The last of Pitt's starters in the NCAA Transfer Portal as declared his new school.
Xavier Johnson announced via Instagram he would be transferring to Indiana for the 2021-2022 season:
Welcome to Indiana, @XavierJ0hnson! https://t.co/C7YydEdBFG
— Hoosiers Basketball (@IUBBreddit) April 7, 2021
Johnson's decisions leaves Gerald Drumgoole as the only Pitt player still undeclared with a transfer school in the portal.
Terrell Brown chose San Diego, Au'Diese Toney chose Arkansas and Abdoul Karim Coulibaly chose St. Bonaventure. With Johnson gone, each player wound up in a different conference and will most likely see solid minutes for their respective programs.
Johnson's final four schools were down to Indiana, Houston, St. Joseph's and the national champion, Baylor. Indiana hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2016 when the team was coached by Tom Crean. After four seasons without a winning record in the Big Ten, the program let go of Archie Miller and hired former Knicks and Hawks head coach Mike Woodson.
Woodson taking over initially looked like it meant a mass exodus like what Jeff Capel has seen, as six players entered the portal. But the return of Parker Stewart, Jordan Geronimo, Khristian Lander cut that in half, all who will join Johnson next season.
Johnson averaged 14.2 points and 5.7 assists and 3.3 turnovers per game for Pitt last season. His biggest competition for scoring will be the Hoosier's leading scorer Trayce Jackson-Davis, who averaged 19.1 points per game last season. But no Hoosier averaged even three assists per game last season, and that might be where Johnson makes his mark.
Meanwhile at Pitt, Capel just landed his first high school recruit Tuesday, but has yet to land any commitments through the Transfer Portal. But the number of transfers across the country continues to grow, as the total number of transfers eclipsed 1250 players Wednesday, far more than the 1025 players who entered the portal last season. Capel still has a lot of transfers to pick from.
