Jeff Capel and the Pitt coaching staff had seemingly shifted their focus towards recruiting the class of 2020 in recent weeks. Following the commitment of graduate transfer Eric Hamilton from UNC-Greensboro, Pitt's 2019-20 roster seemed set heading into the season. That changed this week, however, as Ithiel Horton announced his intentions to transfer from the University of Delaware.

Like many players this offseason, Pitt was reported to have immediate interest in the newly announced transfer. Given the amount of roster space Pitt had to offer, Capel and company remained active on the transfer market throughout the spring. It appeared things started to settle down on that front in the summer, as most players have now found homes.

The Horton news came as a bit of a surprise nationally, and Pitt wasted little time getting involved, and not only that the Panthers appear to be in the thick of things right away. Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com reported last evening that Pitt is set to play host to Horton for an unofficial visit starting tomorrow.

Other teams that have reached out include Arkansas, George Washington, Marquette, Miami, Minnesota, Northwestern, South Florida, UCLA, Virginia Tech, and Xavier. The long list could play into it being late in the game, but also because he is a good player. Horton checks in as a 6'3" shooting guard.

During his freshman season for the Blue Hens he averaged 13.2 points per game while starting in 23 of the team's 33 games. He shot an impressive 40.9% from 3-point range as well. Horton seemed to save some of his best basketball for the end of the season as well, as he averaged 22.2 points per game in his final four games of the year.

Horton was named to the CAA All-freshman team in 2018-19. He was also the leading freshman scorer in the conference.

Horton was not a heralded recruit coming out of high school. He played for a nationally- a renowned program at Roselle Catholic in New Jersey. He played alongside five-star talents Naz Reid and Khalil Whitney, and was obviously overshadowed a bit by those two players. He had additional offers from the likes of Robert Morris, Manhattan, Lafayette, along with a few other mid-major programs. Obviously after a strong freshman campaign, coaches in power five conferences feel like he can contribute at the level with the interest he is generating already.

Horton would be a sit one, and play three transfer. He would not be able to help Pitt right away, but would be a factor in the 2020-21 season and would get a year of practicing against Pitt's talented sophomore guard duo of Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens.

Currently Pitt has two open scholarships heading into the 2019-20 season, so there is obviously room and a need to add a player like Hamilton. Pitt will have the first opportunity to sell him on that this weekend.