Former Pitt guards Nelly Cummings and Nike Sibande were back ‘home’ this week. The pair has been preparing for the Zoo Crew’s run at a million dollars in The Basketball Tournament, which begins today, with four games being held at the Petersen Events Center.

The chance to play with the Zoo Crew, a team made up of Pitt alumni, allowed the two recent Panthers to get back in Oakland, spend time around the coaching staff, and to interact with the current Pitt team as they prepare for the upcoming college basketball season.

Cummings and Sibande spoke to the media to preview the Zoo Crew’s chances, but both former Panthers reflected back on their time at Pitt, as well and what they see with this year’s team and for the future of the program under Jeff Capel.

After four straight losing seasons for the Pitt coach, the 2022-23 was an important one for Capel, the program, and the players on the team. The group that featured Cummings, Sibande, as well as Jamarius Burton, Blake Hinson, and others, was not projected to do much after being picked 14th in the ACC in the preseason that year.

As we know, that Pitt team beat the odds, won 24 games, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Pitt followed that with a 22-win campaign this past year, the program’s first set of back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2014.

Because of the recent surge, Pitt announced an extension for Capel, and his two former players are obviously in favor of the move.

“He pushes these guys, he comes in here every day, and he pushes these guys to be better, as men and on the court and off the court,” Sibande said of his college coach’s extension. “So I'm extremely proud for him and happy for him, he deserves it."

Cummings’ believes that 2023 team turned the culture of the program for the long run, and being around Oakland for the past week only enforced his notion.

“The program's going in the right direction and the energy from when we got here to when we got here now,” Cummings explained. "In a two-year span, it's completely different, man. I think we're just proud that we were able to help lay the bricks, as we call them, brick by brick, and we helped lay a brick, and we see that now.”

Pitt is hoping those bricks that were laid down the past two years, helps foster a more consistent program for years to come. The hope is that winning 20 games is a yearly benchmark for the foreseeable future, the way it was for this program back in the early 2000s.

“I think he instilled a real culture here,” Sibande said of Capel. “Pitt had a culture, but I think he really brought that culture back. And he's doing it in his fashion, to where it's not fake, it's real love.”

The tone around the Pitt program the past three years has been noticeable. It starts at the top, and the players have bought into it as well. Capel seemingly has built his recent teams to have tight-knit locker rooms and players who understand their roles.

Cummings can attest to that upbeat mentality around Pitt hoops, and pointed to last month’s NBA Draft after Bub Carrington became the first Pitt player drafted in ten years.

“There was a lot of talks around him when Bub (Carrington) got drafted, all the guys wanted to support him,” he said. “And I think that was a really cool moment to just kinda show that we built a family here, it's not fake, it's not, he went to the draft, I don't really know. It's like, that's my brother and I'm happy for him. A lot of people, a lot of players are like that. And that starts with your head coach.”

The 2023 squad captured the hearts of a lot of Pitt fans for a variety of reasons from their underdog mentality, fun brand of basketball, and also it was the first time in a while the Panthers had a competitive team. The only pieces still remaining with that team are the twins: Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham. The two were timid freshmen from Spain when they played with Cummings and Sibande snd now they are some of the biggest leaders on the current team.

“It’s like when they first got over here, it's like you gotta put yourself in their shoes,” Sibande said of his ex-teammates. "Them coming over here from Spain, it's a whole different culture shock. And then like to see them, you know, grow and just take them steps of becoming more men, and like getting stronger, getting faster, getting more confident, it’s amazing to see them, man.”

The Pitt basketball program once had a very proud history with its perennial ranked teams from the Big East era. Some of those players from that era would stop by when Cummings and Sibande were in college to give them advice about winning, which in turn is something they are now doing as alums, and they feel more success is on the way.

“We want see these guys really win,” Sibande said. “We want come back and see banners hung up, and be proud alumni.”