NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Top-5 2019 prospect Cole Anthony officially visits Georgetown

Top 2019 point guard Cole Anthony recently finished up an official visit to Georgetown. Do the Hoyas have a legit chance at landing the top-5 recruit?

Consensus Top-5 2019 prospect Cole Anthony wrapped up his weekend visit to Georgetown on Monday, Nov.26, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlogs. The 6-foot-3 combo guard has listed the Hoyas as one of his six finalists.

Anthony’s father, Greg Anthony, played with Georgetown head coach Patrick Ewing with the New York Knicks and remain good friends. The Knicks made the playoffs all four years Anthony and Ewing were teammates (1991-1995), which includes reaching the NBA Finals in 1994.

While at Georgetown, Anthony took a tour of the campus and talked to Hoyas’ coaches among other things. He also took in at the in the Hoyas 93-85 victory over Campbell at the Verizon Center on Saturday as Trey Mourning, son of Alonzo Mourning, led the way for Georgetown (5-1) with 27 points and 12 rebounds.

The Hoyas currently have a nice mixture of veterans and youngsters. Six-foot-10 senior center Jessie Govan leads an eight-man rotation that features three seniors. Six-foot freshman James Akinjo, a four-star recruit, has demonstrated to be a good scorer and distributor in the early going. Not surprisingly turnovers have been a problem for the Richmond, Calif., native, although he committed just one turnover against Campbell. Six-foot-7 forward Josh LeBlanc, who has posted two double-doubles through the first six games, has also shown flashes of brilliance this year.

Georgetown started off last year fast as well in Ewing’s first season, but the Hoyas closed the season by losing 13 of their last 20 games to finish the season at 15-15. It was their first non-losing season in three years.

Georgetown hosts Richmond (Nov. 28) and Liberty (Dec. 3), before heading to Syracuse (Dec. 8). The Hoyas then close out the nonconference schedule with SMU (Dec. 15), Appalachian State (Dec. 18), Arkansas-Little Rock (Dec. 22) and Howard (Dec. 29)

Georgetown has 12 players currently on scholarship, meaning that Ewing has the ability to bring five players on an athletic grant-and-aid next season. That does not count North Carolina State transfer Omer Yurtseven, who is redshirting this year. He has already signed a pair of  6-foot-11 big men from the class of 2019 in Malcolm Wilson and Timothy Igohoefe. Wilson is a three-star recruit from Columbia (SC) while Igohoefe is from Nigeria via the NBA Global Academy. That leaves the Hoyas with three scholarships left.

Anthony is a dynamic and explosive combo guard who likes to attack the defense. He can score on all three levels and is an excellent playmaker who will “get after it” on the defensive end.

Anthony switched schools this summer and he is currently playing for Oak Hil Academy (VA) after transferring from Archbishop Malloy (NY). Through five games this season, Anthony has already posted three triple-doubles and four double-doubles. He is currently averaging 14.8 points along with 9.6 rebounds and 12.4 assists while shooting 46.0 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from beyond the arc.

Besides Anthony, the Hoyas are reportedly still in the mix for several 2019 prospects as they have 11 open scholarships. A few of the Hoyas’ top targets include four-star shooting guard Lester Quinones (Brentwood, NY), four-star power forward Carl Lewis (Compton, CA), four-star power forward Akok Akok (Manchester, NH) as well as a three-star power forward Kenyon Martin Jr. (West Hills, CA).

North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oregon, Miami, and Wake Forest are the other teams in the 2018 U18 FIBA gold medal’s final six list. North Carolina is the leader to obtain Anthony’s services according to 247 Sports.

Anthony is not the only top-10 2019 recruits who remain undecided. Others top-prospects who have yet to make a college choice includes Anthony Edwards, Vernon Carey, Jaden McDaniels, Isaiah Stewart, Precious Achiuwa, and Matthew Hurt.