Recruiting kept close to the vest
This much is known about Cole Anthony’s mysterious recruitment: It is nowhere close to completion.
Though the consensus top- three prospect from Manhattan and his family continued to keep their plans close to the vest, they did let The Post in on a potential decision timeframe: the spring.
“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.”
Anthony said when he finishes his busy summer basketball schedule — the gifted 6-foot-3 point guard will lead the PSA Cardinals into the prestigious Peach Jam this week and take part in the CP3 Rising Stars National Camp and Nike Skills Academy, among other events — he will sit down with his family and zero in on 10-12 schools. There is a “high percentage” he will leave Archbishop Molloy in Queens for a prep school known for high-level basketball, his mother, Crystal McClaryMcGuire, said, though he has yet to settle on a destination for his final year of high school.
Anthony holds a who’s-who of scholarship offers from the likes of Duke, Oregon, Michigan, Villanova and North Carolina, among many others. Kentucky has also shown interest, and he recently said, “Obviously, we’re going to consider Kentucky.”
Anthony wouldn’t go into specifics about what he’s looking for in a school or a coach. He doesn’t like to specify anyone because he believes it would send the wrong message before he is ready to make any concrete decisions. One thing in particular is important, however.
“I’d like to be in a position, from Day 1 as a freshman, to be able to go and win a national championship,” he said.
His parents, former Knicks guard Greg Anthony and McCrary-McGuire, offered a little more insight. Though he might not be at the college he picks for more than a year or two, academics are important, as they were in picking Archbishop Molloy for high school. Just as important is a coach who understands him and he feels comfortable with.
“[Someone] that can teach him, make him a better player and gets him and he gets the coach,” McCrary-McGuire said. “The chemistry with the coach I think is really important.”