Jeff Capel had a specific idea in mind when he set out to construct the 2022-23 Pitt basketball roster.

Two specific ideas in mind, really, and they stretched beyond the standard “get bigger, more athletic and better” approaches that define every offseason.

With room to add as many as eight players, Capel had an opportunity to remake Pitt’s roster for the fifth time in virtually as many years, and this time, he went looking for two things:

Experience and shooting.

As such, the seven additions to this season’s roster are highlighted by a pair of veteran guard transfers, one of the top guard prospects in the class of 2022 and several players who should help provide a little more threat from outside.

In previous years, it would have been virtually impossible to add much in the way of experience, but in 2022, the transfer portal has allowed teams to get older in a hurry - which is exactly what Pitt did, particularly at the guard positions.

“Well, we’re older in the backcourt,” Capel said Monday after the team’s first official practice of the fall. “We have four fifth or sixth-year guys, with Jamarius (Burton) and Nike (Sibande) back and then adding two new guys with Greg (Elliott) and with Nelly (Cummings). So you have more experience there and, to be quite frank, you have men. Those guys are men.”

Age-wise, they are certainly older than most college players. Burton and Sibande return from last season’s roster, while Elliott arrived from Marquette and Cummings came from Colgate. When the Panthers play their first regular-season game on Nov. 7, Burton will be 22 years old and Sibande, Elliott and Cummings will all start the season at 23. Cummings and Elliott will both turn 24 before February.

And those guys aren’t just old. Cummings has played 109 games in his career over five years at Bowling Green and Colgate (including one season he had to sit out after transferring to Colgate). Elliott played 114 games in four seasons at Marquette. Burton has played in 120 games over the last four years spread across Wichita State, Texas Tech and Pitt. And Sibande has played in 111 games at Miami (Oh.) and Pitt.

They’ve all played a lot and, to varying degrees, experienced a fair amount of success. Cummings’ teams at Colgate made the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons (he averaged 17 points per game in those two appearances) and he was with the team when they made the Tournament in 2019, although he was sitting out after his transfer.

Elliott played in the NCAA Tournament last season and played three games with Marquette in the NIT in 2018.

And Burton played in four NIT games at Wichita State and two NCAA Tournament games at Texas Tech before transferring to Pitt.

“You know, Nelly comes from a situation where he’s won, and he’s won at a high level, so we need that experience,” Capel said. “Greg has been a part of teams that have been talented and won, but he’s also been a part of teams that are talented and haven’t won, and so bringing those experiences as well. Obviously, Jamarius has had a year in our program now, and getting Nike back is big for us. So I do expect them to be leaders, both on and off the court.”

The additions of Cummings and Elliott to go with Burton and Sibande addressed the experience issue - and should also provide valuable leadership for star freshman guard Dior Johnson - but that was only one of the target areas in the offseason for Capel and his staff, who realized that another key component was missing from the roster.

Shooting.

Junior John Hugley is the centerpiece of the team, but his work under the basket was considerably more difficult without an outside threat to draw defenders away to the perimeter last season. Pitt was No. 13 out of 15 in the ACC in three-point shooting last season, and no team in the conference made fewer shots from outside the arc than the Panthers. The threat was so lacking, in fact, that Pitt was next-to-last in the ACC in three-pointers attempted.

That allowed opponents to focus almost exclusively on Hugley, and that led Capel and company to focus on adding shooting. Elliott was one of the key additions in that regard; he shot 40.9% from three in four seasons at Marquette, highlighted by a 45.5% mark two years ago.

The staff is also optimistic about transfer forward Blake Hinson (33.3% career from three), and Capel believes the other offseason additions - including Spanish twin forwards Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham - can hit shots from outside.

“The shooting standpoint, I’m hopeful that we’re better,” Capel said. “On paper, we’re better, but we have to make them when the lights are on and someone’s really trying to guard us…

“Greg Elliott can shoot the basketball. Nelly can shoot the basketball. Blake can shoot the basketball. The twins can shoot the basketball. So we’ve really tried to add - that was probably one of the main things we really focused on: being able to make some shots. And then hopefully our returning guys will be able to do that for us.

“We anticipate John being a guy that still commands a double and is able to draw fouls, and hopefully this year we can have a little bit better shooting around him.”

This isn’t the first time Pitt has had to rebuild the roster during Capel’s tenure, but as the Panthers head toward a crucial Year Five for their head coach, who is likely feeling the pressure of needing to win more than he loses in the coming season, he believes this offseason might have been his most productive yet since getting to Pitt in 2018.

“Well, we’ve had to [rebuild the roster] basically every year, so hopefully we’ve gotten better at it than we have in the past,” Capel said.