Even the most loyal supporter of the Pitt Panthers men’s basketball program had to be a little skeptical about the 2024/2025 edition.

Blake Hinson, the senior forward who transferred to Pitt in time for the 2022/2023 campaign and became one of the most prolific three-point shooters in school history, graduated after the 2023/2024 season. Freshman guard Carlton “Bub” Carrington declared for the NBA Draft just one year into his collegiate career. Federiko Federiko, the Finnish center, entered the transfer portal after two seasons with the program and committed to Texas Tech for his last year of eligibility.

The 2022/2023 Panthers earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven seasons before going on to win two games. Unfortunately, despite finishing with 22 victories and a 12-8 record in the ACC, the 2023/2024 edition didn’t have the overall resume necessary to earn a second-straight trip to the dance. It was considered a weaker season for the usually strong Atlantic Coast Conference. That belief, combined with a less-than-stellar non-conference schedule that included a loss to a horrible Missouri team were the main reasons the Panthers didn’t make the tournament in 2023/2024. They then declined an invitation to the NIT and called it a season.

Even with the program in better shape behind the leadership of seventh-year head coach Jeff Capel, you didn’t hear much buzz about the 2024/2025 campaign. There wasn’t a ton of talk about Pitt’s recruiting class, either. The Panthers were going to be led this year by Jaland Lowe, a sophomore guard who became an immediate starter during his freshman campaign and averaged nearly 10 points a game; and Ishmael Leggett, a senior guard who scored 12.3 points per game off the bench a season ago and was named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year.

I don’t know how the selection committee will feel about Pitt’s 2024/2025 non-conference schedule when all is said and done. Still, the program is now 6-0 following an impressive 74-63 win over LSU in the first round of the Greenbrier Tip-Off at Colonial Hall in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on Friday afternoon.

Lowe led the way with 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Leggett followed close behind with 21 points and six rebounds. Junior forward Cameron Corhen was also a major contributor with 14 points and five rebounds.

Pitt’s 6-0 start is its best since the 2018/2019 campaign, but the program was in a major transition early in the Capel regime and finished with a 14-19 mark that year. Fortunately,  the immediate future does seem a bit brighter for the 2024/2025 squad.

The Panthers will take on No. 19 Wisconsin, also 6-0, in the championship round of the Greenbrier Tip-Off on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.