Transfers Out, In, and Everywhere
This was a busy week in the transfer portal for all of college basketball, Georgia Tech was no exception. Nobody committed to the Yellow Jackets this week, but there is still some news.
Tafare Gapare is joining the Maryland Terrapins next season. I thought he might get some looks from other major conference teams, but I am surprised he caught on so quick at a school with such high expectations. Gapare has a ton of potential, but moving to another team and coaching staff again (3 teams in 3 years) makes it tougher to develop, although it can happen. I think this helps shows how much of a premium size is in the portal. Everyone is looking for one more big man.
Speaking of, Ebenezer Dowuona announced that his transferring to James Madison for his final season. I expected Dowuona to transfer to a lower conference where his size is more of an asset. The Dukes do play in the Sun Belt, but James Madison was a really solid team last year (12-seed in the tournament, beat Wisconsin in the first round, 63rd in KenPom) and I imagine they have high expectations for next season as well despite coaching and roster turnover. I’m not sure how well he’ll do there, but his size is something that most teams in the Sun Belt don’t have (including JMU last year).
Baye Ndongo declared for the draft and signed with an agent, but he retained his eligibility. I suspect he is just going to get some feedback on what the scouts want to see him improve on and will return. If he doesn’t that would be a huge blow to the team.
In former GT player news Deivon Smith is hitting the portal once again. He didn’t play that much at the beginning of the season, but completely took off in December. He finally put all of the pieces together and became a triple-double machine for a team that just missed the tournament. I expect him to be in high demand due to his breakout season and I expect he’s looking for one big payday going into his final season with an NBA future unlikely. If he does move schools it will be his fourth team in his five seasons.
And Georgia Tech has scheduled visits with a couple of prospective incoming transfers. Jared Coleman-Jones from Middle Tennessee State has lined up a visit this week. The 6’10” center would bring some size and vision to the team. GT currently only has Baye Ndongo as a big man with decent college experience so he would bring some certainty to the frontcourt. I expect he could be a decent backup. He played high school ball at McEachern in Powder Springs. He has one year left.
They have also got a visit from Colorado transfer Luke O’Brien. The 6’7” forward was a solid role player for a good Buffaloes team this year who can shoot the three and defend well. He doesn’t do much with the ball in his hands, but an experienced role player to slot in the lineup with some size would be much welcomed. He has one year remaining.
The Yellow Jackets have 11 scholarships currently accounting for with Miles Kelly potentially being the 12th. That leaves only 1 or 2 slots left for incoming transfers, unless of course someone else transfers out or Ndongo actually does go to the NBA draft.