Nike Hoop Summit ‘dream’ opportunity for point guard Cole Anthony

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 11, 2019

TUALATIN — For Cole Anthony, the Nike Hoop Summit is a special opportunity.

“It’s a select 12 there wasn’t a tryout for. It’s a selection from what you’ve done in high school basketball and all that,” noted the son of former Trail Blazers guard Greg Anthony. “I’m just really fortunate to be one of the 12 that was selected. I want to go win.”

The guard out of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia figures to be a focal point on Friday, when Team USA takes on Team World in the 22nd Nike Hoop Summit at 7 p.m. at Moda Center. Tickets remain available for the game, which will be televised on ESPN2.

This is the 11th year in a row this showcase of top players 19 and younger has been held in Portland.

Anthony is ranked as the No. 2 recruit in the class of 2019 by ESPN and is one of the few participants who has not announced his college choice. With Oregon among his top four schools and the signing period opening on Wednesday, local interest in Anthony is high.

“I really like the energy out here. It has real good vibes. I’m really happy to be out here,” Anthony said after a scrimmage Thursday afternoon at the Trail Blazers’ practice facility in Tualatin.

Anthony was born in Portland when his dad was a Blazer. A 6-3 combo guard, he grew up in New York City.

Anthony has said he will choose from among North Carolina, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Oregon. When he will decide remains unclear.

“I’d love to make a decision soon. I really would,” Anthony said. “But just getting to know all these college coaches, getting to know all these colleges and seeing what they’re all about has been fun.

“I’ve enjoyed the recruiting process. We’re taking our time with the process,” he said. “We didn’t really start even paying attention to colleges until the end of my junior year. So it’s only really been through this past year, and I’m really happy about it. I think the process is going well.”

National speculation is that North Carolina is the frontrunner.

“We don’t want to make a decision until we’re 100 percent sure that we want to go to that school. Even if I’m 99 percent, we want to be 100 percent. We don’t want to have any doubt when we make our decision,” he said.

Why are the Ducks among his final four?

“One thing about Oregon, they were probably the first school to really start recruiting me hard around the beginning of my sophomore year,” Anthony said. “And they also have a lot of talent on the roster. I love Dana Altman as a coach. I love coach (Mike) Mennenga. I love the whole coaching staff.”

Anthony is also loving his Nike Hoop Summit experience, which has included practicing and scrimmaging at both the Nike campus and at the Blazers’ facility in the run-up to Friday’s game.

“This teaches you how to play with talent. I’m really happy I get to play with all these really talented people,” Anthony said. “It’s a dream as a point guard playing with this much talent because it makes me look that much better being able to pass to dudes who can go and finish and convert the plays.”

That talent includes eight of the top 12 recruits in the class of 2019, according to ESPN.

Team USA includes No. 1-ranked recruit James Wiseman, a 7-1 post from Tennessee committed to Memphis.

Isaiah Stewart, a 6-9 forward from Rochester, New York, is ESPN’s No. 4-ranked member of the 2019 class and is verbally committed to Washington.

The No. 3-ranked recruit, 6-10 Vernon Carey Jr. from Southwest Ranches, Florida, has verbally committed to Duke. Team USA includes players headed to Kentucky, Florida, Villanova, Oklahoma and Auburn.

The World Team roster includes Arizona commits in guards Nico Mannion and Josh Green.

• Anthony played with energy during a 30-minute scrimmage against a team of Pacific Northwest college and high school players that included Jefferson High senior Marcus Tsohonis, Oregon State’s Kylor Kelley and Gligorije Rakocevic and Portland State senior Jamie Orme.

Orme will graduate from PSU in June and hopes to play professional basketball in Europe, perhaps in Spain.

“I can’t wait to take it to the next level, the professional level, work hard and maximize my potential every day,” Orme said. “It’s a funny process. I hear a lot from different people that my game is going to take off at the next level.”

Playing in front of NBA scouts in Thursday’s scrimmage was a neat opportunity, Orme said. Even if the collection of players from Oregon and Washington struggled for cohesiveness against the talented Team USA players.

“It was a great opportunity. It was nice to put myself out there, put my name out there in front of a bunch of NBA scouts. I mean, the gym’s full of people. There’s great energy out here,” Orme said.

“I think it went OK. It always could’ve been better. But that’s what you’re going to get when you have a bunch of people that have never played with each other.”

Tsohonis, who will leave for the University of Washington shortly after Jefferson’s graduation, has crossed paths with many of the Team USA players on the AAU basketball circuit. He said it was fun to play organized basketball for the first time since the Class 6A championship game.

pdanzer@portlandtribune.com

@pauldanzer