Georgia basketball head coach Mike White sat down with UGASports.com for an exclusive interview earlier this week.

In Part 1 of a three-part series, White spoke of his vision, his thoughts on the program’s basketball facilities, and potentially playing opponents at other venues across the state.

Part 2 takes a bit of a different route.

The lifeblood of any program is recruiting, and with the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness, it’s a different world than what it was only a couple of years ago.

Below, White offered his thoughts on both, along with efforts he and his staff are making toward building, and in some cases, repairing relationships with some of the high school and AAU programs across the state.

In a talent-rich state like Georgia, White knows there’s no excuse for the Bulldogs not to do an excellent job enticing players to stay home and come to school in Athens.

The Peach State is blessed with some of the top talent in the entire state, but getting some of the better ones to stay home has not always been easy.

While White cannot speak to the past, he can talk about the future and the steps he and his staff are taking to make Georgia a more attractive destination.

White was asked specifically what needed to be done to build better relationships to better enhance the program's chances.

“It’s about building an open line of communication more than anything. You develop relationships through communication,” White said. “We tried to make sure this summer that we attended all the different AAU organization games, the different age groups. We’ve got a staff that I think has a high level of relationship-developing skills. We’ve been able to bring in some guys with Atlanta roots, on staff. I think ultimately, I think people respect the guys that I work with in term of their character, and their willingness to want to develop those relationships.”

It helps having staffers familiar with the state, particularly the basketball hotbed that is Atlanta.

That’s just one of the reasons White brought in former Bulldogs and Atlanta native Charles Mann, and associate head coach Antonio Reynolds Dean, a former great at Douglass High and member of the Rhode Island University Athletic Hall of Fame.

The recent hire of former Bulldog standout and Atlanta native Kenny Gaines as a graduate assistant is also proving beneficial.

Along with assistants Erik Pastrana and Akeem Miskdeen, the group has been spreading the word that players can accomplish all their goals by coming to UGA.

“What separates Georgia, what makes us a little bit unique, I think the mix of academics and arguably the best campus in the country, having an opportunity to be a part of a rebuild, to be a part of something special is what we’re trying to sell these guys on,” he said. “Georgia is going to get going at some point, and how unique would it be for you to be a big piece in terms of making the Georgia basketball program something we all think it can be. So, that unique opportunity separates us with some of these recruitments of some of these young men.”

Of course, White is also quick to point out that it’s a different era with the transfer portal and NIL playing such a huge role.

According to the Bulldog coach, the presence of both has caused coaches everywhere to go about their business in different ways.

It also poses the question, with the advent of the transfer portal, has that created a situation where the importance of recruiting high school athletes is diluted because coaches know they can get more experienced players through the portal instead?

“It changes everything. The portal and NIL have contributed to as much change in college basketball since I’ve been in it,” White said. “You definitely evaluate a little bit differently. That said, everyone also has a pre-portal. I think every staff in the country is trying to make predictions as far as what guys might stick at their institutions and which guys might jump in the portal.

“You’re just continuously, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, evaluating the landscape of who is where, and what type of guy you could get out of high school, what type of guy you could get out of junior college, who might jump in the portal. With NIL, it makes some of those questions even harder to answer.”

Believe White when he says that NIL is a discussion he’s having with every recruit he and his assistant speak with.

If they don’t bring it up, White and his staff will.

“We’re answering questions truthfully. If it hasn’t been brought up in the recruiting process, we make sure we cover our bases,” he said. “It’s a topic that’s usually brought up very quickly now and needs to be covered. We do feel like in Athens and the state of Georgia, in this university, we can provide a lot of opportunities for your guys to benefit from there in name, image, and likeness.”