Cole Anthony Had 'Horrible' Freshman Season at UNC, Says Father Greg

Greg Anthony has spent 12 years working as an NBA analyst, so it makes sense he would offer a brutally honest assessment of his son's freshman campaign at North Carolina.

Speaking to reporters on a Zoom call, Greg called Cole Anthony's 2019-20 season for the Tar Heels "horrible."

"I thought he had a horrible year," he said. "I thought he was really bad. Now, he got hurt, and he was hurt earlier than when he actually ended up having to shut it down, and that had an effect on him, but he could've been so much better."

Greg did say he thinks his son's struggles could turn out to be a positive for his long-term future.

"It helped him mature a lot," Greg said. "He's never watched as much film. He's gone back and watched every game two or three times. We have him take notes, breaking film down. He's learning how the game really functions."

Cole, a 6'3", 190-pound point guard, arrived at Chapel Hill last year amid tremendous hype, as he was rated a 5-star prospect and the No. 4 overall player in 247Sports' composite rankings.

While Cole did lead the Tar Heels with 18.5 points and 4.0 assists per game, he only shot 38 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from three on 6.4 attempts per game. He also missed 11 games because of a partially torn meniscus in his right knee.

However, Anthony is still projected to be a lottery pick in the 2020 draft. B/R's Jonathan Wasserman had the New Orleans Pelicans selecting him No. 11 overall in his most recent mock draft.

Cole's draft positioning could come into a clearer focus Thursday when the draft lottery takes place.