Former Ole Miss signee Rodney Howard decides on Athens over Atlanta, leaving Georgia Tech Basketball with few options.
6’11 center Rodney Howard made his college decision on Wednesday, announcing he will commit to Tom Crean and Georgia over Georgia Tech Basketball. Howard, a former Ole Miss signee, visited both schools over this past weekend.
The decision came shortly after Georgia big man Nic Claxton announced he was staying in the 2019 NBA draft.
Even though I stated in the my last piece that I didn’t think Georgia Tech necessarily needed another big man, it would have been nice to win a recruiting battle. An in-state recruiting battle. Against your hated rival. Alas, you can give this W to the Dawgs. Those W’s are really starting to add up by the way. Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner is 0-3 vs Georgia on the court (all by double digits) and has lost nearly ever recruiting battle against Georgia when it comes to prep players. Something Yellow Jacket’s fans are not oblivious to.
This isn’t going to turn into a bash Josh Pastner piece, I promise. We all know the story with the 2019 class. It was expected to be big and good. It was nothing short of a failure. Some think that bad luck or some kind of vex has landed in Atlanta, but I don’t believe in that. Josh Pastner simply needs to do better. That’s it. The Jordan Usher and Bubba Parham additions are nice and Georgia Tech should be competitive for 2019-20, but this is starting to feel like Brian Gregory all over again.
The miss on Howard is also concerning because it puts the pressure on the Georgia Tech staff to land some kind of impact post player in the 2020 recruiting class. With James Banks receiving immediate eligibility last year, he will now graduate a year earlier than expected. I apologize for that mansplaining. This means that currently, the only big men on the roster for the 2020-21 season are Moses Wright and Evan Cole.
While I expect Moses to be a solid back up to Banks this year, I am not sure I am buying the way he finished last season enough to commit 30-33 minutes per game to him. Cole has had health issues and while he plays very hard, hasn’t shown that he’s ready to log heavy minutes in the ACC. Howard was the perfect type of kid to give to Coach Rev and be developed.
Whatever the reason, and there are several possibilities that I believe in, it’s become seemingly impossible to keep high-end talent in Atlanta. This Georgia Tech staff needs to figure out how to open the pipeline in their own city.