NCAA Basketball: Ranking of top 25 team frontcourts for 2023-24 season

23. Pittsburgh Panthers

While the senior-laden backcourt gets a lot of credit for Pittsburgh’s NCAA Tournament appearance and run, the new-look frontcourt did well to replace the lost production of big man John Hugley, who missed most of last season. He’s gone, along with wing forward Nate Santos, who is now at Dayton.

The Panthers do bring back Blake Hinson, the leading scorer for the Panthers and one of the top impact transfers in all of NCAA Basketball. He averaged 15.3 ppg and 6.0 rpg, shooting 38% from three-point range. Hinson had nine games of 20+ points, including 24 on 8/13 shooting from deep in a win over Wake Forest. Federiko Federiko was an impact JUCO center inside, averaging 6.6 ppg and 5.3 rpg and the top-returning shot-blocker in the ACC.

Speaking of shot-blockers, High Point transfer Zach Austin, led the team in that category, along with three-pointers made. The 6’7 small forward averaged 14.1 ppg and 5.4 rpg in his second season and is an elite athlete. Plus, the team has twins sophomore brothers, Guillermo and Jorge Diaz-Graham, two floor-spacers and potential breakout candidates.

Even without top-100 freshman big man Papa Kante (out for the season), there’s a ton of frontcourt depth, led by star forward Hinson. The backcourt carried the Panthers to the Big Dance a year ago and in order to repeat, it’ll be the forwards that has to lead the way this time around.