Pittsburgh Basketball: Why Cameron Corhen is the most important team transfer for 2024-25

A basketball program in bad shape just two years ago, Pittsburgh looks markedly better the last two seasons. Jeff Capel hasn’t quite gotten the Panthers back to their glory days, though last year’s 22-win campaign included a 4th place finish in the ACC. It wasn’t another trip to the NCAA Tournament, but the Panthers played solid basketball at times and now deal with an expanded conference.

They’ll proceed as such without their two best scorers from last season, as both Carlton Carrington and Blake Hinson are off to professional basketball. Pittsburgh will be leaning far more heavily on returning guards Ishamel Leggett and Jaland Lowe, with the latter showing fine potential as a freshman. The program also saw Federiko Federiko hit the Transfer Portal, meaning that frontcourt is really leaning on Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham, the twin big men from Spain.

It’s not easy replacing Hinson’s production, let alone the other pieces missing from last year’s squad. The Panthers do add an intriguing crop of freshmen, but also added experienced talent of their own by using the Transfer Portal. One of those additions was Damian Dunn, a former All-AAC guard at Temple who had a much smaller role with Houston last season, though the other addition might turn out to be more important.

Cameron Corhen was a fringe Top 100 prospect from 2022 who opted for Florida State to begin his collegiate career. The Seminoles haven’t exactly shined on the college basketball stage, but Corhen had decent run as an underclassman. He’s coming off a decent sophomore season, one in which he put up 9.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game as a part-time starter in Florida State’s frontcourt.

He’s a 6’10 center who made nearly 64% of his shots inside the arc and actually had pretty nice efficiency metrics in that limited role last season. With Pittsburgh, we could see Corhen having a bigger chance to contribute in the paint, perhaps taking a step forward as a rebounder as well. What’s most important is that Corhen boosts a frontcourt that lost a few pieces and was depending heavily on just a couple returning guys.

It’s very possible that Dunn could outscore and sometimes outplay Corhen in the season ahead, especially with all of his past experience. However, Corhen is more important this year because of that role he plays at the back end, adding size and raw talent where it was desperately needed for Capel and his staff. We could certainly see the same type of production that he had at Florida State or we could see him develop into an All-ACC frontcourt weapon.

Seen more for his potential than what he’s already done, Corhen is a great addition, though you have to wonder if the Panthers have done enough. They’ve just lost too much talent from last season’s squad to expect similar results, unless someone like Leggett or Lowe really takes an explosive step forward this year. Is there another successful season on the horizon in Pittsburgh? Does Corhen have what it takes to be the dominant piece this program needs down low?