University of Pittsburgh Athletics
10/29/2026 3:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Armani Mighty had dreads the last time he lined up against Nait George and Akir Souare. It was back in January of 2024. Mighty was in the middle of his sophomore year, whereas Souare and George were just beginning their careers.
None of them could have imagined they'd be on the same Pitt roster just two years later.
Mighty has since cut his hair off, and the three of them laugh about it now, tracing how much everyone has changed since those games.
That is the odd, useful thing about this Pitt men's basketball roster.
Jeff Capel brought in 13 new players, and six of them arrived with ACC résumés.
George and Souare came from Georgia Tech and Syracuse, Baye Ndongo from Georgia Tech, Jalil Bethea played at Miami, Jonathan Powell was at North Carolina last season and Mighty used to be at Boston College.
Capel did not need long to see what that group could mean when he is teaching 13 new players at once.
"It helps a lot," Capel said. "They know the league. But, the main thing is that we just have to play to our strengths. We have to be who we are every day and show up with a chip on our shoulder and be unbelievably connected and competitive."
The biggest benefit, he explained, is in the details.
A veteran who has been coached at a similar program already understands what a ball screen coverage means, even if his old team called it white and Pitt calls it blue.
The terminology changes, but the concept does not, so the learning curve is short. Players who have been through college basketball, he said, arrive more advanced than they used to, and the ones who have played in this league know it too.
Then there is the scouting. George, Ndongo, Powell, Souare and Mighty have combined to play 14 games against Pitt, so the Panthers' system is not new to them. They scouted the program from the other bench, and now they are learning it from the inside.
For Powell, the familiarity shows up every day in practice.
He has gone against George, Souare and Ndongo, and he assumes they have studied him just as closely.
His best memory of facing them came when Syracuse visited North Carolina and he scored 12 points. He also remembers the Carrier Dome as a slightly strange place to play, though a good one to shoot in.
Those stories have become part of how the group connected. Over the summer and into the fall, they swapped notes on the arenas they enjoyed and the ones they did not, and on the opponents they never wanted to see again.
The payoff is speed. Mighty said the group already knows what to expect from each other, so there is no feeling-out period.
"We already know each other," Mighty said. "That translates on the court. We don't take anything we say to each other too personal. We just take the feedback and keep pushing."
The six also know what the league demands, and they have taken it upon themselves to pass that along.
Mighty said they have pushed the newcomers on the physical and mental sides of the game, and on staying level-headed when a game starts slowly.
His message is to chip away four minutes at a time. Powell said the standard shows up in how hard the team plays, because everyone in the room understands what winning in this league requires.
"It's the effort that we bring and preach every day in practice," Powell said. "We all know what it takes to win in this league, so just keep a standard high every day in practice."
George, a multi-year starter in the league, boils his version down to one idea. He wants the same energy against every opponent, whether it is the best team in the league or the worst.
"Just physicality, constantly," George said.
Ndongo said the shared history gives the group a head start, because the players who have been through it can help the ones who have not.
"It's a great thing to have people who have been through the same thing we've been through," Ndongo said.
The ACC experience also reaches beyond the six.
A'lahn Sumler has faced ACC teams for years from Charleston Southern.
In 2023-24, he scored 21 points against North Carolina and hit five three-pointers in 35 minutes. Last season he put up 13 points and nine rebounds against Virginia Tech.
Now, he is jumping up several levels, and the daily work against George, Bethea and Powell has been the best preparation he could ask for. Capel said Sumler's ability to score and shoot is his biggest strength, and the practice reps have helped him find his feel since the summer.
Sumler said that work has changed what games feel like. He is adjusting to the everyday intensity he had not seen at previous stops, and getting those reps against the group makes it easier when the lights come on.
"I'm doing it in practice every day," Sumler said, "so it's an easier feeling when I get in the game."
Others on the roster bring ACC history too. Timofei Rudovskii has played against Virginia and Georgia Tech, and Dominique Diomande has faced Miami and Clemson. Add them to the six, and a large share of the locker room has already seen the league's best.
Put it all together, and the picture changes.
This is not 13 new players learning the league on the fly. It is six who have played in it, a handful more who have played against it, and a locker room where the answer to "what's it like at that place?" is usually sitting a few lockers away. That is the advantage Pitt is hoping plays out.
