{"id":205888,"date":"2021-03-19T03:48:53","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T00:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/cade-cunninghams-shot-for-melo-type-march-madness-is-here\/"},"modified":"2021-03-19T03:48:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T00:48:53","slug":"cade-cunninghams-shot-for-melo-type-march-madness-is-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/cade-cunninghams-shot-for-melo-type-march-madness-is-here\/","title":{"rendered":"#Cade Cunningham’s shot for ‘Melo-type’ March Madness is here"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Cade Cunningham’s shot for ‘Melo-type’ March Madness is here<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Cade Cunninngham was asked repeatedly about carrying his team to a championship, about mimicking Carmelo Anthony\u2019s memorable 2003 run. About what it takes as a freshman to put his team on his back.<\/p>\n

He never flinched. Never backed away from the pressure and responsibility that being the projected No. 1 pick in the NBA draft carries. He embraced the attention he will garner in the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been saying I wanted to have a \u2019Melo-type year since I got here,\u201d the 6-foot-8 point guard said this week over Zoom, as fourth-seeded Oklahoma State prepared for its Midwest Region opener against No. 13 Liberty on Friday night in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Cunningham and the Cowboys are one of the big stories in this tournament. They weren\u2019t supposed to even be part of March Madness. Several months after Cunningham committed to coach Mike Boynton\u2019s program, the Cowboys were given a one-year postseason ban for their role in the college basketball corruption scandal. Oklahoma State app<\/a>ealed, and a decision wasn\u2019t rendered in time by the NCAA\u2019s infractions appeals committee.<\/p>\n

\"Cade
Cade Cunningham and Carmelo Anthony<\/figcaption>
AP; Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So in a year in which several notable high school stars opted for the G-League\u2019s new lucrative one-year route, the top prospect in the country will be part of March Madness, and after he had such a strong season, averaging 20.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists, the expectations for the Associated Press first-team All-American are through the roof. But he doesn\u2019t mind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve kind of always prepared myself for the spotlight, because I always wanted to be that guy,\u201d the Texan said.<\/p>\n

Cunningham insisted he didn\u2019t have his eyes on Oklahoma State until only a few months before last November. While his brother Cannen was hired by Boynton in the summer of 2019, he said he didn\u2019t talk to him about the program too much. Cannen was only going to recruit his younger brother if he felt it made sense. That the right pieces were in place to make it work.<\/p>\n

Of course, a player of Cunningham\u2019s ilk changed so much for the Cowboys. A year removed from going 7-11 in the Big 12, he led them to their highest tournament seed since 2005. He was impressive all season, but his game<\/a> seemed to go up a notch in late February.<\/p>\n

He poured in 40 points in a win over in-state rival Oklahoma and led an upset of Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, notching 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Yet, when Boynton was asked about Cunningham, he talked mostly about his intangibles. His attention to detail at both ends of the floor. His unselfishness. His defensive focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not anybody that we can play that I wouldn\u2019t go in thinking I have the best player in the game,\u201d Boynton said.<\/p>\n

In the one-and-done era, most elite prospects have chosen to play at Kentucky or Duke or Kansas. The ones who haven\u2019t, like Ben Simmons, Anthony Edwards and Markelle Fultz, have seen their teams struggle. Cunningham has been different.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I hate to lose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It is why so many eyeballs will be on him and Oklahoma State for as long as they are playing. It\u2019s been six years since a team led by freshmen won it all. But you have to go all the way back to Anthony and Syracuse in 2003 for a time when one freshman \u2014 not a group of them like Duke in 2015 and Kentucky in 2012 \u2014 led his team to glory. That\u2019s the bar for Cunningham.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Melo is big shoes to fill,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m up for the challenge, for sure.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Cade Cunningham’s shot for ‘Melo-type’ March Madness is here” Cade Cunninngham was asked repeatedly about carrying his team to a championship, about mimicking Carmelo Anthony\u2019s memorable 2003 run. About what it takes as a freshman to put his team on his back. He never flinched. Never backed away from the pressure and responsibility that being…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":205889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Cunningham.Anthony.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[98277,81038,12532,95874,97300],"class_list":["post-205888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-3-18-21","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-march-madness","tag-march-madness-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}