As we delve into Part 3 of our interview with Georgia basketball coach Mike White, we turn our attention to the current Bulldog basketball team.
When White took over the program, he knew he had the large majority of the team to replace.
His plan going in?
“We wanted to add as much speed, quickness, athleticism, and versatility as we could out of the portal,” White said. “We wanted to make sure we maintained some experience, which we did. Most importantly, we wanted to target some guys who have experienced success at this level.”
That’s essentially what White and his staff were able to do.
Transfers like Terry Roberts (Bradley), Mardrez McBride (North Texas), Justin Hill (Longwood), Matthew-Alexander Moncrief (Oklahoma State), Jusuan Holt (Alabama), and Frank Anselem (Syracuse) each played on teams that enjoyed on-court success at different times during their tenure. Freshman KyeRon Lindsey played for one of the better high school teams (Denton Guyer) in Texas.
“We were able to maintain—what’s the correct word?—some of the best players from last year’s team decided to return,” White said. “We then complemented some of those guys with players such as Mardrez McBride, who won a bunch at North Texas. You can go down the list, all the way to Kyeron Lindsey, not only in high school, but arguably played for the best AAU team on the UIBL circuit. It was a team that won a lot and lost very little, so all those guys. We’ve got seven guys we brought in that experienced winning at an unprecedented level at the places they were previously at.”
Give Kario Oquendo major props for bringing in Roberts, a former junior college teammate who has been impressive so far in summer workouts.
“Kario did a good job recruiting Terry. They played together, they’ve got a good relationship,” White said. “Kario, Jaxon (Etter), Jabri (Abdur-Rahim), Jailyn (Ingram), Braelen (Bridges), all those guys did a really good of hosting visits this spring and summer. Those guys showed a lot of loyalty to this program and showed some recruiting skill level to close some of those deals.”
Roberts and Hill figure to handle the majority of the point guard duties for the Bulldogs.
“We wanted to add a couple of point guards, and we’ve got two guys who've won,” White said. “Justin Hill won 26 games at Longwood University; when you do that you’ve got some winning characteristics.”
With nine new faces on White’s inaugural team, summer workouts have been more important than ever.
Building chemistry is always a huge deal, and so far, White has been impressed with his players’ approach.
“I’m really pleased with the level of seriousness. The simple work ethic—guys have come in all summer. There hasn’t been a lot of laughing and joking,” he said. “Outside the lines, these guys really seem to get along together and have fun, but there hasn’t been a lot of sluff in terms of excuses, or lethargic days, drama, between one player and another player. The culture this summer has been consistency, seriousness, work ethic, and growth. Guys have been productive every day. It’s been a really good summer.”
White said Ingram continues to improve from the ACL he tore against Jacksonville 10 games into the season last year.
Ingram was averaging 10.7 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds before going down.
“He’s not been fully released, but he’s making strides,” White said. “He’s done a bunch of spot shooting. I can tell you he really shoots it.”
As far as how he ultimately wants his team to play, being as fast as possible will always be the goal.
However, whatever gives his Bulldogs the best chance to be successful will always be Job One.
“Every coach in the country who gets a new job talks about how fast they are going to play. Some end up playing fast, some end up playing not as fast,” White said. “There were a few years there at Florida I wish we could have played a little bit faster than what we did. But again, if your season goal is to max out, you have to make decisions based on the makeup of your roster to be the most productive, to give yourself the best chance to win offensive and defensively.
“That said, through recruiting, some of those decisions that we make in terms of who we play and who we target in the portal, we’re going to put a premium on the ability to play fast offensively with the ability to pressure the basketball, to do some trapping. I’m committed to maintaining conviction in building a roster that allows us to get up and down the court in transition, to be a high-level defensive program which will give you a chance night in and night out.”
