In this new era of college athletics, every offseason has become a spectacle all within itself. Each respective sport faces roster turnover, players entering the transfer portal and coaches leaving for better opportunities. It can be a lot to manage.
In this current climate, coaches now find themselves having to re-recruit the same players that they just signed a year or two prior. Players that they have dedicated hundreds of hours into developing and who they are depending upon to one day carry the mantle of their program.
If players like that do decide to leave on an annual basis, that is detrimental because Georgia will not be able to quickly recoup that kind of investment from a player you just signed out of high school. Unless of course, that high school recruit is an Asa Newell, which as everyone knows is rare, especially for a non-traditional basketball school such as Georgia.
College amateur sports meets professional capitalism
You can try and liken the new college sports landscape to professional free agency, but this is something entirely different. This is free agency without guardrails.
In professional sports you have contracts, which at least provides the element of an honor system. Right now in college sports, players are free to leave whenever they want, in some instances during the season, without any true incentive to stay.
Change will happen
This is indeed a different time in college athletics. And with all of this flux and inconsistency, the only thing that is for certain is there will be change, no matter who you are.
And for Georgia, some of that change has already begun. In somewhat startling news last Thursday, rising junior and starting point guard Silas Demary Jr. announced his plans to enter the transport portal. Demary’s announcement comes as a bit of a surprise because he was returning to Georgia as their undisputed leader and face of the program.
For a team that just made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 years, to have your best returning player walk away from the opportunity to build upon the success that he had a direct hand in creating shows the possible turmoil that lies ahead for Georgia basketball.
More potential change?
There is potential that Demary will not be the last departure. Once the NCAA tournament has concluded, keep an eye on promising freshman big man Somto Cyril. There have been rumblings that he could be looking to play for John Calipari, who is currently the head coach at Arkansas.
Cyril had initially committed to play for Calipari when he was still the head coach at Kentucky, but once Calipari departed for Arkansas, Cyril did not follow, and committed to play for Georgia. And what a difference he made for Mike White and the Bulldogs.
Challenges ahead
So, you can see the challenges that lie ahead for White and his program. Some of the challenges he planned for, some he did not. However, White is a competitor, and he will surely be bringing in new talent to replace some of what he will be losing. Right now, the potential losses currently far out way the gains, but White is up for the challenge.
Stay tuned.