From spectacular finishes to his deep three-point range and game-winners, former Maryland guard Anthony Cowan gave Terp fans all they could ask for. Now he’s trying to make it big on the next level, and in his own words, make it to the top.
Cowan signed with Promitheas Petras in the summer of 2022, a team in the top Greece basketball league, as a challenge to show he can hang with the best all across Europe. With Promitheas, they compete in a domestic and European league, which for Cowan means better competition and more attention to his abilities.
Petras finished sixth in the conference in Greece play, with a 12-10 record this season. Cowan led the team in assists, averaging 5.9 per game, along with 10.3 points per game.
He spoke about the differences, basketball wise, he sees between his time playing in the U.S. and in Europe. “The physicality. It’s like college on steroids…and it’s life or death. You lose two or three straight and everyone’s going crazy,” Cowan said.
In 2021, after a season playing for the Memphis Hustle in the NBA G-League, Cowan moved to Greece where he was handed the keys to Aris B.C., a team in the same league as Promitheas. “[The G-League] was a good start for me, but at the end of the day it’s a business…It’s tough, because it’s not solely based on winning. Everyone’s invested in the money,” Cowan said.
One year later, he signed a two-year deal with Promitheas Petras. Cowan described the in-conference move from Aris B.C. to Petras as normal in Europe and cited the potential to play in the European league, which he couldn’t do with Aris B.C., for the signing.
Cowan spent his entire life in the Maryland area, so naturally the transition to Greece was an adjustment. “I grew as a person. I was living on my own and it was really my first [extended period of] time away from home,” Cowan said.
With his season ending in April, Cowan is back home in Maryland until the end of July. He’ll use the time to get his body back to the way he wants, and spend time with family. “You can work on skills all you want, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if your body isn’t in the right place,” Cowan said.
Cowan revealed even though he’s home for part of the summer, he won’t be joining a few of his former teammates on the “Shell Shock TBT” team. A representative of the team reached out to Cowan about playing, but he ultimately decided to decline, saying family time and training for the upcoming season were higher on his priority list.
Cowan recently made his way back to College Park for an off-season workout, and from what he’s seen he believes the program is getting back on a winning track with Kevin Willard at the helm. “[Willard] has a great staff, and is going to make [the players] hungry,” Cowan said.
He mentioned that with a six-hour time difference, it’s hard to catch a lot of Maryland’s regular season games, but from the ones he watched, Cowan acknowledged the fans. “I can see the atmosphere getting back to when I was there,” Cowan said.
Apart from Donta Scott and a few coaches, Cowan doesn’t have a connection with most of the program, but said he plans to return to campus for more workouts before he heads back to Greece.
As far as what the future holds for Cowan, he’s unsure, but seems to like it that way. “I’m taking it one day at a time. I’m enjoying the process,” Cowan said.
A run at making it to the top would assume Cowan has his sights set on the NBA, but he’s still focused on his time in Europe. “I’m not sure about the NBA. I want to show what I can do in Europe. More of what I’ve been doing.” Cowan said.
And when asked about what a path to the NBA might look like, he responded, “If everyone knew the right path, they’d already be there.”
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