Acaden Lewis Leaves Out Georgetown From His Top Eight: What Does It Mean?

Should Georgetown fans be concerned?

Once the blue bloods came calling for 2025 point guard Acaden Lewis (Sidwell Friends/Team Durant), any rational Georgetown fan could see the writing on the wall for the Hoyas’ chances with Lewis.

Despite the time that Ed Cooley and his staff have invested in recruiting Lewis since Cooley got to Georgetown, once the big dogs enter the race, it’s very hard for a rebuilding program like Georgetown to stand a chance.

But still, Wednesday’s announcement by Lewis of his top eight schools who he would be moving forward with, which did not include Georgetown, was a surprise for a few reasons.

Outside of Trey McKenney, there isn’t a 2025 recruit that Georgetown has recruited harder than Acaden Lewis. And it wasn’t like Georgetown pulled out of this race recently either.

When Kenny Johnson was hired by Ed Cooley as an assistant coach to replace Ivan Thomas, Lewis was one of the first players that Johnson reached out to. Cooley and Johnson both made clear to Lewis that he was a priority target still, despite Thomas’ departure.

Cooley had made several trips to see Lewis during the school year at nearby Sidwell Friends in Northwest DC. And he had been in to watch Lewis workout in the summer at Sidwell too, more recently.

As of mid-June, Georgetown and Lewis had been discussing setting up another visit for Lewis to the Hilltop, with September identified as the most likely time for the visit.

So for Lewis to go from setting up a visit with Georgetown to then not even including them in his top eight schools was a surprise.

Should Georgetown have been expected to ultimately beat out the likes of UConn, Kentucky, UNC, and Duke for Lewis?

No, probably not.

But for a school like Syracuse, where Lewis has not visited yet, to make the cut over Georgetown is a tough look for the Hoyas.

A source close to Lewis insisted that Cooley and his staff did an excellent job in recruiting Acaden. The staff was officially notified that Lewis would not be including Georgetown in his cutlist a few days ago, but it had been communicated to Ed Cooley a bit earlier than that that the Hoyas were not likely to advance in Lewis’ recruitment process.

Two key reasons for Lewis cutting Georgetown were the presence of incoming point guard Malik Mack on the roster, as well as Acaden’s desire to experience life outside the DMV in his next chapter.

The presence of Mack, one of the top point guards in the transfer portal this summer, was described as raising some questions for Lewis about his initial role if he came to Georgetown.

Lewis prefers to play on the ball, and there was the belief that if Lewis came to Georgetown, he would have to play off the ball more while Mack was still on the roster.

Once Georgetown landed Mack, who has three years of eligibility left, that changed the equation for Lewis’ side.

Initially, Lewis was still open to hearing Cooley’s vision for him at Georgetown, despite Mack being in the picture, but once the blue bloods started calling, Lewis had better options where he felt he would get more opportunity immediately.

At that point, Georgetown started fading into the background more.

It’s fair to wonder whether Georgetown should have kept pursuing Lewis like they did after landing Mack. But Cooley was - and still is - a big fan of the local product, and felt that Lewis was still worth the gamble, even if Lewis was ultimately looking for a different role as a freshman in college.

Missing out on Lewis, who plays for Team Durant, raises this writer’s eyebrows about Georgetown’s standing with one of the top AAU programs in the DMV after the hire of Kenny Johnson, a Team Takeover guy.

Team Durant tried hard to get one of their guys in that bench spot, and ultimately weren’t successful. Whether they steer their players away from Georgetown, like Takeover used to do when Patrick Ewing was coach at Georgetown, is an open question.

Cam Ward, another top 2025 prospect in the DMV who plays for Team Durant, has been described in recent weeks by those familiar with his recruitment as prioritizing other schools than Georgetown at the moment.

Baba Oladotun, a 2027 prospect who plays for Team Durant and looks to be on his way to being one of the elite prospects in his class on a national scale, has yet to even be offered by Georgetown.

This isn’t proof that things are permanently icy between Georgetown and Team Durant, but after the Kenny Johnson hire, it’s something to monitor in the future.

With Acaden Lewis no longer in the picture for Georgetown, Trey McKenney sits squarely in Georgetown’s sights as their priority high school recruit. Cooley has been a massive fan of McKenney for a while, and has been in to see McKenney multiple times this summer in his home state of Michigan.

While McKenney did not list Georgetown as a school getting an upcoming visit a couple weeks ago (he visited in December 2023), Georgetown sources continue to exude confidence about their chances with the five-star combo guard.

One source on McKenney’s side said that Georgetown should be considered as one of the top contenders right now.

Things can - and likely will - change between now and McKenney’s commitment date, which isn’t expected to be until late 2024/early 2025, but there’s reason for optimism right now with McKenney.

After losing out on Lewis, snagging a five-star combo guard who looks tailor-made for an Ed Cooley team would be a great way to bounce back.