Better late than never.
After being one of the last uncommitted top-ranked players in his class, five-star point guard Cole Anthony will play for North Carolina in 2019-20, he announced Tuesday morning on ESPN's Get Up. Anthony is ranked third among high school seniors and is the top high school combo guard in the country, according to 247Sports.
Anthony, who is averaging 18 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9.5 assists for Oak Hill Academy, picked the Tar Heels over Notre Dame, Georgetown and Oregon.
"I want to thank all the schools that have recruited me and I had my final four, but at the end of the day I'm going to end up going with North Carolina," Anthony told ESPN's Get Up. "We really pushed this decision back a lot, we really kept looking at all the schools, and I always winded up going back to Carolina. It felt like a family to me, I loved Coach (Roy) Williams and Coach (Hubert) Davis. If it was up to me, I'd be on campus tomorrow."
Anthony played himself into rarified air by sweeping awards at the year's three biggest high school basketball showcases. He captured MVP of the McDonald's All-American Game and the Nike Hoop Summit earlier this year and earned co-MVP honors at the Jordan Brand Classic on Saturday.
"We're thrilled with Cole's decision to attend North Carolina," head coach Roy Williams said in a team release. "He is one of the most complete point guards I have ever recruited. He has all the physical skills, but he has a competitiveness, a toughness and a savvy that I really like. I first saw him as a ninth-grader and since then he has gotten better and better and I know he will continue to improve. He comes from a great family. His parents (Greg Anthony and Crystal McCrary-McGuire) are very involved in his life and are fantastic people. We couldn't be happier that Cole and his family are joining the Carolina Basketball family."
As the son of former NBA veteran Greg Anthony, the New York, N.Y., product will help strengthen a North Carolina team that lost its top five scorers from the 2018-2019 team. Anthony will also bolster a backcourt that includes the likes of Seventh Woods, Brandon Robinson and Leaky Black, who averaged a combined 33.0 minutes per game this season.
Anthony joins a class of incoming first-years comprised of Armando Bacot, a five-star center from Bradenton, Fla., and Jeremiah Francis, a three-star point guard from Pickerington, Ohio.
The Tar Heels will look to follow up a season in which they captured a share of the ACC regular-season title and fell in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament to Auburn.
