Pittsburgh Basketball: 5 major offseason storylines for Panthers in 2021

The 2020-21 season for Pittsburgh Basketball had its fair share of ups and downs. It started off bad, falling to Saint Francis to open the campaign. But as things stabilized, the Panthers started showing real promise for the first time in the Jeff Capel era.

After beating rival Syracuse back-to-back times, Pittsburgh got a program-defining victory at home against the Duke Blue devils. They may have been off this year, not making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over two decades, but that night put the Panthers on the map. It was thanks to Justin Champagnie, who went for a career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds that game and went on to be one of the best players in the ACC.

That win over Duke proved to be high point for Pittsburgh Basketball. The team fell apart afterwards, losing to Boston College, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame to derail any postseason hopes. But before the final loss to Miami, the team lost key starters Au’Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson to the transfer portal.

Things are looking rough for the program, with two vital players off the team, three others also transferring out so far this offseason. And their star player Champagnie is currently looking at the 2021 NBA Draft.

But while Pittsburgh has lost plenty of talent, there remains opportunities to land key players for the 2021-22 season. There are hundreds of players still in the portal and Coach Capel is hard at work.

Here’s a closer look at some key storylines to watch for with Pittsburgh Basketball in the coming months.