Pittsburgh Basketball: 5 key storylines heading into 2022 offseason

What else does Pittsburgh need to add?

With Nelly Cummings on board, that gives Pittsburgh six current players on the 2022-23 roster after losing several to the portal. Leading scorer John Hugley has indicated his return, along with 5th-year senior guard Jamarius Burton. Nike Sibande is also back as well.

Two other players still on the roster are freshman guard Nate Santos and 6’7 wing William Jeffress. The sophomore Jeffress was viewed as a potential transfer candidate after some tremendous struggles this past season. But at the same time, entering the portal after shooting 30% from the field and 21% from three-point range probably isn’t a good idea. But Jeffress is capable of defending the 2-4 spots and still is around 18 years old so there’s still time for him to develop into an ACC-caliber player.

The wing position looks fine assuming no one else leaves but the frontcourt is literally empty outside of Hugley. They’ll need to add a starting power forward to replace Gueye, while also needing to add a backup center with true size. And whoever joins the frontcourt must either be a true center or capable of shooting three-pointers to avoid the same mistake of Oladapo and Payton.

In the backcourt, Cummings and Burton are penciled in but Pittsburgh has to add two more ball-handlers to make sure they can survive one injury at any time. And replacing Horton’s three-point shooting also will be needed. So 2-3 guards and 3 forwards is on the list for Pittsburgh, and with 1,000+ players available in the portal, they should be able to find something.