While his team is busy trying to accomplish its own postseason goals, don’t be surprised if you see Jeff Capel or any of the members from his coaching staff in the stands at a few WPIAL playoff games in the next few weeks.
With the District 7 playoffs underway, the Pitt basketball program has a few local talents to keep an eye on. Here’s a look at each of the four prospects that have cracked Pitt’s radar:
Royce Parham, North Hills
Parham helped lead North Hills to the WPIAL Class 6A final last winter. He’ll look to do the same this season in Class 5A. Pitt offered Parham, a 6-foot-9, 205 pound forward, in May 2022. The junior big man is rated as the No. 63 player in the country for the Class of 2024 by rivals.
Whenever Parham chooses his home for the next level, he’ll have plenty of quality programs to choose from. The Indians’ star has 13 total Power Five offers, which include Texas, Virginia and Indiana. Parham has made unofficial visits to Penn State, Wisconsin, Xavier and Notre Dame, but Pitt is the only school he’s unofficially visited twice.
Parahm is once again having a big season for North Hills, entering the postseason averaging a WPIAL Class 5A best 29.2 points per game. His 3-seeded Indians will face No. 14 Kiski Area in the opening round at home Friday at 8 p.m.
Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas, Lincoln Park
After losing to Quaker Valley in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals with Capel in attendance last winter, a pair of marquee Panther recruits will look to lead the top-seeded Leopards back to Petersen Events Center this year.
Cummings, a junior guard and the younger brother of Pitt’s starting point guard Nelly Cummings, verbally committed to the Panthers last month. Rated a three-star by Rivals, the 6-foot-4, 160 pound shooting guard leads WPIAL Class 4A with an average of 23.9 points per game.
With Cummings already on board, Capel and his staff will certainly be around to chat with Thomas, who is rated as the No. 7 player in the country for the Class of 2025 by Rivals. Thomas received an offer from Pitt before he played a single game of high school basketball. The five-star shooting guard also holds offers from Indiana, Kansas State, Missouri, Penn State and St. Johns.
A source tells the Post-Gazette that other blue bloods like Duke and Kentucky have also shown Thomas interest, but have yet to offer. Thomas is averaging 23.3 points per game. He, Cummings and the rest of their Lincoln Park squad open their postseason journey at home Monday at 7 p.m. against No.17 West Mifflin.
Alier Maluk, Imani Christian Academy
While we’ve seen a notable uptick in top-tier talent throughout the WPIAL in recent years, it’s been quite some time since Western Pennsylvania high school basketball fans have had the chance to watch a player like Maluk.
Like Thomas, Maluk was receiving Power Five interest in middle school. Rivals rates Maluk, a 6-foot-10, 180 pound center, as the No. 16 player in the country for the Class of 2025. The five-star big man holds other offers from Auburn, LSU, NC State, Ohio State, Oregon, Seton Hall, Texas A&M and West Virginia.
Maluk headlines a top-seeded Imani Christian team that’s loaded with talent. The Saints will play the winner of No. 8 Rochester and No. 9 Summit Academy on Wednesday in the WPIAL Class 1A quarterfinals, at a time and location to be determined.
Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles
First Published: February 17, 2023, 2:21 p.m.