PITTSBURGH — Jeff Capel doesn’t need to glance down at his phone to find his way around anymore. The Pittsburgh coach would drive around last fall and occasionally his navigation app would freeze.

“I had a bunch of people honking at me from behind and throwing up some fingers,” said Capel, with a laugh. “That’s OK. I found my way.”

So, Capel believes, have the Panthers.

Eighteen months after agreeing to rebuild the program following Kevin Stallings’ tough two-year tenure — one in which Pitt won a total of four Atlantic Coast Conference games in front of a sea of empty seats at the once raucous Petersen Events Center — Capel is confident the foundation he laid during his first season on the job is solid.

It’s one he expects the team to build on over the next five months. He’ll get an early progress report Wednesday night when Pitt hosts ACC foe Florida State in a “made for TV” season opener designed to help promote interest in the conference’s newly established television network.

“For all of us, last year, everyone, for players, everything was new,” Capel said. “Now there’s familiarity. I can tell you personally, I feel so much more comfortable in Pittsburgh. ... I do think I have a better feel for where we are, and we still have a long ways to go to get to where we want to be. But I think we’re taking the necessary steps to make that happen.”

Those steps include upgrading the roster in hopes of making it more competitive in arguably the nation’s toughest conference. Only two scholarship players — forwards Kene Chukwuka and Terrell Brown — remain from the 2017-18 group that went winless in the ACC.

The arrival last season of freshmen trio Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens and Au’Diese Toney gave Pitt a needed dash of athleticism and swagger. They’ll be joined this season by swingmen Justin Champagnie and Gerald Drumgoole, the top recruits.