“The closest player (compared to Anthony) I’ve played against is Paul Pierce, and he’s in the NBA,” Kansas University senior Nick Collison said, comparing the 6-foot-8, 220-pound freshman phenom from Baltimore to former Jayhawk standout Pierce, now an All-Star small forward with the Boston Celtics.

“His size, athleticism and skill is something you don’t see a lot in college,” Collison added of Anthony, who takes averages of 22.3 points and 10 rebounds a game into tonight’s NCAA national championship between Syracuse (29-5) and Kansas (30-7).

Tipoff is 8:22 p.m. with a live telecast on CBS (channels 5 and 13).

Anthony, named freshman of the year by ESPN, The Sporting News, U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. and Basketball Times, scored a career-high and freshman record 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Saturday’s 95-84 national semifinal victory over Texas.

“If I’ve ever seen a freshman do more in the NCAA Tournament, the only one that comes to mind is Pervis Ellison,” KU coach Roy Williams said of the former Louisville phenom, who scored 25 points in the Cardinals’ 1986 NCAA title victory over Duke. “I can’t think of anybody else. What Carmelo has done is just fantastic.”

Anthony — who has averaged 20.5 points in five NCAA games this year, including 20 in Syracuse’s 63-47 East Regional championship win over Oklahoma — on paper has a big advantage over Kansas tonight.

He’ll be guarded by Keith Langford, who gives up four inches to the fantastic frosh.

Of course, Langford has given up inches to foes on many occasions.

“I’ve been playing against taller people all season,” said Langford, who scored 23 points in KU’s 94-61 semifinal rout of Marquette, shutting down 6-7 Todd Townsend, who scored three points. “Where’s the advantage? A guy’s neck may be longer, but that doesn’t mean he can play better than me.”

What about Anthony?

“If he plays well, it’s what he’s expected to do,” Langford said. “If I get the best of him, I guess it’s a monumental accomplishment.”

One member of the media asked what would happen if Langford outplayed a top-five draft pick tonight.

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll go 2 or 3, then,” Langford quipped. “I really don’t care about all the attention he’s getting. The attention he’s getting doesn’t dictate what is happening on the court. It’s a thing where you always want to test yourself against players on different levels talent-wise. I look at this as an individual challenge myself.”

Anthony, of course, hopes to take advantage of the height discrepancy.

“If they are going to put a 6-3, 6-4 guy on me, I’ve just got to start inside and play more down low,” Anthony said. “It all comes down to shot selection. We’ve got to take good shots and get back on defense because we know they are going to try to shove it down our throats.”

Williams said Kirk Hinrich and others also might get their chances to guard Anthony.

“I think you’ve got to give him different looks,” Williams said, noting Hinrich gives up five inches to Anthony. “We had a nice ballclub in 1994, but we tried to play Glenn Robinson on the perimeter when we played Purdue. We lost to them in the third game of the tournament.

“Glenn Robinson (also 6-8) was too big for us. I worry about that with Carmelo. Keith has longer arms so he will start on him. But it’s got to be Kansas’ defense has to know where he is, what he’s trying to do.”

Anthony has made 45.3 percent of his shots, including 53 of 161 three-pointers (32.9 percent).

“I haven’t really guarded anybody his size with his capability on the perimeter,” Langford said. “Luke Walton was probably the closest,” he added of the 6-8 Arizona player who, when pestered by Langford, hit just five of 14 shots in KU’s 78-75 West Regional finals win over the Wildcats.

“Luke was probably not as good getting to the basket. As far as creating space, Carmelo is better. He’s a talent. You can almost say he’s a prodigy for a basketball player,” Langford assessed.

He’s not KU’s only concern, though. Another freshman, 6-2 Gerry McNamara, averages 13.2 points. Hakim Warrick, a 6-8 sophomore, averages 15.1 points and 8.7 boards, while Kueth Duany, a 6-6 senior, tallies 11 points on average.

Syracuse’s players, who average 79.5 points a game, can score, as they proved by putting 95 points on Texas, but actually are known for defense — a 2-3 defense.

It’s a defense KU shredded in an 87-58 rout of the Orangemen in a second-round NCAA Tournament game two years ago in Dayton, Ohio, but struggled against in a 60-57 loss to the Orange in the 1997 West Regional final in Denver.

“Jimmy (Boeheim, Syracuse coach) does a magnificent job coaching the zone,” Williams said. “If you were to draw a line of all the coaches in America, he would be on the end as the best coaching zone. I would be on the opposite. I’d be the worst. I’m not being humble, just being truthful because I hate it.”

The zone, indeed, is a four-letter word to Williams, who is a man-to-man disciple.

“Their zone this year is better than it’s ever been because of the length of the athletes they have,” Williams said. “They cover a lot of ground. I came out last night and watched a few minutes of the game (against Texas) in the first half.

“(Brandon) Mouton has a wide open shot from the corner as he’s catching the pass. By the time he shoots it, he almost got it blocked because they close on you so fast.

“You’ve got to move the ball crisply. You have to really fake your passes. You’ve got to penetrate. You can’t just stand and pass it around the horn and expect to get good shots against it.”

Ideally, KU would like to see Langford penetrate for buckets, Aaron Miles penetrate and dish to guys like Collison and Jeff Graves for dunks, and Hinrich to swish a batch of threes.

“We’re just going to try to attack it,” Hinrich said. “Obviously they are real long, real athletic. That causes problems. I think we have to try to get the ball inside, then out.”

Added Langford, “We’ll try to spend a great deal of time trying to beat it down the floor. They’ve been running it all year so they will be good at getting back in transition. We’re probably going to have to crank it up a gear as far as getting into the transition offense.”

Win or lose, Williams won’t be changing his philosophy and turning to a zone defense in the future. How come?

“Same reason I hate to hit shots out of the bunker, I’m not very good at it,” Williams said comparing teaching zone defense to golf. “You get me in the bunker, give me a terrible lie, no hope, I’ll probably hit that one all right. You just give me a simple little lie, bunker, pin is right there, plenty of room, I don’t do that very well. I don’t coach the zone very well. My personality is I want to be a little more aggressive.”

He wants the Jayhawks aggressive tonight, that is for sure.

“We have to attack. It’s what got us here,” Langford said. “We try to attack in everything we do.”