Wired Wednesday With Wilson 4th Edition
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After a few weeks off during March Madness it is time to get Wired Wednesday With Wilson back going. I had some tremendous questions this week and wish I could have gotten to all of them but I remind you all to keep asking them even if I do not get to yours right away! This week I tackled on the expectations at Georgia next year with Anthony Edwards coming in, a few ACC powerhouses talent coming in next year and some potential AAU breakout guys.
“Realistically how far can Anthony Edwards take the Dawgs? Will he be a Ben Simmons type that doesn’t even get us to the tournament or can he get us deep in the SEC tourney and into the NCAA tournament?” – @hank.sewell
Tom Crean landed the best Georgia basketball recruit of the past decade in Anthony Edwards who has the chance to be the number 1 overall draft pick in the 2020 NBA draft. Georgia has not been to the NCAA tournament since 2008 but there seems to be a lot of momentum heading into year 2 of the Tom Crean era with Anthony Edwards suiting up in Athens. As Henry mentioned Ben Simmons who did not get to participate in March Madness, I believe it could be a different type of situation with this Georgia team. Tom Crean also landed 6’7 Christian Brown who chose Georgia over a slew of high major schools. Georgia is also getting two other talented freshmen in Jaykwon Walton who we currently have as the number two player in the state of Alabama and Toumani Camara from Belgium. Add all of those guys with the top two scorers from a Georgia team this year in Nicholas Claxton and Rayshaun Hammonds, I think Tom Crean has a roster that will allow him to contend in a very talented SEC conference and the chance to make the NCAA tournament in his second year at the helm in Athens.
“With Hunter, Jerome, Williamson, Barrett, Reddish, White, Maye, Johnson and ect all gone, which powerhouse ACC school has the best reload/upperclassmen/coaching opportunities to find itself back as a 1 seed next year” – @MarkWilson
There is no question that the ACC will look a little different next year with key departures and graduation of certain guys. But what makes this conference one of the best every year is the players that come in and out. Virginia, Duke and North Carolina are all losing key parts but also gaining players that have the chance to play right away.
The recently crowned national champions, Virginia Cavaliers, are losing Ty Jerome and DeAndre Hunter to the NBA draft. Kyle Guy also announced that he is going to test the waters leaving the option to come back for his final season at Virginia. As of now this leaves Braxton Key, Mamadi Diakite, Kihei Clark and Jay Huff as guys that played a role in helping Tony Bennett win a national championship. Those are still valuable pieces and guys that have experience on how to win in March. Virginia has 6’2 Casey Morsell coming in and I believe Morsell is the most ready recruit to play in Tony’s system ever since Bennett has been at Virginia as he will be pushing for starters minutes. They also bring in two guys from North Carolina including one of last summer’s breakout players in 6’10 Kadin Shedrick and 6’7 Justin McKoy who just chose Virginia over North Carolina a week after the national championship.
North Carolina losing Cam Johnson, Coby White, Nassir Little, Kenny Williams and Luke Maye is going to take some time getting used to in Chapel Hill. They bring in one of the best big men in the country in Armando Bacot that is an absolute beast around the basket and I am predicting him to be a 2 and done type guy. The number one point guard in the class, Cole Anthony, has not made a college decision yet but like most people, I believe he will eventually pick North Carolina. Getting Cole would be huge for Roy Williams and would be great to pair with other upperclassmen coming back like Brandon Robinson, Seventh Woods, Garrison Brooks and second year Leaky Black.
Losing Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish was no shock to people in Durham but keeping Tre Jones was somewhat of a surprise but ultimately the right decision. Once again Coach K has another monster class coming in headlined by 6’10 Vernon Carey. Carey is in debate as being the number one player in the class. They also have 6’6 small forward Wendell Moore and 6’2 Boogie Ellis coming in. They are also very involved with top 10 unsigned senior Matthew Hurt who is set to make an announcement very soon. Right now I don’t see Duke being able to get a one seed with the team they have right now but that certainly changes if they get Matthew Hurt’s signature in the coming weeks.
“What prospect do you think will really take off this AAU season? (UAA-Adidas-Nike)” – @andrew_canavos
On the adidas side of things I believe 2020 Josh Hall of Team Loaded North Carolina is going to have a major breakout spring and summer where some potential blue bloods come wheeling in trying to pick up his services. He has great size at 6’9 while he can score the ball at all three levels and is extremely athletic. In 4 games this past weekend on the first stop of the adidas gauntlet, he averaged 15 points per game. It is only a matter of time until he becomes a household name for multiple high major programs.
Under Armour had their first session this past weekend and the most popular name everybody is talking about is 2019 point guard Nahshon Hyland from We R1. I was able to watch one game of theirs this past weekend on a live stream and I saw his skillset from the opening tip. He is a great lead guard standing at 6’3 and seems to have total control of his team and makes tremendous decisions. He can score the ball in a variety of ways too. He averaged 16 points per game this past weekend. He is a 2019 prospect so he will not be able to play the full AAU season but this guy made a huge name for himself this past weekend and is one of the best lead guards still around in 2019.
On the EYBL it is a total toss up as there are so many prospects to choose from. My answer might surprise a lot of people but I really enjoyed what I saw from this guy back earlier in the winter. Noah Taitz of Vegas Elite has a chance to make some noise in my opinion. He just got done with a tremendous high school season leading his Bishop Gorman team to Geico National’s. He is a dead-eye shooter that has unlimited range and overall a great leader. Like I said, I know this answer might shock a few people but this is a dude capable of doing some big things on the court and I would not be surprised if he is talked about a lot this upcoming summer.