Xavier hires Richard Pitino as their men’s basketball coach
Xavier hires Richard Pitino as their men’s basketball coach. Coach Pitino speaks at a welcoming ceremony at Xavier.
The college basketball offseason never takes a moment off.
Within a few hours of Florida’s thrilling win over Houston in the national championship game, there were Way-Too-Early Top 25 lists ready to go for the 2025-26 season.
Part of the madness is the transfer portal. Just this week, the number of entries climbed over 2,000 college basketball players searching for a new opportunity at a different program.
For the second consecutive year, Xavier saw a ton of roster shuffling through the portal, on top of a coaching change when Sean Miller left for Texas. Xavier quickly got Richard Pitino as his replacement and went to work on building the roster through the portal.
“We have to add a lot of players. I know that,” Pitino said at his introductory press conference April 1. “We’re gonna work our butts off over the next couple of months to build a team and program that reflects this amazing fanbase.”
It didn’t take two months for Xavier to shape the majority of its 2025-26 squad, despite six players leaving through the portal and seven graduating.
Many portal pundits have taken notice of Xavier’s transfer additions. In just 16 days, Xavier has added eight players to join guard Roddie Anderson on the roster. No day was bigger than April 12, when Xavier got a trio of commits from three double-digit scorers from last season.
That includes two veterans (Florida Atlantic forward Tre Carroll, Montana guard Malik Moore) and Evansville’s Gabriel Pozzato, a Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman guard last season.
That one-day trifecta, paired with five earlier additions, have made the Musketeers an early offseason darling with six-plus months remaining until the regular season tips off.
According to 247Sports’ transfer team rankings, Xavier has brought in the No. 22 overall batch of transfers in the country. Xavier’s transfer class was outside of the top 40 before adding Carroll, Pozzato and Moore on Saturday.
Of Xavier’s eight commits, per 247Sports, six are 4-star transfers and two are 3-stars (UNLV center Pape N’Diaye and New Mexico forward Jovan Milicevic).
Where does Xavier’s transfer portal class stack up with Big East foes?
It’s not surprising that programs with new coaches will be among the most active in the portal. Maryland, which hired Buzz Williams this month, and Xavier are tied for the most transfer commits (8) in the nation. Maryland’s class ranks ninth in the nation.
Iowa, which named Ben McCollum its next head coach in March, has seven commits and is ranked seventh in the country. Xavier will visit Iowa as part of its non-conference schedule on Friday, November 14.
How about against Big East rivals?
| Team | Overall Ranking | Total Commits | 5-Star | 4-Star | 3-Star |
| Creighton | 5th | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| St. John’s | 6th | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Georgetown | 17th | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Providence | 20th | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Xavier | 22nd | 8 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| UConn | 28th | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Butler | 39th | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| DePaul | T-72nd | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Seton Hall | T-77th | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Villanova | T-101st | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Marquette | N/A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(Transfer Portal Rankings from Big East schools, per 247Sports).
Creighton leads the Big East after landing a pair of high-scoring Iowa transfers in Owen Freeman and Josh Dix. Freeman, a 6-foot-10 forward, averaged 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 63.8% from the field. Dix averaged 14.4 points and shot 42.2% from three-point range. Creighton also got a commitment from Miami freshman Austin Swartz, who listed Xavier and Creighton in his top 5 schools and high-scoring Charlotte transfer Nik Graves.
St. John’s added shooting with the additions of Oziyah Sellers (Stanford) and Joson Sanon (Arizona State) along with Providence forward Bryce Hopkins.
Ed Cooley is entering a pivotal third season at Georgetown and added four 4-star transfers, including double-digit scorers Duncan Powell (Georgia Tech) and KJ Lewis (Arizona).
UConn landed Dayton transfer guard Malachi Smith on Monday after four seasons with the Flyers.
Will Xavier add more through the transfer portal?
Here’s a look at Xavier’s roster rebuild in its current form. EvanMiya.com estimates that Xavier has dished out $5.5 million in NIL money for its eight additions, which would rank top 10 in the country.
Guards (4): Roddie Anderson, All Wright, Gabriel Pozzato, Malik Moore
Forwards/Centers (5): Filip Borovicanin, Anthony Robinson, Jovan Milicevic, Pape N’Diaye, Tre Carroll
For starters, Xavier’s remaining number of roster spots is a question that will soon be answered. Currently, Xavier has 13 scholarship spots, but that could change with the passing of the NCAA vs. House Settlement, which would establish a roster limit of 15.
While Xavier has laid the groundwork to what it will look like in the fall, expect the Musketeers to still be active in the portal. Last season, Xavier had six active guards on scholarship and Anderson on the bench as a redshirt.
Anderson should be in the mix for the starting point guard slot this season, but Xavier will certainly be in the market for more help in the backcourt in the coming weeks.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
