The Isaiah Epps Saga Ends

by CardiacHill on Apr 5, 2025 10:30 AM EDT in Pitt Basketball

The Isaiah Epps came as little surprise when you couple the fact that he hadn't progressed as well as coaches would have liked with the fact that Pitt is still actively looking for players for 2012 and it wasn't hard to see this was a possibility.

Over at SB Nation Pittsburgh, I broke down his departure a bit. Below is a snippet and you can head over there for the full article:

Isaiah Epps came to Pitt highly-touted, and when he signed in 2010, he was expected to be the team's point guard of the future. He was such a big-time recruit that the Panthers' coaches apparently told him he could start as a freshman.

Heck, not even told him he could start ... but would, according to the guard.

Now, instead of being a key fixture for the team's future, he's transferring out of the program. The official word is that the transfer is for family reasons, but if you've watched Pitt this season, it's easy to think that playing time also may have had a little to do with it.

Epps got off to a slow start and never really found his footing. As I pointed out at the time, he didn't participate in the Greentree Summer League prior to coming to Pitt as a freshman -- something that could have significantly aided his development. From there, instead of getting a head start, he ended up taking a redshirt. That, of course, isn't the sole reason he didn't pan out and is transferring, but getting some early experience could have helped.

Continue to the rest of the article.

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Comments

epps showed absolutely nothing as a panther

trey woodall goes down with an injury so there’s his chance right? wrong. he did nothing whatsoever- no idea what his problem is but he never found his stride at pitt.i dont think anyone is gonna be too upset that this one got away, jaylen bond on the other hand…

by panthro on Apr 5, 2025 2:57 PM EDT reply actions

p.s.

i would like to see them use the available ship on a PF. really dont know if any quality guys are still available at that position at this time but i think we’ve reached our quota on tweener guards. the front court could use some new blood to help bolster the production (or lack thereof) in that position. obviously steve adams is on the way and that is great but it cant hurt to bring in one more big man.

by panthro on Apr 5, 2025 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Big Man vs. Guard

Yeah, I’m really torn on which position they should target.

Taylor will be a senior this year and if Adams is all he’s cracked up to be, he could be gone after this coming season as well. That really only leaves Talib Zanna and Malcolm Gilbert after next year.

In two years, the guards left are James Robinson, John Johnson, and Cam Wright while the big men are Zanna and Gilbert. J.J. Moore and Patterson are both capable of playing as guards, but I’m slotting them in at the 3.

Add it all up and it’s looking like they should probably use it on a big man as you suggest. But if there’s a significantly better guard available, I think you’ve got to go in that direction.

Manager of Cardiac Hill - SB Nation's Pitt Panthers blog
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by CardiacHill on Apr 5, 2025 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Chris Jones

Forgot about the guard they just picked up, Chris Jones, too. That makes the case for a big man more reasonable, but still not sure that’s the way they’ll go.

Manager of Cardiac Hill - SB Nation's Pitt Panthers blog
Follow us on Facebook at CardiacHill and on Twitter at @PittPantherBlog

by CardiacHill on Apr 5, 2025 11:54 PM EDT up reply actions