Noah Dickerson Commits to Georgetown

Georgetown's stepped-up recruiting efforts continued to bear fruit this weekend when 2015 power forward Noah Dickerson verbally committed to be a Hoya.  The top-50 prospect joins forward Marcus Derrickson in next year's class; both players will provide some interior heft to complement the rangy athletes in the class of 2014.

At 6'8", 250 pounds, Dickerson is a natural fit at Big Man U. Scouting reports are littered with references to Dickerson's wide body, strength, and physical play. He crashes the boards and is a crafty back-to-the-basket post scorer. While not as tall as the prototypical post, Dickerson compensates with strong hands, quick feet, and a willingness to grind. Some of Dickerson's highlights can be found here.

Georgetown is landing one of the best low post scorers I've seen over the last 3 years in Noah Dickerson. Very crafty around the rim.

— Justin Young (@JustinDYoung) May 10, 2014

Originally from Atlanta, Dickerson transferred this season to basketball factory Montverde Academy in Florida. There, Dickerson didn't see much playing time, languishing a bit behind five-star power forward Ben Simmons. Still, Dickerson found his form again this spring on the AAU circuit, averaging a near double-double in the first EYBL session in Sacramento.

Georgetown had been recruiting Dickerson for some time, and the native Georgian seemed likely to come to the Hilltop. In an early interview about his recruiting, Dickerson noted, "I’m really good family friends with Dikembe Mutombo and he called them about me." Dickerson seemed receptive to the pitch of JT3 and lead assistant/ace recruiter/shape shifter Kevin Broadus, and 15 of 16 recruitniks on 247 accurately called Dickerson to Georgetown over Ohio State, Florida, and others. (Edit: Assistant coach Kevin Sutton, who coached Montverde well before Dickerson enrolled there, may have been involved in Dickerson's recruitment as well, according to this interview with Dickerson.)

Dickerson fills a need for Georgetown, which will lose Joshua Smith and Mikael Hopkins after this coming season from an already-thin low post rotation. Dickerson joins a deep stable of front-court players in the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes, which also includes Isaac Copeland, Paul White, Trey Mourning, and Derrickson. Those players will compete for minutes, but each offers a unique skill set, with Dickerson bringing the best low-post game of the bunch.

Dickerson is the fourth recruit in the past two classes to commit before his senior season begins (the others being Copeland, Tre Campbell, and Derrickson). Those early, high-level commitments allow the staff to focus their efforts on the roster's remaining needs for the seasons to come.

Speaking of which, Dickerson's commitment likely will not conclude Georgetown's search for a 2015 center. JT3 and staff recently hosted South Florida transfer John Egbunu and rising 2015 center prospect Jessie Govan. Georgetown also has been hitting the recruiting trail hard in pursuit of 2015 studs Ivan Rabb, Chance Comanche, Skal Labissiere, and others. While a commitment from any of these bigs would be terrific, Dickerson might be a particularly good pair with an agile big like Rabb, Comanche, or Labissiere.

With Dickerson on board, Georgetown still has three scholarships open for 2015, assuming Mourning is on scholarship rather than a walk-on. If one of those remaining slots is filled by an additional big, the Hoyas likely will focus their remaining recruiting efforts on the perimeter, where the staff has been courting Allonzo Trier, Dwayne Bacon, Bryant Crawford, Terance Mann, Ray Smith, Joshua Reaves, and others.

Dickerson continues a healthy string of top-100 commitments over the past two seasons, a refreshing turnaround after seemingly every high-profile Georgetown recruit chose to go elsewhere. Since the arrival of Sutton and Tavaras Hardy last spring, Georgetown has landed commitments from four top-100 players and is hot on the trail of several high-profile prospects for years to come. Like the other recent Hoya recruits, Dickerson is a solid four-star prospect who can develop into a valuable four-year contributor on the Hilltop. Hoya Saxa!