Carmelo Anthony dominated the NCAA Tournament before becoming an all-time NBA great.
Melo was a ten-time NBA All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection, scoring champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA.
Anthony established himself as a star in league with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, and is expected to soon be elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
But before all that, Melo had one of the greatest single seasons in college basketball history.
The 6ft 7in forward could have followed in the footsteps of Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady to join the NBA straight out of high school.
However, Anthony’s mother had one wish was for her son — to go to college.
So he decided to honor that wish by agreeing to play one season at Syracuse University, during the 2002-03 season, before going pro.
Syracuse, based in New York, had never won a men’s title prior to 2003 but all that changed with the arrival of Anthony.
He was a transcendent star, the likes of which the Orangemen had never seen before, and behind his potent offensive arsenal No.3-seeded Syracuse took the 2003 NCAA Tournament by storm.
Anthony, a freshman at the time, had 20 points and 10 rebounds against Oklahoma in the Elite Eight but it was his showing in the Final Four that’s remembered as one of the all-time great March Madness performances.
Against the No.1-seeded Texas Longhorns, Anthony showed why he would one day be named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, scoring 33 points to go along with 14 rebounds and three steals in a 95-84 victory.
His 33 points set an NCAA Tournament record for most points scored by a freshman and he became just the third freshman to be named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
The 18-year-old shot an efficient 12-of-19 from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and fired the Orange into the national championship game for the first time since 1996.
In the title game against the University of Kansas, Melo notched a near triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a narrow 81-78 victory.
It was the Orangemen’s first ever national championship and Carmelo led the team in scoring, rebounding, minutes played, field goals made and free throws made and attempted.
He was also the first ever freshman to lead an eventual champion in scoring, averaging 22.2 points per contest.
He was given the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award and put every single NBA team on notice that he was a force to be reckoned with.
Anthony had fulfilled his mother’s wish and then some, and declared for the 2003 NBA Draft having had one of the most impactful NCAA Tournament runs in recent memory.
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He was selected third overall by the Denver Nuggets, behind LeBron James and Darko Miličić, which put the wheels in motion for his Hall of Fame career.
Anthony would go on to claim countless records and accolades over the course of his 19-season NBA career, but perhaps no achievement was greater than his national title-clinching run with Syracuse back in 2003.
The only thing he never won was an ‘Melo delivered Syracuse’s first, and only, NCAA Tournament win
