Georgetown men’s basketball’s top 2017 recruit will not play college basketball as a Hoya. Tremont Waters, a 5-foot-10 point guard from West Haven, CT, will decommit from Georgetown pending official release from National Letter of Intent paperwork signed with the school in November 2016. The news was first reported by ESPN Recruiting Analyst Adam Finkelstein and was confirmed by an Instagram post on Waters’ account last night.
“After observing everything that’s been occurring lately and thoroughly thinking of this next decision, I want to respectfully remove myself from Georgetown University,” Waters wrote in the Instagram post.
Waters is ranked as the number 33 prospect in the country and is the eighth-best point guard by ESPN’s prospect metric, making him the highest rated Georgetown commit since Isaac Copeland in 2014. On the AAU circuit last season, Waters averaged 13.4 points, five assists, and four rebounds per game while playing for Expressions Elite in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL). He led his high school, Notre Dame Prep, to the number one seed in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s LL division playoff and was recently named to the 2017 Jordan Brand All-American team.
There was speculation concerning whether Waters actually signed the National Letter of Intent paperwork with Georgetown or simply gave a verbal commitment to the school, as the program never officially announced his addition. If Waters never signed the official paperwork, he would not require the school to release him to pursue other opportunities. According to Finkelstein, however, Waters’ father confirmed that he did officially sign with Georgetown but said the school will not fight his son’s desired release.
Image Credit: Notre Dame Preparatory School
Waters committed to the Hoyas in October of 2016 and was expected to receive immediate playing time, with the coaching staff previously comparing him to former Hoya great Allen Iverson. Possessing similar size and a comparable game to Iverson, Waters is a crafty and skilled player with strong dribbling, passing, and shooting abilities.
With graduate student guard Rodney Pryor having exhausted his collegiate eligibility and junior guards L.J. Peak, Tre Campbell, and Jonathan Mulmore entering their senior seasons, Waters would have provided the Hoyas with much-needed backcourt depth. Senior center Bradley Hayes and senior forward Reggie Cameron III will also be graduating this spring, leaving the Hoyas with just nine scholarship players currently on next year’s roster, including the team’s only remaining 2017 signee, Antwan Walker.
Prior to committing to Georgetown, Waters named a top-seven that included Duke, Kansas, Indiana, Yale, Kentucky, and Connecticut in addition to the Hoyas. Waters will be one of just two uncommitted point guards in the ESPN Top 100 and is expected to be widely pursued by other programs in the coming weeks.
