Lots of New Names Leads To Rotational Uncertainty
Georgia Tech has a lot of new faces this season who have not played for Damon Stoudamire before and Stoudamire is cagey about this kind of thing so this is a bit of a guessing game.
Projected Lineup
I think this team has a legitimate chance to go at least 9 deep, maybe 10. Stoudamire has talked about wanting more depth and getting minutes for everyone. I think the only two guarantees to start are Nait George at point guard and Baye Ndongo at either the 4 or 5. They both had really good freshman years and look set to run it back this year. I expect Javian McCollum to start in the backcourt alongside George, but I’m a little less sure about that because it’s hard to tell how transfers will fit in with a new coach and team and Lance Terry has gotten a lot of praise from Damon. Jaeden Mustaf is a highly ranked freshman and could be the best defender in the backcourt so he’ll get some minutes especially as the season goes on.
At the wings I expect Kowacie Reeves and Luke O’Brien to get the call, but there’s a lot of uncertainty here. Reeves was a decent 3-and-D wing last year. O’Brien is a really similar player, but is generally more consistent and a better defender and rebounder. The only other wing on the roster that I expect to get any real playtime is the freshman Darrion Sutton. In general I don’t expect Sutton to play a ton, but he’s got the potential for it. Instead, when Reeves or O’Brien go out I think they’ll bring in either Duncan Powell, the transfer from Sacramento State, or the freshman big man Doryan Onwuchekwa to bring in a bigger lineup. Baye Ndongo should be playing at least 30 minutes every night unless he’s in foul trouble. Play him as a center or a power forward. Either way he has to be on the floor.
Ryan Mutombo barely played the last few years on some weak Georgetown teams so I don’t expect him to play much on this team either. Dyllan Thompson is a low ranked freshmen. I expect him to redshirt to get some more time to work on getting his game to the college level. Ibrahim Souare is the one in the group that I’d be least surprised to crack the lineup. He redshirted last year so we never got to see him on the floor, but he’s athletic and he returned so presumably he saw some path to getting on the floor.