Georgetown Hoops 2025, A Preview of Cooley Year 3

Story By: Andrew Lang

File Photo By: Sol Tucker

Washington, D.C–

As we enter year three of the Ed Cooley era on the Hilltop and some are saying this is a make-or-break year for the Hoyas. Is that really the case in the NIL era of basketball? Guess we will find out here in just a short couple of weeks.

In order to find yourself in the Big East mix, it’s going to take toughness and a complete roster for the entire season, something the Hoyas lacked in the later last season. They also have to make up for the key subtractions of the team from last year that include Thomas Sorber to the NBA Draft and Micah Peavy.

Some might say that Sorber wasn’t a true x factor on this team from last season due to the lack of time on the court due to injury, but when he was on the court, quite a few of the games the Hoyas won were a direct relation to both Sorber and Peavy on the court at the same time. Of note, Sorber has torn his ACL prior to the start of the 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder training camp and is expected to miss an undefined amount of time.

Georgetown also loses four guys to the transfer portal. Three leave with two years remaining, while the fourth has just one year of eligibility left to go. Jayden Epps and Drew Fielder are the most notable departures in terms of prominence in the rotation and round out our discussion of the four starters that they’re losing.

When it comes to Cooley building this roster, they have two returning players from last season that can make possibly be a fit in Malik Mack and Caleb Williams. Mack is the only player that Cooley has left that was a double figure scorer at 12.9 ppg last season. Williams will get more playing time this season, but his 4.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game last year in limited action, doesn’t really move the needle too much for us.

One key addition that we have had a chance to see play over the past two seasons at Maryland was DeShawn Harris-Smith (6’5”, 224 lb guard, Woodbridge, Virginia) His playing time was limited last season under Kevin Willard at Maryland. He had a nice freshman year with 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. If Cooley can get him to find that freshman shooting, he had at Maryland, he could be viable option off the bench.

One thing we looked at this offseason was their trip to the Global Jam in Toronto. Let’s just say it left us a bit worried that this was the team that Cooley was putting on the floor this season. If that’s what we got, then we are looking at a NIT team at best again this season and a tough go at it in the Big East this season.