A decision was made by Pitt's players and coaching staff to end their season after missing out on a second-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee for the field of 68 did not deem the Panthers worthy enough based on their resume and with numerous bid stealers across college basketball. Pitt was deemed the fourth among the "first four out" via the selection committee, alongside Oklahoma, Seton Hall, and Indiana State. The team subsequently declined their invitation to play in the NIT. The decision was made as a team to not participate in the NIT, according to Jeff Capel Sunday night.
Pitt's season ended Friday evening with a 72-65 loss to North Carolina in an ACC Tournament semifinal at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The conference's automatic bid went to N.C. State, which beat North Carolina in Saturday's tournament final as the conference's No. 10 seed.
“I am incredibly proud of the performance, development, and fight of our team,” Capel said in a news release Sunday evening. “We ultimately fell short of our goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament, despite ranking favorably in the computers, performing well in conference play with a fourth-place finish and an ACC Tournament Semifinal appearance, and playing our best basketball over the last eight weeks of the season. We made the decision to decline an NIT invitation as a team and with the support of our University leadership. It was a difficult choice, but ultimately what is best for our student-athletes.
“The 2023-24 season was a memorable one that began in August with our trip to Spain and the hometown of Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham. Blake Hinson proved to be one of the elite shooters in the NCAA and our young backcourt of Carlton Carrington and Jaland Lowe grew into one of the best young guard tandems in the country. (Ish Leggett’s) performance against Wake Forest with his father at Capital One Arena and their moment together after the game was special and throughout the roster, we had great performances that led to a second consecutive season with at least 20 wins overall and 10+ victories in ACC play. We are grateful for the tremendous fan support this season. The Oakland Zoo was amazing all season long and is a big part of our program. We look forward to continuing to build this program and preparing for an NCAA Tournament run in 2025.”
With no postseason tournament in sight, the focus for the Panthers is on what's next in this offseason.
Carrington said he will "for sure" return to Pitt next season, giving the Panthers one of the best backcourts in the ACC with Lowe and Leggett set to return and Brandin Cummings set to enter as a true freshman.
Hinson will be the lone significant loss for the Panthers. The senior will test the NBA Draft for the second time after running out of eligibility. Despite this major loss of a first-team All-ACC forward, Pitt has plenty to reinforce its frontcourt.
Zack Austin and Will Jeffress will be redshirt seniors and Marlon Barnes is coming off of his redshirt season to solidify the small forward position. the frontcourt of the Diaz Graham twins and Federiko Federiko will welcome the additions of Papa Kante, who missed all of this season with a knee injury, and three-star true freshman Amdy Ndiaye. Federiko will be a senior while the Diaz Graham twins will be juniors.
The table is set with many key returners to blend with the additions of Cummings, Barnes, Kante, and Ndiaye. Here is a look at the depth in a list format:
• Guards: Carrington, Cummings, Lowe, Leggett
• Forwards: Austin, Jeffress, Barnes, Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham
• Centers: Federiko, Kante, Ndiaye
And, that is going without mentioning any potential transfers who could enter. Capel's reputation has skyrocketed over the last two seasons nation-wide. The successes of transfers Hinson, Austin, and Leggett from this year's team combined with the successes brought by Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, Nike Sibande, and Jamarius Burton among those from the NCAA Tournament team from a season ago have only helped that stock.
But, the largest task for the 2024-'25 team will be replacing the production left by Hinson.
He accounted for nearly one-fourth of Pitt's point total and accounted for 33.7 minutes per game. He finished fourth in the ACC in scoring and led the conference in 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage. He made 110 3-pointers this season, and the next-closest Panther to him was Carrington's 65.
The Panthers' identity namely ran through a "3-and-D" concept. More than 44% of their field-goal attempts came from beyond the 3-point arc and Capel at one point admitted Pitt was not equipped to work the ball inside:
"We're not built to where we're going to throw the ball inside. We just don't have that," Capel said in January. "We have to be able to drive, we have to be able to play through physicality, we have to be able to, when we get to the free throw line, knock in free throws, especially the front-ends of one-and-ones. We have to be able to do that to stop a run, to extend a run for us, and to put points on the board. We have to be able to execute through physicality."
Maybe some of that tone is flipped in the coming season without Hinson and with Lowe and Carrington continuing to develop. This team will return nearly all of its vital pieces from a contender, and it's feasible to envision the 2024-'25 club as one that can build up a run and return to the NCAA Tournament because of that.
