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One of the most interesting aspects of covering Damon Stoudamire at Georgia Tech as the men's basketball coach has been his approach to building his roster. Instead of holding spots to rollover for another year he has gambled on signing different types of late prospects out of high school or the portal to fill out his final roster spots. The move paid off in a huge ways as the Jackets beat out Seattle University for point guard Naithan George who turned into one of the top freshmen guards in the ACC last year and a full-time starter after Amaree Abram failed to live up to his potential and hype a few games into the season and was benched. George became a key contributor and a highlight for Tech teams to come.
He also added Ibrahima Sacko and Ibrahim Souare late in that cycle as traditional signees. Sacko was a solid depth piece who ended up transferring because physically he was a little overmatched playing in the ACC and could help a team immediately a step down which he found at New Mexico. Souare redshirted and the jury is out on him, but he was an excellent teammate on the bench for the team and good in practice last year.
Stoudamire also added Carter Murphy as a scholarship-free one-year grad transfer rental via Air Force. Murphy helped bridge the gap in some games when Miles Kelly was banged up or the Jackets needed some three-point shooting. Given the fact he didn't count against the scholarship cap he was a key addition via the portal and free.
Ironically it was Ebenezer Dowuona a transfer from NC State and Abram who were the two higher profile additions along with Kowacie Reeves out of the portal that disappointed. Reeves was very solid as a role player, but Dowuona was awful before a season-ending injury late in ACC play ended his worst season in college. Abram seemed to be allergic to playing any type of defense and had horrible shot selections and laid bricks. Tyzhaun Claude ended up being the second-best portal addition for the Jackets taking up one of the final scholarship spots as a forward/center type though undersized. He was okay, but had to step into too large of a role because of Dowuona's struggles and was often overmatched inside. They also rolled the dice on the hyperathletic Tafara Gapare and he turned into a solid player in the back end of ACC play before he bailed out for various reasons and hit the portal at the end of the year.
This time around, Stoudamire has signed an impressive class of freshmen with strong rankings and recruiting profiles and then backfilled the final spots with some interesting portal additions. Ryan Mutombo the son of Dikembe Mutombo rotted on the bench at Georgetown for the last two years especially last year after the Hoyas moved away from playing with a traditional big man. He was very solid as a true freshman under Patrick Ewing on a bad G-Town squad, but his numbers have been going the wrong way for a while. Can he replace what they hoped Dowuona would produce? The bar is pretty low and he is certainly capable of playing better than Dowuona did.
The other interesting piece is the addition of Duncan Powell a former medium-profile recruit who had his career derailed by a serious knee injury. Powell has improved each year at NC A&T and then Sacramento State and he is a more athletic Claude with a jump shot and three-point range. Powell has two years left and a chip on his shoulder after he didn't end up at Arkansas out of HS. He has had a ton of starts and stops in his career and is looking for a shot that Stoudamire will give him.
I'm skipping over the more obvious portal pieces like Javian McCollum and this is really a look at the final spots more than anything else. That is a lot more interesting to me because Stoudamire is trying to find his role players like an NBA team at the end of the bench. Murphy was supposed to be his bench 3-point guy last year and he took a flyer on guys like George and Sacko to see what they could turn into.
It is really interesting to see how Stoudamire is willing to take random pieces and assemble a roster. They actually passed on some well-known big men this past cycle because Stoudamire didn't like the fit. They have enough big men to play with, but it goes to show how seriously he takes the pieces he has added and what exactly he is looking for with his team, and the chemistry of his program.
Will this translate into GT getting into the NCAA Tournament in the near term? That is the million-dollar question.
One of the most interesting aspects of covering Damon Stoudamire at Georgia Tech as the men's basketball coach has been his approach to building his roster. Instead of holding spots to rollover for another year he has gambled on signing different types of late prospects out of high school or the portal to fill out his final roster spots. The move paid off in a huge ways as the Jackets beat out Seattle University for point guard Naithan George who turned into one of the top freshmen guards in the ACC last year and a full-time starter after Amaree Abram failed to live up to his potential and hype a few games into the season and was benched. George became a key contributor and a highlight for Tech teams to come.
He also added Ibrahima Sacko and Ibrahim Souare late in that cycle as traditional signees. Sacko was a solid depth piece who ended up transferring because physically he was a little overmatched playing in the ACC and could help a team immediately a step down which he found at New Mexico. Souare redshirted and the jury is out on him, but he was an excellent teammate on the bench for the team and good in practice last year.
Stoudamire also added Carter Murphy as a scholarship-free one-year grad transfer rental via Air Force. Murphy helped bridge the gap in some games when Miles Kelly was banged up or the Jackets needed some three-point shooting. Given the fact he didn't count against the scholarship cap he was a key addition via the portal and free.
Ironically it was Ebenezer Dowuona a transfer from NC State and Abram who were the two higher profile additions along with Kowacie Reeves out of the portal that disappointed. Reeves was very solid as a role player, but Dowuona was awful before a season-ending injury late in ACC play ended his worst season in college. Abram seemed to be allergic to playing any type of defense and had horrible shot selections and laid bricks. Tyzhaun Claude ended up being the second-best portal addition for the Jackets taking up one of the final scholarship spots as a forward/center type though undersized. He was okay, but had to step into too large of a role because of Dowuona's struggles and was often overmatched inside. They also rolled the dice on the hyperathletic Tafara Gapare and he turned into a solid player in the back end of ACC play before he bailed out for various reasons and hit the portal at the end of the year.
This time around, Stoudamire has signed an impressive class of freshmen with strong rankings and recruiting profiles and then backfilled the final spots with some interesting portal additions. Ryan Mutombo the son of Dikembe Mutombo rotted on the bench at Georgetown for the last two years especially last year after the Hoyas moved away from playing with a traditional big man. He was very solid as a true freshman under Patrick Ewing on a bad G-Town squad, but his numbers have been going the wrong way for a while. Can he replace what they hoped Dowuona would produce? The bar is pretty low and he is certainly capable of playing better than Dowuona did.
The other interesting piece is the addition of Duncan Powell a former medium-profile recruit who had his career derailed by a serious knee injury. Powell has improved each year at NC A&T and then Sacramento State and he is a more athletic Claude with a jump shot and three-point range. Powell has two years left and a chip on his shoulder after he didn't end up at Arkansas out of HS. He has had a ton of starts and stops in his career and is looking for a shot that Stoudamire will give him.
I'm skipping over the more obvious portal pieces like Javian McCollum and this is really a look at the final spots more than anything else. That is a lot more interesting to me because Stoudamire is trying to find his role players like an NBA team at the end of the bench. Murphy was supposed to be his bench 3-point guy last year and he took a flyer on guys like George and Sacko to see what they could turn into.
It is really interesting to see how Stoudamire is willing to take random pieces and assemble a roster. They actually passed on some well-known big men this past cycle because Stoudamire didn't like the fit. They have enough big men to play with, but it goes to show how seriously he takes the pieces he has added and what exactly he is looking for with his team, and the chemistry of his program.
Will this translate into GT getting into the NCAA Tournament in the near term? That is the million-dollar question.
