John Hugley IV was Pitt's best player for the 2021-2022 season. After a rocky campaign with the worst record under Jeff Capel in his four years coaching the team, Hugley put to doubt any questions of his leaving the program.
That announcement came out over Hugley's Twitter account Monday afternoon:
Back and ready to build brick by brick!!!ππ @ChetMason32 @Pitt_MBB pic.twitter.com/20k7UFR9kV
β John Hugley IV (@thejohnhugley) March 21, 2022
Hugley's 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game were each the highest averages for the Panthers this season, despite the team's 11-21 finish with a 6-14 ACC record. But it was also the first time the Panthers had a truly effective big forward under Capel. In the Panthers' biggest wins this season, the 6-foot-9, 280-pound Hugley played a major role with a 32-point showing in a win over Boston College and an 18-point game in Pitt's upset over North Carolina when he also limited All-ACC forward Armando Bacot to just seven points.
Had Hugley not returned to Pitt for the 2022-2023 season, the shelves truly would've been barren for Capel's fifth season. After watching five players leave through the Transfer Portal after the 2020-2021 season and Justin Champagnie go to the NBA, Capel faced a true challenge restocking Pitt's roster with talent.
While some may think Hugley could easily go in the Transfer Portal to another program who's had recent success in making the NCAA Tournament like Xavier Johnson and Au'Diese Toney both did at Indiana and Arkansas, it's important to remember how Capel and Pitt supported Hugley during his freshman season.
Hugley had only played six games for the Panthers before facing felony charges that would sideline him with a suspension for the rest of his freshman season. But after his charges were dropped in 2021, Hugley was welcomed back to the program from his suspension and made a premier part of the team's focus the following season.
The improvement shown from Hugley over the past year showed him going from just being an imposing force in the paint to being a more composed forward who learned how to deal with double-teams and play better team basketball. That development, along with Pitt's support of him while he faced felony charges, counts for something.
Questions still remain who else might transfer out of Pitt basketball after three players have already entered the Transfer Portal in Noah Collier, Chris Payton and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo.
Collier was a bench player who didn't produce offensively in replacing Hugley. Ezeakudo was a walk-on guard who earned time as a hard worker on defense when Pitt saw Nike Sibande go down with a season-ending injury, while Ithiel Horton faced a suspension and Jamarius Burton suffered a knee injury that sidelined him to start the season. Payton was a junior college transfer who looked athletic with dunks in warmups and practices, but never earned a consistent playing role for the team.
Femi Odukale was the team's third-leading scorer with 10.8 points per game, but fell off at the end of the season as he scored in the double digits in only two of his last eight games. That included him scoring zero points in Pitt's season-ending loss to Boston College in the ACC Tournament. Behind Hugley, Odukale is the second-best piece from Capel's 2020 recruiting class.
Odukale's return would give Pitt an experienced guard who could continue to grow and have three years of eligibility left thanks to the NCAA COVID waiver for the 2020-2021 season. But Capel has all but spelled out that Pitt will be aggressive in the Transfer Portal for its 2022 recruiting class, and one of the top needs for Pitt is an explosive, ball-handling point guard.
If Capel gets that kind of player in the Transfer Portal, Odukale could have tough competition for playing time. Time will tell if he's willing to stick it out with Pitt alongside his friend and fellow 2020 classmate Hugley.
