Cole Anthony gives North Carolina the perfect recruit at the perfect time

It was only a few years ago a sprawling academic fraud scandal threatened to knock North Carolina off its perch as one of the premier destinations in college basketball. Brandon Ingram cited the pending NCAA investigation as the reason he chose to play for Duke instead. Other top recruits also avoided Chapel Hill even if they didn’t state as it explicitly: for a three-year stretch from 2015-2017, UNC didn’t land a single top-15 prospect.

Everything changed in October 2017. Within the same month, the NCAA essentially decided to let UNC slide on allegations of paper classes while the rest of the college basketball world was rocked by the FBI corruption probe. Suddenly, North Carolina looked like something of an NCAA safehouse. When Nassir Little needed a new school after Arizona was dragged into the federal investigation, he picked UNC and became the Tar Heels’ first top-five recruit since 2012.

North Carolina’s purported recruiting woes may never have been as serious as they seemed. Roy Williams has always been a more cautious recruiter than many of his blue-blood peers, typically refusing to offer players early in their high school career and doing so only after he’s seen them in person. Even as Duke and Kentucky seemingly built a monopoly on five-star recruits (with Arizona and Kansas catching the overflow), UNC was still winning as big as anyone.

Over the last four seasons, North Carolina has the third most wins in college basketball behind Gonzaga and Villanova. UNC has been to two Final Fours over that period, first losing to Villanova on Kris Jenkins’ miracle buzzer-beater and then finding redemption against the ‘Zags one year later. The foundation of those teams was laid by UNC’s last great recruiting class, the 2014 group featuring three McDonald’s All-Americans in Justin Jackson, Joel Berry, and Theo Pinson. As they finished their careers, Williams found himself in a new position of needing to rely more heavily on one-and-done talent.

This past season was something of a trial run for Williams with blue-chip talent. On a team led by three senior starters, Little and fellow five-star freshman Coby White had radically different experiences. As Little struggled to find his role in a veteran front court and saw his draft stock plummet, White rose up boards as a scoring point guard who helped carry UNC to a No. 1 seed in March. If White wasn’t initially projected as a one-and-done, it didn’t take Williams long to realize he’d need a new starting point guard for 2019-2020 in addition to replacing all those seniors.

In total, North Carolina lost four starters and its sixth man and roughly 80 percent of its points scored. That put Williams in a position he typically doesn’t like to be in: needing to reload in the spring the way Duke or Kentucky do every year.

That process starts and ends with the commitment of Cole Anthony, who finally made his pledge to UNC earlier this week.

At his best, Anthony is a one-man offense unto himself. He’s a teenage point guard who has taken all the best parts from the NBA stars at his position that he grew up watching. He plays with Russell Westbrook’s intensity, Kemba Walker’s shot-making ability, Mike Conley’s penchant for drawing contact, Patrick Beverley’s nose for the ball as a rebounder, and with the same chip on his shoulder as Damian Lillard.

Anthony was raised on a generation of points guards who put pressure on the opposing defense with their own scoring ability first, and set up teammates second. That mentality is at the heart of his game. This is a lead guard with a skill set so complete and a motor so high he can’t help but imprint his identity on his team. If Anthony is on the floor, it’s an Anthony team.

Anthony is a dynamic athlete in the open floor who can finish above the rim with a powerful dunk. He’s a master at working the pick-and-roll, either finishing himself or finding a teammate. He’ll pull up from three if you go under a screen on him. He also has the quick first step and tight ball-handling ability that makes him a nightmare cover as an isolation scorer.

Anthony’s MVP run during his final year of grassroots ball on Nike’s EYBL circuit paints a picture of the type of player he’s become. He averaged 26.9 points, 3.5 assists, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game, showing the takeover scoring ability so few guards his age have. There’s a reason he’s the first point guard to be ranked in the top-three of his high school class since Kyrie Irving.

No matter where he decided to play, Cole Anthony would have been a college basketball superstar from day one. He feels particularly suited to thrive at North Carolina.

UNC played at the quickest pace of any power conference team in the country last year. Attacking on the secondary break and pushing the ball at every opportunity has always been a core attribute of Roy Williams’ teams, but last year’s group played at the fastest tempo of any Tar Heel squad he’s ever coached.

Anthony thrives grabbing a rebound and racing the ball down court himself with an aggressive scoring mentality. He’ll have every opportunity to do that all season. Williams will rarely have to tell his point guard to speed it up because Anthony already plays with the same mindset his coach wants out of his teams.

North Carolina has a massive scoring vacuum to fill, and Anthony is the ideal man for the job. He won’t have much pressure to act as a traditional facilitator in part because UNC doesn’t have much scoring around him.

UNC’s leading returning scorer is center Garrison Brooks, who averaged 7.9 points per game mostly on putbucks and touches right around the rim. That’s the only semblance of proven scoring currently on the team.

Brandon Robinson and Leaky Black are projected to start on the wings. Robinson will be a senior and has spent his entire career having a limited role. He showed some 3-and-D ability last year but still only averaged 3.4 points per game. Black, a sophomore, is a 6’7 ball handler who can push the ball on the break and run the offense in the halfcourt when Anthony needs a rest. He could be a potential breakout candidate this season, but still only averaged 2.5 points per game last year.

There’s depth in the front court, but not much shooting or spacing. Armando Bacot, the No. 17 prospect in the incoming freshman class, projects as a dependable inside scorer from Day 1. Sterling Manley and Brandon Huffman are big bodies in the middle, too. None of those players are going to carry the offense, though. The only person who’s fit for the job is the incoming freshman point guard.

Williams doesn’t like to rely on freshmen, but he has no choice this year than to do it with Anthony. Perhaps White’s success as a scoring point guard out of the gates will help Williams learn to trust Anthony. The truth is this Tar Heels team has no other option, even if they do add a grad transfer before the start of the year.

Anthony’s commitment shows UNC can again recruit at the highest of levels. It’s also the perfect place for him to show his go-to scoring ability from the start. This is an ideal marriage of need and fit that will play out all year under the bright lights of ESPN. Even if Anthony isn’t the consensus No. 1 player in his class, it’s hard to imagine any freshman will be more hyped.

North Carolina needs Anthony as more much as Anthony needs UNC. If there was ever a time for UNC to land a stud freshman recruit, this was it.