Pittsburgh Basketball: Can Panthers land top-100 recruits for 2020 class?

Pittsburgh Basketball has a pair of top-tier prospects in town for a visit. Will the coaching staff land much-needed commitments from them?

It’s only been a short time since Jeff Capel was tasked to rebuild Pittsburgh Basketball after an 0-18 season in the ACC. But so far, there have been positive strides made to make them competitive again. They only got three more wins in conference play this past year but the mood and hopes of the fan base have marginally improved.

A big part of the positive momentum has been from the recruiting trail. The Panthers landed three-star guards Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens, both exceeding their freshmen expectations. And although they haven’t played a minute in a Pittsburgh Basketball uniform, incoming freshmen such as Karim Coulibaly, Gerald Drumgoole and JUCO transfer Ryan Murphy are viewed as legitimate rotation pieces for the program.

What these underclassmen all have in common is that none of them are top-100 prospects. That means Coach Capel and the coaching staff has to do a ton of developing, rather than relying on their raw potential to take over. But in order to take that next step as a program, the Panthers are going to have to find top-100 or better caliber players to add even more talent. The hope is that this weekend will be the catalyst for that.

Whenever you have a pair of top-50 talents such as Earl Timberlake and Cliff Omoruyi coming to town, that in itself is a small win for the program. Timberlake is the key guy, ranked as a five-star recruit for some recruiting services. The Panthers are among his recent cut of teams but will have to deal with juggernaut North Carolina for the 6’6 wings services. Pitt offers him a chance to be a go-to guy out the gate and have plenty of playing time to showcase his skills in the ACC.

As for the other top-50 recruit Omoruyi, he’s a badly needed center prospect for the Panthers. At 6’11 and nearly 240 pounds, he adds frontcourt depth that the team hasn’t had outside of Terrell Brown. Like Timberlake, the New Jersey could have a huge impact as a freshman. Kentucky is viewed as a favorite but depending on who else joins their 2020 class, programs such as Pittsburgh, St. John’s and Rutgers could have a much better shot than expected.

Noah Collier is just a three-star recruit compared to the other two but he may be the most important for the Panthers to land. That’s because the Norristown, PA native is the most likely to end up at Pittsburgh. The 6’7 skilled forward would be a valuable depth piece for the program and fits the kind of scheme that Coach Capel wants to run. Omoruyi and Timberlake may still be a pipedream for the program but they still need to land players like Collier who are currently more obtainable. Landing him would help jumpstart the Panthers own 2020 recruiting class.

Pittsburgh is also after other class of 2020 targets such as guards RJ Davis and DJ Gordon, along with another four-star big man John Hugley. Landing a combination of any of these players would be great for the program and continue the slow rise back up the ACC ladder. It’s not going to happen like Penny Hardaway and Memphis, getting the No. 1 overall recruiting class out of nowhere. Instead, it’ll be a slow and steady climb built on the backs of solid recruits/development over the next few years. Just like it was back when the Panthers were one of the top basketball teams in the country.