Pittsburgh Basketball: Analyzing early 2023-24 non-con opponents set

There are a few opponents officially on the schedule for Pittsburgh Basketball next season. Who are the top teams to watch?

Last season, Pittsburgh Basketball went 7-4 in the non-conference but lost to all of the top opponents. That includes blowouts to West Virginia and Michigan, along with a close defeat to VCU. The good news is that for the first time in the Coach Jeff Capel era, the Panthers didn’t have any bad losses. And that proved to be important as they just made the NCAA Tournament.

So Pittsburgh currently has five games set for the 2023-24 campaign, including their multi-team event. Here’s an early look at the Panthers’ future foes and which players to watch for.

at West Virginia Mountaineers

It’s another edition of the “Backyard Brawl” but after the past couple of blowouts, Pittsburgh is hoping to make this one more competitive. However, West Virginia has a loaded roster, including Arizona point guard transfer Kerr Krissa and former Syracuse center Jesse Edwards. It’s a roster that could be ranked by the time they play in December but it’s a chance for the teams to gel, rather than playing in the first week of the season.

Binghamton Bearcats

The top two scorers from a team that went 13-18 are gone but the Bearcats still have several seniors on the roster. Guards Armon Harried and Dan Petcash are back, joined by former Syracuse guard, Symir Torrence. Other newcomers include Quinnipiac forward Tymu Chenery, along with Little Rock wing, Chris Walker. They don’t have much size outside of 6’10 big man Tariq Balogun but does have plenty of guard depth.

Jacksonville Dolphins

Jacksonville went 13-16 overall last season and ranked in the bottom-8 in scoring (63.3 ppg) but has a completely new roster. Guard Gyasi Powell (9.4 ppg and 2.1 apg) is the lone main rotation player back and is joined by a few newcomers, including former Wake Forest guard, Robert McCray and former SIU-Edwardsville center, Jonathan Kurtas. They shouldn’t pose much of an issue for the Panthers unless they can find some guards that can become scoring threats.

Preseason NIT Tournament (Will face 2 of the following 3 teams)

Baylor Bears

The Bears are a recent national champion and projected preseason top-25 team for next season. They did lose all three 15 ppg guards from its roster but did add former Toledo guard and MAC Player of the Year transfer, Rayj Dennis. Jalen Bridges vs Blake Hinson will be the matchup to watch at the four-spot but this is a roster that’s going to have some ups and downs to start the year.

Florida Gators

After missing the NCAA Tournament last season, the Gators have completely rebuilt its roster, adding several transfers. The key newcomers are guards Zyon Pullin (UC Riverside) and Walter Clayton (Iona) and former Marshall center, Micah Handlogten. With many of these transfers coming from the mid-major ranks, it’s not a guarantee that Florida will be a top-25 team but on paper, they have some intriguing pieces.

Oregon State Beavers

The Beavers went 11-21 last season and second-to-last in the Pac-12 standings. They did lose Glenn Taylor to St. John’s but did bring back the rest of its core, including leading scorer, Jordan Pope (12.6 ppg). They’ll need forwards Tyler Bilodeau and Michael Rataj to take a big leap in order to be competitive but there is some hope for the program next year.

Overall, Pittsburgh ranks third in this Preseason NIT group, ahead of Oregon State. But they aren’t too far away from both Florida and Baylor, so there’s a chance the team can win this event. More importantly, they just have to avoid a loss to the Beavers because that’ll likely qualify as a “bad loss” on its resume.