2024-25 Recap
I came into the 2024-25 season with some hope, and it was dashed almost immediately when Georgia Tech was run off the floor at McCamish by North Florida. The Yellow Jackets followed that up
by looking largely uncompetitive in all 4 of their non-conference games against major competition (Georgia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, and Northwestern). Early conference play began not much better with GT getting off to a 2-6 start in ACC play. Then things began to turn around. The Yellow Jackets finished the regular season by going 8-4 including big wins against Louisville at home and Clemson on the road to finish 10-10 in the conference. GT got a bye in the first round of the ACC Tournament, then beat UVA in the second round, and gave Duke a serious scare in the third round. Tech was selected for the NIT (not particularly close to a tournament bid) and got smacked in the first round by Jacksonville State. A lot went wrong last year. There were some injuries. The starting wings Kowacie Reeves and Luke O’Brien spent much of the season injured as did starting shooting guard Javian McCollum. The freshmen came in highly ranked, but none of the three did much to help win games in their first year with Doryan Onwuchekwa leaving the team mid-season. Due to the injuries and disappointments, by the end of the season Stoudamire was playing a crazy short bench with Nait George, Lance Terry, Duncan Powell, and Baye Ndongo playing almost full games. The defense had some serious struggles early before getting their act together later in the season, but the team never really figured out how to score the ball. Baye Ndongo looked to improve off his very promising freshman year, but struggled early in the season. He turned it on in the latter half of the season which was a big part of GT’s surge. In the offseason the team saw immense turnover (as is now the norm in college basketball). Javian McCollum, Lance Terry, Ryan Mutombo, and Luke O’Brien ran out of eligibility. Duncan Powell, Nait George, Ibrahim Souare, Darrion Sutton, and Doryan Onwuchekwa transferred out. That leaves just 3 returning players for the Yellow Jackets. Returning Players Baye Ndongo looks like he will be the star of this version of the Yellow Jackets. He returned despite clear interest in him from elsewhere. He was on a heater to end last year and I’m very excited to see where his game goes this season. Last year Stoudamire brought in a highly ranked freshman center with the hope that he would push Ndongo down to power forward at least part of the time. That ended up not working out. He brought in another highly ranked freshman center to do the same this year. I think it could work. That would help Ndongo stay fresher as he doesn’t need to bang down low with the opposing center anymore and would hopefully give him some more leeway to drift out towards the perimeter on offense. If this team wants to have a big season, then Ndongo is going to need to be huge. Kowacie Reeves started his career as a highly ranked recruit at Florida. He struggled there with a large role and came to GT where he has found a nice place as a 3-and-D role player. He got hurt early last season and was able to get a medical redshirt after only playing in 6 games. Him coming back should help the team, but I don’t expect him to be a difference maker. This team looks short of 3-point shooting and defense in the backcourt. He provides both (although he’s not as good of a defender as you’d expect with his length and athleticism). I’m excited to have him back for the continuity as well as his play. I expect him to start, but it’s possible he’s the 6th man as well depending on how the freshmen look and what balance Stoudamire is looking for. The third returning contributor is Jaeden Mustaf. He was a solidly ranked recruit coming into last season who seemed to be in good position to play as the backup point guard or even as a shooting guard in small ball lineups. He has a big body for a point guard and seemed like he might be ready to play right away. He struggled as a freshman though. He’s not much of a shooter (although he did end up shooting 34% on low volume) which let defenders sag off him. He struggled to drive past college level defenders. He was able to use his big body to bully small point guards to get to the rim, but struggled to finish there. He was not much of a distributor either (partly because he struggled to break defenses down which makes it easier to find good passes). Even on defense he did not reach his potential. He committed too many fouls and was not always in position. I think that he can really benefit from another offseason of practice. Once he gets used to the speed of college basketball and what level of physicality is allowed, then I think his defense will improve a lot. The rumor is that he’s also grown another inch or two making him firmly tall enough to play wing if he continues to struggle with ball handling and distribution. I’d like to see his 3-point shot get better. I mentioned his 34% rate earlier, but his shot itself was ugly and often led to big misses which makes me wonder if that rate was sustainable. That would help his game a ton if the defense had to respect him further out. I believe all 3 will play significant roles this year. Ndongo should be the star of the team. I think that Reeves will start or at least be the first man off the bench. Mustaf is more uncertain. He doesn’t have an obvious position and there are three freshmen who are competing with him for depth spots in the rotation. I think he will end up playing a good bit (especially early in the season) and be given a chance to show that he has improved.
