Georgia Bulldogs Basketball

The son of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins has officially announced his college basketball commitment.

Jacob Wilkins announced Tuesday that he has committed to Georgia, per Joe Tipton of On3. He chose the Bulldogs over the Virginia Cavaliers.

Wilkins, a four-star prospect out of Grayson High School in Loganville, Georgia, is the No. 40 ranked prospect in the class of 2025, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He is also the No. 9 ranked small forward and the No. 6 prospect out of Georgia.

Wilkins is in a star-studded 2025 class that also includes Cameron and Cayden Boozer, Kiyan Anthony and Bryce James. They are the sons of former and current NBA stars Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, respectively.

Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports wrote of Wilkins, who is 6'7", 167 pounds:

Jacob Wilkins is a budding big wing who is loaded with natural tools and talent, but only in the beginning stages of putting it all together. He has good positional size at over 6-foot-7 with a lanky, and still undeveloped, frame that has yet to even really begin to fill-out yet. While he will undoubtedly be a totally different player once he grows into his frame, he can already show glimpses of explosive athleticism with high-level plays and above-the-rim finishes in the open floor. While he projects as someone who should be dynamic in transition, there are also tools that should translate in the half-court and defensively as well. He's a fluid mover for his size with an almost elastic quality about his natural flexibility. He also has good hands, soft touch, and clean enough mechanics to develop as a shooter.

Aside from Virginia and Georgia, Wilkins also received offers from Alabama, Cincinnati and Indiana.

It's no surprise Wilkins chose to commit to the Bulldogs as his father suited up for Georgia from 1979-1982. Dominique Wilkins averaged 21.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.8 blocks in 78 games for the Bulldogs while shooting 53.0 percent from the floor.

The 63-year-old went on to be selected by the Utah Jazz third overall in the 1982 NBA draft. He spent the majority of his career—12 seasons—with the Atlanta Hawks, earning a scoring title, nine All-Star selections and seven First Team All-Pro selections.

Dominique Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Wilkins' brother, Isaiah, played for Virginia from 2015-18. He's now an assistant for the program under head coach Tony Bennett.

With Wilkins now set to follow in his father's footsteps, the attention will shift toward Anthony and James as they continue their recruitment.

Georgia no strangers to winning the recruiting wars on the football side of things, but the basketball team made the noise on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs secured the commitment of 5-star power forward Asa Newell, per Joe Tipton of On3, beating out Alabama, Gonzaga and Texas.

The Montverde Academy product is considered a 5-star prospect in the Class of 2024 and is the No. 8 player overall, the No. 2 power forward and the No. 2 player from the state of Florida, according to 247Sports' Composite Rankings.

Newell told Tipton that he chose Georgia because he has a "lot of faith" in head coach Mike White and assistant Erik Pastrana:

I know they are going to hold me accountable and push me every day—in the weight room and in practice. They also have a strong player development program to work on my game and my weaknesses. On my visit, it felt like home. I was raised in Athens and I have family there. My brother (Jaden) goes up there too and he was like a double agent, telling me about coach Mike White, telling me about Georgia. I have peace with the decision. I know God is steering me in the right direction to change the culture. Go Dawgs!

His brother, Jaden Newell, is a redshirt freshman for Georgia after being a walk-on ahead of the 2022-23 season. He spent last season on the scout team.

Asa Newell, however, is one of the top young players in the country and a major get for White and the Bulldogs. Brandon Jenkins of 247Sports described him as a "highly talented southpaw forward who possesses a unique overlap of size, athleticism, and face-up skill" and is both a "consistent shooter from beyond the arc" and an "explosive vertical athlete, emphatic above-the-rim finisher, and consistent lob threat."

In the modern game, which prioritizes length and the ability to space the floor, Newell is the ideal power-forward prospect.

And he's a statement commitment for White as he looks to rebuild a Georgia program that hasn't reached the NCAA tournament since the 2014-15 season.

It seems likely that for just the second time in Mike White's tenure as Florida men's basketball head coach, the program will miss the NCAA tournament. And the head coach may be out, too.

According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Georgia will be hiring White away from Florida to serve as its next head coach.

Florida last missed the tournament in the 2015-16 season, White's first year as head coach after replacing the legendary Billy Donovan, who led the program to two national championships during his tenure. This year's bunch (19-13) is likely NIT-bound.

Under Donovan, Florida also won seven regular-season titles and four conference tournament titles. Under White, it hasn't done so once.

So it's certainly possible that White preempted a potential firing.

The Gators did reach the NCAA tournament four times under White, going 142-88 during his seven seasons. His best season came in 2016-17, when Florida reached the Elite Eight.

As one opposing assistant coach told The Athletic's G. Allan Taylor, White's tenure was something of a "mixed bag."

"They're usually really good defensively, but they haven't been able to put enough offense together to make a decent run, even though they've had some decent years," that assistant added. "Obviously, Donovan did something very special there and nobody before or after has really been able to get close to that. The question is, can you get enough really good players to get back to that spot? It starts with getting really good players. I don't understand how they haven't recruited better."

As for Georgia, the Tom Crean era was a disaster, with the Bulldogs failing to put together a winning season in his four years at the helm (47-75 overall). They went just 6-26 this season, and Crean was fired Thursday.

"Our expectation is to compete for postseason success in all 21 sports," athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement. "We believe a leadership change in men's basketball is needed to achieve our goals."

The Bulldogs last made the NCAA tournament in the 2014-15 season, just one of three trips to the Big Dance since the turn of the century. White will be tasked with reversing those fortunes.

Tom Crean's time as the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball team is reportedly coming to an end following a disappointing 2021-22 campaign.

On Thursday, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported the SEC school "initiated the process to part ways with" him by providing the coach who is owed $3.2 million "the contractually required notice in order to terminate his employment."

Georgia went 6-26 overall and 1-17 in league play this season.

This was not unexpected.

Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday that "all indications" were the Bulldogs and Crean were headed toward a split after the season, which ended with Wednesday's blowout loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament.

Towers suggested Georgia's refusal to give Crean a contract extension following last season was "a death knell for a coach trying to recruit the summer amateur circuit and transfer portal."

He listed Xavier associate head coach Jonas Hayes, Cleveland State head coach Dennis Gates, Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes and USC head coach Andy Enfield as potential candidates to take over for Crean. 

ESPN's Jeff Borzello and Jeff Goodman of Stadium pointed to Hayes and Gates as "two Georgia candidates that have been buzzing for weeks."

As for Crean, he finished his four seasons with Georgia with an ugly 47-75 record. He never made the NCAA tournament, and the 2020-21 season was his only one with a winning record at 14-12.

It seemed as if he was turning things around for the Bulldogs with the No. 11 recruiting class in 2019, per 247Sports' composite, that featured Anthony Edwards, but fellow signees Christian Brown, Sahvir Wheeler and Toumani Camara all eventually transferred.

Crean's time with Georgia was a far cry from his previous stops with Marquette and Indiana.

He went to five NCAA tournaments in nine seasons with the Golden Eagles and reached one Final Four with Dwyane Wade leading the way. He went to the Big Dance four times in nine seasons with the Hoosiers and won the Big Ten regular-season title twice.                  

Georgia is expected to part ways with men's basketball coach Tom Crean after the season, according to Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A final decision has not yet been made, but "all indications" are that Crean is gone after the season, per Towers.

The Bulldogs went just 6-25 during the regular season, including 1-17 in the SEC. Their season could end Wednesday at the SEC tournament with a first-round matchup against Vanderbilt.

The 25 losses are the most in a season in school history.

In four years with the program, Crean has produced a 47-74 record with zero NCAA tournament appearances and only 15 conference wins.

The coach couldn't capitalize on quality recruiting, including the No. 11 class in 2019, per 247Sports. Five-star prospect Anthony Edwards, the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, highlighted the class that also included four 4-star recruits.

Of that group, Christian Brown, Sahvir Wheeler and Toumani Camara transferred after last season.

Crean's predecessor, Mark Fox, reached the NCAA tournament twice in nine seasons while winning at least 20 games four times.

Prior to his tenure at Georgia, Crean spent nine years each at Marquette and Indiana. He took his teams to the NCAA tournament nine times, reaching the Final Four in 2003 with Marquette, and won three regular-season titles.      

The University of Georgia has reportedly suspended men's basketball assistant coach Wade Mason with pay following an incident at halftime of the Bulldogs' 84-65 loss to LSU on Wednesday.

According to ESPN's Mark Schlabach, an altercation allegedly took place between Mason and director of player personnel Brian Fish.

Per Brandon Sudge of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the altercation occurred after Mason took issue with something Fish said to a Georgia player on the sidelines during Wednesday's game.

Things reportedly turned physical in the locker room with Mason pushing and possibly punching Fish.

As a result of the suspension, Mason reportedly won't be on the sidelines Saturday in support of head coach Tom Crean when the Bulldogs host Ole Miss.

After news of the alleged altercation between Mason and Fish broke, Graham Coffey of Dawg Sports reported that Georgia was looking into the possibility of firing Crean for cause since he did not report the altercation to the university.

Per Schlabach, the University of Georgia released a statement disputing the report:

"There have been various media reports related to UGA Athletics personnel ranging from completely inaccurate to incomplete and premature. The incident in question was reported properly as required by university policies and is under review. We will comment if and when appropriate."

Crean is in the midst of his fourth season as head coach of the Bulldogs after previously coaching at Marquette and Indiana.

While Crean reached the NCAA tournament nine times in his previous stops, success has largely eluded him at Georgia.

The Bulldogs are a disappointing 6-20 this season, including 1-12 in SEC play. Overall, Georgia has gone 47-69 during Crean's tenure, has not reached the NCAA tournament once and finished with a winning record only once, when it went 14-12 last season.

Mason is in the midst of his first season as an assistant at Georgia after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant at Stephen F. Austin.

Stephen F. Austin won 28 games in a season twice during Mason's tenure and reached the NCAA tournament on one occasion.

Mason was also an assistant at Oral Roberts and a graduate assistant at Oklahoma following his college basketball playing career at Tulane.

Georgia guard Anthony Edwards announced his intention to enter the 2020 NBA draft Friday, forgoing his final three years of eligibility.

Edwards informed 247Sports' Evan Daniels of his decision and said of the draft: "I think I should go No. 1, no doubt. That's the only place I think I should go."

The 18-year-old is widely expected to be a top-five pick in June and could wind up being the top overall selection, depending on how the lottery shakes out. He averaged 19.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists as a freshman for a Georgia team that disappointed with a 16-16 record.

While Edwards was not surrounded by elite talent in Athens, the Bulldogs' struggles cast a shadow of doubt on one of the few can't-miss prospects from this class. Billed as perhaps the most natural scorer in the draft, he shot only 40.2 percent from the floor and 29.4 percent from three.

Edwards remains a top prospect in a flawed class, thanks in large part to his physical skills. He may be the most singularly gifted player in this class, a near-perfect modern 2 on paper who is a good secondary ball-handler and can commit on defense.

"I feel like when people come to see me play, they see that I really can pass the ball; I love to pass the ball," he told Daniels in January. "I get electric when I make a pass or somebody else makes a pass and when a teammate scores."

Edwards will compete with the likes of LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman to be the No. 1 overall pick.

There is some uncertainty regarding when the 2020 NBA draft will occur since the coronavirus pandemic has caused the NBA to suspend its season, but Edwards will almost certainly be one of the top players off the board whenever it happens.

The Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks were among the NBA's worst teams at the time of the season's suspension. Any of them could benefit from adding a prospect as talented as Edwards.