{"id":194546,"date":"2026-05-13T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=194546"},"modified":"2026-05-13T02:48:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:48:05","slug":"xavier-26-27-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/05\/13\/xavier-26-27-offseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Xavier Looking to Capitalize on Strong Offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another offseason for Xavier, and another clean house. However, things feel a bit different this offseason under second-year head coach Richard Pitino. Last offseason, Sean Miller left Xavier<\/a> (again), forcing the Musketeers to scramble for a new coach and try to field a competitive team. Xavier finished the year 15-18, ending its season by being routed by UConn in the second round of the Big East Tournament. A disappointing campaign by Xavier’s standards, but one that saw Pitino<\/a> take some major strides.<\/p>\n

Despite an offensive efficiency rating of 109.2 (185th out of 365) and a defensive efficiency rating of 112.4 (311th out of 365), as well as lacking a true conference-caliber point guard or center, and having to play guys out of position, Pitino was able to keep his team competitive in every game — except for those against UConn. At times, he was forced to slide Filip Borovicanin <\/a>in at point guard and Tre Carroll<\/a> at center.<\/p>\n

With a full year under his belt, a whole offseason to work with, and a rumored increase in the NIL budget<\/a>, Pitino has the Musketeers primed to compete at the top of the Big East again. Xavier is returning one starter from last year’s team: promising 6’10” junior Jovan Milicevic<\/a>, who averaged 12.4 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 42.9% from three. Xavier also retained Kason Westphal<\/a>, a rising 7’0″ depth center, and Gabriel Pozzato<\/a>, who was expected to be one of Xavier’s best players this season but did not play due to injury. Pozzato still has three years of eligibility remaining.<\/p>\n

Xavier Looking to Capitalize on Strong Offseason<\/h2>\n

Xavier’s Recruiting Push<\/h3>\n

Xavier has four commitments in their upcoming recruiting class, which is headlined by four-star combo guard <\/a><\/a>Kalek House<\/a>. House is from Arizona and is the son of former NBA Champion Eddie House<\/a>. Kalek House had a long list of offers, some of which included Michigan, Kansas and Arizona State.<\/p>\n

The Musketeers also added three-star power forward\/center Asher Elson<\/a>. Elson is from Georgia, and like House, he was not lacking Power 5 offers, some of which included St. John’s, Illinois and Auburn. The third addition to the recruiting class was Gedeon Basson<\/a>, an exciting combo guard who represented Cameroon at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup. The final piece to Pitino’s class was Harrison Aligbe<\/a>, a forward from Rhode Island. Aligbe is the younger brother of Rolyns Aligbe<\/a>, a former Southern Illinois forward who also landed at Xavier.<\/p>\n

The Musketeers’ Portal Haul<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Now, looking at where Pitino and his staff have really done their damage \u2014 the transfer portal. Xavier added seven transfers this spring. They started with LSU’s starting center from last year, Mike Nwoko<\/a>, who averaged 13.4 PPG and 5.9 RPG while shooting 61% from the floor. Nwoko is in his final year of eligibility. The Musketeers then added Texas A&M’s starting shooting guard and three-point marksman, Ruben Dominguez<\/a>. Dominguez averaged 10.2 PPG and shot 40% from deep. He will have two years of eligibility remaining. The poaching of Power Five starters didn’t stop there, as Pitino reunited with his standout shooting guard from New Mexico, Tru Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Washington started at Miami last season, and although he is known for his defense, he averaged 11.9 PPG and shot 35% from three. This is Washington’s final year of eligibility. The Musketeers proceeded to add one of the best point guards in the portal: Chance Westry<\/a>, UAB’s starting floor general from last season. He averaged 15.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 5.5 APG and will have two years of eligibility left. Pitino even brought in the Missouri Valley Conference’s leading rebounder from last season: Rolyns Aligbe. Aligbe was the starting forward\/center for Southern Illinois and averaged 9.5 PPG and 7.4 RPG. He has two years of eligibility remaining.<\/p>\n

A leading rebounder was followed up by the addition of Nikolaos Chitikoudis<\/a>, who was on the Horizon League All-Defensive Team<\/a> last season. He was the starting forward\/center for Robert Morris University, averaging 11.3 PPG and 7.7 RPG while shooting 55% from the field. The portal additions were capped off by another former New Mexico player, Braden Appelhans<\/a>, a guard who played at Drake last season. He averaged 5.3 PPG, shot 41% from distance, and will have one year of eligibility remaining.<\/p>\n

Depth Chart Projection<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • PG: Westry, House<\/li>\n
  • SG: Washington, Appelhans<\/li>\n
  • SF: Dominguez, Pozzato<\/li>\n
  • PF: Milicevic, Rolyns Aligbe<\/li>\n
  • C: Nwoko, Chitikoudis, Westphal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Redshirt<\/h4>\n

    Basson, Elson, Harrison Aligbe.<\/p>\n

    The Last Word on Xavier’s Additions<\/h3>\n

    The Musketeers came into the offseason with a plan that addressed their two biggest needs: adding a true Big East caliber point guard and center. Pitino has successfully done this with Westry and Nwoko. Xavier then built a strong supporting cast around those two, focusing on defense, rebounding, and three-point shooting. The Musketeers have crafted an exciting team and have many reasons for hope. This is a very complete and balanced roster with a point guard who can create scoring opportunities for himself and others around him. A facilitator surrounded by shooters and an athletic center sounds very exciting.<\/p>\n

    While this team looks very complete, there are still some unanswered questions. Can House be the backup point guard? Can the guys coming off the bench contribute at the Power-5 level? And can Nwoko keep his fouls down and stay on the floor? Although questions remain, this is a much more promising spot than Pitino’s squad was in a year ago. With the rest of the summer ahead for this new team to gel, Xavier could be much more competitive in the Big East next season.<\/p>\n

    \u00a9 Kyle Ross-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Another offseason for Xavier, and another clean house. However, things feel a bit different this offseason under second-year head coach Richard Pitino. Last offseason, Sean Miller left Xavier (again), forcing the Musketeers to scramble for a new coach and try to field a competitive team. Xavier finished the year 15-18, ending its season by being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5849,"featured_media":195329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[4447,50027,853],"class_list":["post-194546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-big-east-basketball","tag-ncaa-transfer-portal","tag-xavier-musketeers"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194546"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195333,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194546\/revisions\/195333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}