LINKS: Ewing on the Trail, Pickett Primed?

There’s been a mild flurry of tweets and articles about recruiting and how the Georgetown Hoyas will fare this upcoming season—including some actual content on this humble lunch blog (podcasts and film room on transfers Terrell Allen and Omer Yurtseven).

The Hoyas have been getting some attention from bracketologists and potential pollsters. The overview on Georgetown this season from The Athletic (excerpt below) is well worth the read and hopefully promising for solid future (premium) coverage.

‘Where in the World is Patrick Ewing’ has seen Big Pat all over the country these past two weeks, including Richmond to see Efton Reid, but it has taken another turn with Ewing recruiting up north today.

Karim Mane is a 2020 combo guard—there’s also been a couple recent offers to guards in that class—so feel free to try to read the tea leaves regarding the R.J. Davis recruitment...

Here are the links:

Fanta Report: The 10 Big East X-Factor Players To Watch For Heading into the 2019-20 Season | NCAAHoopsDigest

Georgetown – Jamarko Pickett, Junior, 6-foot-8

A member of Patrick Ewing’s first recruiting class, the Washington, D.C. native put up a strong freshman season, but just averaged 6.2 points per game on 38 percent shooting as a sophomore. Ewing liked the way Pickett defended, and he continued to get solid minutes, but a second-year offensive struggle kept him from breaking out alongside a star-studded freshman class. If Pickett’s perimeter shot can find consistency and he can take the next steps offensively as a junior, that could be a key variable as the Hoyas try to return to March Madness for the first time since 2015.

State of the Hoops Program: Patrick Ewing is in a hurry to get Georgetown places | The Athletic

The Bahamas trip caught his teammates off guard, even those who’d been watching him play in practice for an entire year. “I watched him in practice during his redshirt year but I never really saw him against other competition,” Mosely says. “That was kind of my first time seeing him against players where he wasn’t playing the same people every day.” What did Mosely see? “His strength level. NBA body. Just … grown man strength.”

Ewing isn’t shy about placing the brunt of expectations on his Turkish center’s broad shoulders. “A person of his size and sneaky athleticism, he can do a lot of different things,” Ewing says. “He can post, he can shoot the 3. I’m going to expect a lot of out of him. He’s a person that I’ve been pushing on hard from Day 1.”

In other words, Ewing wants to see more from Omer Yurtseven than what he saw from the then-sophomore at N.C. State. Much more. Fortunately for all involved, Yurtseven expects the same. If things play out as planned, the big man is bound to be recognized for more than just being big.

[continued] “To me [LeBlanc is] every coach’s dream,” Ewing says. “You don’t have to call a play for him. His energy, his effort (is always there) every night. That’s what he brings to the table. His basketball IQ. He’s relentless.”

Josh LeBlanc was the unsung star of Georgetown’s freshman corps last season, a highly efficient, low-usage role player with crazy length and the prototypical reactive wing’s skill set. The staff is pushing LeBlanc to further expand his game this season — he made 63 percent from inside the arc last season but attempted just seven shots outside it — but even if LeBlanc is just a slightly better version of his freshman form, he will still be a crucial, positionally flexible piece in the puzzle. At best, he could be much, much more.

2020 wing Reece Brown updates recruitment | ZagsBlog (Adam Zagoria)

Reece Brown, the 6-foot-9, 190-pound wing from Loomis Chaffee (CT), is being recruited by Rice, UNLV, Wisconsin and Georgetown, among others...

“Playing for Coach [Patrick] Ewing and Georgetown would be incredible learning from an NBA legend. I think I can definitely develop and play in a great conference as well. We haven’t talked about visit dates yet but I’d love to take an official there.”

50 days from opening night of college basketball: 50 things to get you ready for the 2019-20 season | CBSSports

46. Names of some lesser-accomplished guys who should become buzzy, easy to love, easy to hate, etc.: LSU’s Skylar Mays, Texas’ Andrew Jones, Illinois’ Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Wisconsin’s Brad Davison, Texas Tech’s Davide Moretti, Duke’s Alex O’Connell, Purdue’s Matt Haarms, Georgetown’s James Akinjo and Mac McClung.

Open practice 10/5. Calendar it.