LINKS: Hoyas Lose a Center and a Staffer

BIG EAST also officially announces Big 12 battle matchups and dates

Fans of the Georgetown Hoyas saw a disappointingly familiar name come across the transfer portal wire in Supreme Cook. The 6’10” forward came to Ed Cooley via Fairfield last spring and was a beast on the offensive boards. Cook was a bit hamstrung on the defensive end by personnel and strategy pretty much ever since rim Akok Akok left the roster last year late in the transfer cycle, leaving the Hoyas without a natural rim protector and robbing the fans of a tremendously named frontcourt combo. The fan-favorite Supreme gave tons of effort and was a double-double machine on his best nights. He could be successful with a coach who understands his talents and uses him for a specific role. We wish him well.

Currently, incoming freshman Thomas Sorber is the only center. The speculation—based on recent campus recruiting visits—is that Georgetown may be soon bringing in a transfer center who would impact Cook’s playing time, but Cook testing the market could present this as an amicable split.

With five (5) days left for the transfer window, and four (4) likely spots open on scholarships, the question many fans are asking is whether Ed Cooley will fortify the front court and find a couple culture fits for key reserves.

Here is the current expected roster (in reported height order):

• Malik Mack 6-1 170 (Harvard Fr. transfer)
• Jayden Epps 6-2 187 G So.
• Kayvaun Mulready 6-4 G (incoming)
• Curtis Williams, Jr. 6-5 205 G/F (Louisville Fr. transfer)
• Caleb Williams 6-7 F (incoming)
• Micah Peavy 6-8 G 215 Sr. (TCU grad transfer)
• Drew McKenna 6-8 200 G/F Fr.
• Drew Fielder 6-10 216 F/C Fr.
• Thomas Sorber 6-10 F/C (incoming)
• Supreme Cook 6-9 229 F/C Sr. (transfer portal 4/24)

Moreover, in a move that has been reported for a few days, former Cal-Berkeley head coach Mark Fox has taken a position with Kentucky as an “associate coach” on Mark Pope’s staff. This is likely a “special assistant” role given the reports of three other assistants being hired at UK.

Fox was the director of student-athlete relations and NIL partnerships at Georgetown for a year. Fox apparently coached Pope at Washington as an assistant and later hired Pope as the Director of Basketball operations at Georgia in 2009 as a head coach.

Fox’s bio at GUHoyas:

Mark Fox enters his first season as the director of student-athlete relations and NIL partnerships ahead of the 2023-24 season as part of Head Coach Ed Cooley’s inaugural staff.

Fox most recently served as the head coach of the California men’s basketball program for the past four seasons. Leading up to his stint with the Golden Bears, Fox posted a 123-43 record in his first five seasons as a head coach at Nevada (2005-09) – a run that included four conference championships, three invitations to the NCAA Tournament and two trips to the CBI Tournament. He then served as the head coach at Georgia for nine seasons (2010-18) and amassed a 163-133 overall mark while leading the Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and three National Invitation Tournaments. Between his departure from Georgia and his arrival at Cal, Fox spent the fall of 2018 with USA Basketball, serving as an assistant coach to Jeff Van Gundy for the World Cup qualifying team. He also assisted the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Summer League and professional development stints with coaches Brad Stevens, Gregg Popovich and Geno Auriemma, among others.

Individually under Fox, Yante Maten was named the 2017-18 Associated Press SEC Player of the Year after averaging an SEC-best 19.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, while Juwan Parker was named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2017-18. Every senior who played for Fox at Georgia graduated and more than 15 student-athletes went on to play professionally, including Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was the No. 8 pick of the 2013 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. Caldwell-Pope, the first McDonald’s All-American in nearly 20 years to choose Georgia, was named the 2013 SEC Player of the Year.

Outside of coaching, Fox is a former chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee and member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Ethics Coalition. He has also raised nearly $1 million for Coaches vs. Cancer. At Cal, Fox funded an internship through the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative alongside football head coach Justin Wilcox; the McLendon program provides opportunities for approximately 30 young minorities per year within college athletic departments across the country.

Fox played collegiately at Garden City Community College in Kansas under former Nevada head coach Jim Carey, and then lettered two seasons at Eastern New Mexico, where he was a first-team academic all-conference selection in 1991.

Fox earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Eastern New Mexico in 1991 and a master’s degree in sport administration/sports psychology from Kansas in 1996. Originally from Garden City, Kansas, he and his wife, Cindy, have two children, Parker and Olivia.

Here are the links:

2024 Big 12-BIG EAST Battle Schedule Announced | bigeast

The BIG EAST and Big 12 Conferences have announced the 2024 schedule for the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle, the men’s basketball non-conference scheduling alliance which is in its sixth year. Games for the upcoming season will be played December 3-8.

Each conference has added member schools since the start of the original agreement. The Battle will include 11 matchups for the second straight season. The BIG EAST will host six games in 2024-25 while the Big 12 will host five. The 2024 matchups will feature seven teams ranked in the final AP poll of the 2023-24 season, including defending national champion Connecticut. Five of the 11 participant teams made it to the Sweet 16 in the 2024 NCAA Tournament…

Broadcast arrangements for the contests will be determined by the national television rights holder of the home team, which is FOX Sports for the BIG EAST and ESPN for the Big 12.

Former Rutgers star Cliff Omoruyi set for five visits | Rutgers Wire

A source close to the situation tells Rutgers Wure that this past weekend, Georgetown received a multi-day visit from Omoruyi. This week, Omoruyi will take a visit to Kansas State. Following that, Alabama will get a midweek visit the following week.

There are likely two more visits involving travel for Omoruyi before he closes in on his decision. The visits aren’t set, but the source said that North Carolina and UCLA are possible visits.

UCLA head coach Mick Cronin has been in steady contact with Omoruyi, the source said.

Last year as a senior at Rutgers, Omoruyi averaged 10.4 points per game this season while also averaging 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. He has one season of eligibility left.

UVA basketball’s Dante Harris reportedly entering transfer portal | Streaking The Lawn

With an injury hampering Harris for the the first half of this past season — he missed 10 games from late November through mid-January — he never really found his groove with the Wahoos.

In 24 games, Harris averaged 2.5 points per game, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. What was worse, he shot 28.0% (23-82) from the field, just 20% (2-20) from three, and 50.0% (11-22) from the free throw line. He did provide some solid point-of-attack defense, and created some offense at times. Overall, though, it was a tough season for the former Big East Tournament MVP.

It’s a shame that things didn’t work out for Harris in Charlottesville. But this move should benefit him and the Virginia program in the long run. Hopefully, Harris will transfer to a school where he’ll have the opportunity to run an offense and have the responsibility of leading a mid-major program to success.

Ex-Florida State, Georgetown guard Spears in NCAA transfer portal | CT Insider

Spears played at Duquesne of the Atlantic-10 for the 2021-22 season. He had spent one post-graduate season at Mount Zion Prep in Maryland.

From there, Spears transferred to Georgetown of the Big East. Spears averaged 16 points and 5.3 assists for the Hoyas. But Spears entered the portal soon after Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing was fired following a 7-25 season.

He then chose Florida State last April, but had to sit out the first seven games due to being a two-time transfer. But a court ruling allowed Spears and others who had entered the transfer portal for a second time to play during this past season.