Xavier Johnson taking time to find best fit with transfer

Former Pitt point guard Xavier Johnson parted ways with the Panthers on Feb. 24 and entered the transfer portal shortly after. Since then, little has been revealed about his potential destinations or future plans. However, he broke the silence on Friday and said that he will be taking his time with his decision.

“I’m taking my time with everything,” Johnson told Eric Bossi of 247Sports. “It is going to be building relationships with the coaches and seeing if I can actually trust them. That’s the main thing. They are probably going to start eliminating themselves because there are probably going to be other guards out there that they are looking for as well.”

The 6’3”, 200-pound point guard was a star at Pitt and was especially promising in his first season, when he set a freshman scoring record, with 15.5 points per game. He went on to become the team’s top play facilitator and averaged 5.7 assists per game in addition to his 14.2 points per game this season.

As a result, Johnson has received plenty of interest since his departure was announced, and top programs from five of the seven major conferences have reached out.

“I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from the portal,” Johnson said. “It has been a lot, a big decision. This is my last shot, and in order to reach my goals, I’ve got to make the right decision for my future. Development and a winning culture is what I’m really looking for.”

Johnson’s confidence has not taken a hit from his falling out with Pitt, and he believes he has a lot to offer other programs. He described himself as “probably one of the fastest guards in the country” and pointed out that he once led the ACC in assists per game this season. And because of that, he expects to remain at the high-major level moving forward.

“I’m going to the best fit," Johnson said. "But I did lead a high-major conference in assists, so I wouldn’t hope to go down. But if that is my best fit then that’s my best fit.”

With that said, Johnson will not be naming specific programs that have reached out to him out of respect for players already on the rosters of interested teams as well as recruits. He has also yet to set a timeline or a decision date, so it is currently uncertain when any developments on his transfer might come.