Tuesday represents a lot of things for Georgia basketball. It’s the season opener against Western Carolina, it’s Year 2 for coach Tom Crean, it’s the first of what is anticipated as a season’s worth of sell-outs for Stegeman Coliseum.
More than anything, though, it’s the beginning of the “Antman Era.”
Nobody in the program wants to call it that, but that’s what it is. And be sure to get a quick look because it’s not expected to last long.
If there’s such a thing as a sure-fire, “one-and-done” prospect, it’s Anthony “Antman” Edwards. As he starts his college career as an 18-year-old freshman, he’s already projected as the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Likewise, he’s the first preseason first-team All-SEC selection in the history of Georgia basketball before playing his first college game.
So, like it or not, welcome to the Antman Era.
“I don’t look at it that way,” said Crean, whose second Georgia team will include five freshmen in addition to Edwards and nine newcomers overall. “He’s got to get better just like everybody else does. And he is. But he has his moments, too, where they’re not too good. He’s a very young man, 18 since August 5th.”
This is why Crean said anxiety is his prevailing emotion as the Bulldogs prepare to play the visiting Catamounts in the opener. He literally doesn’t know what to expect.
Edwards seems more like a kid in the front of a long line to ride a gnarly new rollercoaster and he’s been promised a seat in the front car.
Go ahead already, push start.
“I can’t wait,” Edwards said Monday while enwrapt in a circle of reporters. “I don’t want to say I don’t really care about expectations but, like, stuff like that doesn’t really bother me. It’s just basketball. Either I’m gonna have a good game or a bad game; either we’re going to win or lose. … As long as the man above wakes me up the next day, I’m fine with whatever people think about me.”
What his Georgia teammates think of Edwards is where the anxiety dissipates in this developing tale. There were whispers of concern upon Edwards’ arrival about the high-profile, AAU star mushing with bunch of blue-collar Bulldogs busting it for any kind postseason berth. But between Edwards’ own humility and what they’ve all witnessed in preseason preparations, those worries have been allayed.
Senior guard Tyree Crump, who has earned his stripes in the 93 live, sanctioned battles on college hardcourts across the country, was asked if he thought preseason All-SEC honors for a freshman who hasn’t yet suited up, might be a little much.
He laughed and nodded across the room toward Edwards, smiling and relaxed answering questions in front of a bank of TV lights and cameras.
“Look at him. You think he can?” Crump said, laughing. “I know he can. Definitely. He’s real athletic, he can shoot, he can put it on the floor, he can pass the ball. You’ve got a guy like that, how could he not? He makes everybody better.”
Other teammates have offered similar comments.
“He’s a great player. He can do it,” junior Rayshaun Hammonds said. “I’ve played with him. I’ve got a lot of confidence he can do it.”
Said fellow freshman Toumani Camara: “I didn’t really know him before I got here, but I had seen a couple of videos so I kind of knew how he played. I just got more impressed when I played with him.”
It’s unlikely any referendums on Edwards will be reached in Tuesday’s matchup against Western Carolina. Crean says the Catamounts are a sharp-shooting bunch of veterans, but they managed only a 7-25 record last year playing a Southern Conference schedule.
But the real tests will come soon enough. the Bulldogs end November with a home bout against Georgia Tech, then a trip to Hawaii to face the blue bloods in the Maui Invitational.
Those are the games Crean recruited Edwards to come help him win.
“We’re learning, and it’s here now,” Crean said of how ready the Bulldogs were to compete. “It’s good to have an opportunity to go against (a team) that’s well-coached and very, very experienced.”
Experience is something the Bulldogs can’t talk much about. But experience is something that a bunch of freshmen are about to get.
For the one the basketball world likes to call “Antman” — for the record, he prefers Anthony — there’s nothing scary about that.
“I just come out to play the game, don’t do too much talking, listen to what Coach says, do what he says and try to get a win,” Edwards said. “That’s who I am.”
He is Antman.
