It took Jeff Capel precisely two minutes and 10 seconds to say what needed to be said Monday afternoon inside the Petersen Events Center.
First, he fielded a question about Pitt's season opener Wednesday against Florida State, then another about the state of the program. And then:
"For all of us last year, everyone, players — everything was new," Capel began. "And now there's a familiarity. I can tell you personally I feel so much more comfortable in Pittsburgh. Not that I didn't feel comfortable last year, but I know my way around now. I don't have to get on Waze or Google Maps anymore for a lot of the places that I go. And so I do feel better about where we are. I do think that I have a better feel about where we are. 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."
Freaking. Nailed. It.
Capel inherited a dumpster fire from Kevin Stallings last summer and immediately went to work. It wasn't always pretty — the team went 3-15 in conference play, 14-19 overall — but the foundation was there. Freshmen Trey McGowens, Xavier Johnson and Au'Diese Toney accounted for 49.2 percent of the team's scoring. That was good for a team-record 34.6 points per game by freshmen, including 54 double-figure games and fourteen 20-plus-point games.
So Capel should "feel better," as he says about where this team stands as it gears up for 2019-20.
"I guess you could say we laid a foundation, but we can't worry about or look back on last year," McGowens said. "We just gotta take it, learn from it and just build off it."
And there's that "ways to go" Capel mentioned. The narrative for this year's Pitt squad couldn't be more clear: Yes, be excited. Compared to recent seasons definitely be excited. McGowens, Johnson and Toney are still here — and should be improved. Freshmen Gerald Drumgoole, Jr. and Justin Champagnie were each ranked in the top 150 nationally (109 and 111, respectively) and should provide instant contributions.
Sprinkle in some outside shooting from junior-college transfer Ryan Murphy, and there's the makings of a faster, more versatile Pitt team. Expect them to get out in transition and force the issue, knowing they have options this time around. McGowens and Johnson made a name for themselves in 2018-19 by slashing through the lane and finishing — but that was negated when teams could collapse and overload the paint to prevent them from working toward their strengths. With added outside shooting and versatility all-around this year, it should allow both McGowens and Johnson more freedom and open up the offense as a whole.
"Last year we couldn't really do it [get out quickly in transition] as much because we didn't have a lot of versatile guys," Toney was saying Monday. "But this year, we have a lot of versatile guys like Justin, we got Gerald and we got some newcomers as well, transfers and stuff like that, like Murph, a knockdown shooter. So we have a lot of players [where] we can space the floor, we can just get it and go."
Of course, it wouldn't hurt matters if these freshmen standouts rounded out their respective games, either. That point isn't lost on them — nor is it lost on Capel.
"Hopefully Trey and Xavier can be a little bit more consistent in shooting the basketball," Capel said. "Hopefully Au'Diese can be more consistent with shooting the basketball. Then our new guys, Ryan Murphy, we think he can shoot the ball, but he's gotta be able to show it in games. Justin can shoot it. Gerald can shoot the ball. You can shoot it, but can you make it?"
Can you make it, Mr. McGowens?
"For sure, that's [outside shooting is] what I worked on this summer," McGowens said. "Just reps."
And what about you, Mr. Toney?
"I changed a lot," Toney said. "Making myself more of a threat of shooting the ball from the outside and inside, midrange. Just doing all the aspects, like the little things that Coach is preaching about."
Coach is preaching about them, because they'll be vital for this program's success moving forward. The additions of Drumgoole, Champagnie and company can and should make an instant impact, but last year's star freshmen trio still needs to do its thing and continue to be consistently great. Consistently great.
McGowens, for instance, posted a career-high 33 points against Louisville last January then turned around and put up 30 just five days later in the team's upset win over then-No. 11 Florida State at home. Then, from Jan. 26 to March 4 — a stretch of 11 games — McGowens didn't score more than 11, getting held to single digits nine times.
He'll need to not just establish a rhythm and a steadier presence on the court this year, though. McGowens — along with Johnson and Toney primarily — will be expected to lead.
And it's a position they covet.
"We did it with the freshmen this year," Toney said. "Last year, we didn't have [much] leadership coming in, so we really didn't have [anybody] that we could look up to. But now this year, we have the leadership role, so we can bring in [the freshmen and] we can tell them the right and wrong and stuff like that that we didn't have — that big-brother figure that we didn't have."
Capel sees it on a daily basis.
"I've seen it since the spring, certainly in the summer," Capel said. "Those guys have had growth. They've had big-time growth, and hopefully it shows up in production ... Vocal in practice, in huddles. They've done all of those things."
Now, let's jog it back to that "long ways to go" comment from Capel. The team has talent. It has energy and excitement. It has youth and leadership within that young core.
What's missing?
Consistency. An identity. This is just Capel's second year at the helm, and the team isn't going to snap its fingers and reverse course to national titles. There will be growing pains and more bumps and bruises this season. But the sailing should be smoother, a point emphasized by Capel when I asked: What exactly is this team's identity for 2019-20, anyway?
"It's something we're still trying to figure out," Capel answered. "That's a big thing. For us, it'll be an ongoing process. We're not a veteran team, and we haven't been with the guys long enough. We don't have guys established enough in our program where they can completely teach everything like a Trent Forrest can for Florida State. He's so ingrained in the program and there's been such continuity in their program. For us, we're still trying to do that.
"I'm hopeful that our identity will always be that we fight, we compete, there's a toughness about us, and that we play intelligently. We haven't shown all those things all the time. I think most of the time we've done that, especially the first ones, [but] the 'intelligent' part we have to still continue to get better with. But we're trying to establish that as a program right now."
The stage is set.
New jerseys:
The Reveal: MBB Edition#ZooEra | #H2P pic.twitter.com/toFendVIIe
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) April 7, 2019
New digs:
"We're obviously very, very proud of the changes that have been made with the colors and flipping the court," Capel was saying of the changes. "Obviously the scoreboard, the video boards in the end zone. All those things, we're very proud of that."
And the players are equally amped.
"It's very exciting," Toney said. "We've been preaching about this for a long time, since this summer in Italy. The atmosphere is crazy here. The Zoo gets you fired up and then all the new colors we have now; the new colors, it's beautiful. We just want to bring a 'W,' that first big 'W' in the new colors and the new arena."
Do that — notch that "W" at home against Florida State — and this program can start chewing up miles toward that "long ways to go" with a purpose.
