Hoyas looking to add another transfer big man?

Could Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing be going back to NC State for another transfer?

In what now seems like forever ago in college basketball years, Ewing was able to pluck out an All-ACC performer in Wolfpack big man Omer Yurtseven in hopes of reconnecting the Georgetown to NBA pipeline. The 7-footer, who nearly averaged a double-double with 15.5 points and 9.8 rebounds, did well in his one season with the Hoyas - when he was healthy - and more recently signed with the Miami Heat after a successful run in the G League.

Is it possible Yurtseven was a trend setter for player movement from Raleigh to DC?

The word on the street - read twitter - is that Manny Bates, who led the ACC in blocks the past two seasons while also averaging 7.2 points and 5 boards, could be on the move from the Wolfpack. Bates redshirted in 2018-19 and has since started 49 of 53 games over the last two seasons while serving as one of the most intimidating forces in the ACC in swatting away just under three shots per contest.

Way back when Ewing first arrived at Georgetown, Manny Bates was one of the first bigs he went after during that initial summer recruiting season in 2017. Bates obviously ended up picking NC State to play for Kevin Keatts after the Hoyas secured the commitment of Grayson Carter. Carter, as you may remember, played in 14 games and scored 15 points before leaving to try things out at Texas-Arlington.

ROSTER FIT

While a Top 100 recruit in 2018 and an All-ACC Defensive player since, Bates is a 6-11 traditional big man in the sense that he’s not stretching your offense at all. You can call him a center or power forward but it’s clear he’s a back to the basket player much like Qudus Wahab. In fact, Wahab and Bates have attempted the same amount of 3-pointers in their careers and it rhymes with hero. Traditional centers already on the roster include Tim Ighoefe, Ryan Mutombo, and Malcolm Wilson. Four is a lot. That’s the bad part which I like to get out of the way first.

Now here’s the good part. Bates is a great defender and more athletic than Wahab, who did have his moments playing the role of Hoya Destroya for Ewing.

So let’s say Bates and his elite defense show up this summer. What does that do for minutes at the five spot? Well Bates played pretty much the same amount of time as Wahab did last season at roughly 28 minutes a night. It’s not too hard to see a scenario where - if Bates joined the Hoyas - he’d get those Wahab minutes and then Mutombo picked up the Ighoefe minutes from last season. Ighoefe improved from Year 1 to Year 2 - no doubt - but there’s a limit to how many minutes you have at this one position and you have to think that Mutombo is going to play more than the Wilson role from 20-21. Again, this is where you don’t need four centers. Someone(s) sit.

The Hoyas still look like they need to fill a hole at the stretch four position left by Jamorko Pickett, Chudier Bile, and the recent departure of Jamari Sibley. It’s possible that the Hoyas were close - depending on who you trust - to filling this spot with Patrick Baldwin Jr but he went to play with his dad so it’s still open. Picking up Bates absolutely moves almost all of Tre King’s minutes from center to power forward. Hey, maybe that was always the idea.

BOTTOM LINE

It’s hard - impossible - to pass up on a player like Bates should he become available despite the amount of centers already on the Georgetown roster. His level of defending is sorely needed on a team that has struggled on that side of the court for pretty much the entire time Ewing’s been back on campus.

We may not like it - or maybe it’s just me - but this is how college basketball is played these days. You are constantly adding and losing guys from your roster. If Bates ends up being the second Wolfpack All-ACC big man to come and play for Ewing - and there’s a long way to go before we get there - it would be a huge win. Not many had Ewing upgrading over Wahab so quick but Bates would do the trick.

LUCKY No. 13

With Georgetown now at 13 scholarships this would mean more movement needs to happen if Bates were to join the Hoyas. That is, depending on how Don Carey’s scholarship is counted. Initially it was my understanding that Carey wasn’t going to count against the 13 and then heard that changed. We’ll have to wait and see on that as the transfer portal is open until July 1.