Patrick Baldwin's Decision Leaves Georgetown Searching For Answers at PF Position

With Baldwin Jr. committing to Milwaukee and joining his dad, the Hoyas are left with an open spot in their starting lineup for a forward, and no immediate answers as to who will fill that spot.

It feels silly to say this in a year where Georgetown already reeled in one five-star recruit, but let me explain when I say…Patrick Baldwin Jr. not committing to Georgetown really hurts the Hoyas, and puts them in a tough bind at the 4 spot in their starting lineup for next year.

I know, I know, Georgetown has a top-15 recruiting class coming in this year. They will have some strong talent on the floor in 2021-22.

But they are also losing a fair amount of talent too.

Who is going to replace the scoring of Jahvon Blair? The defense and rebounding of Jamorko Pickett? The energy and toughness of Chudier Bile?

And most importantly, who the hell is going to start for Georgetown at the power forward position next year, now that PBJ is off the board, and Jamorko Pickett has decided not to return for his fifth year?

Let’s start there. With PBJ and Pickett now no longer options to be your starting stretch-4, the Hoyas have limited options, both on the current roster and in the transfer portal, to address that need.

Quincy Guerrier, the Syracuse wing who entered the portal this offseason and had been contacted by Georgetown, did not include the Hoyas in his final four list, so he is out too. Besides that, there aren’t that many impact players in the transfer portal anymore that could play the 4 for Georgetown.

And Georgetown doesn’t have many options on its current roster either. Rising sophomore Jamari Sibley is expected to transfer still, and Sibley’s classmates, Collin Holloway (4.4 minutes/game, 1.5 PPG) and Kobe Clark (4.0 minutes/game, 0.6 PPG), who barely played last year, aren’t anywhere close to starting-caliber players right now.

Yikes!

Georgetown has one spot left to work with, assuming Sibley follows through with his plans to transfer still, and with Don Carey not counting against the scholarship limit, as I have reported. It’s not immediately clear who the candidates are to fill that last vacant scholarship spot.

Tre Mitchell, the former UMass center who is considered one of the best centers in the transfer portal, is announcing his list of schools this week. The Hoyas were still recruiting him during their Baldwin chase, and it will be interesting to see if he includes Georgetown, who may or may not have a starting center already, depending on if Patrick Ewing plays Tre King at the 4 or 5.

Outside of Mitchell, who isn’t even a power forward, the cupboard is bare for Georgetown when it comes to impact options at the 4 in the portal. So what can the Hoyas do with their current roster? Let’s take a look.

• Small Ball: Depending on what you think about Timothy Ighoefe’s potential as a starter (and I think it is very unrealistic), the Hoyas will need to go small, with Tre King at center. That leaves a few options for who to start at the 4.

  You can start Kaiden Rice, the 6-foot-7 Citadel transfer who would help stretch the floor for Harris and Mohammed with his 35% three-point shooting. But Rice isn’t a strong rebounder (rebound rate of 6.6% last year), and his defensive numbers aren’t great either. At just 205 pounds, Rice would take a pounding against bigger forwards in the paint, as well. He is likely going to stay in the backcourt.

  If Rice isn’t an option, Georgetown could consider starting Mohammed at the 4, and inserting Jordan Riley at the 3. Mohammed would be a bit undersized, as he is listed somewhere between 6’5”-6’6”, and floor spacing would be an issue, as his three-point shot is still a work in progress. But that’s a lineup that is fast and versatile, especially on defense, and the Hoyas could run and gun all day. Georgetown could likely switch 2-4 with Carey, Riley, and Mohammed too. The concern here is relying on two freshmen in your starting lineup, and the lack of spacing, as Carey and King would be the only players in that lineup to shoot better than 30% from three.

• Start Tim: Gulp.

  Should this happen? Probably not.

  Could it happen? You bet it could.

  Look, we know Patrick Ewing loves his tall, shot-blocking center in the middle of the paint. He has not shown a willingness to start a smaller, more mobile center yet in his time at Georgetown. With Qudus Wahab transferring out, Ighoefe is a candidate to help fill the role vacated by Wahab, as the team’s defensive anchor in the paint.

  But Ighoefe has a ways to go to even reach the level of Wahab, a player who was inherently flawed in his own right. Ighoefe has better physical tools than Wahab, but his understanding of the game of basketball still limits what he can do with those tools, and he is still an incredibly raw player.

  In Ighoefe’s defense, the Nigerian native did not have a summer of offseason work to hone his game between his freshman and sophomore season, due to COVID-19.

  Can a full summer of training and on-court work this summer help him learn the game and develop his technique better? We’ll see. He deserves that benefit of the doubt until then. At the very least, he is a above-average defender who swallows shots whole, albeit while fouling a fair amount of time too.

  Patrick Ewing saw how modern-day, five-out offensive systems in college basketball can shred apart a defense like Georgetown’s that relies on an immobile center like Wahab or Ighoefe to control the paint, when Colorado tore apart the Georgetown defense in the NCAA Tournament. Does he really want to go back to the same thing that failed so spectacularly the last time Georgetown took the floor?

• Tre Mitchell: Tre Mitchell certainly is not Patrick Baldwin Jr., or a wing, for matter, but he’s a talented center, in the mold of an Omer Yurtseven, who would allow Tre King (Hoyas really trying to corner the market on Tre’s) to kick over to the 4, and would help balance the Georgetown roster out.

  Mitchell averaged 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists last year for the Minutemen, and brings a solid 37.5% three-point shot with him too. He would fit in well with the current players on Georgetown’s roster.

  Until further notice, this should be the top target for Georgetown, pending any further late entries into the transfer portal by any other impact players in college basketball.

Patrick Baldwin Jr. not coming to Georgetown lowers the ceiling for this year’s Georgetown team. With him, this team could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but without him, this is a team with an uneven roster that will likely compete in the middle of the pack in the Big East, and be a NCAA Tournament bubble team.

What the Hoyas do have going for them is Dante Harris, who will be one of the best point guards in the Big East, and Aminu Mohammed and Jordan Riley, two talented freshmen who will both come in with high expectations. Depending on what those two freshmen can do, that could determine how far this team goes next season.

But the Hoyas still have one move left to make, if they want to fill that last spot. The options are dwindling, quickly, but the bet here is that Patrick Ewing makes one more addition to next year’s team.