Georgetown Basketball: Why Malik Mack is the most important team transfer for 2024-25

Big changes and renewed optimism were aplenty at Georgetown last offseason after the hiring of Ed Cooley, but year one ended remarkably flat. The Hoyas mustered just two wins in Big East play, with both of those coming against lowly DePaul. Finishing his debut season with just 9 wins wasn’t the start that Cooley was looking for, but are there brighter days ahead in our nation’s capital?

What’s fortunate for the Hoyas is that leading scorer Jayden Epps will be back for his junior season. Unfortunately, the other four top scorers and starters won’t be back, with the Hoyas losing a decent amount of talent to the Transfer Portal. Former freshman forward Drew Fielder is back but there’s a lot of new faces around him and Epps in this lineup now.

A slew of new freshmen bolster that lineup, with Cooley landing a decent haul in his first recruiting class. Additionally, the Hoyas added legitimate talent from the Portal themselves. They got a pair of former freshman from the Bluegrass State, getting former Kentucky forward Jordan Burks and shooting guard Curtis Williams Jr. out of Louisville. One of the biggest additions was Micah Peavy who was part of success at TCU in recent years.

The notable addition among the group was certainly Malik Mack. Originally from Washington DC, Mack returns to town after spending his freshman season at Harvard last year. He certainly adhered himself to the Crimson with an explosive rookie campaign, averaging 17.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists while at Harvard. Mack showed his talent as a true freshman, had solid shooting figures, and was named Rookie of the Year in the Ivy League.

After that one year journey in Boston, Mack returns to Washington DC and faces a significant increase in surrounding talent and pressure. He was a major cog and top scorer for the Crimson last season, but Harvard finished in the bottom half of the league standings. Does Mack have the talent to not only transition into a strong Big East but to help bring Georgetown out of its cellar? He certainly has the talent and athleticism to shine in this backcourt.

The three-headed monster of Epps, Mack, and Peavy is a great foundation for this upcoming season but what kind of foundation exactly is it? The Hoyas have young talent and not a lot of experience filling the rest of this roster. They’re depending heavily on these new faces when older talent didn’t get the job done by any means last year. The overall game that Mack brings to Georgetown was an incredible offseason addition, but is it really enough?

What the Hoyas are counting on is that Mack is going to have a sophomore surge after his first full collegiate offseason. Even with that, does Georgetown really have what it takes to get back into the conversation after being a doormat in the Big East in recent years? It’s unfair to say that a lot will depend on Mack’s play, especially with Epps and Peavy there as well; but those three will lead Georgetown to as far as they’ll go. Let’s hope for more than two league wins this time around.