Staff picks: Pitt opens 2023-24 season against North Carolina A&T
The 2023-24 college basketball season begins tonight as the Pitt Panthers host North Carolina A&T for their season opener at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt is coming off a 24-win campaign from a year ago and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers return a pair of starters off that tournament team and bolstered the roster with some impact recruits and transfers in hopes to have a repeat season in the Big Dance.
Step one in Pitt’s 2023-24 season is a meeting with North Carolina A&T out of the CAA. The Aggies are coached by Montè Ross, a Philadelphia native, who is in his first year on the job. Ross was previously the head coach at Delaware for ten seasons before serving as an assistant coach at Temple prior to landing the North Carolina A&T gig. The Aggies finished last season with a 13-19 record. North Carolina A&T was picked to finish last in the 14-team CAA and virtually lost all of their impact players from a season ago.
The Panther-Lair.com staff has previewed every Pitt game for the last three seasons and the staff picks feature is set to return for another year. Stephen Gertz is the defending champion after posting a 27-9 record in picking Pitt’s results last season.
Here are the staff picks for Pitt’s home opener.
Houston Wilson (0-0): It will be interesting to see how many players get into the game for Pitt as I think they should have no trouble at all against North Carolina A&T. I believe there are some high expectations for this year's Pitt's team because they certainly have a lot of talent on the roster. Opening up against a low-major in A&T should get the season off to a nice start. Pitt controls this one from start to finish and wins.
Prediction: Pitt 81-61
Jim Hammett (0-0): Pitt is 3-2 all-time in season openers under Jeff Capel. The program has had some head-scratching early season losses to the likes of Nicholls State, St. Francis, and The Citadel in recent years, but Pitt cleaned that up last year and took care of business against mid-majors last season. I expect that trend to continue tonight. I think Pitt is at a point where they should walk into these types of games and do what they are supposed to do. The Panthers have some talented players and tonight should be a good opportunity for people to see what they can do when the games start to count. Pitt rolls tonight against a mid-major with a first year head coach and an overhauled roster.
Prediction: Pitt 85-60
Matt Steinbrink (0-0): The Aggies went 13-19 with an 8-10 conference mark last season in the Coastal Conference. They are led by Phillip Shumpert, who will be in his second season at the helm. It has been a solid program that has had its moments across three different conferences in four years. I expect Pitt’s size to overwhelm and allow for the youth to come along early in the season.
Prediction: Pitt 83-68
Stephen Gertz (0-0): Should the Pittsburgh Panthers beat a team that went 13-19 last season that also lost three starters to the transfer portal and are welcoming a new head coach? Yes, yes they should. While Pitt is certainly going to have to figure out how to begin filling the void that Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, and Nike Sibande left behind, the North Carolina A&T Aggies are not returning any player that averaged five points per game last year. The Panthers are bigger, more athletic, and despite some youth in the backcourt they have a very seasoned frontcourt. The danger is always letting a team hang in there as that would shift the pressure to Pitt. I just do not see that happening. North Carolina A&T played three road games last season against Power Five teams and lost by an average margin of 35.3 points per contest. Given everything the Aggies are going to need to overcome on the road to open the season, I see the Panthers continuing that trend.
Prediction: Pitt 85-50
Chris Peak (0-0): Last year, North Carolina A&T won 13 games and averaged 70 points per game - just barely inside the top-200 in the country in scoring. Entering this season, the Aggies have to replace their top six scorers from last season and return just three players who scored any points for them a year ago. So my thought is this game won’t be close.
Prediction: Pitt 88-62