https://www.si.com/college/lsu/basketball/bishop-transferring-to-george-washington

6'2" rising sophmore with some unimpressive freshman year stats, but willing to discount that as he was only a frosh.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/4431770/james-b

This is terrific news!  Welcome to James Bishop.  So excited to see James play for the Colonials.  All of a sudden, our backcourt is looking much better!

Woah!  That one is great.

Very athletic player with some talent.   I expect this to be a great pick up for us.   Exactly the kind of transfer down we really needed. He was stuck on depots chart at LSU behind an A+ backcourt of Skyler Mays and Javonte Smart, with Charles manning and Marlon Taylor.  He mostly only got in the games when Manning was hurt.  Numbers were not great because of the sporadic playing time, but he seemed like a good freshman with a future. 

He’s 6’2” but I have no idea if he can play point because Mays and Smart dominate the ball at LSU so even if he can play it, there wasn’t much opportunity for him to show it there.  At worst he’s a good combo guard, perhaps like a more physical and aggressive Terry Nolan Jr?
Glad to have him in Foggy Bottom.

I'm with you guys about the optimism for James Bishop, his lack of production at LSU was due to him being behind an elite backcourt as FQ pointed out. J.Bishop's upside is off the charts when you look at his high school videos/ rankings and his measurables(long arms, very athletic, good ball-handler, good shooter, etc.)!!. DMVPiranha mentioned in his recruit thread, that J.Bishop was high school teammates with Tyler Brelsford at Mount St.Joe's and AAU teammates with Chase Paar, I'm assuming J.Bishop's friendship with both of those guys played a big role in him committing to GW this quickly. It took him just 2 days to commit to GW, did he even consider other schools!! Down below is AAU video of James Bishop playing with Chase Paar. 



 

Welcome James, looking forward to following you to an NCAA Tourney in a few years!

Gwmayhem wrote:

All of the reasons to feel optimistic are obvious.  From a recruiting perspective, we've been looking at a number of players joining this program who either played for JC at MSM and Siena, or was recruited to play for him at Siena.  While on the one hand, you can understand why a coach would feel comfortable bringing in players who he knows or has a relationship with, the other hand boils down to whether these players can prosper at GW and in the A10.  Shawn Walker Jr becomes the latest example of a "transfer out", primarily because his talent level isn't best suited for this level of competition.

In bringing in James Bishop, we are fortuitously able to take advantage of the personal relationships that this young man has with Tyler Brelsford and Chase Paar.  Only this time, we are looking at a very talented player who was being recruited over at LSU.  Or, maybe he just wants to distance himself from the mess that the LSU program may soon be facing.  Perhaps this is payback for Bernard Woodside leaving GW for a spot in the Final 4 while with LSU.

From a need perspective, James (from his tapes) looks like a strong fit, someone who is very comfortable with the ball in his hands who is also more than capable of knocking down 3 point shots.  If Tyler and Lincoln can play, it looks like we'll have 4 guards (James and JNJ the others) who may all be interchanged at the point and shooting guard positions in 2021-22.  

The stats at LSU should be rendered meaningless.  Hard to put up numbers when you're the odd man out.  Very hard to conclude whether James was not at the LSU level or if others playing ahead of him were simply better.  Even this coming season when James will likely be ineligible, this team just got much better just by his practicing every day with the team.

This has the chance to be a monumental move for this program.

Do not assume he will be ineligible for 2020-21. With Harris likely out for year, doubt JC would knowingly take a player for 2020-21 and let Walker depart if he wasn't fairly sure he would be eligible immediately. He would be left with just 3 true guards (although Battle/Jack could see some time at 2) otherwise unless he also knows he is getting Wishart. Time will tell.

I've seen a lot of posts hinting at Amir's status for next year, anything that's official or are we just in wait and see mode?

Gwmayhem wrote:

GWRising, I am not assuming anything particularly since the NCAA has really changed its tune regarding transfers in recent years.  This year has such unusual circumstances surrounding it that if the NCAA decides to let everyone transfer this one time without sitting out, it wouldn't shock me.  That said, there does not appear to be anything about this particular case that would warrant a waiver (not like he's being forced out at LSU) unless there's information we don't know about the circumstances.

As for the rest of your statement:

a) I think you have to take a talent like Bishop when the opportunity presents itself, even if this means having to sit out while Amir also sits with an injury.

b) It's quite possible that JC has no real hold on Shawn, so "letting him depart" isn't really up to JC.  Shawn may very well have seen the writing on the wall and decided he'd like to resume his career somewhere else as quickly as possible.

There are circumstances which I can't go into. Let's leave it at that.

Don't disagree with a) but I don't believe that's the issue. Also, I don't think JC will go into the season with JNJ, Ball and Brelsford as your only guys who can handle the ball. Perhaps Wishart or another player is also coming if Bishop won't be eligible as I indicated? 

I think the timing between Bishop and Walker was not by accident. I also don't think JC  allows a player to leave who is eligible (and would get playing time) to replace him with one who is not when he realizes he will probably not have Amir. Could be wrong but I don't think so. .