An interesting name hit the transfer market last week in Georgetown’s Mac McClung and it was confirmed that the Gators reached out to him for a conversation.
McClung had declared for the NBA Draft and was expected to stay in and go pro but he recently announced he was withdrawing his name and that he wouldn’t be returning to Georgetown.
The 6’2” shooting guard said he had heard from Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, Auburn, and Oklahoma State as well as multiple other high majors and at this moment he’s definitely the biggest name in the portal. He’s at this point a sit-one-play-two after finishing his sophomore year at Georgetown though he has made it known that he applied for a waiver to be instantly eligible and plans on fighting for the chance to play right away. His case will likely be centered around some off the court friction with the coaching staff, as well as the unique scenario surrounding COVID. It’s also worth noting that he missed 11 games due to injury last year as well as being hobbled in two more where he only played spot minutes. That in itself wouldn’t be enough games missed to warrant a quality case for a medical redshirt but it can potentially add something to his case.
McClung first started getting notoriety in high school when videos of his dunks circulated the internet. Despite being only 6’2” with short arms he would explode over defenders and perform crazy acrobatics in mid air and those highlights earned him a huge following. In his first year at Georgetown he was instantly productive scoring 13.1 points per game and he took another step to averaging 15.7 points per game as a sophomore. On a bad Georgetown team he was the alpha on offense and despite the fact teams were geared up to take him out of the game he was still able to get buckets. McClung is a high-energy guard with a stellar ability to beat players off the bounce which allows him to be a constant threat to score.
The knocks on his game are his defense and his three-point shooting. Being undersized he can struggle in some matchups defensively, plus he was expending a lot of energy on the other end and sometimes effort on his own side of the floor was sacrificed. A career 29.5% three-point shooter he definitely doesn’t light things up from the outside but despite the fact teams aren’t worried about his shooting he’s still able to drive the ball and get buckets inside.
In past years the Gators have reached out to a ton of transfers but this offseason has been totally different. Florida has hardly contacted any available transfers and for that reason whenever they talk to one it requires close attention.
For example, with a seemingly full scholarship limit it seemed like the Gators weren’t going to make any moves but then they offered Michigan transfer Colin Castleton. A lot of people didn’t think there was anything to that, but soon after he announced he was coming to Gainesville.
For that reason, even though the Gators are looking like they don’t have available scholarships this McClung situation needs to be watched closely. Florida has shown that they aren’t just reaching out to multiple transfers for the sake of reaching out or just to get their name in the mix just in case—they’re targeting players they think they want and have a legitimate shot at getting.
If Andrew Nembhard and Tre Mann, both players who are currently declared for the NBA Draft, were to return then Florida would be one over the scholarship limit. For that reason the commitment of Castleton suggested at least one of those players would be gone and with the McClung offer it might suggest both will be leaving. Now, reaching out to McClung could just be a contingency plan if both players were to leave, but this offseason has shown that the Gators have only really reached out to players when they knew they’d have some space.
Could another unexpected player be leaving? Obviously that’s tough to say and it would be difficult to speculate at this time but this offer to McClung has to make you think. Even if a player wasn’t planning on taking off the staff might nudge someone in that direction if they had the opportunity to get McClung who has shown time and time again he can be a bucket-getter at the high major level. Florida hasn’t had any players with McClung’s creativity off the bounce in recent memory and for a team that wants to play a dribble drive offense those are the type of players you need.
It’s unknown when McClung will make a decision but this is definitely something you’ll want to watch.