Jeff Capel got his third commitment from a player in the Transfer Portal Thursday when forward Fede Federiko announced his commitment to join Pitt basketball on Twitter and Instagram.
I MAKE MY MOVES IN SILENCE🤫♟ #chessmoves #COMMITED💛💙 @pitt_mbb Let’s GO!!!🦍😤 @ University of Pittsburgh https://t.co/fx60EWYEJs
— federiko federiko (@Federiko_F) April 21, 2022
Federiko is a 6-foot-11, 220 lbs. forward who's taken an unconventional road to become an ACC basketball player. Born in Cairo, Egypt, Federiko played basketball in Finland before moving to the United States to play high school basketball at First Love Christian Academy in Washington, Pa. After there, Federiko played his freshman year of college basketball at Northern Oklahoma, a junior college.
There, he became a powerful paint presence by averaging 11.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. When watching Federiko's freshman tape, you can see an aggressive presence at the rim on both offense and defense. He wasn't afraid to attack the basket, nor would he shy away from challenging other forwards and centers who tried to score or defend while he was in the paint. He also showed an adeptness to score from different vantage points whether in the post, driving to the basket, from offensive rebounds for second-chance points, or altering his approach mid-shot if a defender got in his way:
Federiko's still developing his game as a sophomore with three years of eligibility left. During his time at Northern Oklahoma, his paint presence was so dominant that he never took a three-pointer during the season.
Before committing to Pitt, Federiko announced his commitment to West Virginia in Feb. 2022, but rescinded that commitment on April 12 and reopened his recruitment.
Between Capel's first three commitments in the Transfer Portal this offseason, Federiko is the first player who could fit in Pitt's frontcourt. Nelly Cummings projects to be the team's starting point guard while Blake Hinson looks more like a small forward who can help as an attacking paint presence.
Federiko looks more of the part of a forward who can either pair with Pitt's star forward John Hugley IV, or be his immediate spell option from the bench. His two blocks per game is the same average posted by Mouhamadou Gueye during his freshman season at Stony Brook in the 2019-2020 season. Gueye was a Transfer Portal addition for Pitt last season who led the Panthers with 67 blocks (2.1 per game), the team's second-leading rebounder with 6.3 per game, fourth-leading scorer with 9.8 points per game, and an avid defender who helped kickstart several of Pitt's scoring runs with his dual contributions on offense and defense.
Federiko isn't as polished as Gueye, who came to Pitt as a graduate student with an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 waiver, but he is a similar build in a longer, athletic presence who can defend the paint and provide another inside scoring option alongside Hugley. Capel will be tasked with seeing if he can help Federiko grow in his scoring abilities to make him a consistent threat to the rim in ACC play, as well as provide the similar defensive presence he did for Northern Oklahoma.
After seven departures from Pitt basketball in the Transfer Portal and Gueye's eligibility running out, Pitt basketball now has five scholarships still available to help with recruiting before the May 1 deadline for transfers to find new schools in the Transfer Portal and be eligible for the 2022-2023 season. Transfer guard Meechie Johnson Jr. from Ohio State also recently visited Pitt over the past weekend, and Pitt is scheduled to host transfer forward Akok Akok from UConn this weekend.
Ideally, Akok would be a more experienced and preferred option as a starting forward next to Hugley, as he'll be a redshirt senior at 6-foot-9, 205 lbs. He averaged 3.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 points per game across seven starts and 23 game appearances for UConn last season.
Capel has yet to get a commitment from a high school prospect for his 2022 class, but is scheduled to also host twin Spanish forwards Guillermo Diaz and Jorge Diaz from IMG Academy this weekend. Both are listed at 6-foot-11, 195 lbs. with the reputation to score in the paint and shoot proficiently on three-pointers.
