D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera To Visit Georgetown This Weekend

With conference realignment talk driving everyone crazy, let's turn the focus back to what John Thompson III and Georgetown can control - the basketball team.  This weekend, consensus top 50 guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera will visit Georgetown, and after Kyle Anderson spurned the Hoyas for UCLA, "DSR" has become a primary target in the 2012 class.

The Hoyas are the perceived leaders in DSR's recruitment, but newcomers NC State and Memphis are making a move for this high scoring guard.  Xavier, the school DSR originally committed to and then decommitted from, is also a major player in his recruitment.  DSR has also gotten looks from UCLA (bastards) and Michigan State, though at this point those destinations currently look unlikely.

More on DSR after The Jump:

A strong combo-guard, DSR is rated the 22nd best player in the nation by Rivals, 30th by Scout, and 45th by ESPN. There is a lot of debate about how good of a college player DSR will be, as some are down on him due to his perceived lack of athleticism and defense. However, he is a high basketball IQ kid who can score with the best of them.  Quite honestly he's a poor man's Austin Freeman, which doesn't seem like a bad thing at all. Great scorer, not a great defender, but if the rest of the team can dedicate themselves to defense it will hopefully rub off on DSR or at least help mask this deficiency.

Guard depth is the most obvious hole going into the 2012-2013 season. Georgetown is already thin at guard this year and will be losing Jason Clark to graduation. While the Hoyas have a number of wings on the team, some of whom can play the two spot, the only two point guards on next year's roster will be Markel Starks and Jabril Trawick. A third ball-handling guard is a must on this team, and DSR would fill that need and provide a legitimate scoring threat as well.

With the arrival of new players into his recruitment however, don't expect a commitment from DSR this weekend. But with a strong push, Georgetown could end this recruitment early.  If DSR is willing to be part of a strong team where he's not necessarily the star, I think Georgetown has a very good shot at him. If however, he wants to be the focal point of an offense and dominate the ball, then he may end up looking elsewhere.