Georgia Tech Basketball: Why Javian McCollum is the most important team transfer for 2024-25

Based on the recent happenings for Georgia Tech it might be hard for more recent fans of college basketball to believe that the Yellow Jackets played for the national title game just twenty years ago. The program hasn’t been in great shape in recent years, though Damon Stoudamire’s team showed signs of life last season during his first year at the helm. Regardless, Georgia Tech finished just 14-18 and find themselves in an even bigger ACC this year.

Though top scorer Miles Kelly left and made his way to Auburn, the Yellow Jackets do return a pair of intriguing rising sophomores in Naithan George and Baye Ndongo. There’s other young talent in this lineup, while Stoudamire and his staff has also been active in the Transfer Portal to fill some of those other holes.

There’s not a long list of new faces in Atlanta this season, but former Georgetown center Ryan Mutombo and previous Colorado guard Luke O’Brien could both carve out roles this upcoming season. However, none of the new faces among the freshmen or transfers is as important as Javian McCollum; the crown jewel of the offseason.

This will actually be McCollum’s third school, as the Florida native spent a pair of seasons at Siena before heading to Oklahoma last year. McCollum took a major step forward as a sophomore with the Saints and then remained a top offensive option with the Sooners. He averaged 13.3 points and 3.4 assists per game last season at Oklahoma, numbers that nearly matched his production the year before in the MAAC.

Last season McCollum led the Sooners in scoring and was actually one of the nation’s best free throw shooters, knocking down 94% of those attempts. He’s shown potential as a long-range shooter and has much better turnover numbers last season at Oklahoma. His game has slowly evolved and he’s certainly exactly the type of offensive weapon that Stoudamire or any coach would love to add to their program.

Georgia Tech is an example of a team that found a leader in the Transfer Portal. The expectation is that McCollum will lead this team in scoring and that his experience and leadership will also be vital for any success for the Yellow Jackets. With the ACC swelling to 18 teams, there’s even more of a challenge for the Yellow Jackets, especially after a few important departures, but McCollum enters the fray looking to inspire change.

Whether or not McCollum can build on last year’s success with Oklahoma will go a long way to determining what happens to Georgia Tech this season. Can the Yellow Jackets turn some heads and actually compete in an ACC that has been mostly out of reach for two decades? Will the rest of the roster have enough firepower around McCollum to make this a competitive season?