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Pitt has already lost several players from last year's team to transfers. Now, they're losing guys that haven't even suited up for the team yet.
Pitt's roster for next year was already going to be a huge question mark. It's looking even less uncertain with the news that incoming JUCO commit Troy Simons from Polk State won't be coming to the Panthers after all.
Simons committed to the Panthers just last month. But apparently, there are some academic issues that are too great of a hurdle to overcome. Simons initially indicated he only needed to take two online courses to be eligible. With him now out, Pitt has four open slots for next season.
There's still interest in him. In particular, New Mexico is said to be bringing him in for a visit, per this Albuquerque Journal writer.
Lobos have 2 recruits in Abq this weekend: JC transfer 6-1 Troy Simons (top JC scorer at 26.3 ppg) & 6-7 UNT grad transfer Jeremy Combs
— Geoff Grammer (@GeoffGrammer) April 15, 2017
While he would have been a new player for Pitt, he had some potential as a high-impact guy that would play right away. The team has a ton of youth on it already so even as a JUCO player, his age and ability to score (Simons was the top-scoring JUCO player last year, averaging 26.3 points per game) would have been helpful.
The move isn't a killer for Pitt, obviously. With or without him, the team has a stiff rebuilding task in front of them. And if the Panthers fill that spot, there's a good chance it's going to be with an experienced transfer, anyway. But well after the season has ended, next year's roster is still a complete question mark at this stage.
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