Inside The Panthers

Stars of Pitt's ACC Rivals Make Offseason Decisions

The Pitt Panthers' ACC foes suffered some key losses recently.

Stephen Thompson

Stars of Pitt's ACC Rivals Make Offseason Decisions
Stars of Pitt's ACC Rivals Make Offseason Decisions /
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PITTSBURGH -- Some of the Pitt Panthers' top rivals from around the ACC will look different the next time everyone takes the floor to open the 2023-24 college basketball season in November. 

As players around the country decide whether to stay with their current team, transfer, pursue a career in professional basketball or simply move on to their post-basketball lives, the Panthers saw one regular conference opponent lose its leading scorer, another go down a key frontcourt player and a third retain a talented and improving guard. 

North Carolina guard Caleb Love have the biggest headlines when he announced that he would leave the team and enter the transfer portal. Love, who averaged 16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, is a surefire NBA Draft candidate, but will remain in school likely seeking to add efficiency to his prolific scoring abilities. 

Later in the day, head coach Hubert Davis got some good news from the transfer portal in the form of graduate Brown big man Paxson Wojcik, who averaged 14.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists last season and committed to join the Tar Heels next fall. 

Elsewhere around the league, Virginia forward Kadin Shedrick became the third member of the frontcourt to leave that program, leaving the Cavaliers thin at that spot. Former 2022 top-100 recruit, Issac Traudt and senior reserve Francisco Caffaro also opted to enter the portal too. 

Shedrick's season averages - 6.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game - do not jump off the page and the senior's playing time declined as the season progressed. But when starting forward Ben Vander Plaas went down with an injury, he stepped up to deliver key minutes for the Cavaliers in the postseason, capping four straight starts with a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double in Virginia's NCAA Tournament first round loss to Furman.

Duke's Tyrese Proctor made the third big, but far less dramatic splash of the day by announcing that he would stay for another year with the Blue Devils, who ended the season red hot and won the ACC Tournament before falling to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

While starting point guard Jeremy Roach was injured in the middle of the year, he filled in and was spectacular. Proctor averaged 12.4 points and 4.3 assists per game while making 34% of his 3-pointers and 49% of his 2-point shots from January 11 to February 4. He earned a much larger role after that, starting in each of the Blue Devils' final 12 games and averaging 33 minutes per contest. He was an ACC All-Freshman selection this past season. 

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Panthers for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and so much more!

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Pitt Reached Out to Temple Transfer Damian Dunn

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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