Swing and a miss

I normally like to keep things positive on Friday, but yesterday news came down that James White would be playing his senior season of basketball at Georgia...Tech.  This is a baffling decision on so many levels, and it admittedly scuffs up my spirited defense of Mark Fox's recruiting from a few weeks ago.

White averaged 11.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks last season at Arkansas-Little Rock, and he said he was looking for a place to go and make the tournament in his senior season.

Georgia is coming off a tournament berth, returns most of their key players, and has a glaring need in the post (where White plays).  White would have made them a near-lock to return to the tournament in 2016.

Georgia Tech is a sinking ship.  They finished near the bottom of the ACC, their coach is a dead man walking, and their one position of relative strength is the one White will try to man next season.  He'll be competing for playing time with Nick Jacobs and Charles Mitchell, and, you heard it hear first, he will not go to the NCAA Tournament.

So what went wrong here?  In recruiting, you always have to account for the "kids do strange things" factor.  With Tevin Mack, it was pretty clear from the outset that he liked Georgia just fine, but he didn't love Georgia.  With White, though, it felt different.  Every indication was that he was all but a lock in Athens, and Mark Fox even got his final visit.

I have no inside information, so I can't answer the question.  I can tell you, though, that Fox has to fix it.  You could probably build an all-star team out of the kids for which Fox has finished second at this point.  Are we not doing something on our official visits that other schools are doing?  Are we getting over-confident and not closing the deal like we should?

I don't know, but I know it's time to fix it.

[AJC]

One more roster spot

Seth Emerson reports that Georgia is 'actively' trying to fill that last roster spot:

"We're still actively looking, and recruiting some guys," Fox said Tuesday before the UGA Day in Albany. "So you shouldn't be surprised if we fill it. It's gotta be the right guy. So you shouldn't be surprised if we don't (use the scholarship.) But we'll see where it goes."

Ok, so Mark Fox hedges a bit, but clearly if the right player says he wants to be a Bulldog next year it's going to happen.  So who might that be?  Georgia Basketball Blog has some thoughts.

I'll let you read the whole write-up, but it sounds like James White and Tevin Mack are the most likely to fill that spot (and in that order) followed in a distant third place by Kobe Eubanks.  So who would you like to see in red and black next year?

Put me squarely in the Tevin Mack camp.  I know all the talk is about how thin Georgia is in the post, and that's true, but I think Mack makes Georgia a Sweet 16 contender as soon as next season.  That means I believe Yante Maten and Derek Ogbeide (with just a pinch of Osahen Iduwe, a sprinkle of Houston Kessler, and a splash of Michael Edwards) can hold down the interior next year.

Mack brings big-time scoring at the 3 position to a team desperately in need of big-time scoring from the 3 position.  If he wants a program which he can elevate, and which can return the favor by putting him in the NBA, he doesn't have to look any farther than Athens, GA.

[Ledger-Enquirer]
[Georgia Basketball Blog]