When CJ Anthony walked into the media room for his first postgame press conference as a member of the Iona Gaels, he knew what he was walking into. Anthony scored a game-high 24 points with five assists in Iona’s season-opening win over Hofstra back on Nov. 7, 2025, far outpacing anybody’s expectations from outside the program. He singled out one name. “Which one of y’all is Guy?” Anthony said, referring to Guy Falotico, the host of the IonaHoops.com Podcast and a longtime staple in the MAAC basketball
community. “Do I look happy to be here?” Falotico didn’t even remember what he could’ve said to trigger that sort of callout from Iona’s point guard. Between his podcasts, tweets, and posts on Iona’s message board, Anthony must’ve felt slighted by something he saw, and wasted no time bringing it up. “I love Guy; it was never like that,” Anthony clarified to Mid-Major Madness. “It’s just, honestly, being in my position for the last four years, all you could do is read, all you do is watch. So sometimes, as a competitor, you see that stuff and you just keep working, keep grinding. People don’t know you, so how can you form an opinion?” See, nobody could’ve blamed Falotico, or anybody else within the MAAC sphere, for not expecting Anthony to be a major contributor for Iona coming into the season. He was a four-year walk-on at Cincinnati, where he never played more than eight minutes in a game. That’s not a status that typically excites fans and pundits in the transfer portal. But it’s clear that Anthony wasn’t a typical walk-on. He doesn’t fade to the back of a room; he commands attention through his moxie and swagger. Anthony isn’t lacking for confidence, and Iona gave him the opportunity to back it up on the floor in his final year of college. A month into the season, he’s been the heart and soul of the Gaels. The lion-hearted two-way point guard has stepped up late in games and delivered high-level performances to lead the team to a 9-5 start. He didn’t go to Cincinnati to be along for the ride in the first place. Anthony was a 2000-point scorer in high school and was the Ohio State Player of the Year, but he was sold on working his way into playing time from walk-on status by Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller, a former walk-on himself. “I think me and my family thought it was the best opportunity for me,” Anthony said. “Coming out of high school, you have offers, but I always felt like I could achieve more. It’s kind of been my thing in life. I believe in myself.” At Cincinnati, nothing was handed to Anthony. He might’ve been the only one in the building that believed it, but he walked into the facility every day thinking that he was going to play minutes and be a contributor for the Bearcats. Anthony appeared in nine games for Cincinnati as a freshman, never playing meaningful minutes, but he continued to believe in himself. See, in modern college basketball, you don’t need to take the path of waiting it out. Anthony probably could’ve played at a mid-major program early and then built himself up to a player that would be recruited to play for Cincinnati; instead, he kept coming back to the Bearcats to fight for playing time. He said a lot went into those decisions to stay in the Queen City every year, including reasons relating to his family. But at the end of the day, it was rooted in the fact that he truly believed that he was going to make an impact. “I feel like I’m a pretty loyal guy, I’m pretty much a hard worker, a guy that believes in himself, and bets on himself,” Anthony said. “Every year, me and Coach Miller sat down, and we sketch out a plan, things that I could do to put me on the court, to put me in position to be great at Cincinnati. So hearing those things every year, every offseason, it just gave me more motivation and more reason to stay locked in.” But that day never came at Cincinnati, and after his junior year, he and Miller decided that the best course of action for his future would be to redshirt the 2024-25 season, preserving eligibility to play the 2025-26 season elsewhere. Despite coming into the 2024-25 season knowing that he’d never play a meaningful minute of basketball for Cincinnati, his mentality didn’t change. Miller named him a team captain, a rare honor for a walk-on, especially one who was redshirting. There were moments over the course of the season in which Miller considered burning that redshirt and putting Anthony in the game – a testament to the way that he developed as a player – but he never did out of respect. “I think of him as highly as anybody I’ve ever coached,” Miller said ahead of Anthony’s senior day. While everybody in the Cincinnati program knew the type of player and character that Anthony was, basically, nobody else in college basketball possibly could have. He admitted that he was nervous to enter the portal, which was another reason why he kept coming back to Cincinnati in the first place. But there was plenty of low- and mid-major interest once his name was in there. But what information could coaches even lean on in order to scout him? “The personality was the biggest study for me,” Iona head coach Dan Geriot said. “We knew we were getting a tough-minded, high-level body, high-level mind, I think we knew the emotional capacity that he had.” In other words, it was clear to Geriot and the Gaels’ staff that Anthony had the right mentality to be part of the program. One conversation with Anthony – or any of the people around him – and any negative stereotypes of a walk-on go away “I’ve never been the shy type,” Anthony said. “So I don’t think (I had to dispel any stereotypes). When you get to school, nobody looks at anybody like a walk-on. We’re at practice together, working together, so it was never that. And then when I played, it was pretty apparent that I wasn’t a regular hooper, and I had some type of skill to my game. The confidence just came from that. It came from being around guys every day, competing hard every day, proving to them I’m ready enough to be on the court.” Assistant coach Patrick Wallace was the lead recruiter on Anthony, calling the point guard consistently and talking to “his sources” to gather as much information as he could before bringing him to campus on a visit. The Iona staff watched tons of practice film, but kept coming back to the fact that he was running Cincinnati’s scout team. He studied the best guards in the Big 12 and emulated them in practice, knowing that he was sitting out the season. That piqued Geriot’s interest. “You know, I’m a little bit batshit crazy,” Geriot said. “So in my own mind, I was (thinking about) the psychology of sitting out for the year and knowing you’re gonna go play, he had to be studying the game. To redshirt him for his senior year, that was the icing on the cake. He did that, and now he’s chomping at the bit. We started (summer practice) in June, and he wanted to win that mid-June game like it was Game Seven of the NBA Playoffs.” It worked for Anthony because he found a coach and a staff that understood how he thought through basketball and everything surrounding the game. Once Anthony came to Iona, he kept running through the proverbial “lines in the sand” that Geriot mapped out for him. With a new coaching staff and an entire team of new players, nobody had promised anything to them. That is an environment where Anthony thrives. “We all came in with a blank slate,” Anthony said. “Wanting to prove ourselves to each other.” Geriot became obsessed with Anthony through summer workouts as he aced player development programs and brought a killer mentality to the team. He led the Gaels in their version of hustle stats throughout the summer and fall, but nobody outside the program knew just how much he’d impact the game immediately. That opening night win over Hofstra was the first chance for the world to see Anthony in a featured role. It was his first time walking into a gym for a basketball game in which he would play a major part on the floor since high school. But you wouldn’t know it from watching him. “It’s always business as usual,” Anthony said. “As a player, you always work hard, but your coaches, when they trust you or believe in you to play those types of minutes, that was the new part that I got used to. Basketball is the same. It’s the same game from when I was five, and I think it’ll be the same game when I turn 50.” In my MAAC Season Preview, Geriot described Anthony as a “case study” for how a walk-on and scout-team player from a higher level can contribute at a different level. Averaging 16 points and 5.5 assists per game entering the New Year, making big plays in big moments for Iona, Anthony has passed that test. But now, it seems like more of an example of a player who leaves a mark with his personality, effort, and energy wherever he goes, finally getting that chance to play his game. It’s why when Miller heard about Anthony’s Iona debut, he teared up in his press conference. “It’s such an awesome job to coach,” Miller said. “And when stuff like that happens, it’s the best moments that you can ever have as a coach. He’s a real Bearcat.” Anthony shows that it’s possible, in today’s college basketball, to take the less-traveled journey. Because of that, he’ll be remembered fondly at Cincinnati and is trending in that direction at Iona, even though he took the theoretical reverse path. He provides a blueprint for not just walk-ons, but anybody, anywhere, to follow. “I always believe that people who put the work in, stay ready, stay consistent, their time will come one day,” Anthony said. “Whatever decision you make, stay consistent, stay humble about it, confidence is key. Always believe in yourself, believe in your situation.”
