Georgia Bulldogs Basketball

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.

The No. 3 Michigan State Spartans topped the Georgia Bulldogs 93-85 in their Maui Invitational matchup Tuesday afternoon, but Georgia's margin of defeat would have been much larger if not for freshman guard Anthony Edwards.

Edwards scored a game-high 37 points in the Bulldogs' loss on 11-of-26 shooting from the field, including 7-of-16 from three-point range. The Bulldogs were trailing 61-33 with 16:26 remaining in the second half when Edwards poured in 26 points to cut Michigan State's lead to 80-76 with 3:50 to go.

The Spartans were able to pull away again and secure the victory, but they did not pull the spotlight off of Edwards: 

Edwards posted six rebounds, two assists, four steals and three blocks in addition to his career-high 37 points.

The Atlanta native's previous high was 29 points in Georgia's second game of the season on Nov. 12 against Citadel, a 95-86 win.

Edwards entered this game against Michigan State averaging 16.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals across five games.

The Holy Spirit Preparatory School product was labeled a five-star recruit by 247Sports, ranked second nationally and first in Georgia among class of 2019 prospects. Evan Daniels, the website's director of basketball recruiting, scouted Edwards in Sept. 2018 and compared him to Houston Rockets All-Star James Harden: 

A year-plus removed from Daniels' evaluation, Edwards' top-pick potential is only growing:

Even Utah Jazz star point guard Donovan Mitchell took notice:

Edwards is already the highest-ranked prospect in the Bulldogs' program history and their first five-star since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope committed in 2011 (h/t Sports Illustrated's Emily Caron). Caldwell-Pope was then drafted eighth overall in the 2013 NBA draft. 

The 2020 NBA draft has several candidates already emerging as potential No. 1 overall selections, such as LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman.

CBS Sports Gary Parrish's latest mock on Nov. 19 had Edwards going fourth overall behind Wiseman, Ball and Cole Anthony, but Edwards has the rest of this season to claim the top spot. Performances like the one he turned in against Michigan State will be hard to argue against.

BR Video

Anthony Edwards is a 5-star prospect, per 24/7 Sports, and could be the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft, according to NBADraft.net. Edwards is the No. 1 shooting guard from the class of 2019 and is committed to Georgia. Watch the video above for more about his decision to play for his hometown squad.

Bleacher Report is your No. 1 stop for what's trending in sports. You can count on B/R for all the hottest stories. From wild sports to the next big thing, don't miss out.

Download the free Bleacher Report app to catch all the moments that matter in one place. Get the app to get the game.

Georgia landed one of the most sought-after prizes on the recruiting trail Monday when shooting guard Anthony Edwards joined its 2019 class.

"Two of my favorite players, Dwyane Wade and Victor Oladipo, were coached by Tom Crean, and he's a great coach," Edwards told 247Sports' Evan Daniels. "They came in, not highly rated, and came out really good. It weighed big on me."

"I went to a game and I felt the fans in the gym, everybody showing love, and I felt like I was home," Edwards added. "My sister just had my nephew, I want to see him grow, so [staying close to home] was a big factor."

According to 247Sports' composite rankings, Edwards is a 5-star prospect and the No. 2 overall player, No. 1 shooting guard and No. 1 player from the state of Georgia in his class.

The 6'5" and 215-pound playmaker reclassified from the 2020 class to 2019 and still finds himself near the top of the recruiting rankings as he prepares for the next step of his basketball career.

NBADraft.net has Edwards as the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. ESPN's Jonathan Givony has him slotted at No. 2.

Many of the sport's ultimate blue bloods—Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan State and UCLA—were featured when he cut his list to eight in November, underscoring his talent level and the type of programs interested in him.

Daniels noted Edwards posted 21 points and 6.1 rebounds a night as a member of Atlanta Xpress while playing on the Under Armour circuit. He also drilled 45 percent of his three-point attempts.

Edwards' combination of size and shooting ability makes him an almost impossible matchup.

He can either shoot over smaller defenders or overpower them by driving into the lane and playing through contact. However, bigger defenders have difficulty keeping up with his quickness and countering the separation he creates with his ball-handling.

The shooting guard can also help his frontcourt teammates battle for rebounds and either keep possessions alive or look for transition opportunities going the other way. His length and athleticism figure to help on the defensive end as well, seeing how he can challenge jump shots and cut off penetration.

Edwards is the type of playmaker who can step on campus and immediately elevate to the position of go-to option. The NBA could well be in his not-too-distant future given his skill set, and he possesses the talent to become a household name in the collegiate ranks.

Georgia hopes he delivers on that talent and helps it compete against formidable programs such as Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee and Auburn in the SEC.

The Bulldogs haven't been to the NCAA tournament since the 2014-15 campaign and are looking to change the direction of the basketball program in the coming years. Landing playmakers like Edwards, especially when they are from Georgia, is the road map to doing just that.