put up or shut up. a real all american (as you call him) would take his team to the tourney.

furthermore, a negative def metric matches my eye test. he just spaces out on d a lot. its just not good enough.

is he talented? sure is. is that enough in and of itself? no.

i think kiyan is a better shooter than jj. which is all I was trying to say before you wrote me a novel.

Kiyan against HS competition shot the same percentage as JJ against college players.

Is that enough of a ‘nugget?’

 

[Niastri]

Haha this is an accurate statement. I will say what’s different this year is we have legit options. If a starter isn’t playing well, we have players like Kiyan, Sadiq, Betsy and Fennell off the bench. A couple of those guys probably start on last years team.

If you look at who we had after Freeman was injured, I think our second five of Souare, White, Anthony, Betsey and Fennell would have had a better record than last years team… They definitely are more talented.

 

[007]

If you look at who we had after Freeman was injured, I think our second five of Souare, White, Anthony, Betsey and Fennell would have had a better record than last years team… They definitely are more talented.

Based on what we think we know at this point, it seems like we will have more positional length and athleticism combined with a roster that seems to fit better compared to the last 2 seasons. There is a vision in what Red is trying to accomplish - more athletes that can get up and down the court and hopefully defend multiple positions.

Kline talked about adding players this cycle that can do at least one thing very well. There will be more skill set options Red can draw on. How that all meshes together remains to be seen. I find it "interesting" that so many are convinced what the starting 5 will look like. An even further leap of faith, to me anyway, is the posters who are approximating playing time down to minutes played.

Red's coaching career will depend on his ability to maximize the skill he has available on the roster. This will very much be a process.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Kiyan against HS competition shot the same percentage as JJ against college players.

Is that enough of a ‘nugget?’

well thats actually a pretty solid point...im so used to just watching the highlights and not going off of stats...so that actually surprises me

ofc we wont know until the real games start

but ive watched A LOT of kiyan and he simply does things JJ cant/doesnt

I think Kiyan is a better shooter than JJ...im assuming he will dial it in a bit for SU and wont have near the volume he did in HS...and his % will be better

hes definitely a better shotmaker...and capable of making more difficult shots than JJ is...but then again he is forced to because he is less athletic

heres another nugget for you: he’s also become very adept at coming off of ball-screens, ranking in the 90th percentile in those situations during the 2024 EYBL per Synergy.

Kiyan Anthony, Long Island Lutheran , Shooting Guard

Kiyan Anthony is a Shooting Guard from Middle Village, NY.

247sports.com

 

[florange44]

I caught up with a friend this past weekend. He is a LuHi alum, former D2 player and coached at Monteverde for 9 years (including the Ben Simmons, Deangelo Russell team). He currently works for LuHi in an administrative capacity.

I asked him what he thought about Kiyan and his potential success at Cuse. His response is captured below.

1) great kid, hard worker
2) not a super athlete, not blazing speed, not super quick, not real big
3) must add 15 pounds of muscle to compete consistently
4) super smart player, savvy, high IQ, gets to his spots in many ways
5) verrrry streaky shooter ( from never misses 3 games straight to “has this kid ever played before?” the next 3 games. Must get more consistent.
6) he’s really a top 75 player, got to top 30 by his name

Based on his words and body language, I’m assuming Kiyan will not be a big contributor until his sophomore year (hopefully by then).

IMO, Red has a tight rope to walk to get him minutes and keep him bought in, but without sacrificing team goals.

 

[sufan59]

I caught up with a friend this past weekend. He is a LuHi alum, former D2 player and coached at Monteverde for 9 years (including the Ben Simmons, Deangelo Russell team). He currently works for LuHi in an administrative capacity.

I asked him what he thought about Kiyan and his potential success at Cuse. His response is captured below.

1) great kid, hard worker
2) not a super athlete, not blazing speed, not super quick, not real big
3) must add 15 pounds of muscle to compete consistently
4) super smart player, savvy, high IQ, gets to his spots in many ways
5) verrrry streaky shooter ( from never misses 3 games straight to “has this kid ever played before?” the next 3 games. Must get more consistent.
6) he’s really a top 75 player, got to top 30 by his name

Based on his words and body language, I’m assuming Kiyan will not be a big contributor until his sophomore year (hopefully by then).

IMO, Red has a tight rope to walk to get him minutes and keep him bought in, but without sacrificing team goals.

Number 3 is true for about every player out of HS. Number 4 is why he will be atleast a 15 minutes a game player for Cuse as a freshmen. Number 6, I think Kiyan is rated as top 30 because his game is very far along in terms of development not based on physical attributes. Plenty of guys behind him that may have more natural abilities that once developed they may be better than Kiyan. We’ve had highly rated guys based on potential that if they develop watch out, think Donnie Freeman. Very interested to see him take his game to a new level. Kiyan is basically a finished product skills wise, just needs to gain the muscle.

 

[OttosShoes]

I was recently eating at the bar at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Florida with a 'cuse shirt on. One of the waiters came over and was like "You guys got Kiyan this year!!"

 

[Cusefan0307]

I caught up with a friend this past weekend. He is a LuHi alum, former D2 player and coached at Monteverde for 9 years (including the Ben Simmons, Deangelo Russell team). He currently works for LuHi in an administrative capacity.

I asked him what he thought about Kiyan and his potential success at Cuse. His response is captured below.

1) great kid, hard worker
2) not a super athlete, not blazing speed, not super quick, not real big
3) must add 15 pounds of muscle to compete consistently
4) super smart player, savvy, high IQ, gets to his spots in many ways
5) verrrry streaky shooter ( from never misses 3 games straight to “has this kid ever played before?” the next 3 games. Must get more consistent.
6) he’s really a top 75 player, got to top 30 by his name

Based on his words and body language, I’m assuming Kiyan will not be a big contributor until his sophomore year (hopefully by then).

IMO, Red has a tight rope to walk to get him minutes and keep him bought in, but without sacrificing team goals.

I can agree mostly with 1-5, but not on number 6. If he's only top 75 this is the greatest class in history. Maybe it was true a year ago, but not the case now based on how he's played the past 3-4 months. If the guy thinks he's just a shooter he hasn't watched him much. Like Judah he lives at the free throw line and is good getting in the paint. That said I think he's likely the 7th man or so this year which is fine.

 

[bnoro]

I was recently eating at the bar at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Florida with a 'cuse shirt on. One of the waiters came over and was like "You guys got Kiyan this year!!"

Dion?

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

I was recently eating at the bar at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Florida with a 'cuse shirt on. One of the waiters came over and was like "You guys got Kiyan this year!!"

I’m sold. Start the kid.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yeah, you just happened to be the last guy to say something about Starling when it was bugging me. I realize my “now I’m saying it to you” made it sound personal. Not my intent. I was just making a point I’ve made before, and you were the one that prompted it.

I realize I didn’t pay much attention to tone there.

I do tend to write novels, don’t I?

Quality gif, gave it a laugh emoji.

 

[albanycuse]

Like he grew an inch or two unless its just me.