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KoriEllis
03-09-2003, 07:58 PM
as of right now...

www.syracuse.com/sports/p...201700.xml (http://www.syracuse.com/sports/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1047217013201700.xml)

March 09, 2003

By Kim Baxter
Staff writer

Carmelo Anthony hears the chants and sees the signs begging him to return to Syracuse for another year, reads the magazines and newspapers saying he's the No. 1 freshman in the country, watches ESPN telling him he could be a top three pick in the NBA Draft, but as of now...

"As of right now, I'm coming back - right now," he said on Thursday.

For now. But until he makes a final decision, the 18-year-old likely will be shadowed by the same questions that have haunted him since before he stepped on Syracuse's campus.

Will he or won't he?

Should he and can he?

When will he?

He said his days are filled with people asking him The Question. "After a while, everybody asks me. I kind of got used to it, but everybody asks me all day, every day. I think I'm going to hear the questions until the day I make my decision."

Even his mother, Mary Anthony, is asked about her son every day, despite being 330 miles away in Baltimore.

"People constantly ask every day, in my job, everywhere," she said. "He's always being asked. People call on his cell phone. It's something that you have to expect because people are going to ask because a player like him, who's good enough, is going to get the attention. People are curious, and I would be too if I wasn't in on the situation."

While the pleas begging him to stay have increased to a

quiet roar like the one during the waning moments of the West Virginia blowout at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 26, he's doing his best to ignore the clamor.

"Everybody who's a fan or who's hung with one of our friends or whatever, when we see them after a game, they always say, 'Please come back for one more year,'" said Billy Edelin, Anthony's roommate. "I don't even know how many messages we get, like an outrageous amount or whatever. But usually he tries to change the subject and not really talk about that and laugh it off."

Their coach, Jim Boeheim, agreed that Anthony is avoiding the topic as best he can.

"He's not thinking about it," he said. "The only people thinking about it is you and the fans. If he was thinking about it, he wouldn't be able to play so well. All he's thinking about right now is college basketball."

But like it or not, whether Boeheim or Anthony wants to discuss it or not, today's game against Rutgers could be Anthony's final game in the Carrier Dome as an Orangeman.

Talk of Anthony bolting to the NBA started last year as a high school senior at Oak Hill Academy. By late April, he had yet to achieve a qualifying score on the ACT. On his final try, he attained the needed score and opted to wear Orange, at least for a year.

"At the beginning, I said to myself that I was going to take it through the first year and see how things go," he said.

College life has treated him well.

"College is a lot more fun than I thought it would be," he said. "A lot of people told me I was going to enjoy college. It's better to be here than somebody just telling you."

He started his career with a 27-point, 11-rebound performance on national television in Madison Square Garden. He's scored more than 20 points in his last nine games. He's averaging 22.2 points and 9.8 rebounds a game. He's earned the Big East Rookie of the Week award nine times, tying him with Georgetown's Allen Iverson for the record. He ranks fourth in the league in scoring and third in rebounding. He's also No. 2 freshman scorer and No. 1 freshman rebounder in the country.

All that has created even more talk about jumping to the NBA, but Anthony has participated little of it. He continues to reiterate that he has yet to make a decision and will wait until after his freshman campaign is over.

"After the season, I don't have a timetable or nothing," Anthony said. "I'm going to sit down and talk with my coaches after the season and then make a decision."



One of the factors that Anthony can't ignore is the money involved.

"It's hard to give up $3 million a year," said Anthony, whose mother is a custodial worker at the University of Baltimore. "It's going to be a hard decision for me."

And as often as he has said he's not thought about the NBA, he is aware of how highly the teams think of him.

"People say I'm going between 1 and 3 (positions in the draft)," he said, "so it's kind of hard to give that up right there because I could get hurt next year and never be able to play again."

With that thought in mind, and after watching Miami running back Willis McGahee tear ligaments in his knee in the national championship game, Anthony invested in an insurance policy.

"Once I saw Willis McGahee get hurt, then I was like, 'I've got to get mine,'" he said, adding that some paperwork has yet to be finished.



On the court, the unfinished business of one regular-season game, the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament stand between Anthony and a decision.

"He wants to really go as far as he can this year," Edelin said. "He hasn't really came out and said, 'I'm definitely doing this or I'm definitely doing that.' So I think it's still a toss-up depending on how we do this year."

Syracuse, which is ranked 12th in the country in The Associated Press poll and on a six-game winning streak, could make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. The farther it goes, the better for Anthony.

"If we make it to the Final Four, then I think my stock would go up even higher," he said. "It's already high right now, but it probably would go up even higher because I've got that on my resume, I led my team to the Final Four as a freshman."

Everyone close to Anthony pointed to his personality as a buffer to the constant scrutiny and questions. His laid-back, easy-going attitude is evident through the smile he's flashed throughout the season, and the laughter he let loose after an air-balled free throw during the St. John's game.

"He's enjoying the moment, and a lot of kids his age can't do that," said SU assistant coach Troy Weaver, who recruited Anthony and coaches the forwards in practice. "That's why a lot of these questions don't bother him as much as other kids.



But Anthony's size, regardless of his age, also makes him more sought-after.

"He's physically ready," Weaver said. "He's 6-8, 220 (pounds), not many kids are that."

But many former underclassmen that jumped to the NBA have proved that succeeding in professional basketball goes far beyond the physical tools.

"I don't think any 18-year-old is mentally ready for the NBA, all that they have to handle, but that hasn't stopped anybody from going or the NBA or the NBA from drafting them," Weaver said. "I don't think seniors are mentally ready. But I think you just have to get there and adjust when you're there."

Adjusting is something Anthony has become adept at, his mother said. He lived nearly 400 miles away from home his senior year of high school at Oak Hill in Mouth of Wilson, Va. His basketball exploits took him as far as Venezuela for the Junior World Championships last summer.

"He can adjust to anywhere and anyone because he travels so much and goes to so many different places," Mary Anthony said.



She, unlike many other mothers of basketball players (i.e. Gloria James, mother of LeBron James), seems to have taken a more supporting role in her son's career.

"I'm not going to really say right now, because I don't want to step in his way," she said. "I don't want my decision to affect him. That's Carmelo's life. He's going to have to make a choice. He's going to have to live with his decision his entire life. I won't. I don't want him to do anything based on what I say."

Anthony said his mother rarely brings up the topic of his future.

"She just told me to finish this year out and keep working hard with my books," he said. "That's all she's stressing right now."

While Mary Anthony said she's currently unaware of what her son will do after the season, she knows what he could do if he is drafted.

"He was ready for the NBA when he was at Oak Hill," she said. "I believe he is ready in both his game and his personality."



Does her son think he's ready? "I'm quite sure he does," she said.

Edelin agreed.

"I think anybody who's a good player, you don't have to be arrogant, but in your mind, you always feel real highly about yourself," Edelin said. "I'm sure Melo probably feels that he's the No. 1 pick. I played real well against LeBron and he played real well against LeBron, so he obviously thinks, 'Well LeBron is definitely good, but I'm real good, too.' I know that's how he feels."

While Anthony repeatedly asserted he has made no decision, there's no denying playing in the NBA always has been his dream.

"I don't want to just get drafted by a team," he said. "I always dreamed about going to the NBA and playing in the NBA, not just getting drafted."

MagicMurdock
03-10-2003, 01:41 AM
You gotta respect him for even CONSIDERING staying when he's almost a lock (from what I've read) to be the #3 pick behind the big european and King James....

I think he's gone.

GO MAVS!!!

Ed Helicopter Jones
04-07-2003, 10:25 PM
After the kind of NCAA tournament he's had, he would be foolish not to come out now. He's probably played himself into an assured number 2 pick. What more could a player ask for?

alamo50
04-09-2003, 07:05 PM
You can't shove this 17 year young european away from that 2nd spot Ed.
Just can't.

jeebus
06-01-2011, 12:33 AM
solid bump

BlackSwordsMan
06-01-2011, 12:35 AM
wait kori ellis is a troll?

Isitjustme?
06-01-2011, 01:19 AM
:lol

ChrisRichards
06-01-2011, 02:25 AM
Total disregard of authority here, this is madness!!!

benefactor
06-01-2011, 05:24 AM
lol banned...and during the finals, no less. Ouch.