Unprecedented Experience Strengthens This Year's Pitt Panthers
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PITTSBURGH -- The biggest difference between these Pitt Panthers and the others that head coach Jeff Capel has led during his time in Pittsburgh is their experience. The 2022-23 Panthers will be the most veteran group of any from the past four years to take the floor. The group has combined to play 631 career games - 159 more than last year's squad and 300 more than Capel's first Pitt team.
It begins in the backcourt, with the return of seniors Jamarius Burton and Nike Sibande, and continues with the transfer portal additions of Nelly Cummings from Colgate and Greg Elliot from Marquette. None of those four players began their careers at Pitt, but did pick up years of Division I experience on their way to Oakland.
“We’re older in the backcourt," Capel said. "We have four fifth or sixth-year guys with Jamarius and Nike back then two new guys in Greg and Nelly. So you have more experience there and, to be quite frank, you have men. Those guys are men.
Capel expects these players not just fill up box scores but lead as well. They've all been a part of successful teams and he's hoping they'll be able to help their new teammates embody the habits of successful teams.
"Nelly comes from a situation where he’s won and he’s won at a high level so we need that experience," Capel said. "Greg has been a part of teams that have been talented and won but he’s also been a part of teams that have been talented and not won. Obviously, Jamarius has had a year in our program and getting Nike back is big for us. So I expect them to be leaders both on and off the court.”
In the frontcourt, 2022 All-ACC Honorable Mention John Hugley is back and he's joined by Blake Hinson, a power forward with 58 career starts to his name from his two seasons at Ole Miss.
All this experience has already had tangible results. Burton said the fact that most of the team's veterans have taken long roads to arrive at Pitt in 2022 has resulted in what he called a greater "competitive energy" as the season's first practices get underway.
"From day one, this group has had a different feel about it," Burton said. Everybody’s coming in each day looking forward to not just being there but winning every drill, ... It comes from where everyone has been. ... Everybody has a chip on their shoulder and we want to make a difference this year.”
Hugley is hoping that trend continues when the regular season kicks off. He claims that, in the past, Pitt teams have fractured when they faced adversity. It's a phenomenon that both athletic director Heather Lyke and Capel have acknowledged was real, but Hugley thinks the experience of this team will help keep them together.
“We have to prove that we can be tough, that we can stay together. When things go downhill, that we won’t scatter a part, that we’ll stay together and be strong.”
Experience works in two ways - it helps a player see the game more clearly and it serves as motivation. With many of their careers nearing the end, winning is as important as every.
“I’m just even hungrier," Burton said, "I don’t want to have another year of losing. With this being my last year, I want to go out on top.”
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