Collier enters Transfer Portal taken in Oakland (Pitt)

PITT ATHLETICS

Noah Collier attempts a layup for Pitt.

Pitt forward Noah Collier entered the Transfer Portal Tuesday afternoon, per Verbal Commits. He's the first Panther to transfer after the 2021-2022 season after five players transferred in the previous offseason.

Jeff Capel signaled during the later part of Pitt basketball's season that the Transfer Portal could be a major part, if not the entirety of the Panthers' 2022 recruiting class. After a fourth consecutive losing season, Capel still needs capable scorers added to the roster to be competitive in the ACC, where Pitt lost the opening round of the conference tournament as the 12-seed against 13-seed Boston College.

Collier was part of Capel's 2020 class of recruits along with John Hugley IV, Femi Odukale and William Jeffress. Hugley averaged 14.8 points per game, leading the Panthers, while Odukale's 10.8 points per game was third-most on the team behind Jamarius Burton's 12.4 points per game. 

But neither Collier or Jeffress became scoring threats for Pitt off the bench by their sophomore seasons. Collier averaged 1.5 points over 32 games with only a single start, while Jeffress averaged 3.4 points over 31 games with 16 starts.

Collier was Pitt's primary option off the bench to relieve Hugley of playing time when he got into foul trouble and improved as a defender from his freshman season. But he never found footing as a paint presence who could score for Pitt, and didn't become a strong enough rebounder with an average 1.8 per game to be a difference maker.

Now that Gueye is gone, Pitt needs to find another forward who can complement Hugley as a scorer. Collier's departure means that need is doubled and could be a bigger focus for Capel to take multiple chances on players in the Transfer Portal to become those difference makers for the 2022-2023 Panthers.

Whether more players will leave the program is still in question, as 2021 transfers like Xavier Johnson and Au'Diese Toney are getting ready to play in the NCAA Tournament for Indiana and Arkansas this weekend. But Pitt is in a different situation that last year, as both those players announced their departures before the season ended.

If nothing else, Collier's departure could signal that he doesn't see a path to starting for the Panthers. If that's the case, that may be the best indicator that not only is Hugley staying, but that Capel is planning to add a capable starting forward for next season that Collier would most likely not beat out in a position battle next year.

If Capel can keep Hugley, Nike Sibande, Burton, Ithiel Horton and Odukale, he'll at least have a foundation of a team to build around while focusing on building through the Transfer Portal. But he'll have to be aggressive and find a way to sell a program that hasn't been the NCAA Tournament since 2016 to players from across the country.

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