Big East Roundup: Richard Pitino Takes Over at Xavier

This is one in a series of stories covering roster changes around the Big East heading into the 2025-26 college basketball season.

One of two coaching changes in the Big East this offseason — the other, of course, is Villanova — Xavier Men’s Basketball hired head coach Richard Pitino, son of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino after former head man Sean Miller jumped ship for Texas.

Xavier finished fourth in the Big East last season, making the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed, but Pitino had to replace the vast majority of the  Musketeers talent after they split for the transfer portal or graduated. Key losses for the Musketeers include center Zach Freemantle, who led the team in points (16.8), rebounds (6.8) and blocks (0.8) last season, along with Ryan Conwell (16.5 points per game). Xavier returned just five minutes from last season in the form of walk-ons Ian Sabourin, Michael Wolf and Henry Thole.

The other returning face is Roddie Anderson III, who took a redshirt last year after transferring in from Boise State and has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Anderson started for the Broncos in 2023-24 and put up 6.5 points and 2.4 assists per game.

Pitino brought in one freshman recruit during his abbreviated offseason, seven foot tall center Kason Westphal. Already 260 pounds, he may need a redshirt year but won’t need to build mass like many other young big men.

Pitino also brought in a ten player transfer class that includes six four-stars, good for the No. 38 ranking per 247Sports. That said, many of those players are young and unproven, rated based on potential rather than results, which should make for an interesting season as they learn to play together.

Flood of Four-Stars

Headlining the class of four-stars is 6-foot-10, 250 pound center Anthony Robinson, an athletic sophomore who played sparingly at UVA last season but could bloom into a star. The other four-stars came from the lower levels of Division I.

They include 6-foot-7 power forward Tre Carroll, a graduate student out of FAU who put up 12.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game despite often coming off the bench, and 6-foot-5 wing Malik Messina-Moore, a senior who made 40.9 percent of his threes and scored 12.6 points per game as he helped Montana to a tournament bid.

6-foot-7 power forward Gabriel Pozzato scored 14.9 points at Evansville as a true freshman, while shooting guard All Wright possesses one of the best names in all of athletics. A sophomore, Wright managed 15.5 points and 2.4 assists last year while making 67 of 175 threes at Valparaiso.

Pitino also brought along a pair of power forwards from his last coaching job at New Mexico, 6-foot-9 four-star Filip Borovicanin and 6-foot-10 Jovan Milicevic, both of Serbian heritage. Borovicanin, a senior, put up 5.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in 22.7 minutes per night last year, making 29 starts; Milicevic, a sophomore, averaged 11.8 minutes.

The Musketeers’ other three transfer additions are seven foot tall, 230 pound center Pape N’Diaye, formerly of UNLV, who tallied 2.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 13.1 minutes per game as a true freshman; graduate wing Isaiah Walker (10.8 points, 5.8 rebounds at Belmont) and junior point guard Mier Panoam (13 points, 5.8 rebounds at North Dakota).