“Honestly, I don’t see myself being here four years."
That was Xavier Johnson late in February of 2019, a now-infamous quote from Pitt's star point guard who, at the time, was piecing together a record-breaking freshman campaign. His 512 points were the most scored by a first-year player in Pitt history, crushing Charles Smith's mark of 434 set in the 1984-85 season.
It was all a surprise, too. Johnson strolled onto campus as an unheralded, three-star recruit out of high school, initially committing to Nebraska before coaching changes caused him to withdraw and look elsewhere. Jeff Capel swooped in with a pitch and an offer, and the deed was done. Johnson was a Panther, and all he did was lead the team in scoring with 15.5 points per game and in assists with 4.5 per contest, putting the ACC (and NBA Draft scouts) on notice in the process.
Then came Year 2, and Johnson did little to help fans forget that not-so-subtle inference that the NBA — not Pitt — was chillin' at the front of his mind.
As a freshman, Johnson had to learn how to handle excellence, smashed expectations and all the fan-and-media recognition that came with it.
As a sophomore, however, the narrative changed. He scored less, dropping to 11.7 points per game, while faltering in crunch time of some of the season's most devastating losses. Poor shot selection led to a diminished shooting percentage — a drop from 41.5 percent as a freshman to 37.3 percent as a sophomore — and everything that worked so well for him as a newcomer slowly evaporated as defenses adjusted and keyed in on him to take away his slash-and-score ability.
"I wasn’t scoring as easy as I did [as a freshman]," Johnson was telling me during a one-on-one phone interview Monday.
Now, things weren't so joyous for Johnson. Instead of praise and confetti showers, Johnson had to learn how to deal with criticism, scorn and disappointment. He deleted his social media profiles briefly during the early stages of the season to escape. Every time he'd swipe to unlock his phone, they'd be waiting. Mean tweets. Critical articles. Comments aplenty blaring the regression horn.
“He broke the freshman scoring record," Capel was saying of Johnson early in the season. "He was a guy last year that was incredibly hungry because no one knew who the heck he was. There was no expectation for him. And all of a sudden, you have a good year individually, and so there’s an expectation of, ‘Well, I can be a pro. It’s something I’ve dreamed about. Maybe it’s close.'”
Instead of handling the ball and running the offense, now Johnson was on his heels. An adjustment had to be made — with the season already in full-swing.
“Yeah, it is actually something you have to [learn how to do] because the fans, fan-wise, I mean, they’re not going to agree with you," Johnson said. "They’re going to bash you into the floor [but] at the same time, that’s what comes along with being the type of player I am."
With Johnson, it's all about context, and this foundation sets the stage for what can be a promising and successful future with Capel's Panthers. And to hear Johnson tell it, that future — right here in the Steel City — has never been more appealing to him.
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"That's one of the reasons I got upset with X early in the game and we took him out. He's going in and he's not going strong. And then he comes back and he goes and he dunks it."
This time it's Capel, talking about Johnson slacking and ultimately getting benched early against Rutgers back in early December. Pitt would eventually win, 71-60, improving to 7-2 on the season. But that quote up there would stand the test of time throughout Pitt's 16-17 season.
Because Johnson could do this:
... just as easily as he could turn the ball over or force a poor shot with the game on the line.
"Sometimes you’re going to make the good play," Johnson said. "Sometimes you’re going to make the bad play. So that just goes along with it.”
For Johnson, the crucial aspect within this is one trait: Accountability. After Pitt's win over North Carolina Jan. 8 down in Chapel Hill, N.C., one game after Johnson almost caused Capel to throw a water bottle onto the court in frustration after an ill-advised, off-balance shot attempt late, Johnson owned up.
"I made a dumb decision at the end of the game," Johnson was telling me. "I know I did. That’s one thing that I gotta move on [from]. Because I got more games left.”
This became a theme for Johnson. He wouldn't run from his mistakes. Instead, he'd embrace them. But within all that accountability came little growth and real progress. Owning up is great — and Johnson did plenty of that, all the way through the team's finale, a loss against North Carolina State in Greensboro, N.C, during Round 2 of the ACC Tournament.
“We had our spurts [this year],” Johnson was saying after that one. “But I guess when we had our mental losses and dudes got caught up in [themselves] — me personally, too. I’ll be honest. We got caught up in ourselves, listening to outside people, so, I mean, that just broke us up completely.”
Better yet, though, is adjusting and not making those mistakes in the first place. Johnson knew what was required of him but at times failed to execute, instead relying on his own skills in isolation to force the issue. His performances would yo-yo as a result, not just game-to-game but within games.
Something was wrong. There wasn't full trust in the offense, in the team. There was a chemistry issue, something larger at play.
And it all started off the court.
"We were going through a struggle as a team and as individuals," Johnson said. "There were a couple cancers off the court. I’m not going to speak on it. But that’s just one thing I learned from last year, from me being a leader and how I can lead.”
And next year?
“I feel more confident," Johnson was telling me. "Next year’s going to be more athletes. Even though we lost some people, I think we got better as a team, as a whole. Because I think now there’s more of, everybody knows their role and everybody’s going to accept who they are. So I think that’s the difference.”
Another common trait with this team: They're not going to throw each other under the bus. Not the ones that are still here, like Johnson and Justin Champagnie. Not the ones that elected to transfer, like Ryan Murphy or Trey McGowens, either.
“I didn’t play a whole lot in the last 10 games, so I really don’t know,” Murphy, who spent just one season at Pitt, said after entering the transfer portal when I asked him about potential chemistry issues toward the end of their season. “I was just kind of cheering, you know, and hoping we win. But I don’t think guys were doing that. I don’t really know. I can’t really speak on it. All I know is at the end of the day, you want to have the most impressive stat: A ‘W’ in the column, not an ‘L.’ That should be the only stat as a team that you chase.”
The 2019-20 Panthers were a loyal bunch, and to hear Johnson tell it, that bond is only strengthening as they move forward. That cancer — or those cancers, nobody will name names, so we can only speculate — has been removed, and the team's health will noticeably benefit.
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"Look, I respect his move."
Johnson didn't hesitate when I approached the subject of McGowens, one-half of Pitt's superstar 2018-19 freshman class that inspired hope for the future. Like Johnson, McGowens struggled as a sophomore after stuffing the stat sheet in Year 1, failing to meet expectations both as a scorer and as an all-around leader. Unlike Johnson, however, McGowens remained quiet and shy throughout the season, appearing downright disinterested at times both on and off the court.
When he elected to transfer, ultimately landing at Nebraska, few were truly surprised. Whereas just one year ago, it was impossible to envision Pitt without that 1-2 attack of Johnson and McGowens at guard, it became increasingly clear as the season stretched on that McGowens no longer fit.
"It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to me,” Capel said of McGowens’ transfer on 93.7 The Fan. “I had been feeling that way since before Christmas. There was a part of me that thought that he would leave at Christmas. And so we were anticipating — or at least I was anticipating — the possibility of this happening.”
Johnson felt it, too — and his response to McGowens' decision said it all.
“I mean, I’m happy for him," Johnson began. " ... At the same time, I wish he was by my side, but I mean, his plan was definitely different than mine. But he’s still one of my best friends. I’m happy for him. I wish him the best of luck.
"But I’m still at Pittsburgh, you know what I’m saying? I’m pulling for the guys at Pitt. He knows how it goes.”
Here, I pressed a touch. Capel cited Christmas as the turning point for McGowens. Did Johnson notice any similar shift in McGowens' attitude or his direction around that time?
He briefly hesitated.
"Uhh."
Then he came around.
"I didn’t see anything, to be honest.”
That's right. Because, as we already established, nobody's getting thrown under the bus here. That's not what a leader would do to his crew — past, present or future — and Johnson sees where his evolution as a player is going. He's less concerned about the scoring and about the play on the court. In fact, he thought many overlooked that he upped his assists last season — from 4.5 per game to 4.9 per game — while also lowering his turnovers (4.0 per game vs. 3.4 in Year 2).
"I was trying to turn more into a point guard, more of a playmaker for my teammates, trying to get my teammates theirs before I got mine," Johnson told me.
It could've been better, though. Much better. Not just as a point guard, but as a leader.
And with a new-look cast on its way, that prospect excites Johnson for 2020-21.
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“I think I did an OK job. I didn’t do one of the best jobs at it."
Johnson wanted to lead in 2019-20, too. It just never materialized. Off-court distractions, inconsistent play and his own mental lapses plagued his ability to be as effective in that realm as he wanted to be, but that hasn't stopped him — or his coaches — from putting in work to improve.
"I’m still young, still learning," Johnson said. "So last year was just for real-for real just a learning experience. I mean, one thing I know I gotta get better at is just, like, how I approach people. Because I approach people the same way, but coach JC [Jason Capel] and coach Jeff, they told me that, like, I can’t approach everyone the same way because some people don’t take it the same as others.”
Next season, Johnson will have a new, sparkling arsenal to choose from when he suits up on game day. Chiefly among them is four-star recruit John Hugley, a 6-foot-10 power forward/center who can do a little bit of everything at both ends of the court. His scoring touch is lethal everywhere — from the low block to beyond the arc — and he possesses unique vision and touch on his passes, especially for a man his size.
In two years at Pitt, Johnson's never had a big man with this amount of talent to work alongside.
“I think he’s great. He’s a great player," Johnson said of Hugley. "But I think all our bigs are going to be able to benefit, because he’s going to be able to come in practice and, probably being the young guy, you can still teach the old guys something new. But I think all our guys can do the same.”
Notice how he swung it back around to everyone again, even though I specifically asked about Hugley? More growth. That sounds exactly like something Capel would say — always focusing on the "we" rather than the "me" — and that's a positive sign as this team builds and moves forward.
And while my prompt focused on Hugley's work on the court, Johnson was quick to remind me that next year's team is about so much more. They're not trying to be a team only once the whistle sounds. They want to represent a brotherhood all the time, everywhere.
“I talk to a lot of them [the incoming recruits] pretty often," Johnson said. "I play a video game with John. I usually text him, usually like once a week, and be like, ‘Yo, what’s up?’ Try to get to know him a little bit, [all these] young guys. Because that’s one thing coach told me I had to do.
"They sent me a little clip of Tom Brady, he actually texted all his teammates when he first got a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They told me that, and that just motivated me to text my teammates and just to build relationships."
Then, Johnson punctuated this thought, and you could feel that NBA-first focus dissolve into the background. Sure, it's there and it's lingering. That's still the end goal for him. What he has in front of him right now, at Pitt, can be special, too, though.
And unlike last season, that fact isn't lost on Johnson following the roller-coaster Year 2.
"I’m the head of the snake," Johnson said. "And to be the head of the snake, your teammates gotta like you and there are things you gotta do like that.”