Noah Thomasson believes in future of Georgia Basketball
Noah Thomasson‘s time at Georgia was short, yet it was impactful. For the Houston, Texas native who spent seasons at four different stops – Houston Christian, Butler Community College, Niagara and of course Georgia – he says the 10 months spent in Athens have been his favorite. While many might just be pandering to his most recent fanbase in saying something like that, it feels a little more genuine coming from Thomasson, especially with his message to those that are considering a similar path as him.
“I wouldn’t have picked a different school if I had a chance to do it all over again. I hope I can say I was a Georgia Bulldog for life even in my short time here,” Thomasson shared while at the podium postgame on Tuesday after Georgia’s NIT semifinals loss at the hands of Seton Hall. “I’m very thankful for the coaching staff, the administrative staff, the higher-ups at Georgia. I’m very thankful for what they brought for me. I could sense that on my visit, and it’s something I am glad to be part of.”
“Anybody in the portal, Georgia reaches out to you, this is a special place to be,” he continued. “I’m not saying this just to recruit. This is the best decision of my life. I couldn’t ask for anything as well. I’ve had a great career, and this is my favorite one, even in my short time here.”
Georgia head coach Mike White told Thomasson to keep talking. It’s exactly the kind of message he wants out there in the world of the transfer portal when each year it seems the Bulldogs are going to have at least a handful of players coming to campus for the next season by way of the transfer portal. UGA had nine newcomers in 2023-24 and is guaranteed at least three, including five-star forward Asa Newell, in 2024-25. If any players enter the portal from Georgia’s current roster, that number rises.
Thomasson started every game for Georgia this season, the only Bulldog to do so. He led the team in both minutes (28.4) and scoring with 13.1 points per game on 40.9% shooting including a 34.5% make rate from beyond the 3-point line. Of course his success factors into the message he shared, but also the feeling of ‘mission accomplished’ in making Athens a better place to play basketball in the future.
“I think that even though this is our first year here, I think we’ve seen a change in Georgia Basketball. And it’s going to keep growing, even when we’re not here,” Thomasson said. “I think that was the main goal, of us coming here and help build something that’s bigger than us. I hope Coach White and the rest of the staff keeps making those strides to bring Georgia back to where it needs to be.”
“I know I’m leaving it in good hands,” he added. “We came a long way from June when we started with a couple practices to now in April, losing in the NIT.”
Georgia has reportedly shown interest in several transfers already. It’s something that White and his staff have balanced with the Bulldogs’ run in the NIT since Selection Sunday with the transfer portal opening up the day after. Their attention absolutely was on being as prepared as possible to play, but time was also spent on building for the future too.
“We are all multi-tasking,” White said ahead of the semifinals. “We’ve been very active with recruiting throughout this, but we are throughout the year. Obviously when the portal opens, it really ramps up a little bit. We’ve had some Zooms. We’ve had some phone calls … we are balancing it best we can, and we’ll continue to do that this week.”
No need to balance anymore. The Bulldogs can jump in head first, and that’s exactly what White and his staff will do. He said after the game that meetings with players on the current roster would begin at some point this week. Then, they’ll look to host prospects out of the portal on visits as soon as possible too with decisions happening daily.
“Very quickly, I don’t have a day or time on it, but it will be very soon. Our mindset was on potentially advancing and playing for a championship,” White said. “It’s disappointing, honestly, because we were close. We were a game away from competing for a championship. I really like working with these guys. It was an emotional locker room. I’ve lost in several NITs as an assistant and as a head coach, and it’s different than losing in the NCAA Tournament, just being honest, obviously, and we were super honored to be a part of this tournament as we always will be. It was unique, though, with this group. These guys were devastated downstairs. It showed how much they care for one another and how much they intended on playing another game.”
“We’ll recover but we’ve got to do it quickly because we’ve got work to do. We’ve got meetings to have. The way we played down the stretch has got me ready for practice in June. I’m excited to figure out who our roster is going to be, what it’s going to look like,” he continued. “We all as a staff, we all need — in this business, especially in today’s day and age, you can’t get a week or two but we probably all need about 48 hours to regroup a little bit at some point once that roster is in place, and then I’m ready to get back to work. I’m ready for practices in June.”
