Georgia’s Mr. Basketball 2017-18
Ashton Hagans
And the winner is…..Ashton Hagans. If you read our previous article on candidates for Georgia’s Mr. Basketball, you would have seen Hagans on our “others under the radar” list to win it. The only question regarding his chances were him being an underclassmen and that feat being so uncommon; that notion can be put to rest this year. The 5-Star point guard out of Covington, Georgia is the first junior to win the prestigious honor since former Wheeler Wildcat Shareef Abdur-Rahim took home the award in 1994 and the first Newton Ram in school history to do it as well. Abdur-Rahim would go on to play at the University of California at Berkeley and be selected as the 3rd overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. Whether or not Hagans is able to obtain the same collegiate and professional success as Abdur-Rahim remains to be seen, but he is currently on the right path to exceed those expectations. Hagans led Newton to a 27-4 overall record this past year, won their region championship in region 8 class 7A, and made an appearance in the state final four where they fell to state runner-up Norcross 86-66. The run for Newton was so impressive this season because of the host of new talent surrounding Hagans as they lost seven seniors from the 2016-17 roster that started the season 23-0 and finished in the round of eight at 28-2. Hagans was Mr. Triple Double before he was Mr. Basketball this season as he reached that impressive mark multiple times throughout the year, putting his teammates in great positions to score, being a consistent rebounder, and being a team leader on and off the floor. There have been rumors of Hagans reclassifying to the class of 2018 but for now, he will return to the Adidas Gauntlet with a potent Game Elite (Williams) roster to display his abilities once more across the country. Hagans is undoubtedly deserving of this award and his senior campaign will be must see action as well as his collegiate career once he makes his decision on where he will play his college basketball in two years. Providence and Memphis have visited with him recently with UGA, Kentucky, and North Carolina in the mix as well, but according to him every team has an equal opportunity to land his commitment, “I’m back at square one with the process,” Hagans said. “I like everybody right now. I’m going to base it on the relationship I have with the coaches. I’m just going to play out the summer and see how things go.”