Georgetown Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Hoyas
By Joe Casey
Preseason observations and expectations for Georgetown Basketball in 2020-21.
After falling short to extremely high expectations for the 19-20 season, it is safe to say that Georgetown basketball will have to wait another year to attempt their rise back to their previous success. Prior to the Patrick Ewing era, Georgetown has struggled in the Big East for years. Hiring Ewing gave fans and recruits alike the hope that the program would soon return to the top of the standings.
In his first two years, Ewing looked poised to do just that. He aptly labeled his first few years with the team as, “rebuilding” years. Georgetown played .500 basketball in Ewing’s first season as coach and improved their record while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of improving player experience.
By the end of the first season, Georgetown was 19-14 with Ewing’s second year at the helm. Many anticipated the Hoyas to use the mixture of young recruits and veteran players to find themselves in the running to capture an NCAA tournament bid or, at the very least, feature in the NIT. These hopes were quickly dashed as the program seemed to collapse in on itself, losing six key players in total.
Four of these players made the decision to transfer mid-season while their leading scorers, Mac McClung (15.7) and Omer Yurtseven (15.5), both left the program at the conclusion of the season transferring to Texas Tech and an international league respectively.
The struggles that Georgetown felt last season are unfortunately not totally behind them as they will continue to struggle considering the majority of their core has turned over. In the upcoming season, the team will look to lean on Jamorko Pickett (10.2) and Jahvon Blair (10.8) to take on larger roles in the upcoming season. Outside of Pickett and Blair, the majority of the team is made up of freshman and graduate transfers who have no experience in the Georgetown system.
It is no secret that Georgetown has found themselves back where they started, rebuilding a once-prominent program almost from scratch. Even with the uncertainty of the season ahead, it is clear that the Hoyas won’t see the top of the standing or even come close to an NCAA tournament unless something drastic changes during the 20-21 season. However, regardless of the current status of their roster and the expected performance of the team this season one thing is clear, they are young.
The team currently touts, ten underclassmen and even though they may not all be “homerun” prospects, Ewing was able to secure four-star recruit Jamari Sibley along with two three-star recruits, Kobe Clark and Dante Harris.
Sibley and Harris could see substantial playing time this year while Clark will have to earn minutes behind a veteran backcourt. Overall, they will have one year under their belt when the 2021 class, currently ranked 20th in the nation, arrives in D.C. for the 21-22 season.
Overall, expectations should be low for the 20-21 Georgetown Hoyas. Over the season the Hoyas will struggle to compete in an extremely competitive Big East, especially with the return of UConn.
Under Ewing, the team should look to lean on the leadership of their seniors and learn from the experiences of their graduate transfers. While we thought last year would be the season Georgetown finally found themselves back in the tournament, it seems that it is farther away than many anticipated.