Epps Hits the Portal, Powell Turns Heel, and Cooley's Roster To-Do List Grows

After appearing to be in good shape just two weeks ago, Georgetown's roster needs are only growing right now after two roster departures were confirmed on Monday.

It was a frustrating Monday afternoon for Georgetown fans.

First, Duncan Powell—who officially decommitted from Georgetown over the weekend—announced his commitment to Providence.

After missing out on Bryce Hopkins, and with Powell now off the board, Georgetown finds itself needing to move to Plan C at the power forward position for next season.

Then, a mere 21 minutes after the Powell news dropped, things got even worse: Jayden Epps entered the transfer portal.

So for those who thought Georgetown was sitting pretty with its roster a mere two weeks ago (hand up)…guess again!

With Powell and Epps gone, Georgetown now finds itself needing to land, at a minimum, two starters in the transfer portal.

The loss of Epps is a particularly painful one.

Yes, his scoring average took a sharp dip this season; yes, he is undersized; and yes, he struggled to stay healthy this year. But Epps transferring from Georgetown means the team no longer has a scoring guard on the roster—someone who can go get a bucket when the team needs him too. That’s not good!

Malik Mack could potentially elevate to that role in 2025-26, and his performance at the end of the season in The Crown—scoring 37 points and 25 points—gives some cause for optimism.

But Mack’s performance over the full season, in which he averaged 12.9 points per game on 38/36/73 shooting splits, isn’t exactly the mark of a traditional scoring guard. It may be that Mack is better suited as a pure point guard for this team. And that’s OK.

Even if Mack takes another leap as a scorer at Georgetown, Georgetown still needs to add at least one more scoring guard, if not two.

Players have until the end of the day on April 22nd to enter the transfer portal, and at the time of writing, Mack’s name was still not in the transfer portal.

There was concern that Mack would follow Kenny Johnson to Indiana when Johnson made the move from the Hilltop to Indiana, but Darian DeVries went in another direction in finding his starting point guard for next season, with Troy point guard Tayton Conerway committing to the Hoosiers recently.

One source close to Johnson indicated last week that Johnson actually recommended to the Team Takeover players on Georgetown’s roster that they remain with the team next season.

That doesn’t guarantee they’ll stay, but the threat of Johnson poaching any of the Takeover players from Georgetown’s roster this offseason doesn’t appear to be a major concern at this time.

If Thomas Sorber decides to remain in the NBA Draft, Georgetown’s outlook for the 2025-26 season—a season in which Ed Cooley must start producing results in his third season as Georgetown head coach—does not look very good right now.

Without Sorber, Georgetown could be looking at needing to recruit a scoring guard, a power forward, and a center.

People inside the Thompson Athletic Center keep saying Cooley is fine with starting Julius Halaifonua at center next season if Sorber goes pro, but Georgetown will still need to bolster its depth at the position, even if redshirt freshman Seal Diouf is capable of handling some minutes there next season.

Redshirt freshmen like Diouf and Jayden Fort could factor into the rotation next season, but it’s too risky to count on unproven players to immediately contribute for a team that should be aiming to be a tournament-caliber team in 2025-26.

Georgetown needs to find more proven players for its rotation, and treat any contributions from Diouf or Fort as a bonus in their first season on the active roster.

Money is no longer a problem for Georgetown. Georgetown hosted an NIL fundraising dinner last week in New York City and the reviews from several donors that present were very positive. Not only are fundraising numbers strong, but some big donors who previously were not involved have now come into the fold.

Ed Cooley has the resources he needs to build a competitive roster that can win a Big East championship. It’s on him and his coaching staff to attract that talent to the Hilltop now.

Time to get to work.