On Friday, news came out that sophomore guard Vee Sanford is transferring from Georgetown. The transfer could not have come as a surprise to anyone who watched the Hoyas play this season. Sanford would come into games in limited minutes, knock down a couple threes, and then would be sent to the bench for reasons the common fan couldn't understand. It was clear that there was some sort of disconnect between Sanford and Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III that none of us will ever get clarity on. Regardless, when senior guard Chris Wright went down with a broken hand in late February and Sanford saw no increase in minutes, the writing was on the wall that Sanford was not part of Georgetown's long term plan. Sanford's sulking body language on the bench also showed that Georgetown was not part of his long term plan.
These things happen, over 100 Division I basketball players will transfer this spring. College sports are a unique time in an athlete's life. Every single player that gets a scholarship to play at Georgetown was by far the best player on his high school team. Yet, only a few get to play, and only a few of those will be able to make a living playing a game they've dedicated their lives to up to that point. Combine that with the normal forces that every college student goes through - living away from home, living by yourself, adjusting to a new part of the country, etc etc - and it makes sense that there is a high level of turnover and transfers. Hell, I transferred myself and I'm not good at anything. That said, since JT3 has been at the helm, there have been an ungodly number of transfers out of Georgetown.
After The Jump, more thoughts.
Here is a list of Georgetown's recruits since JT3's first recruiting class in 2005.
2005 - Jessie Sapp (Graduated), Patrick Ewing Jr. (Graduated, Transferred from Indiana), Marc Egerson (Transferred), Octavius Spann (Transferred), Josh Thornton (Transferred)
2006 - DaJuan Summers (Left Early, 2nd Round Pick), Vernon Macklin (Transferred), Jeremiah Rivers (Transferred)
2007 - Austin Freeman (Will Graduate in May), Chris Wright (Will Graduate in May), Nikita Mescheriakov (Transferred), Omar Wattad (Transferred)
2008 - Greg Monroe (Left Early, 1st Round Pick), Jason Clark (Current), Henry Sims (Current), Julian Vaughn (Will Graduate in May, Transferred from Florida State), Chris Braswell (Failed to Qualify)
2009 - Hollis Thompson (Current), Jerrelle Benimon (Current), Vee Sanford (Transferred), Dashonte Riley (Decommitted)
2010 - Nate Lubick (Current), Markel Starks (Current), Moses Ayegba (Current), Aaron Bowen (Current)
There is some speculation that the 2009 class is not done with transfers. If we assume one more player from the 2009 class transfers, only the 2008 and 2010 classes will have remained largely intact since they came to Georgetown. There should not be a penalty on JT3 for Monroe or Summers leaving, because losing talented players early to the NBA is just the name of the game. 2005 is also an outlier because the program was clearly in transition and was able to get much better quality players after some tournament successes, which displaced guys like Spann, Thornton and Egerson.
The problem is that from 2006-2009, three of the four classes had less than 50% of the players stay at Georgetown. Yet, when you look at the names, Macklin, Rivers and potentially Sanford are the only three players that could have had an impact on the court. My argument to that argument is that JT3 is responsible for bringing players in, and did he really think Nikita Mescheriakov, Omar Wattad, and others were guys that would really contribute big minutes?
I am starting to get dizzy arguing with myself, so I leave it you, oh loyal reader. Are you concerned with the amount of Georgetown transfers? The "yes" answer is that the offense takes a while to understand, and the program needs continuity. The "no" answer is that we are substituting better players for the players that are leaving.
Discuss amongst yourselves.