The recruiting engine never completely stops for Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner and his staff. But, in Pastner’s efforts to find a transfer to come to Tech and accept the team’s 13th and final scholarship slot, the machine is running at a low idle.
“As of right now, there’s a good probability this is our team going into the ’20-’21 season,” Pastner told the AJC on Monday.
As the offseason began in March, Pastner had three scholarship slots to fill with the transfers of Evan Cole, Asanti Price and Kristian Sjolund (none of whom had decided on destinations as of Monday). Pastner and his staff landed two transfers whom they had recruited coming out of high school, USC guard Kyle Sturdivant (from Norcross High) and Georgia center Rodney Howard (from Alpharetta).
For the last spot, Pastner went hard after three transfers in particular – Duke guard (and Milton High grad) Alex O’Connell, Purdue center Matt Haarms and Loyola Marymount center Mattias Markusson.
However, in the span of four days last week, O’Connell committed to Creighton, Markusson decided to stay at Loyola Marymount and Haarms did not include Tech in his final 10. Pastner said Monday that “nothing’s moving” in terms of his staff’s attempts to recruit anyone else in the portal. Not seeing fits among remaining high-school prospects, Pastner is focused on the transfer market.
“We’re prepared to sit idle with it all the way through,” he said. “I really like our team that we have with the incoming guys, the returning guys. I love our core group.”
The Yellow Jackets finished the 2019-20 season with a flourish, winning six of their final seven games to finish at 17-14. Tech finished in fifth place in the ACC with an 11-9 record. It was the Jackets’ highest league finish since 2004-05, when they tied for fourth when the league had 11 teams (as opposed to 15 currently). It was their first winning record in ACC play since 2003-04, when they reached the national championship game.
Tech’s strong finish included wins in its final two games, after the decision had been made to sit out of the postseason to accept the NCAA postseason ban.
Barring unexpected changes, Tech returns 75% of its minutes, 78% of its scoring and 67% of its rebounding. The Jackets figure to make a strong bid for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2010, the fourth-longest drought among power-conference schools.
As he stays at home with virtually all sports sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic, Pastner will continue to scour the entries to the transfer portal, which as of Monday was up to about 750 Division I players. He predicted the pool will exceed 1,000 or perhaps even reach 1,500. He has been diligent enough even to scout Division II players in the portal.
“Based on the time out there, you’re going to go through every kid,” Pastner said. “There’s not a lot else to do.”
Finding a post player who could help immediately is a priority, hence the interest in Haarms and Markusson. Forward Moses Wright will return, and Howard figures to be eligible, as the NCAA is expected to pass legislation that would grant all Division I athletes the ability to play immediately after transferring. However, should that measure fail, Tech would have to rely on Wright and two incoming freshmen, Jordan Meka (from Mt. Bethel Christian Academy in Cobb County) and Saba Gigiberia (the nation of Georgia).
“If you can get a grad big, that’s good,” Pastner said. “That’s obviously something that you’re keeping your eyes on, but any of those guys, so is everybody else.”
Pastner is committed not to give a scholarship for its own sake.
“The word I’d use is we’re going to be really selective, and if we don’t find anyone that fits what we’re looking for, then we just won’t use it,” Pastner said.
Pocketing a scholarship would give Pastner flexibility down the road. He could offer it to a member of the 2021 class, for which he already will have four scholarships available, as Jose Alvarado, Bubba Parham, Jordan Usher and Wright are scheduled to complete their eligibility in the next season. Or, it could be available for a mid-year transfer between the fall and spring semesters, which is when Tech landed Usher in January 2019.
“We’re going to lose a lot, and so that ’21 class is going to be important for us,” Pastner said.
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