Anthony Nathaniel Anderson (born November 12, 1981), also known by his initials as Double A, is an American former professional basketball player. Standing 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), he played the point guard position. Anderson played in the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) with the Saint John Mill Rats, Saint John Riptide, and Moncton Magic. As of February 2016, he was the league's all-time leading scorer and known as one of its most prominent players. Anderson also played for Saint John and their previous incarnation, the Manchester Millrats, in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) and the American Basketball Association (ABA).
Anderson played four seasons of college basketball under head coach Steve Lappas at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with the Minutemen. He most notably was named Rookie of the Year for the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2002. He closed his college career at UMass as its second-best three-point shooter in school history, behind only Monty Mack. Anderson attended Lynn English High School in Lynn, Massachusetts before college, where he was one of the top basketball players in the Northeastern Conference.
After leaving UMass, Anderson shortly competed as a rookie with the PAWS London Capital following a brief hiatus in his career, in which he only played locally for personal reasons. He later drew the attention of the Millrats, for whom he would play in the 2007–08 season. Anderson then competed in Cyprus and Poland before returning to Manchester. He remained with the team as they relocated to Saint John and the NBL Canada. Midway through his stint with the Mill Rats, Anderson played in Qatar in 2013. His individual accolades in his professional career include ABA All-Star Game MVP, All-ABA First Team, ABA Most Valuable Player, and third and second-team All-PBL. In the NBL Canada, Anderson has appeared on the All-NBL Canada First Team thrice, made the NBL Canada All-Star Game on two occasions, and was named Most Valuable Player in 2014.
Anderson is currently an assistant coach for the Port City Power of The Basketball League.
Early life Anderson attended Lynn English High School in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he played basketball under head coach Ronald Bennett. He was named Most Valuable Player of the Northeastern Conference as a junior and senior. In his final season with the team, Anderson averaged 24 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds and led them to a 19–5 record. He was named to the 2000 Boston Globe All-Scholastic team and became one of the most highly ranked guards in the United States. Bennett said, "In 35 years, he's the best player I've ever had. He sees the floor so well and can always find the open man." Anderson decided to play college basketball for the UMass Minutemen over Florida State, Villanova, and St. John's. He verbally committed to play for UMass and became eligible after initial struggles with his SAT scores.
College career
Freshman Anderson quickly became a key part of the Minutemen as a freshman, starting in 26 of the team's 29 games. He had personal ties with teammate Shannon Crooks, who was brought up in the same area of Massachusetts. According to head coach Steve Lappas, Crooks helped Anderson adjust to the college level. Lappas said, "I think he helped Anthony a lot. They're both from Boston so they have a little kinship there and they're pretty close so I think he definitely helped him." On November 16, 2011, Anderson took part in his first official collegiate game against Arkansas–Little Rock, scoring 10 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and recording 4 assists. He played a team-high 37 minutes as the Minutemen won the game, 66–60. In the days that followed, the point guard would earn Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week honors. On December 4, 2011, Anderson posted career-highs of 13 points and 7 assists vs. Holy Cross. He eclipsed the scoring total in his following game against Boston College, in which he recorded a team-high 19 points. In this game, Anderson hit three three-pointers in the closing 15.2 seconds, but he could not lead his team to the victory. On January 29, 2002, in a loss to Dayton, Anderson scored a season-high 20 points and made 6 of 7 three-pointers. He became the first Minuteman to record over 5 threes that season and scored double figures for the 10th time as a freshman. In mid-February 2002, Anderson was named co-WHMP/UMass Athlete of the Week after scoring 14 and 11 points against Duquesne and La Salle respectively. By the end of the season, he was averaging 10.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals. Anderson finished his freshman year by being named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week four times—a league-high—and ultimately earned conference All-Rookie and Rookie of the Year honors. He became the fourth Minuteman of all-time to be Freshman, Rookie, or Newcomer of the Year and the first since Marcus Camby in 1994. At the team banquet, Anderson won the Mark Donoghue Most Productive Player Award for "having numbers in every category."
Sophomore Anderson opened his sophomore season against the Indiana Hoosiers, scoring 2 points and going 0-of-6 on three-pointers as his team fell, 71–84. However, he led his team with 20 points two games later, in a 14-point win over Chaminade. Anderson said, "I feel like if I'm not scoring I can't get anybody else into the game either. But today I was hitting shots, so I could do other things, like penetrate and kick out to guys." He finished the game with a career-high 9 assists as well. On December 14, 2002, against the Florida International Panthers, Anderson surpassed the 20-point mark for the second time. He was praised by Lappas, "When Anthony plays well, we can win a game ugly. When he doesn't, we can't win at all." Anderson topped his previous scoring record on January 2, 2003, when he posted 25 points vs. NC State and helped his team capture the victory. He also recorded a career-high 9 rebounds. This performance led to Anderson being named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. The point guard matched his season-best on February 23, 2003, when he scored 25 points against Duquesne and shot 10-of-13 from the field. After completing his sophomore season, Anderson was averaging 11.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.6 three-pointers. He was his team's leader in minutes and three-pointers and ranked second in points. Anderson recorded more than 100 assists for the second straight season, becoming the first to do so since 1999. He also made the eighth-most single-season threes in school history.
Junior Heading into his junior year, Anderson was named preseason third-team All-Atlantic 10. He became known as the entrenched starting point guard for UMass and was named team captain. He posted a team-high 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in his debut vs. St. Francis (NY). Anderson notched a career-high 29 points on December 2, against Vermont, connecting on 7 of his 9 three-point attempts. He was the first Minuteman to accomplish the feat since Monty Mack in March 2001. Anderson also recorded the seventh-most three-pointers in a single game in school history. He said, "When you see a guy hit a couple shots you might want to run a play to get that guy open. So it definitely helps out a lot, it makes it way easier for me." Following another 20-point effort vs. Boston College and a season-best 9 rebounds, he was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week and Dinn Brothers UMass Athlete of the Week.
Anderson was effective from beyond the arc once more against St. Bonaventure, hitting 6 threes en route to 26 points, although his team lost. He led his team in rebounds as well, with 8. On March 6, 2004, Anderson recorded 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in his team's final regular season game vs. Richmond, scoring his 1,000th point for UMass. He became the 36th Minuteman to join the 1,000-point club and the first since former teammate Shannon Crooks in 2002. Anderson closed out the season with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists in an Atlantic 10 tournament defeat to Duquesne. He finished the year averaging 12.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals. At the team banquet, he received the Rick Pitino Assist Award and the Jim Laughnane Free Throw Award. He recorded the third-most three-pointers and seventh-most assists in school history. He also had the sixth-highest minutes per game average for a Minuteman.
Senior PlayerYearsGP3PM Monty Mack 1997–2001 123331 Ricky Harris 2006–2010 129 276 Anthony Anderson 2001–2005107275 Carmelo Travieso 1993–1997130245 Rafer Giles 1987–1991 115 221
Anderson opened his senior stint on November 23, 2004, with 14 points, 3 assists, and 5 steals against Birmingham–Southern. In his next appearance vs. Yale, despite scoring only six points, he posted a career-high 13 rebounds. Teammate Stéphane Lasme added 10 boards. Lappas said, "What else do you say about Anthony Anderson? He had thirteen rebounds in the game. Its great to see Anthony have six points in the game and win. We couldn't have one a game like this in a million years with Anthony Anderson only scoring six points. You don't even notice it now, where when he didn't score before we almost didn't have a chance. It's good for him to go out there and play and direct these kids that he has out there under him." In mid-December 2004, Anderson was suspended for three games after failing a drug test. Lappas called it a "violation of team rules."
Following his return, Anderson scored a season-high 23 points against Fordham on January 19, 2005. He represented UMass for the 100th time on January 22 vs. Saint Joseph's, as he recorded 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. On February 12, he scored 4 points to become the 20th-best scorer in school history. However, he suffered from back injuries that would keep him from playing in five games and the Atlantic 10 tournament. After his senior year, Anderson was averaging 10.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 steals, and 2.4 three-pointers. He finished his collegiate career with the second-most threes, the third-most steals, the fifth-highest three-point field goal percentage, the seventh-most assists, and the 19th most points in school history. In 2010, Ricky Harris passed Anderson for the second-most three-pointers in Minutemen history, with 276.
Statistics Cited from ESPN.
|style="text-align:left;"| 2001–02 ||style="text-align:left;"| UMass | 29 || 26 || 34.0 || .408 || .388 || .453 || 3.4 || 3.4 || 1.1 || 0.1 || 10.0 |- |style="text-align:left;"| 2002–03 || style="text-align:left;"| UMass | 29 || 28 || 36.1 || .417 || .392 || .757 || 4.3 || 3.7 || 1.3 || 0.1 ||11.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"| 2003–04 || style="text-align:left;"|UMass | 29 || 28 || 38.1 || .415 || .387 || .812 || 4.3 || 3.4 || 1.5 || 0.1 || 12.9 |- |style="text-align:left;"| 2004–05 || style="text-align:left;"|UMass | 20 || 18 || 35.8 || .431 || .397 || .640 || 4.7 || 2.9 || 1.9 || 0.1 || 10.2 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career |107||100||36.0||.418||.391||.666||4.2||3.4||1.5||0.1||11.2
Professional career
Early pro years (2007–2008)