Over the past week, St. Patrick and Run DSR have brought you all of their hot takes on this season’s Hoyas. And if US democracy doesn’t end tomorrow, they’ll keep it going another week.
NAME: Tre Campbell
YEAR: Junior
POSITION: Point guard
HEIGHT: 6-foot-2
WEIGHT: 170 lbs
WHAT WE KNOW
Tre Campbell committed to Georgetown in the vein of several Hoya point guards before him – a speedy local recruit who grew up watching the team. Campbell was initially rated as a mid-major prospect, but a strong senior year campaign brought in offers from some top programs, including Maryland, Pitt and Xavier. He was slated to come in, be groomed for a year under Markel Starks, and then assume the starting point guard spot for the Hoyas. A seamless transition, a wise recruiting decision by JT3…it all made sense.
And for a while, it seemed to go according to plan. Campbell had a pretty solid freshman year, averaging 14 minutes per game while shooting 37% from beyond the arc. He wasn’t a consistent scorer or incredibly efficient player, but he didn’t have to be. He showed off some big game flair in a thrilling overtime win at Marquette, when he went off for a 14 points including a couple of big shots down the stretch. He also scored 9 crucial points in the Hoyas’ first round win against Eastern Washington.
But Tre largely struggled to put it together this past year. This can partly be attributed to (arguably) unfair expectations placed on his class – as Coach has even admitted – but there were clear areas for improvement that seemed to go unaddressed. As alleninxis uncovered in his film room piece (as an aside: Just an awesome series that he put together), Campbell is a confident shooter who can really push the pace with his quickness. But his inability to finish at the rim consistently, his sometimes overaggressive drives, and significant defensive shortcomings made Tre a tough guy to give significant minutes.
WHAT WE EXPECT TO SEE
When Georgetown landed Pryor and Mulmore on top of the already committed Mosely, St. Patrick and I identified the two players who seemed to be the biggest losers from our roster overhaul. One was Paul White, who has since transferred to Oregon. The other was Campbell.
Landing Mulmore, a clear point guard in the same class as Campbell, seems to suggest that JT3 doesn’t expect Campbell to ever take on starting minutes. The recruitment of Tremont Waters seems to underscore that point even more. Coach has mentioned a number of times that the playing time will be allocated by the players themselves – basically, whoever is best will play, and JT3 doesn’t appear to exactly know where all of the minutes will fall. So it may well be that Tre Campbell ends up taking a majority of the point guard minutes if he can prove himself.
But as St. Patrick noted in his Mulmore take yesterday, that doesn’t seem too likely right now. In Kenner, Mulmore was more polished and consistent defensively than Campbell. My take is at best, Campbell can hope for a 50/50 split at point guard minutes. Campbell will likely turn into an Aaron Bowen type player in some ways – not necessarily in his skill set: Campbell is a much better shooter and not nearly as good of a defender as Bowen – but in that JT3 can use Campbell to spark a stagnant offense or get the ball moving more quickly.