The Pitt News sports desk predicts the upcoming Pitt women’s basketball season

Pitt women’s basketball will earn at least 10 wins this season // Sara Meyer, Senior Staff Writer

Pitt’s program is in one of the toughest conferences in the country, and with three new teams entering the ACC this year, women’s basketball faces an even larger gauntlet. Cal and Stanford are tough new conference competitors, but the addition of SMU could give the Panthers a chance to add a tick to the win column. 

Head coach Tori Verdi enters his second year with the program, ending his inaugural season with a mere two conference wins (8-24, 2-16 ACC). With over half of Pitt’s roster gone to the transfer portal or graduated, Verdi has a chance to start fresh this season and continue to rebuild the program. 

Rebuilding started in the transfer portal, recruiting players who know what it’s like to win. Two transfers who met this criteria were senior guard Brooklynn Miles and graduate center Khadija Faye, both of which were elected captain by Verdi. They are the key Panthers to look out for this season.

With a modified conference and a new roster, the program has a good chance of earning at least ten wins this season. 

Aislin Malcolm poised to elevate Pitt women’s basketball // Conor Hutchison, Senior Staff Writer

Pitt ended last season on a five-game losing streak and finished one win ahead of last in the ACC. Pitt lost its star graduate student forward Liatu King to Notre Dame. She led the Panthers in points, rebounds and blocks per game last season. With King gone, the weight of Pitt’s expectations falls on junior guard Aislin Malcolm.

If Pitt is going to elevate itself from the basement of the ACC, it needs junior guard Malcolm to take the next step. Malcolm led the Panthers in three-point percentage with 31.6% with almost six attempts per game. Malcolm was also the second-leading scorer for Pitt, with 9.3 points per game. With King attempting 25.3% of Pitt’s shots last season, Malcolm should get a much-increased opportunity to shine on offense.

The Panthers have a tough schedule. Verdi is in his second season and has to rethink his offense with King transferring out. If the Panthers can improve their win total at all, especially to double digits, the season is a success. Even with belief in Malcolm, 11 wins seems like the ceiling.

Growing pains won’t stop, but improvement is hopefully in sight // Aidan Kasner, Sports Editor

Last year, the women’s basketball team headed into the season with a new coach and a schedule featuring some of the top programs in the nation. This combination was not a good one, and the Panthers posted a 2-16 conference record and an 8-24 overall record. The team was flat-out not good.

The women’s team proved inadequate to perform in the ACC, but to give it the benefit of the doubt, the conference was nothing short of loaded. No. 1 seed Virginia Tech, No. 3 seeds Duke and Notre Dame and No. 5 seed Louisville headlined the 2023 NCAA women’s tournament. No. 6 seed UNC, No. 7 seeds FSU and NC State and No. 9 seed Miami also rounded out the field, as well as tough competitors whom the Panthers had to deal with throughout the regular season.

Installing a new coach into a system will always prove to have growing pains, but a team with a season like this under their belt can pick things up a little bit more. I think the Panthers will finish with an optimistic ten-plus wins and compete more fiercely than their last outing. 

Pitt still struggles, but has best season since 2016-17 //  Matthew Scabilloni, Assistant Sports Editor

Pitt women’s basketball was bad in the 2023-2024 season. Only one player averaged over 10 points per game, and the best someone shot from three was 31.6%. Not good — not even average. Pitt, collectively, shot 27.8% from beyond the three-point line. In this day and age, a three-point percentage that ugly is not going to get it done.

Luckily for Pitt, it is a new year, and the roster is entirely different.The issue with that is the only player that averaged over 10 points per game is gone now. Even worse, she’s with a conference rival in Notre Dame. King was Pitt’s offense last season. I watched her carry Pitt to one of its two conference wins against Virginia — scoring 15 points and cleaning up 16 rebounds. Pitt really could use her this season, but now she is gone with a rival. 

On the positive side of things, I believe in Verdi. He’s a good coach, and, in the games I watched last season, players were getting open looks — they just didn’t convert. The same may happen this season too, but that’s OK. Rebuilding takes time. This season, I don’t expect Pitt to make the tournament or anything like that, but despite losing its best player, I expect a better end result, meaning Pitt will win at least 12 games in the 2024-2025 season.