Hall of Fame former Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim has responded to a bold recent claim from one of the greatest players in his program’s history, 2003 NCAA champion forward Carmelo Anthony.
During his one-and-done season run with the Orange in 2002-03, the 6-foot-7 future NBA superstar averaged 22.2 points on .453/.337/.706 shooting splits, 10.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.9 blocks in 35 bouts.
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For his efforts, Anthony was a consensus All-American Second Teamer and the NCAA Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. His No. 15 jersey was retired by Syracuse.
Anthony, the best player in college basketball that season, was clearly set to be a top-three pick in that June’s impending 2003 NBA Draft, which also included fellow future Hall of Famers LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.
Carmelo Anthony speaks with media during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Press Conference before the Final Four game of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 05, 2025 in San Antonio,…
Carmelo Anthony speaks with media during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Press Conference before the Final Four game of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 05, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.
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Anthony recently insinuated that he was open to foregoing the draft and returning for an encore sophomore season.
Boeheim begs to differ, however. He told Mark Medina of Sportskeeda that Anthony and his team had quickly determined that it was in his best interests to move on.
“Well, that’s not the whole truth,” Boeheim chuckled in response to a question about Anthony’s supposed interest in staying in college for another year. “He blames me, but when he came in to meet with me, it was already decided that he was going to the NBA. I joked with him that ‘you’re leaving.’ But he already was. He was leaving.”
Boeheim rejected the notion that Anthony had even been wavering on the possibility of going pro.
“No. He was 100 percent ready to go,” Boeheim claimed. “You don’t try to pull a kid back when he’s a top two or three pick in the draft. He really in his heart wanted to go, even if he had thought about staying at the end. If I said nothing, he still would’ve said, ‘Okay, I’m going to go.’ This was 100 percent. It wasn’t 90 percent. It was 100 percent.”
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In Boeheim’s own memoir, he indicated that he had expected Anthony to stay in the program for at least two seasons — but the strength he accrued helped push him to the next level sooner.
“He was 180 [pounds], and never could have done what he did even for us. But he gained the weight at Oak Hill [a year before Syracuse] and got stronger and stronger. He was 220 [pounds],” Boeheim told Medina. “It was a no-brainer that he was ready to go to the NBA and became the top three pick in the draft. He was physically ready. A lot of college players aren’t physically ready. He was physically ready to go.”
The decision wound up likely being the right move for Anthony. During a decorated 19-year NBA career, he was named to 10 All-Star teams and six All-NBA teams, while emerging as one of the greatest scorers in league history.
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