Mintz de-commits from Pitt basketball, continues program's plummet

This may be the worst stretch of nine days for Pitt basketball in recent history.

Wednesday's blow to the program was the announced de-commitment of four-star combo guard Judah Mintz on his Twitter account. He is ranked by ESPN as one of the top 100 recruits of the 2022 national class, and he was the Panthers' only commitment listed for its 2022 class:

There's no guessing what caused this change of heart for Mintz, as the Tweet came less than 24 hours after Pitt's embarrassing 78-63 loss to The Citadel at the Petersen Events Center Tuesday night.

It's a cascading wave of sadness for Pitt basketball that continues to wash away any hope for the program to return to being relevant in college basketball. Between Mintz's decommitment, the loss to The Citadel, Ithiel Horton's being arrested three days before the loss, and Nike Sibande tearing his ACL the previous Monday, the program can't get out of its own way.

Jeff Capel was brought to Pitt with the understanding that he would bring a level of recruiting to the program that hadn't been seen even in the Jamie Dixon days. His efforts at Duke led to the Blue Devils bringing in talents like Zion Williamson, and now he can't even hold onto this four-star recruit for Pitt.

Add that to the exodus of five players transferring out of the program at the end of last season, including the team's top three scorers, and that the team's fourth leading scorer in Horton was arrested and suspended indefinitely, and you've got a big problem.

Capel signed a two-year contract extension back in Jan. 2020, which has him under contract with Pitt through the 2026-2027 season. Athletic Director Heather Lyke backed Capel up in May when she spoke to reporters, citing confidence in him for his plan, relationship skills and being able to rebuild after the team's transfers.

Whatever plan Capel had looks like it's in shambles right now, as Mintz would've at least gave the Panthers hope of having a star next year on the roster. But now the program sits with embarrassing stories in the news, embarrassing losses on the court, and the cupboards bare for future prospects.

Pitt already had to pay for the big buyout of Kevin Stallings' contract, and now reasonable questions will be asked about if there can be a future with Capel after a series of disasters continues to strike the program.

What was already expected to be a long season for the Panthers already feels long just one day into its non-conference schedule. That's before Pitt travels to a West Virginia team that will most likely beat Pitt a lot more than a military school in the Southern Conference like The Citadel.