North Carolina trending for UK recruit Cole Anthony

Just a few weeks after announcing his final 12, top 2019 guard Cole Anthony has finally started his official college visits. And although he has only been to one campus, the buzz is that there is an early favorite in the clubhouse.

Anthony recently visited North Carolina, but even before taking his visit there, the Tar Heels have emerged as the favorite to land the talented guard.

The 247 Sports crystal ball has seen a string of picks coming in for the Tar Heels, including one from Andrew Slater.

While ESPN’s Jeff Borzello believes Anthony’s father (former NBA player Greg Anthony) has a good relationship with the Notre Dame staff, he still believes the North Carolina Tar Heels are in the lead.

“The Fighting Irish have been involved in Anthony’s recruitment over the past few months, as Greg Anthony, Cole’s father, has a good relationship with the school and coaching staff,” Borzello wrote recently.

“Anthony also has an official visit set up to North Carolina later this month, but he has only recently begun diving into his recruitment. He has a list of 12 schools, and took a number of unofficial visits in August. Don’t expect a decision from Anthony until the spring, and there could be a few twists and turns along the way.”

Prediction

North Carolina confidence level: 35 percent

TJ Walker from KSR is hearing similar information about Anthony.

“I don’t have much regarding where things stand with UK or if we’ll hear of an official visit to Lexington (I still expect it to happen this fall) but North Carolina has all the momentum in this recruitment, and I was told this even after his visit to Notre Dame.”

Kentucky’s current 2019 class already has one point guard in Tyrese Maxey, although he and Anthony are both labeled as combo guards. But John Calipari has proven in the past that he can put top guards together and still allow both to eat. He probably will want Anthony even more after missing on Scottie Lewis, who just committed to Florida.

While Calipari is used to battling Kansas and Duke for one-and-done players, Walker speculates that things are changing at North Carolina and they may be more of a presence on that front moving forward.

“Since the NCAA botched the academic scandal UNC’s recruiting is back. Adding Anthony with Armando Bacot and Jeremiah Francis would be scary good, plus maybe Josh Green and some other targets. The Tar Heels haven’t been on the same level a Duke or UK with one-and-done players, but that may be changing.”

Whoever Anthony ends up with is getting a very dangerous player. In a relatively weak class, he has shown that he is the real deal. Thankfully, this recruitment is expected to go into the spring, so that could give Kentucky more time to make a bigger impression.

Here are some highlights to give you a taste of what some believe North Carolina will be getting.

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