Evan Cole to Transfer

MtnWasp

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
992
The loss of Cole could hurt unless we use his ship to upgrade the roster. Upgrade and it is a net gain. Don't upgrade and it is a net loss. I don't like losing Cole's experience, but we have other experienced players on the roster.
 

glandon1960

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
174
I looked at the Transfer portal - no centers or power forwards that catch my eye in there right now. However that will change as conference tournments end and teams seasons end.

If Cole does leave - any grad transfer would see the opportunity to play immediately which is usually a major factor in where they decide to go. CJP should get serious look from any big he targets. The other option is Kai Sotto ... I understand he may forego college but if he wants to play one year then go pro it would be to GT's advantage (he is not ready for the NBA at this time).
 
H-Wade

H-Wade

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582
CLM said:
He did that so quick too. Always surprised by decisions like this. He will probably start and play for a NCAA worthy team. My gut tells me he thinks we will bring someone in to play over him.
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Where at? He didn't even start for us and we didn't make the tourney any of his years here. I was thinking this is a weird decision because he won't be finding more playing time than he would be getting here next season unless he drops down a level. Just my opinion.
 
LawTalkin Jacket

LawTalkin Jacket

Jolly Good Fellow
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342
Maybe he just wanted to go to another school. 4 years at tech can wear you out. But the basketball part doesn't make a lot of sense. He cant expect to start on a team which finished higher than 5th in ACC or a blue blood contender . He could go to Florida or Auburn or Purdue or something and probably not start there either. if he wants to start on a Power 5 team, then he has a chance to earn it here.
 
Ramblingon

Ramblingon

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One of the things I was afraid of, knowing that he graduates this spring. He would see a considerable increase in minutes next season, but he may looking for something different. So on to the grad transfer route with Sotto as a distant possibility. Maybe someone knows a lot more than us which could be the deciding factor. Good luck to Evan!
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,580
I'm not all that surprised. Earlier this year when Banks went into his funk, and at times when Banks would go out we got a preview of what next year would look like. IMO while Cole had his moments, we were usually better off going small ball with USher at the 4. The problem I saw was that I don't think a combination of Wright and Cole is all that effective. Cole doesn't really stretch the court like we were hoping, and there is a lot of overlap on offense in their skills except Moses is just more consistent and developed. Defensively, he didn't really provide us with a rim protector like Banks. I think Cole would make a good back up to Moses, but I'm not really convinced he's the answer to Banks leaving, and I think he probably reached the same conclusion.

I know I differ from many here, but I think Saba would start for us next year, if not right away, a short time into the season. I think us going after Sotto also goes to the idea that we would prefer a true center type vs going with two forwards. I think this hurts because while if we go that route I don't think Meka taking Cole's minutes is all that big of a drop in all likelihood, it leaves us with no real option in the case of foul trouble, which with 2 freshmen is a bigger deal.

That being said, I could also see this being a test the waters type of deal, and don't think the door is closed on him playing for us next year.
 
MidtownJacket

MidtownJacket

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4,862
Durn. Evan is a favorite player of mine. I think he was under utilized this year though and that can be draining when we aren’t getting the results we wanted.

I’m not sure if I understand why guys off the bench got the nod over him. He seemed to always play with Defensive awareness and pressure and didn’t have many boneheaded turnovers. Unlike others who got more minutes.

Hope he stays, but will support him either way as a fan. Getting out of Tech academically and choosing to stay would have been tough for any of us I am sure. If he has the desire to play next level ball in the NBA I would think staying makes sense given he seems poised to get a lot more minutes and Coach Rev goes good work with bigs, if he isn’t though I could see wanting to go to a cushier academic place for his last year of ball. Not to mention the legit point of using a great GY degree to get himself a great graduate degree somewhere else.


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Rzunz

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
146
I love Evan Cole and hope he stays. I do think Sjolund is all about putting on muscle & weight this year and could be a “stretch 4”. He’s got length as do Usher & Moore. Not sure Sjo is gonna be quick enough at the 3 spot.
lv20gt said:
I'm not all that surprised. Earlier this year when Banks went into his funk, and at times when Banks would go out we got a preview of what next year would look like. IMO while Cole had his moments, we were usually better off going small ball with USher at the 4. The problem I saw was that I don't think a combination of Wright and Cole is all that effective. Cole doesn't really stretch the court like we were hoping, and there is a lot of overlap on offense in their skills except Moses is just more consistent and developed. Defensively, he didn't really provide us with a rim protector like Banks. I think Cole would make a good back up to Moses, but I'm not really convinced he's the answer to Banks leaving, and I think he probably reached the same conclusion.

I know I differ from many here, but I think Saba would start for us next year, if not right away, a short time into the season. I think us going after Sotto also goes to the idea that we would prefer a true center type vs going with two forwards. I think this hurts because while if we go that route I don't think Meka taking Cole's minutes is all that big of a drop in all likelihood, it leaves us with no real option in the case of foul trouble, which with 2 freshmen is a bigger deal.

That being said, I could also see this being a test the waters type of deal, and don't think the door is closed on him playing for us next year.
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Deleted member 2897

Guest
I love Cole and think he would have done well here next season. But his minutes have dropped every year he's been here: 17, 13, 12. He's a 50% free throw shooter and a 10% 3 point shooter. On a team that plays 6 or 7 guys, Cole actually got the 9th most minutes.

Moses has really improved dramatically.

Plus next year we get a 7-footer that 247 ranks in the top 100 nationally (Saba) and a 6'10" guy 247 ranks #136 (Meka). I wouldn't think Cole would feel threatened by youngungs for his last year...I'm just saying in terms of Georgia Tech, we're not hurting too bad. We're losing the #9 guy.
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
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5,580
bwelbo said:
I love Cole and think he would have done well here next season. But his minutes have dropped every year he's been here: 17, 13, 12. He's a 50% free throw shooter and a 10% 3 point shooter. On a team that plays 6 or 7 guys, Cole actually got the 9th most minutes.

Moses has really improved dramatically.

Plus next year we get a 7-footer that 247 ranks in the top 100 nationally (Saba) and a 6'10" guy 247 ranks #136 (Meka). I wouldn't think Cole would feel threatened by youngungs for his last year...I'm just saying in terms of Georgia Tech, we're not hurting too bad. We're losing the #9 guy.
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Whenever a player transfers or leaves early, there is always the loss of what was and the loss of what could be.

What hurts about Cole leaving isn't what he gave us this year being gone. It's that he was an option for a whole that we have, that now we have one less option for. I liken it to when Haywood transferred last year. Would Haywood, as he was last year, have helped us much this year? No. I doubt he would have played much over Usher or Bubba with how he played last year. However, he had the potential for more, to give a sharpshooter off the bench that could provide a scoring threat that we ended up lacking. That's what we lost. Another option that could have stepped up. If Cole isn't here next year, I doubt very much that we miss the production he gave us this year. But it's very likely, as it currently stands, that we'd miss having him as an option to turn to, because now our hand is pretty much forced.

Of course, this does open up the discussion of what other players could we bring in, recruit or transfer. Maybe a nice 4* shakes loose late and our late surge helps us get an in. Hell, maybe Clemson fires Brownell and PJ Hall reconsiders his decision. At the very least it opens up one more thing to talk about to help kill time in the offseason.
 

Jacket Forever

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
123
Ramblingon said:
One of the things I was afraid of, knowing that he graduates this spring. He would see a considerable increase in minutes next season, but he may looking for something different. So on to the grad transfer route with Sotto as a distant possibility. Maybe someone knows a lot more than us which could be the deciding factor. Good luck to Evan!
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It's a bit of speculation on my part but could it be possible that Cole had no other choice but to leave? I'm no expert but if he is graduating in a couple of months, wouldn't that mean he'd have to be enrolled in Graduate School at Tech in order to have eligibility at Tech next season? Getting into Graduate School at Tech isn't the easiest of tasks for anybody and a lot of guys don't make it. I'm told that The Hill doesn't do many favors as far as Grad School athletes are concerned. So......
 
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