Jon Severe chooses Fordham, passes on Pitt

In a move that wasn't a huge shock, 2013 shooting guard recruit Jon Severe picked Fordham over Pitt and a few other schools on Wednesday.

Last night, I indicated that Severe coming didn't seem all that likely, despite the heavy pursuit by Pitt for a while. He never visited the school and unless a recruit is close by and have been unofficially on the campus for other things, I'm not sure he'd choose a school without even checking in.

This one surely makes Jame Dixon's job for 2013 a bit tougher. Even with transfer options out there, unless they can get an immediate waiver to play a la Trey Zeigler, any addition in that respect won't help with this year's team.

Let's also not get crazy here. Severe is a very good player, but this isn't missing out on some five-star shooting guard, either. He's not been rated above three stars by any of the major recruiting sites and he wasn't reeling in offers from the Dukes or Kentuckys of the world.

The larger value in Severe's addition would have been that he could fill a void for next season and possibly turn into a good scoring guard down the road - something the program has lacked traditionally. None of that is to say that his loss doesn't hurt - he would have looked good in a Pitt uniform with the losses of Tray Woodall and Trey Zeigler. But losing out on him isn't the end of the world for the program.

By choosing Fordham, it was pretty clear that staying home was important. Just as Pitt found out when they beat out some of the top football programs in the nation for Rushel Shell last year, playing in your backyard is a trump card that can't always be beaten.

Pitt now continues to look at other options and the clock is ticking. If nothing else, this offseason will show quite a bit about the resourcefulness of head coach Jamie Dixon. Dixon's landed some big time talent the past four seasons with five-star players Dante Taylor, Khem Birch, and Steven Adams. But with those types of guys not available, he's really going to have to hit on some of the lesser talent available. His evaluation skills have come under fire a bit before and this year will be a good chance for him to prove he can find some quality guys that are floating under the radar.

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