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Au’Diese Toney delivered a blow to Pitt last week, as he announced that he would be leaving the team along with Xavier Johnson. But it seems he will land on his feet, as just under two dozen programs have reached out and expressed interest in the former four-star recruit and No. 2 scorer at Pitt.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Toney had heard from a total of 23 programs, according to Jeff Borzello of ESPN. The most notable of the bunch were Arizona, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgia, Iowa State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Providence, Seton Hall, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UConn, Vanderbilt, Washington State, Wichita State and Wisconsin. But Toney has also heard from a handful of lower-tier programs, such as Charlotte, East Carolina, South Florida, UAB, UNC Greensboro and Western Kentucky.
At Pitt, the 6’6”, 210-pound guard-forward developed steadily over his three years on campus, improving every major facet of his game between the time of his arrival and the time of his departure. This season, he was averaging 14.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Those figures were up from 9.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game last season as well as the 7.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.5 assists he posted over the course of his freshman campaign.
With that said, Toney also saw previously steady and unproblematic turnover and personal foul rates suddenly climb in his final season in Pittsburgh, as he gave up the ball 2.4 times per game and was whistled for fouls 2.1 times per game. In addition, Toney was a streaky and overconfident three-point shooter prone to cold spells, and he finished his Pitt career as a 30.2 shooter from distance.
Of course, the bottom line with Toney is that he could score and rebound against ACC competition week in and week out, meaning he should translate well to teams playing at a comparable level and perhaps spectacularly to non-Power Five programs. So even with his faults, there should be no shortage of interest in the former Panther moving forward.