Parham says he’ll stick with Jackets
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech senior Bubba Parham will take advantage of the extra year of eligibility provided by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic and return for the 2021-22 basketball season.
Coach Josh Pastner announced Parham’s decision Thursday, but Pastner said other seniors on the team, including top scorers Moses Wright and Jose Alvarado, have not decided if they will return. Jordan Usher also could join Parham — a 5-foot-10, 162-pound guard who averaged 6.7 points as he started 14 of 25 games in which he appeared this past season — and stay in school.
“If another one or two come back, we’ve got a chance to continue to be really good again,” Pastner said.
However, junior guard Michael Devoe said he may make himself available for the NBA draft. Devoe averaged 15 points this past season as the Yellow Jackets made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010, with the team earning an automatic bid by winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Devoe (6-5, 197) said he will seek feedback from NBA teams to determine “do I still need to work on some things or am I draft ready.” He said he will return for his senior season if told he would need to spend a season in the G League before playing in the NBA.
“I definitely don’t want to take that route,” Devoe said. “It’s a tough route to go. I have no problems coming back to school and finishing my degree.”
Tech was a No. 9 seed for the NCAA’s 68-team bracket and lost 71-60 in the opening round to eighth-seeded Loyola University Chicago — which then took down Midwest Region No. 1 Illinois and will play in the Sweet 16 this weekend — to end the season 17-9.
The Jackets faced the Ramblers this past Friday without Wright, who had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week. Wright (6-9, 233) led Tech in 2020-21 by averaging 17.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.