RUMOR TRACKER: What’s the Hoyas Roster Going to Look Like Next Season? (UPDATED 4/19)

After a fantastic BIG EAST Tournament Championship run and a promising final stretch in conference play, there’s a lot to be excited about with the direction of the Georgetown Hoyas.

There’s no doubt that, with a top incoming recruiting class, next year’s roster looks even stronger. With this strange season finally in the books, perhaps now is the time to review the lineup for next year and make some educated guesses as to who will be re-joining Patrick Ewing’s team next season—especially considering the bonus eligibility for seniors and graduates this year.

Until now, this blog contributor has pleaded for restraint regarding roster speculation. There is the time and place for it, and it seems to be now, as best as I can figure out. This tracker page and comment section should be considered as rumors and speculation only. College players and recruits should NOT be perusing these parts of Casual Hoya for insight. That’s just a bad idea. If a player were to read his name as a speculative transfer-out, he has to dismiss it as flibbertigibbet.

That said, commenters should chill out and shouldn’t go out of their way to demean or try to chase a player off the team. Support your Hoyas. This is a dangerous experiment knowing our commenters, but the NCAA roster situations will be crazier than ever this spring.

Have no doubt that we love our current players and graduates, we criticize our favorites the harshest, we loathe defectors yet follow their transfers, and we celebrate everyone from the starters to the end of the bench as long as they hustle while wearing blue and gray.

SCHOLARSHIP RULES

Let’s discuss the expected rules for roster limits.

1. There are 13 available scholarships
2. Seniors and graduates can stay without counting towards the limit of 13 scholarships
3. Transfers likely will not have to sit a year due to a pending waiver rule for 2021-22
4. Incoming transfers and freshmen count towards the limit of 13 scholarships

The San Diego Union-Tribune articulated the rules structure back in October:

An NCAA spokesperson told the Union-Tribune on Wednesday night that “the additional eligibility is only at the current school” but clarified that Thursday morning.

“The eligibility is available at another school,” the spokesperson said in a subsequent email, “but the scholarship will count against team limits. If a student-athlete stays at their current school but has exhausted eligibility, their aid doesn’t count against team limits.”

In other words, if you have 13 basketball players on scholarship and three seniors stay for their extra year, you still get three additional scholarships for 2021-22. If a senior transfers to another school for that extra season, he or she counts against the allotted scholarship limit (which is 13 for men’s basketball).

We will assume that basic NCAA rules still are in effect—e.g., walk-ons don’t count against the scholarship limit, a “red-shirted” freshman won’t save his scholarship, and recruited players can’t magically become non-scholarship walk-ons (unless you’re a senior and your name is Trey Mourning, apparently—ask LCPolo18).

ROSTER

Let’s take a look at the current 2020-21 roster (and scholarship table) and estimated eligibility for next year.

• Chudier Bile GRAD F 6-7 (only bonus year left) *believed to be going pro
• Jalen Harris GRAD G 6-2 (likely only bonus year left) *no rumors to return
• Donald Carey GRAD G 6-5 (1 yr, plus bonus year left) *maybe returning
• Kaiden Rice GRAD G/F 6-7 (bonus year left) (committed 4/17)
• Jahvon Blair SR G 6-4 (only bonus year left) *believed to be going pro
• Jamorko Pickett SR F 6-9 (only bonus year left) *believed to be going pro
• Qudus Wahab SO C 6-11 (2 yrs, plus bonus year left) (entered transfer portal 3/25)
• Tre King SR F/C 6-9 (1 yr, plus bonus year left) *new transfer
• Timothy Ighoefe SO C 7-0 (2 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• Malcolm Wilson RS-SO C 7-0 (3 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• Dante Harris FR G 6-0 (3 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• Jamari Sibley FR F 6-8 (3 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• T.J. Berger FR G 6-4 (3 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• Collin Holloway FR F 6-6 (3 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• Kobe Clark FR F 6-4 (3 yrs, plus bonus year left)
• Jaden Robinson WO-JR G 6-3
• Chuma Azinge WO-SO G 6-3
• Victor Muresan WO-FR F 6-10

Let’s look at the current slate of incoming recruits (4 years of eligibility):

• Aminu Mohammed G/F 6-5
• Ryan Mutombo C 6-11
• Jordan Riley G 6-4
• Jalin Billingsley F 6-8
• Tyler Beard G 6-1

There was evidence that each of Beard, Riley, Billingsley, and Mutombo signed a national letter of intent—and Mohammed seems all-in—so if all goes as planned, Patrick Ewing will have five new faces come June.

POTENTIAL ISSUES

For those of you who were not Math minors at the College, I’ll point out the first problem: if Georgetown is adding five freshman next season and only regaining four total scholarships from two seniors and two post-graduates, they will be one scholarship over the limit. The bonus eligibility will not affect that number.

The assumption is that Don Carey, as a second-year graduate student, would be using his apparent year left of eligibility and not using the bonus year. Said another way, graduate student Don Carey likely counts towards the limit of 13 scholarships. If Carey goes pro—or is somehow able to demonstrate he’s exhausted his normal eligibility and is using his bonus eligibility as a fifth-year—the limit of 13 is fine next year.

But if Don Carey comes back to Georgetown as a fourth-year athlete, another roster spot has to open up for the fifth incoming freshman. Sad to say, that most likely means either a transfer out of a current freshman or sophomore scholarship player (no current juniors) or a de-commitment/deferral of an incoming recruit. That’s where the speculation comes in. Keep an ear out for transfer portal news.

Not to mention, Patrick Ewing’s staff is still technically recruiting 2021 and there has been a rumor of an incoming DMV point guard transfer. There are a couple huge 2021 whales out there that Ewing is still apparently fishing for, including Pat Baldwin, Jr. and Chet Holmgren. Securing another 5-star would be phenomenal, but it probably means a transfer of a current player or deferral for a commit.

RUMORS

Here are the rumors for who may be returning:

3/20: Don Carey is apparently hoping to come back and focus on defense.

3/24: Marshall senior Jarrod West, a 5’11” PG from West Virginia, entered his name in the transfer portal and apparently Georgetown reached out. This news would seem to weaken the rumors that Chris Lykes has selected GU. The news also seems to indicate that some roster space may be coming. Of course, it could just be a phone call to check.

3/25: Qudus Wahab has entered the transfer portal.

3/27: PG Chris Lykes is on the transfer market. Check the previous rumor post.

UPDATE 3/29:

With Qudus Wahab likely staying in the transfer portal (despite my pleas), and the presumption that Donald Carey would be returning (using a scholarship spot), the Hoyas are at the limit of 13 scholarships. However, Patrick Ewing seems to be checking in on quite a few recruits and transfers, fans have to assume there’s still some roster movement to come. Here are some of the offers LCPolo has been watching:

Confirmed Interest

• Cam’Ron Fletcher SF 6’6”
• Parker Fox PF 6’8”
• John Harrar PF 6’9”
• Cam Martin PF 6’9”
• Chuba Ohams PF 6’9”
• Justin Powell PG 6’5”
• Jarrod West PG 5’11”
• AJ Wilson PF 6’7”

Unconfirmed Interest

• Riley Battin PF 6’9”
• Chris Lykes PG 5’7”
• Tre Mitchell C 6’9”
• Kellan Grady SG 6’5”

Georgetown Recruiting has a nearly identical list.

UPDATE 3/29: Chris Lykes tells Sean Paul that Georgetown has contacted him. Updates here.

Kellan Grady off the board per Jon Rothstein.

3/30: Georgetown reportedly reached out to Marreon Johnson, a 6’1” grad-transfer PG. The timeline is unclear and the inference may be that guard/Chris Lykes decisions are up in the air.

3/31 Tre King has reportedly been offered.

UPDATE 4/1: Georgetown reportedly offered F Abdoul Karin Coulibaly (Pitt).

UPDATE 4/2: Coulibaly chose the Bonnies.

4/3 Transferring out of Georgetown, Qudus Wahab chose Maryland.

PG Marreon Jackson has Georgetown in his final four.

Everyone waiting on Patrick Baldwin, Jr.

UPDATE 4/4: Fordham transfer center Chuba Ohams has Georgetown in his list.

Chris Lykes will not be headed to Georgetown or Maryland, presumably based on limited availability of point guard minutes at each.

UPDATE 4/5:

DJ Jeffries has been reportedly been contacted by Georgetown. No sense of timing or how serious at this point.

6’9” F transfer from Eastern Kentucky, Tre King also spoke about Georgetown reaching out:

Basketball Recruiting - Tre King hearing from Big East and ACC programs | BASKETBALLRECRUITING.RIVALS

“I feel like I have a lot of people who are showing serious interest in me. I would say Georgetown, Xavier, Virginia Tech and Marquette are on me the hardest, in my opinion,” King said...

“Georgetown, Xavier and Marquette are all in the Big East which is a historic basketball conference with great tradition. The biggest thing they have all said to me is they are right on the cusp of doing something special and each believes that I could be the piece that really helps them get over the hump. They also are all saying they can help me to become a more complete player and help me reach my dream of playing in the NBA” ...

Georgetown: “I have gotten to watch Georgetown some this past year, in the Big East and NCAA tournaments. Head coach Patrick Ewing has been in contact with me directly.”

UPDATE 4/6:

There is a growing buzz about Patrick Baldwin, Jr. announcing today as he happened to like a cryptic Tweet by Tipton Edits that said an announcement from a top recruit was coming Tuesday...

Aidan Curran at Hilltop Hoops has some insight on Chudier Bile, Jamorko PIckett, and Jahvon Blair and a couple potential transfers like Tre King and Chris Lykes.

UPDATE 4/7: Chris Lykes is destined for Arkansas. Still unclear if there was interest in him from Georgetown, per Hilltop Hoops.

Georgetown had reportedly reached out to Alexiz Yetna, but there were no details of the how serious the talks were. Yetna is headed to Seton Hall.

UPDATE 4/8: Marreon Jackson chose ASU. No word on how serious Georgetown’s interest was and the timing of their contact.

Earl Timberlake is headed to Memphis. No idea if the interest was there, but GU did recruit him at DeMatha.

UPDATE 4/12: Hoyas get Tre King. Roster updated above, I count 13 scholarships plus Carey.

UPDATE 4/16: Plenty of rumors swirling as a few transfer report Georgetown was in contact with them, but everyone seems to be focused on Patrick Baldwin, Jr. with GU still very much in the mix.

Hilltop Hoops articulated one rumor we’ve been hearing about Tre Mitchell, although it sounds like Ewing’s staff reached out to Tristan Clark.

UPDATE 4/18: Hoyas get Kaiden Rice late Saturday night. Roster updated above, I count 14 scholarships plus Carey. Per the above, it is my understanding that grad transfers count towards the scholarship limit.

UPDATE 4/19: As Chet Holmgren announces his decision to attend Gonzaga, recruiting followers turn their eyes back to Patrick Baldwin, Jr.

With no news of transfers out of Georgetown, fans are starting to wonder how Patrick Ewing and Georgetown may deal with the two recent roster additions. The rules listed above, from the article by the Sand Diego Union Tribune, indicate a potential scholarship limit issue for the Hoyas.