It is no secret that the 2026-2027 season is make-or-break for head coach Ed Cooley and the Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team. Cooley is entering his fourth season with the Hoyas and is unquestionably on the hot seat. When the Hoyas poached Cooley from Big East rival Providence College after the 2023 season, the expectation was that the decorated coach would right the ship and lead Georgetown back to the NCAA tournament. After all, in 2022 Cooley won the Big East Coach of the Year and Naismith College Coach of the Year awards while leading his former school, Providence, to the Sweet 16. Yet, the first three years of Cooley’s tenure at Georgetown have been nothing short of a disappointment.
The Beginning Stages
During Cooley’s first season at the helm (2023-2024), the Hoyas finished a lousy 2-18 in Big East conference play and 9-23 overall, losing in the first round of the Big East Tournament (BET) to Cooley’s former squad, the Providence Friars. During the offseason, Cooley worked to revamp the roster. The Hoyas landed Malik Mack – reigning Ivy League Freshman of the Year (Harvard) – Micah Peavy from TCU, and Thomas Sorber, a top-50 recruit in the class of 2024. After what many considered a successful offseason, hopes were high for year two.
During Cooley’s second season, the Hoyas jumped out to a blistering 12-2 start, their best in a decade. However the wheels began to fall off as the new year arrived. After a 3-0 start in conference, the Hoyas lost four straight in January and lost Sorber – their second leading scorer and leading rebounder – to a season-ending foot injury on February 15th. After a promising start, the Hoyas finished 18-16 overall and 8-12 in conference, losing in the first round of the BET to DePaul. Once again, Georgetown failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Year Three
After Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy were selected in the 2025 NBA Draft, and with no incoming freshmen, Cooley was once again forced to test his luck in the NCAA transfer portal. With less money to offer transfers than high-rolling programs like Kentucky, Cooley pieced together a solid transfer class which included former University of Arizona sixth-man KJ Lewis, former five-star prospect Vincent (Vince) Iwuchukwu from St. John’s, and three four-star transfer prospects: Jeremiah Williams (Gr.) from Rutgers, DeShawn Harris-Smith (Jr.) from Maryland, and Langston Love (Gr.) from Baylor. With the addition of these players and Mack coming off a strong campaign, expectations for the Hoyas – especially the backcourt of Mack and Lewis – were high once again.
Unfortunately, the 2025-2026 season largely mirrored the one prior. Again, the Hoyas came out hot with signature wins at Maryland and vs. Clemson. In the week 4 AP poll, Georgetown received 31 votes, tied for 28th-most in the country. But shortly after the statement win against Clemson, Georgetown announced that Iwuchukwu would miss 6-8 weeks due to an undisclosed medical procedure. Simply put, the Hoyas were not the same team without their big man. After an uninspiring effort in a win against Wagner, Georgetown dropped back to back games against Dayton and University of Miami at the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational. The disappointing non-conference efforts piled up as the Hoyas etched out a nine-point win at home against UMBC and needed overtime to beat St. Peter’s at McDonough Arena, Georgetown’s on-campus stadium.
Conference play was more of the same story. The Hoyas could not get out of their own way. Georgetown lost its first home conference contest to Xavier by three points. Georgetown missed 18 free throws. Two weeks later, Georgetown was on the wrong side of history when they shot 1-23 from the field in the second half against DePaul, matching Savannah State for the second-worst shooting half in the era of the shot clock. Four days later, Georgetown blew an 11-point second half lead and fell to Seton Hall at home. This was followed by an overtime loss at Creighton in which Georgetown led by seven with less than two minutes left.
Georgetown showed signs of life at the end of January, winning four straight contests. But just as the Hoyas saved themselves from drowning, they began to shoot themselves in the foot once again. Georgetown lost seven straight Big East games in which they were plagued by late turnovers, a lack of defensive intensity, and an inability to hit big shots. To add insult to injury, the Hoyas lost KJ Lewis – their leading scorer – to a season ending ankle injury. The Hoyas finished the season 16-18 overall and 6-14 in conference play, dead last in the Big East.
Down but not (technically) out, Georgetown racked up wins against DePaul and Villanova in the BET, earning a spot in the semifinals for the first time since 2021. With Lewis sidelined, players who were not primary scorers were forced into a new role. During these BET wins, several Hoyas delivered impactful performances: Jeremiah Williams (17 points against DePaul), Iwuchukwu (17 points against DePaul), Julius Halaifonua (21 points and 10 rebounds against Villanova), and Kayvaun Mulready (14 points on 5-5 from the field against Villanova) were among the notable performers. While the Hoya’s Cinderella run would ultimately end at the hands of Uconn, these BET wins offered a glimpse of hope for the future of Georgetown basketball.
Roster Turnover
But as is standard in today’s landscape, the transfer portal and its promise of more minutes and a bigger NIL deal drew several key Hoyas away from the program. Before the portal officially opened on April 7, 2026, Lewis, Harris-Smith, Mack, and Langston Love (all backcourt players) declared that they would enter and seek new opportunities. Additionally, DMV products Jayden Fort and Isaiah Abraham, both rotation players, declared for the portal. With Jeremiah Williams and Iwuchukwu out of eligibility, the only three rotation players that remained were Caleb Williams, Mulready, and Halaifonua. The portal hadn’t even opened.
As if losing nearly the entire backcourt to the portal wasn’t bad enough, Halaifonua, who many viewed as a key piece following his breakout performance in the BET, entered the portal just 11 days after pledging to return to Georgetown. Alex Constanza, Georgetown’s highest ranked recruit in nearly two decades, reopened his commitment on April 15. Yet again, Cooley was forced to look to the portal to construct an almost entirely new roster. With his back against the wall, Ed seems to have delivered.
2026 Portal Additions
Cooley’s first acquisition was Jaland Lowe, a playmaking guard from the University of Kentucky whose junior season was cut short due to a shoulder injury. During his sophomore year at Pittsburgh, Lowe averaged 16.8 points and 5.5 assists on his way to all-ACC third team recognition. Technically a rising senior, Georgetown hopes that Lowe will be granted an additional year of eligibility since he appeared in just nine games at Kentucky before the season-ending injury. Shortly thereafter, Cooley landed hard-nosed guard Elmarko Jackson from Kansas. Jackson, a rising junior, was a McDonald’s All-American in high school and averaged 4.8 points per game as the Jayhawks sixth man last season. These two guards, each with multiple years of Power-Five experience, will be crucial pieces for the Hoyas both on and off the court this season.
With Iwuchukwu, Halaifonua, and Fort no longer with the team, the Hoyas desperately needed a big man. As the number of available centers dwindled, Cooley was able to secure a commitment from Chol Machot, a seven-footer from the College of Charleston. Last season, Machot averaged 8.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks, and was named the Coastal Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year. While Machot was one of the most dominant mid-major defenders in the country last season, the lanky, 190-pound sophomore will have to prove that he can hold his own against physical Big East bigs. Cooley followed up by landing another mid-major transfer in Josiah Parker from Florida Atlantic University. Parker, a rising sophomore, is a 6-foot-7 wing who averaged 9.6 points and 6 rebounds during his freshman campaign, earning American Conference Freshman of the Year honors. Parker showed flashes on the offensive end tallying three 20+ point games. As a Hoya, Parker will likely be a crucial bench piece responsible for providing a scoring spark for the second unit – a facet Georgetown’s bench lacked last season.
Despite these initial moves, the Hoyas still needed to address one of the squad’s greatest offensive deficiencies: three-point shooting. Last season, the Hoyas shot just 31.8% from behind the arc, tied for second to last in the Big East. To help remedy this lack of shooting, Cooley brought in Vyctorius Miller, a 6-foot-5 sharpshooting guard from Oklahoma State. Last season as a sophomore, Miller averaged 10.8 points while shooting 37.5% from three – a mark that would have ranked second among all Hoyas last season. This season, Hoya fans should expect Miller to shoot at a high volume from three while taking on a key scoring role for the team.
Turning to the international space, the Hoyas secured a commitment from 6-foot-6 Brazilian wing, Pedro Pastre. At just 19 years old, Pastre brings valuable professional experience and shooting to the Hoyas. Last season, Pastre appeared in 38 games for Pinheiros, one of the top teams in Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB). In 25.2 minutes per game, Pastre averaged 7.4 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 34% from three. Hoya fans should note that the NBB is the top professional league in Brazil and is comparable to some of the top European leagues. Georgetown faithful may remember Pastre from the 2025 GLOBL JAM where he scored 16 points against the Hoyas, leading Brazil to victory in the championship game. It is always challenging to predict how international players will adapt to college basketball. However, given the level of competition Pastre faced during his time on Pinheiros and his performance against the Hoyas in 2025, Georgetown fans should be excited for what the young Brazilian will bring to the table.
A Late Summer Addition
Despite all of these additions, the Hoyas were still tremendously thin in the front court. This changed when, on August 13, NJ Benson committed to Georgetown. This commitment came after a Nashville judge ordered the NCAA to treat Benson as eligible for the upcoming season. The 6-foot-8, 235 pound transfer established himself as a dominant Big East presence last season for the DePaul Blue Devils. During his senior season, Benson averaged 11.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while converting 63.6% of his field goal attempts. In DePaul’s first round loss to the Hoyas in the BET, Benson scored 12 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. During the first meeting between Georgetown and DePaul last season, Benson delivered a vicious and-one posterizing dunk on Vince Iwuchukwu. For Georgetown to return to the NCAA tournament, Benson will have to set the tone and establish an aggressive, physical brand of basketball in the low post.
Key Returners
In addition to these seven incoming transfers, Georgetown is returning several key rotation players. Caleb Williams is a rising junior who is bound to see a larger offensive role this season. As a sophomore, Williams led the team in three-point percentage, shooting at a 37.7% clip from deep. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 8.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with big time performances against Maryland (14 points), Clemson (13 points), Miami (23 points), and Butler (16 points). Kayvaun Mulready, a 6-foot-4 rising junior, will also be a key piece for the Hoyas this season.
After hardly seeing the floor during the first half of the season, Mulready broke out toward the end of January. After delivering his first double-digit scoring effort of the season against Villanova (12 points), the hard-nosed guard went on to score 15 at Uconn, 19 at Xavier, 20 at St. John’s, and 14 in his electrifying performance against Villanova in the BET. Williams and Mulready both pledged their allegiance to Georgetown shortly after the season ended and have since become fan favorites.
Nobody deserves a trip to the big dance more than these two juniors and it will largely be up to them to lead the Hoyas back to the NCAA tournament. The Hoyas are also returning redshirt freshman Gabriel Landeira who shined during the 2025 GLOBL JAM while representing Brazil – Landeira earned MVP honors for the men’s division, averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 57.9% from deep. Like Pastre, Landeira played in the NBB where during the 2024-2025 season he averaged 10.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 37.6% from three. Now 22 years old, Landeira will likely be a key bench piece for the Hoyas this season, responsible for ball handling and spacing the floor for the second unit.
Young Buck
For the first time since 2024-2025, Georgetown is bringing in a true freshman. Justin Caldwell is a 6-foot-9 power forward from North Carolina and a consensus top 150 prospect in the high school class of 2026. Given Benson’s recent commitment as well as the addition of Josiah Parker, Caldwell will likely play a limited role this season. Nonetheless, the Georgetown coaching staff hopes that the 235 pound forward will ultimately play a larger role for the Hoyas frontcourt in the future.
Overall Roster Construction
While the roster for the upcoming season is not finalized – Vince Iwuchukwu recently received an injunction making him (at least temporarily) eligible for the upcoming and is reportedly weighing a return to Georgetown – Hoya fans should expect the rotation to mainly consist of the seven aforementioned transfers, three returning pieces, and freshman.
Tempered Expectations: A Return to Competitiveness
The Georgetown Hoyas are undeniably one of the most historic programs in college basketball. Yet, the Hoyas last at-large tournament appearance was over a decade ago (2014-2015) and Georgetown fans haven’t witnessed a Big East regular season championship since the “new” Big East was created in 2013 – Georgetown’s last outright regular season championship was during the 2007-2008 season. The Georgetown faithful do not expect the Hoyas to dominate the college basketball scene as they did during the 80s. Rather, Hoya fans are asking for – and quite honestly, deserve – a program that competes with the top brass in the Big East and is in contention for a bid in the (expanded) NCAA Tournament. Ed Cooley constructed a competitive roster this offseason in order to achieve these aims. The pieces are in place; it is now up to the players and coaching staff to translate roster construction into on-court results.
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