Pittsburgh Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2021-22 season

The roster construction for Pittsburgh Basketball this upcoming started earlier than almost any other team. A couple of weeks before the end of last season, key starters and double-digit scorers, Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney elected to enter the transfer portal.

After the official end of the season, starting forward Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, center Terrell Brown, and freshman wing Gerald Drumgoole, Jr. all transferred out as well. But without a doubt that the biggest departure was All-ACC forward Justin Champagnie, who led the team with 18.0 ppg and 11.1 rpg last season and had back-to-back games of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds.

With the top three scorers and four of five starters gone, the Panthers had to find some impact newcomers to keep them competitive in the ACC. And after missing out on a few targets, they were able to land five players to join the roster. Nate Santos is the lone class of 2021 commit, while Chris Payton comes from the Junior College transfer route.

The other three are transfers, including forwards Mouhamadou Gueye and Daniel Oladapo from Stony Brook and Oakland respectively. There’s also former Texas Tech combo guard Jamarius Burton to help boost the backcourt as well.

Besides the newcomers, there are several key returning underclassmen that will have much larger roles this upcoming season. But with such a revamped roster without a clear-cut go-to star, there are a number of potential lineups we can see with the Panthers this season.

This piece will predict Pittsburgh’s starting lineup for the upcoming season, along with projecting how the 200 available minutes will be spread out, using traditional positions.