The Dr. Pepper TEN Classic's opening game between Atlanta Holy Spirit and our town's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy was less than five seconds old Friday night when Holy Spirit's Anthony Edwards emphatically delivered a dunk to end all dunks, much to the delight of the packed house at McCallie School's Student Activities Center.
Then, a few seconds later, he deftly feathered through a long 3-pointer off the left side, just in case anyone was still wondering why he's regarded as no worse than the second best player in the country in the 2019 recruiting class.
Said Hamilton Heights coach Zach Ferrell of Edwards after the senior had scored 34 points in a 72-68 loss to the Hawks: "He's a pro. He's a certain lottery pick down the road. He has everything you'd want in a player. He's athletic; he's skilled; he's composed. He's pretty much got a pro body (6-foot-5, 215 pounds) now. He's the best player we've gone against all year, and we've faced (James) Wiseman twice."
For those who don't keep up with such things, the 6-11 Wiseman at Memphis East is widely regarded as the best player in his class. He is staying in Memphis to play for Penny Hardaway.
But Edwards - who sometimes has been compared to current NBA superstar James Harden for his size, strength and shooting range - might be the No. 1 overall pick by the summer of 2020.
"Oh, he's the best player in the country, bar none," IMG coach Sean McAloon noted after his nationally third-ranked team disposed of Holy Spirit by a 64-52 score Saturday night at the Classic, holding Edwards to a toughly earned 17 points.
"We probably did as good a job on him as you can do, but it's tough to contain somebody who can score from all three levels (3-pointers, midrange and around the basket) and always has the ball in his hands. We've been watching him for two years, and he's the real deal."
The real deal is supposed to announce his college choice at 9 a.m. next Monday at Holy Spirit. The three finalists are reportedly Florida State, Georgia and Kentucky. The Seminoles of longtime FSU coach Leonard Hamilton have long been perceived the favorites, and Edwards is taking his official visit to the Tallahassee school over the weekend.
But he's also made both an official and unofficial visit to Georgia in recent weeks and a Rivals.com post Monday discussed how Edwards recently has taken to studying the games of NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Victor Oladipo, who both played collegiately for first-year Bulldogs boss Tom Crean.
Hmmmm.
Not that Edwards gave much away on that front during his time in Chattanooga. Instead, he merely said of what he wanted to find in a college coach: "Someone who'll help me develop as a player and a person both on and off the court."
First-year Holy Spirit coach Tysor Anderson, the grandson of Hall of Fame coach Lefty Driesell, knew he had a truly special player during a 3-point loss to McEachern High School early in the season.
"We'd turned it over, then they turned it back over," Anderson recalled. "Anthony took one dribble from the half-court line, did this little in-and-out dribble near the foul line to freeze one man, then dunked it with two hands. One of the most amazing moves I've ever seen. I knew he was special before then, but that hammered it home."
But it's something else he saw from Edwards early in the autumn recruiting period that confirmed to Anderson that he also had a special person on his hands, someone built to handle a blindingly bright future with humility and decency.
"A really big college coach, a name anyone would know, came to visit Anthony one day," he said. "He made sure to introduce the coach to each one of his teammates individually. He's handled all of this with a level of maturity and humility I'm very proud to see."
Ask Edwards what he has most and least enjoyed about the process and he'll say "the travel" for the former and "coaches blowing up my phone" for the latter. Of the nearly 50,000 Instagram followers the McDonald's All-American has, he said Kentucky fans are the most passionate.
Come Monday, only one school will continue to have a serious reason to follow Edwards.
If that choice really does become Georgia, look for Bulldogs basketball to draw more national attention heading into next season than at any time since Dominique Wilkins signed in 1979. Call it the start of the Human Highlight Film 2.0.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com