Pitt Basketball Season Preview: Panthers Aim to Use Toughness to Exceed Expectations
As the 2025-26 season approaches, the Pitt men’s basketball team, guided by head coach Jeff Capel in his eighth year, is eager to return to the NCAA Tournament. This would mark their first appearance since the 2022-23 season and only the second under Capel’s leadership.
The roster features three returning players from last year, but the team has undergone a significant transformation with many new transfers and freshmen joining. Despite being one of Capel’s least talented squads on paper, Pitt emphasizes size, toughness, and physicality to compete nightly in the challenging ACC.
“We can’t be a team that thinks we can just show up,” Capel said after the second exhibition game. “There is a certain way that we have to show up. We aren’t one of these teams that is just going to out-talent you. We have talent but we don’t have the type of talent that some of these teams do. But if we are tough, and we are together, and we play with an edge, then we can be a really good team.”
Key Returning Players
- Guard Brandin Cummings: Played in 31 games during his freshman year, starting four times, and is expected to secure a starting role.
- Forward Cam Cohren: Also contributed significantly last season and looks to start.
- Forward Papa Kante: Expected to be a key rotational player for the Panthers.
The Panthers will rely on their collective toughness and unity to overcome talent disparities and aim to surpass expectations this season.
Jeff Capel, head coach of Pitt men's basketball.
Author’s summary: Pitt’s basketball team focuses on toughness, size, and unity under Coach Capel, aiming to return to the NCAA Tournament despite talent limitations.
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