Georgetown Preview, 2024-25

Georgetown Hoyas

January 7th, 2025 at Fiserv Forum / March 1st, 2025 at Capital One Arena

Head Coach: Ed Cooley (343-245 overall, 9-23 at Georgetown)

Three-Year NET Average: 214.0

Three-Year kenpom Average: 195.3

Projected 2023-24 T-Rank: 106

Photo by Daniel Rankin | Georgetown Voice

State of the Program

Georgetown hit rock bottom in 2023, as Patrick Ewing led them to their worst kenpom finish (#219) in program history just a year after going winless in league play (0-19). Enter Ed Cooley from Providence, who brought in a history of program building and NCAA acumen. Cooley did improve things, but only marginally. The Hoyas went 2-18 in league play for the second consecutive year and while they got back into the top-200 at kenpom, it was only up to #192, which was the second worst mark in program history. Now's the time for Cooley to prove that program building bit. He added three promising sophomore transfers and the 12th ranked recruiting class in the country according to 247 Sports. There's reason for optimism, but realization of that optimism may still be a year or two away.

Rotation

Malik Mack is the first of the heralded sophomores. He led Harvard in scoring and assists, though much of that is a product of his team leading usage rate (29.4% was 6th nationally among freshmen). His new running mate, Jayden Epps, had an even higher usage rate for Georgetown, though on mediocre efficiency. Micah Peavy comes in from an NCAA team at TCU where he was a role-player on offense but a standout defender. Kentucky transfer Jordan Burks struggled to crack Cal's rotation and will be looking for a bigger role. In a limited sample, Kentucky was 20.6 points/100 possessions better with Burks on the floor. Thomas Sorber is the jewel of Cooley's recruiting class. He's expected to start and has a Big East-ready body to go along with solid post moves and rim protection on defense. The bench is young. Kayvaun Mulready and Julius Halaifonua are projects that will likely get to prove their mettle early while Drew Fielder showed flashes last year and will provide coverage in the front court.

Style of Play

Cooley's best teams have had hyper-productive point guards like Vincent Council, Kris Dunn, and Bryce Cotton running the show. However while gaudy assist numbers at the point are a Cooley staple, his teams in recent years have run a ton through his big men. He runs a ton of post-up action or uses the drive to create roll opportunities for his big men. Cooley hasn't had great shooting teams (his best ever eFG% rank was #126) but they crash the glass hard and are excellent at finishing on second chance opportunities. This team has two productive ball-handlers that can both create and score, and don't be surprised if Sorber is a dark horse Freshman of the Year candidate because he should get plenty of scoring chances at the rim. When the toss-ahead isn't open, Cooley likes his teams to play in the half court and is comfortable with them milking the clock for the best shot opportunity.

Defensively, his teams are aggressive challenging shooters at the arc to either chase them off the line or contest the shot. Cooley's teams do this by getting as close as they can to the perimeter players to prevent them from being able to dribble. By closing that space, they aim to deflect passes and take away easy looks from three. If attackers get past the perimeter line of defense, Georgetown funnels attackers to the bigs, counting on their shot blockers to protect the rim rather than trying to keep teams out of the paint altogether.

2024-25 Outlook

The first question with this roster is how do Malik Mack and Jayden Epps coexist when there's only one ball? The second question is why did Micah Peavy, who started every game for a tournament team, transfer to a Georgetown team that will likely be bad? If the answer is that he was hoping for more prominent role, something Jordan Burks likely also wants, and Drew Fielder likely expects after a highly efficient freshman year, this team could have problems. It looks like Georgetown has too many players who want to be the star and not enough players who are there because they will accept a role. Combine that with the reality that Peavy and Epps are the only two players on the roster that are not freshmen or sophomores and the Hoyas could have a real experience issue as well. Cooley is great at grinding out results when he has lunch pail players whose hearts are bigger than their efficiency numbers. His best teams thrive because they have unselfish players, but this team looks like the antithesis of that. They are young and the possibility to mold this group into a team in the coming years exists, but I worry that this team might worry more about which player led the team in scoring than if the team's combined score was enough to win the game.

One Man's Opinion

Like Providence, I just don't see this roster fitting together very well. Unlike Providence, there's no Bryce Hopkins anymore to save Cooley's bacon, which is why I have the Hoyas picked #11 in the Big East. They have an undersized back court that will struggle on defense and constantly be in a "my turn, your turn" fight over the ball. Up front, they are very young and simply don't have players who have the experience to compete on day one in the Big East, and the bench is just as young. The one thing I will give to Cooley over some of his peers is I can see the vision. In two years, this team could still be together, but if they are it will be laden with juniors and seniors that have been through the wars. Cooley will likely have a star or two by that time (Sorber, Mulready, or Mack?) and you can see the vision of a NCAA Team again. But that time isn't now.