Georgia basketball is busy beginning men’s new era

Georgia basketball has officially begun a new chapter of the men’s program, with head coach Mike White leading the charge. He is busy hiring new assistant coaches and other positions to fill his staff so the Dawgs can get to work.

There is plenty to do as the men’s program was not in a great place when White took the job. He will have to get his staff together, find recruits to fill the roster, and possibly find a way to keep some of the current players from transferring.

White seems really excited about this opportunity to rebuild Georgia’s program, but fans should know this will be a slow process. He is a great coach, but still, there is a lot to do, so hopefully, White is the right guy for the job.

Georgia basketball begins a new era under Mike White as the offseason is already buzzing.

He recently brought in Ben Gonzalez as director of basketball operations from Florida Atlantic, who held the same job there. White also brought in Erik Pastrana and Akeem Miskdeen as assistant coaches and has one full-time role left to fill.

Gonzalez has ties with White at Florida when he was a student manager and eventually a graduate assistant. Pastrana was on White’s staff last year at Florida, and before that, he came from Oklahoma State as an assistant a recruiting coordinator. He has experience with White, and evidently, the head coach likes what he brings to the table.

Miskdeen also comes to Georgia after spending one season with White at Florida. Before that, he was at Flordia Atlantic, where he also worked with Gonzalez.

White trusts these guys to help him succeed in Athens, so we will see how this situation works out for the Dawgs. It’s only up from here for Georgia, and White brings a positive winning attitude to the table, so year one will hopefully see that through the team’s efforts.

While he has been busy getting his staff where he wants, there has been some movement with the current players at Georgia.

There have been multiple players entering the transfer portal, which isn’t shocking because this basketball program is going through a lot of changes.

Kario Oquendo is unfortunately one of those who announced that his name is in the transfer portal, along with Josh Taylor, Dalen Ridgnal, Camron McDowell and Christen Wright.

White isn’t to blame here. These guys likely want a fresh start, and that is understandable.

It isn’t great to see a bunch of players leaving the program, but at the same time, this rebuild needed fresh faces. Now I’m not saying we need to see an LSU situation, but hopefully, White will find a way to keep some of these guys and then build recruiting around them.

Maybe he can find a way to get one or two of these transfer portal guys to remove their names, but it isn’t likely.

There may be a new era of Georgia basketball starting this upcoming winter, but it’s hard to get excited when things are still not going great. The trend of transferring out of Athens continues, so this summer will be interesting to watch as White and his staff recruit and work the transfer portal for themselves.