Why Aminu Mohammed Should Choose Georgetown

Hey sports fans. We’re now in the eleventh month of the Year 2020, which for most of us feels like the longest and most terrible year of our lives.

For Georgetown fans, it’s been even worse. As the weeks creep closer and closer to early December, your Hoya faithful are about a year removed from one of the most devastating weeks in program history: the series of events that culminated in the departures of James Akinjo and Josh Leblanc, and then Myron Gardner and Galen Alexander, and the defection of top recruit Terrance Williams, and eventually, the unexpected transfer of star Mac McClung. And oh yeah, Covid happened. And John Thompson Jr. passed away. And well, it’s been a rocky, utterly horrendous last twelve months.

But times are changing. As we get ready to turn the calendar page, we look forward to a new season, a new year, and a new cast of characters on this Georgetown Hoyas squad. Before we get into previews and projections, though, there’s more urgent business to attend to: will the Hoyas add crown jewel Aminu Mohammed to their recruiting Class of 2021?

Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

For those of you who have (understandably) deprioritized paying attention to your Hoyas during the Covid-19 offseason, here’s a quick update. Patrick Ewing and the staff have been crushing it on the recruiting trail, with four studs already lined up for the Class of 2021: Jalin Billingsley, Jordan Riley, Ryan Mutombo, and Tyler Beard. This is a deep and talented group that should position your Hoyas well in the next couple of years.

This class is already a delicious ice cream sundae, but no sundae is complete without a cherry on top, and that cherry could very well be 5-star 6’4’’ wing, Aminu Mohammed, the young man who could give Georgetown one of the best recruiting classes in the whole damn country.

You may ask: “Why should Aminu come to the Hilltop?” Well, we’re here to tell you.

Right now.

Aminu Mohammed would be the most revered freshman on campus since 2008.

It’s true. Not since Greg Monroe in 2008 will the Hoya faithful be this excited about a prospect. Fans would be straight-up giddy.

There’s something to be said for being the fan favorite on Day 1 for a sports team that is the university’s #1 priority. Everyone on the Hilltop – from the coaching staff to the fans and the players – recognize how transformational Aminu can be for the program.

Georgetown is a basketball school.

Let’s not lose sight of this one. Georgetown is a basketball school, not a football school. Basketball is priority #1. The program and the players are treated as such. Some of the other schools Aminu is considering are football schools. Even the ones that have good basketball traditions are still, well, football schools.

Aminu Mohammed deserves to play at a basketball school. And Georgetown deserves a player who is as pure and well-rounded as Aminu Mohammed.

Washington, D.C. is just itching to embrace a local kid who can restore Georgetown to its former glory days.

It’s true. It happened in the 1980s. And then for a bit during the mid-2000s. When Georgetown is hot, the District is on fire. There is nothing more exciting to see than thousands of local Washingtonians going nuts for the Hoyas. Cap One Arena isn’t a gym on a farm in the middle of nowhere. It’s a pro arena in our nation’s capital.

Aminu Mohammed has roots in D.C. – before transferring to a school in Missouri, he earned all-WCAC honors at Archbishop Carroll High School. So he lived in the DMV, he knows what the competition is like, and now he can help bring Georgetown back to its rightful place as the king of the DMV at the collegiate level.

Georgetown needs Aminu. More importantly, the District needs this match to happen.

Patrick Ewing is a big deal.

Number 33 from Georgetown was more than an actor on “Space Jam” — over thirty years ago, he revolutionized the sport, led the Hoyas to three Final Fours and a national championship in four seasons and then went on to have one of the greatest careers in NBA history. The dude is a legend.

Just watch this and try not to get chills

He’s PA-TRICK EW-ING, and he wants to be Aminu’s coach. That’s kind of a big deal.

Patrick has roots in Boston, Washington and New York – he’s well-liked up and down the east coast and he’s a legend at Madison Square Garden, which, incidentally is where the Big East plays its conference tournament. My guy Patrick goes to MSG, points up to his jersey in the rafters and pulls a William Forrester (“I’m that one.”). No other coach in the country can do that.

Georgetown has a pretty good history of sending kids from Missouri high schools to the NBA.

Otto Porter, anyone? For the last couple of years, Aminu has been lighting it up at the Greenwood Laboratory School in Springfield, Missouri, where he has averaged an obscene 34.8 points and 15.7 rebounds per game.

Georgetown loves understated kids who play hard-nosed defense and win titles in Missouri. And the last time we had one of those guys, he helped Georgetown win a Big East title and then went on to become a lottery pick. The blueprint is there. Time for Aminu to recreate the magic.

Georgetown needs a top-notch wing.

That Class of 2021 is ready to go. With Beard at the 1, Riley at the 2, Billingley at the 4, and Mutombo(!) at the 5, all we need is a stellar guy at the 3. Aminu can do it all, but the reports are that Ewing would have him log most minutes at the wing. With Aminu on board, this class goes from being a top 20 class to a straight-up fab five.

Aminu would be the highest-rated recruit and best player on a loaded and talented roster. This class already aspires to bring the program back where it rightfully belongs, and Aminu may very well be the guy to put this class over the top.

Georgetown is the place to be for kids who like to grind and defend.

Patrick Ewing is prioritizing recruits who are long and athletic, who play hard, and who play defense. He’s trying to inject a little of that 90s Knicks attitude into his Hoyas’ squad.

Aminu fits the bill. Everybody will point to his gaudy offensive numbers, and trust us, they’re nice. But take a closer look and watch how this kid actually competes – his defense, his hustle, his nose for the ball. Aminu’s offensive skill set, advanced rebounding, elite feel and ability to impact the game without the ball make him unique.

He belongs at Georgetown, and he deserves to have Big Pat as his coach and mentor.

Aminu Mohammed is humble, and Georgetown could use some humble kids.

Aminu is a five star recruit who doesn’t advertise himself with hundreds of self-made mixtapes. He doesn’t need to. He just puts in the work and lets his stats do the talking.

Georgetown doesn’t need kids with nationwide followings and crazy Youtube videos. It needs more kids like Aminu.

Patrick Ewing knows how to coach a pro-style offense and he wants to run up and down the damn court.

Big Pat has been an NBA assistant for 15 years. He’s played for and coached under some of the best minds in the game – Pat Riley, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy, and Steve Clifford – and he knows what he’s doing.

If Aminu wants to learn from a guy who’s been to the NBA, Patrick is that guy. And not only is Ewing one of the greatest NBA players of all time, he has also coached and developed some of the best NBA players – guys like Dwight Howard and Kemba Walker.

Aminu wants to go to the NBA. Patrick will show him how to get there.

Georgetown is a pretty solid academic school.

If Aminu cares about academics, or life after basketball, Georgetown’s reputation is pretty killer. If Aminu wants to go to basketball practice and then join a march for racial justice before going to his internship on Capitol Hill, he totally can.

Georgetown has a pretty good track record of developing players from Africa.

Aminu, originally from Nigeria, can join a long list of Georgetown players from Africa who were dominant in college. For example: Dikembe Mutombo, Cheikh Dia, Boubacar Aw, Joe Touomou, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. The list goes on and on, but you get the point. Find me another school that has developed as many talented African players in the last thirty years. Hint: you can’t.

And guess what? Timothy Ighoefe and Qudus Wahab are also straight outta Lagos. Aminu will have two Nigerian best friends on Day One.

Georgetown now has the facilities to compete with other top basketball schools.

Have you heard about Georgetown’s new practice facility? It’s big and awesome and cost lots of money. We now have practice courts and modern weight rooms and study rooms and an updated locker room and a new video room and lots of state of the art equipment. Please enjoy.

Georgetown is about more than just basketball.

Georgetown is about academics. Georgetown is about social and racial justice. Georgetown is about doing things the right way. Georgetown is about grooming young men to succeed on and off the basketball court.

Georgetown is about John Thompson Jr. and the legacy that he left us.

Aminu Mohammed is next in line to carry this tradition forward. In this year of Zoom recruiting chats, it’s tough for players to get a true feel for coaches and schools. But, if Big John were alive today and Covid were magically gone, here’s what would happen:

Coach Thompson would put his arm around Aminu, point up to the NBA jerseys on the courtside wall-of-fame, and say, “Son, one day your jersey’s gonna be up there.” And then he would look him in the eye and say, “Son, you’re coming to Georgetown.”

Come back home, Aminu. The Hilltop and our nation’s capital are ready for you to bring the smoke. It’s time for you to come and get it.