If Kiyan Anthony were any other nationally ranked basketball recruit, his choice of college would be questionable. Syracuse scraped the bottom of the ACC barrel, went 14-19 overall, finished the season as a 14th seed, and didn’t make a tournament cut. Far from the time a freshman Carmelo Anthony led it to a championship, the Orange has struggled to make a championship bid. While it remains one of the top D1 programs historically, its fans remain disappointed in its recruitment efforts and skill development. When Kiyan picked the ‘Cuse over Auburn, USC, and Ohio State, it was instinctive to go, ‘ah, of course.’ The idea of Melo’s son replicating his success sounds poetic. But Kiyan has ambitions to leave a legacy at Syracuse beyond that. Step one was admitting the reality of what he signed up for.

Right before they created emotional father-son moments at the Hall of Fame, Melo and Kiyan sat down with SLAM to talk about the 18-year-old’s upcoming college debut. Anthony showed his future NBC sportscasting chops when he interviewed his son. Towards the end, he asked Kiyan, “When you walk into Cuse, what do you want your time to be known there for? I’ll make it a little difficult. Outside of winning a championship.”

Maybe because he’s answering his dad, Kiyan was pretty honest. “I want to be known for the turnaround. Like, last three years, I know we were known as mediocre. Now it’s super mediocre.“

Super mediocre is a big ouch. Two of the last three years were coached by Adrian Autry. He’s in his third year, and the most improvement is getting five-star forward Sadiq White, along with Kiyan. The expectation on this freshman class is considerably higher because of Kiyan’s dad leading them to a championship in his first year. But that’s not the only goal, as Kiyan said. “So I want my team to be known for the turnaround like ‘oh, that’s Kiy’s freshman years, they was winning nine games.'”

Winning a championship is only part of it. Carmelo and La La Anthony’s son is looking at the larger picture when he says, “A championship is a championship, but you know they made a run to the tournament, they won a ACC tournament, they made the championship, stuff like that. Or that was the year they turned it around, and from now on it’s going to be back to that (Melo’s era). So I feel like that’s what I want to be known for.”

Melo found it hilarious when Kiyan called his old team ‘super mediocre. But he kind of agreed. To get that validation would be great. And apart from his dad’s OG coach, Jim Boeheim, Kiyan has the biggest support in this.

Kiiyan’s Carmelo Anthony checklist

Kiyan Anthony was not practicing in the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center this week. He spent the past weekend in Springfield doing important work – presenting his dad with an all-important orange jacket and ring, carrying his dad’s new Hall of Fame hardware, and listening to his very powerful speech. Kiyan even dropped the most moving ‘answering machine’ message to his dad before he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Besides a championship at ‘Cuse, getting to the NBA, and winning in the league, Kiyan’s goal might probably be to have a Hall of Fame career. Melo is the best example of being memorable for turning around teams like the Knicks, more than winning championships. Since he grew up with a blueprint, Anthony had to ask Kiyan what he had learnt from him.

Kiyan had the best reflection of his dad’s legacy. “I learned that you got to adjust, you got to adjust on the fly. You was in every situation possible throughout your career. Every role, every situation, different teams. Different cultures.”

A fitting description for Kiyan’s situation in a ‘mediocre’ program. College analysts have ranked their current defensive efficiency among the worst in the country, though their offensive efficiency is projected to be on par with Duke and North Carolina. That’s a tough conference the Orange is in.

Syracuse doesn’t start its season till November. Until then, Melo is frequenting the campus and scrimmaging with Kiyan and his teammates like it’s an NBA training camp. We’re seeing firsthand how Kiyan is adjusting on the fly. If it turns around this mediocre team, we’ll see in a couple of months.