Pitt basketball has been hovering around the middle of the ACC under Jeff Capel. Can they make a bolt for the top this season?
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Pitt basketball.
Pitt basketball has been stuck in neutral the past few seasons, not being good enough to make the NCAA Tournament since 2023, but also not being bad enough to move on from Jeff Capel. While a 13-win season definitely brings that conversation up, he’s still back for year nine, and the hope is that in the transfer portal era, Capel can change the culture himself.
He certainly didn’t mess around in the portal, focusing on guys who were once sought after, didn’t have the best go-around at their previous school, and are looking to prove themselves all over again. Guys like Naithan George, Jalil Bethea, and Jonathan Powell headline the portal additions in that respect, while Baye Ndongo, Armani Mighty, and A’lahn Sumler all give Pitt hoops some more stability based on their past seasons.
The Panthers could also be pretty deep this year. Bryant transfer Timofei Rudovskii is a 6-foot-9 do-it-all type of player who may be a Swiss Army Knife off the bench. Chase Foster is a top-50 recruit, while Malaci Moore and Colin Hawkins give Pitt two more guards off the bench for a good 10-man rotation. Even past that, transfers Dominique Diomande and Ibrahim Souare played Power 5 ball last season and may sneak up the rotation if they play well early on.
Regardless, Capel will need some order here. The intrigue lies in making these guys click, but it will only work if they buy in and a few guys are able to solidify themselves as having bigger roles on this team.
My bold prediction? Pitt basketball has a ceiling of the round of 32. But the smart prediction cautions against a tourney bid.
Head coach: Jeff Capel (18th season overall, 9th at Pitt)
2025-26 record: 13-20 (5-13)
2025-26 postseason finish: No tournament
Notable departures:
- EVERYONE but Macari Moore
Notable non-conference games:
- vs. Penn State (Nov. 8) – Philadelphia, PA
- at Butler (Nov. 13)
- vs. Villanova (Nov. 17)
- vs. Oklahoma (Nov. 24) – Fort Myers Tip-Off
- vs. DePaul (Nov. 26) – Fort Myers Tip-Off
- at Missouri (Dec. 1)
- vs. West Virginia (Dec. 9)
Projected Rotation
PG: Naithan George (6-3, 185, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 10.9 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.5 SPG (Syracuse)
SG: Jalil Bethea (6-5, 190, Jr.)
2025-26 stats: 3.9 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 0.5 APG, 37.5 FG% (Alabama)
SF: Jonathan Powell (6-6, 190, Jr.)
2025-26 stats: 4.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 0.7 APG, 38.1 FG%, 36.5 3P% (North Carolina)
PF: Baye Ndongo (6-9, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 11.8 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.0 BPG, 55.6 FG% (Georgia Tech)
C: Armani Mighty (6-10, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 13.2 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.7 BPG, 64.5 FG% (Mercer)
6: A’lahn Sumler (6-4, 200, Rs.-Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 18.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 39.6 3P% (Charleston Southern)
7: Timofei Rudovskii (6-9, 215, So.)
2025-26 stats: 12.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 36.2 3P% (Bryant)
8: Chase Foster (6-8, 210, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 39 ranked recruit
9: Macari Moore (6-3, 200, So.)
2025-26 stats: 1.4 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 0.8 APG
10: Colin Hawkins (6-3, Jr.)
2025-26 stats: 8.2 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 SPG (Gardner-Webb)
11: Dominique Diomande (6-7, Rs.-So.)
2025-26 stats: 1.9 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 0.1 APG (BYU)
12: Ibrahim Souare (6-9, Rs.-Jr.)
2025-26 stats: 0.9 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 0.2 APG (Syracuse)
13: Jermal Jones (6-4, 180, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 172 ranked recruit
Pitt Basketball team MVP: Baye Ndongo
On a team that brings in a plethora of talent – both mid-major and Power 5 – Ndongo is the only one who has had a consistent three seasons. And all of them came at Georgia Tech, in the ACC, so expecting anything other than that would be a surprise.
With the Yellow Jackets, Ndongo showed a lot of potential, and you get the feeling there’s still some that is untapped. As a strong forward, he can score, rebound like a big man, pass, and stretch out for three occasionally. But it seems as if his scoring could still go up a level, and Ndongo could turn into one of the best players in the ACC. We saw flashes of that as a freshman, but his numbers flatlined the last two seasons.
An improved Ndongo next to a big man like Armani Mighty could make Pitt basketball one of the toughest teams to guard in the paint.
Pitt Basketball make-or-break player: Jalil Bethea
Now on his third school in as many years, Bethea was once one of the top recruits in the country. Unfortunately, he played for Miami (Fla) in 2024-25, the year that Jim Larranaga was pretty much done with before it started, and was unable to showcase his abilities. Then, last season, Bethea was stuck on an Alabama team with so many great scorers, he got lost in the rotation.
But this season, it’s a fresh start. So can Bethea finally be the player we thought he was capable of being? He can be a microwave of a scorer when he gets going, and maybe this situation can prove that.
Stat to know: Defensive rebounds per game
Last season, Pitt basketball was one of the worst in the country at getting boards on the defensive end, ranking worse than 300th. This was partly due to allowing teams to score at will against them, but Capel definitely addressed the rebounding woes by getting Ndongo and Mighty – two proven board-getters who should help to change that narrative this season.
If you’re not going to be a high-scoring team or a great defensive team, you’ve got to at least get stronger inside. And Ndongo and Migthy should help in all of those areas, especially on the glass.
Pitt Basketball 2026-27 projections
Projected conference finish: 12th in the ACC
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament second round exit