Georgia basketball gets its Ant-Man: Anthony Edwards

Georgia basketball fans covered their eyes during Saturday’s massacre at the hands of the Ole Miss Rebels. They peeked out this morning to see Anthony Edwards riding over the hill.

Tom Crean and his Georgia basketball team need help in a big way.

They got all the help you could get out of a commitment press conference this morning when the top 2019 guard recruit in America, Anthony “Ant-Man” Edwards, announced his intention to sign and play for the University of Georgia.

Edwards gets the ball

Ty Anderson, Edwards’ coach at Atlanta’s Holy Spirit Preparatory School, told Marc Weiszer of onlineathens.com, “[Edwards] is really polished scoring off the dribble. He’s the most explosive player I’ve seen in high school this year when he gets into the lane and gets to the rim.”

Edwards will become the focus of Georgia’s offense the moment he steps on campus.

Louis Williams comparison

From Anderson again, “He’s the best scorer I’ve seen in high school since Louis Williams.”

Williams also committed to Georgia with his South Gwinnett teammate Mike Mercer in 2005. Unfortunately for Georgia, Williams  opted instead for the NBA draft.

Edwards is also the highest ranked player to commit to Georgia since Ashton Hagans committed a year ago. Unfortunately for Georgia, Hagans instead signed with Kentucky after the firing of head coach Mark Fox.

That’s just the beginning of the “unfortunately” list Georgia basketball fans compiled over the last fifty years.

A generational player

If Georgia basketball ultimately can secure Edwards signature, the Dawgs are assured, barring another unfortunate occurrence, of having a generational player for at least one year, but that’s all. Edwards is an NBA ready scorer with an NBA ready body.

According to coach Anderson again, the 6 foot 5 inch, 212 pound Edwards is also an underrated passer and sees the floor well.

Who cares. The plan is throw Edwards the ball.

That’s  it. Throw him the  ball.

Pass the ball, it’s up and down the Steg steps for you, Mr. Ant-Man.

Lienhard, Wilkins, and now Edwards

Georgia basketball has had two other generational recruits, players that turned the Bulldog basketball frustrations upside down – Bob Lienhard, the 6’11″star at Rice High in Harlem and competitor of Lou Alcindor in the New York Catholic League, and Dominique Wilkins, the North Carolina high school “Human Highlight Film” that had to flee his Washington  North Carolina home after he shunned the in-state tobacco road programs.

Lienhard and Wilkins are two of the three Georgia basketball two-time All-Americans. Each changed the direction of Georgia basketball. Lienhard carried the Dawgs to within a basket of the SEC Championship and Wilkins laid the foundation for Georgia’s 1983 Final Four run.

Unfortunately, after Lienhard and Wilkins each came and went, Georgia found a way to reverse its basketball fortunes and return to the norm. The Ant-Man can change the direction again. Maybe three times is the charm.