Pittsburgh Basketball: 3 takeaways of Dior Johnson’s indefinite suspension

One of the biggest offseason moves in the ACC was Pittsburgh Basketball landing Dior Johnson. At one time during his high school career, the point guard was ranked in the top 10 overall for the 2022 class. But there were red flags throughout, including a pair of de-committments from both Oregon and Syracuse. He’s now ranked in the top 40 of all freshmen for the class.

The Panthers landed Johnson in what Coach Capel called “fell into our laps”. For a program that hasn’t won more than six ACC games since Capel arrived on campus. And after having such difficulties on the perimeter a year ago, having a five-star capable player to potentially run the offseason was supposed to be a major upgrade.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, a partner has emerged with the program regarding key players getting arrested and suspended right after. Two years ago, it happened to freshman center John Hugley. Last year, Ithiel Horton was in and out of the lineup due to his off-the-court issues. And this past weekend, the same thing has now happened with Dior Johnson.

It’s a serious set of allegations involving domestic violence with a woman and as the school has shown before has immediately suspended him indefinitely. Johnson is innocent until proven guilty but the legal process will have to go through before he gets onto the court this season and that could very well now happen if it goes into the Spring.

This is bad news for both Johnson and Pittsburgh Basketball, one that could derail things before it even begins on Nov 7th. Let’s assume for the worst-scenario situation that he’s gone. Here are three takeaways from the roster perspective on how the team moves from here.