Last year the Hoyas added height.
This year, they add depth.
In 2004 Georgetown’s men’s basketball team compensated for an undersized squad with the additions of big men Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, a forward and a center.
This year the Hoyas satisfied a different need, filling the thin bench that cost the team down the stretch with four quality freshmen players.
Those freshmen are two forwards and two guards. In the frontcourt the Hoyas add forwards Marc Egerson and Tay Spann while guards Jesse Sapp and Josh Thornton join the backcourt.
“All of them are good,” Green said of the freshman class. “They have a lot to learn, but they are a pretty good group of guys.”
“They are very talented, and they push us every day in practice,” senior guard Ashanti Cook said. “They are trying to take spots, which makes us better.”
Forward Marc Egerson is the most game-ready player of the freshman class. A two-time Delaware player of the year at Glasgow High, Egerson will be able to produce immediately even in the highly-physical Big East.
With an extra year of experience after a fifth year at Berean Institute in Philadelphia, Egerson has the composure and control that most freshmen lack. At 6-foot-6, he does not have Green’s size, but he should fill in nicely as a substitute in the same position.
Averaging 25 points per game in high school, Egerson gets most of his opportunities down low, but he also has range and will get outside for threes. Egerson is strong and a solid rebounder – a skill the Hoyas are hungry for after it proved to be a weakness last season – so Egerson is expected to spend plenty of time in the paint.
Tay Spann, another forward addition to the Hoyas’ lineup, often plays a similar game to Egerson. Neither are flashy players and both have good instincts, with an ability to rack up points quietly. Spann is a little less polished than Egerson, however, and will need to settle down to avoid forcing plays before he sees consistent floor time.
Averaging almost 27 points per game at Banneker High School in Georgia, Spann is more of a wing player who handles the ball well in the open court, but he can also contribute on the defensive end as another quality rebounder, averaging 12 rebounds per game in high school.
Spann has good energy and at 6-foot-7 has some height, but he will need to put on weight – he is listed at just 215 pounds – to compete with the big men under the boards in the conference.
The Hoyas also add two more guards to the roster in Jesse Sapp and Josh Thornton. But with Cook and sophomores Jonathan Wallace and Tyler Crawford ahead of them at this position, Sapp and Thornton will have to be patient and learn to make the most of limited minutes.
Sapp, who played high school ball at National Christian Academy in Maryland with fellow newcomer Patrick Ewing Jr., a forward transfer from Indiana, has the prettiest shot of all the freshmen. A Washington Post All-Met player who averaged almost 25 points per game in high school, Sapp has great court vision, a nice outside shot and strong passing and dribbling abilities which will help him adapt to the Princeton offense.
A quick and athletic top-100 recruit, Sapp may challenge for a starting spot this year, but it seems unlikely that he will get it. Cook and Wallace both have too much experience, and Sapp will need to learn both Georgetown’s system and how to play in the Big East before he starts. Sapp will make freshman mistakes, but with time and confidence he will develop into a solid option in the backcourt, and he will see quality minutes sooner rather than later.
“Jesse, he’s a competitor, tough,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “He can do a lot of things on the court, and he’s an unselfish player.”
Josh Thornton also has a lot of long-term potential for the Hoyas. At 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds, he is not very big, but with time Thornton will fill out and add yet another consistent guard to Georgetown’s bench.
Averaging 25 points and six assists per game at Caesar Rodney High School in Delaware, he has good mechanics and the potential to develop into an outstanding shooter once he learns patience and how to select his shots. Thornton has the ability to hit deep threes, play defense and handle the ball, but will need to find some control and consistency before his game is really complete.
“Josh is the best shooter that I have ever seen at this level,” Tiff McCullough, his head coach at Caesar Rodney, said on rivals.com. “He really reminds me of Paul Pierce as far as his ability to shoot the basketball. Josh has such a fluid shot and can consistently hit from behind the three-point line.”
As freshmen last year, Green and Wallace started every game for the Hoyas, with Hibbert finding his way into the starting lineup more than half of the time. This year’s class is not expected to see that kind of starting time, but that should be considered a good thing. Last year’s freshmen had to fill large holes in the lineup and were forced to contribute early. The players more than stepped up to the challenge last season, but this class will have more time to adjust before it isexpected to carry the team. With the departure of only three players – graduated guard RaMell Ross (COL ’05) and transfers guard Ray Reed and forward Cornelio Guibunda – and the entire starting lineup returning, there are simply not the spots on the floor for these guys to fill.
But don’t take limited starting time to mean limited playing time. These freshmen will see quality time off the bench, especially late in games and late in the season. When the Hoyas wore down late in the season last year, there were few players who could step up and fill in consistently for Green and Hibbert. This class should be able to provide those fresh legs off the bench that last year’s squad could not, which may be all the difference in making or missing the tournament.
“We have four new kids . and they all have good basketball IQ,” Thompson said at Big East media day. “Some nights, we come in and they look like they’re in the headlights, and other nights, I think we’re okay. Overall, I think they’re progressing as we had hoped.”
