Each and every year us Dawg fans seize upon some newcomer and anoint him with our unreasonable expectations. We over-optimistically believe he will magically be The One , the transformative player who will quickly elevate us to the next level of success.
We've been performing this ritual for decades. Transfer David Reavis back in 1976 was an early favorite of the Athens faithful. Nic Claxton may be this year's model of that totemic figure.
Is this something unique to Bulldawg basketball because of our long history of suffering and wandering in the hoops desert? Or is it merely human nature and is a common behavior repeated on every college campus each October? I suspect we may be different than most schools in that we don't usually select well-known, blue-chip elites to carry our unrealistic hopes.
Since we don't recruit a lot of elites, we usually believe it will be some under-publicized and overlooked player like Jarvis Hayes or Levi Stukes. This goes back at least as early as Dwayne Powell from Perry in Elevator's era. A decade later it was high-scoring David Reavis from DC by way of Yakima Jr. College.
If this habit is unique to Athens, we should endow the player with an appropriate identifying title. He might be christened "The Preseason Irrational Exhuberance Award Winner." Or perhaps call it the "Marshall Wilson Award" in honor of the unassuming Carnesville HS star who committed early but required a qualifying year at Connors St. JC where he created exciting buzz by averaging 23 pts. His early practices earned him the starting SF slot and had Sports Illustrated projecting him to be the missing ingredient for Hugh Durham's Dawgs to be picked all the way up at 18 in the preseason rankings. (Have we been projected that high in preseason since then?)
Wilson had it all. He could shoot, ballhandle, board, pass and defend. But while he teased us with flashes of athletic brilliance, he settled into a merely solid role of reliable versatility. Wilson in his first year helped his squad gel into our first SEC title-winning team and allowed Durham to return to the NCAAs.
Many who filled this role of Magic Newcomer played with impressive early flair before flaming out. Some settled into solid careers. A high number were juco transfers as such newcomers are often presumed to be battle-tested and ready to bring to the bigger SEC stage an ability to cure a crucial team weakness.
Here below is a quick list looking back at unheralded fledgling Bulldogs who quickly earned unreasonable expectations with their early practices. Hopefully other posters will add their memories and make additions. Researching the list reminded me of how much fun it is to remain naively optimistic in these weeks of early practice.
Past Preseason Irrational Exhuberance Award Winners
Dwayne Powell - 1964 Perry, Ga sharpshooter
Lanny Taylor - 1968
Tony Flanagan - 1974 flashy Atlanta multi-sport star
David Reavis - 1976 DC star transferring in from Yakima JC
Marshal Wilson - 1988 juco qualifier
Antonio Harvey - 1990
Cleveland Jackson - 1992 transfer
Katu Davis - 1994 transfer
Derrick Dukes - 1996 transfer
Anthony Evans - 1999 transfer
Levi Stukes - 2003
Channing Toney - 2004
Kendrick Johnson - 2005
Takais Brown - 2006
Charles Mann - 2012
JJ Frazier - 2013
Cam Forte - 2014
Tyree Crump - 2016
We've been performing this ritual for decades. Transfer David Reavis back in 1976 was an early favorite of the Athens faithful. Nic Claxton may be this year's model of that totemic figure.
Is this something unique to Bulldawg basketball because of our long history of suffering and wandering in the hoops desert? Or is it merely human nature and is a common behavior repeated on every college campus each October? I suspect we may be different than most schools in that we don't usually select well-known, blue-chip elites to carry our unrealistic hopes.
Since we don't recruit a lot of elites, we usually believe it will be some under-publicized and overlooked player like Jarvis Hayes or Levi Stukes. This goes back at least as early as Dwayne Powell from Perry in Elevator's era. A decade later it was high-scoring David Reavis from DC by way of Yakima Jr. College.
If this habit is unique to Athens, we should endow the player with an appropriate identifying title. He might be christened "The Preseason Irrational Exhuberance Award Winner." Or perhaps call it the "Marshall Wilson Award" in honor of the unassuming Carnesville HS star who committed early but required a qualifying year at Connors St. JC where he created exciting buzz by averaging 23 pts. His early practices earned him the starting SF slot and had Sports Illustrated projecting him to be the missing ingredient for Hugh Durham's Dawgs to be picked all the way up at 18 in the preseason rankings. (Have we been projected that high in preseason since then?)
Wilson had it all. He could shoot, ballhandle, board, pass and defend. But while he teased us with flashes of athletic brilliance, he settled into a merely solid role of reliable versatility. Wilson in his first year helped his squad gel into our first SEC title-winning team and allowed Durham to return to the NCAAs.
Many who filled this role of Magic Newcomer played with impressive early flair before flaming out. Some settled into solid careers. A high number were juco transfers as such newcomers are often presumed to be battle-tested and ready to bring to the bigger SEC stage an ability to cure a crucial team weakness.
Here below is a quick list looking back at unheralded fledgling Bulldogs who quickly earned unreasonable expectations with their early practices. Hopefully other posters will add their memories and make additions. Researching the list reminded me of how much fun it is to remain naively optimistic in these weeks of early practice.
Past Preseason Irrational Exhuberance Award Winners
Dwayne Powell - 1964 Perry, Ga sharpshooter
Lanny Taylor - 1968
Tony Flanagan - 1974 flashy Atlanta multi-sport star
David Reavis - 1976 DC star transferring in from Yakima JC
Marshal Wilson - 1988 juco qualifier
Antonio Harvey - 1990
Cleveland Jackson - 1992 transfer
Katu Davis - 1994 transfer
Derrick Dukes - 1996 transfer
Anthony Evans - 1999 transfer
Levi Stukes - 2003
Channing Toney - 2004
Kendrick Johnson - 2005
Takais Brown - 2006
Charles Mann - 2012
JJ Frazier - 2013
Cam Forte - 2014
Tyree Crump - 2016
Last edited:
