Sure, being the son of an NBA Hall of Famer opens doors most kids will never see. But Kiyan still had to live up to expectations and deal with immeasurable pressure that the average high schooler couldn’t even fathom. Nothing was handed to him. Case in point: he was snubbed from the McDonald’s All American Game, in New York at that, so how did Kiyan respond? Only by winning MVP honors at the Jordan Brand Classic, putting up 26 points and 5 rebounds in just 20 minutes. And just for good measure, he added 25 points in 21 minutes to take home the People’s Choice Award at the Allen Iverson Classic Game.
Nevertheless, Kiyan wrapped his grassroots career as the consensus top player in New York and now steps into Syracuse as one of the city’s most hyped recruits in recent memory.
“I’m excited to play on a bigger stage, in front of more fans, in front of more people, higher expectations, higher every-thing, just taking a step into that next level,” he says. “I feel like all the work that we’ve been putting in is definitely going to show on that level. And I’m definitely looking forward to going into the Dome and going into away games, being ready to compete and being able to win.”
For Melo, this is uncharted territory. He knows the arena, the crowd, the stakes—but now he’ll be watching from the sidelines. “I know what it’s like to get ready for a Georgetown game, or get ready for a Villanova game, or Pittsburgh, or St. John’s,” he says. “I know what the Dome feels like with 35,000 people in there. He hasn’t experienced that yet. I’m excited for the unknown of how he’s going to react to it. He’s gotta get prepared for that. The game is the game—but it’s also a lot that comes with the game.”
Kiyan shares that sentiment, laying out his own mindset: “On the court, I want to be remembered in college as somebody who’s winning. I don’t want to go to college and be [on] a losing team and have to worry about people transferring and stuff like that,” he says. “I just want to build a good brotherhood with my teammates and coaches and be able to go out there and win. I feel like when you go out there and win as a team, all of the individual success comes after that.”
