By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

College basketball teams can have the perception of their program altered more than any other sport, based off of a single recruit.

We’re still an entire football season away from the start of the college basketball season, but it’s not too early to talk about how important Anthony Edwards could be to Georgia basketball.

To say that UGA hasn’t been a popular destination for top level basketball talent is a bit like saying Winterfell isn’t a popular vacation destination for anyone with the last name Lannister.

Even though Georgia has done a decent job in the past of recruiting within the state, they have struggled when it comes to bringing in top level talent.

There have been a number of in-state recruits that listed Georgia, or Georgia Tech for that matter, as one of their final schools only to spurn them for another program. (Most of these recruits never seriously considered staying in state, but the consensus thought is that by listing them it would give the schools a little notoriety and maybe help with lesser recruits.)

As big a deal as it was to get a Top 5 recruit like Edwards to sign, it carries even more weight since he’s from Atlanta.

Let’s assume Edwards has an All-SEC type season and helps lead Georgia back to the NCAA Tournament- all expectations that normally follow a recruit ranked this high- it could open numerous opportunities for the Dawgs on the recruiting trails.

For one, Tom Crean would be able to use Edwards as a recent example of the program’s ability to showcase one and done talent while preparing them for the NBA.

More importantly, it will be much easier to entice some of the higher rated 4-star recruits to come to Athens. I highly doubt Georgia will be able to compete with schools like Duke and Kentucky on the recruiting trail, but if they can start landing the kids ranked in the 30-50 range consistently, you’ll start seeing a program making deep runs in the tournament.

North Carolina made it to back to back championships with those same second tiered players, and Virginia did this year, to an extent.

If Edwards happens to struggle this season and his draft stock falls, it will undoubtedly have a negative impact. Programs that bring in Top 10 recruit after Top 10 recruit can afford to miss on one every now and again. When you’ve only had one, it’s hard to recover if it doesn’t work out.

It’s kind of like dating; if you have a lot of good times, you’ll overlook the toilet seat being left up or the hour and a half it takes to get ready. If not, go ahead and leave one scoop of ice cream in the carton and see how that works out.

And look, I’m not saying that if Edwards doesn’t work out quite the way Georgia hopes that all is lost and they should just shut down the program and go home. More than likely things will continue to be status quo; a middle to lower level SEC team that considers making the tournament a huge win.

No matter where the program is five to six years from now fans will be able to look back and see how pivotal a role Edwards played. All it takes is one player to change the future of a program, for the good as well as the bad. After years of trying, Georgia finally has that player.