What once had to be recruited from the ground-up -- then torn down and built back up a couple of times over -- has at last stuck as a foundational build for Jeff Capel's Pitt program.
At 11-5 overall and 4-1 within the ACC, the Panthers have risen back to national prominence with home upsets over No. 25 North Carolina and No. 11 Virginia, and have a prime opportunity to beat a third ranked opponent in four games with a 7 p.m. tip-off against No. 24 Duke on Wednesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
But, for as short of a time as his team had to come together over what turned out to be a short offseason, this Panthers team is at last jelled and is consistently competing with the top teams in the league. Many players arrived from the transfer portal, and each had to take separate points to get acclimated with Capel and, most important, each other.
"I give all the credit to them," Capel said on Monday at the Petersen Events Center. "They've just come together. We didn't get together as a group, as a team until the start of the fall semester. We're normally together in July, but we had several guys that were not here for different reasons. They first time we were all together was the end of August. That's something that I worried about, but once we got together, it was pretty obvious right away that the pieces fit, and I think with having some older guys and them having a maturity about them and being all about winning, I think that helps. When you go through some adversity or things like we went through earlier, that helps. It can either make you or break you, and I think it's helped us become closer. I think it helped us to understand how much we need each other, and our guys have done a good job of continuing to grow in that manner throughout this part of the season."
Four of Capel's now-normal starting five arrived via the transfer portal this offseason, and the outlier arrived via the portal prior to the start of last season. Nelly Cummings has blossomed into one of the better point guards in the ACC after transferring from Colgate. Blake Hinson has revitalized his career after injuries plagued his starts at Ole Miss and Iowa State. Greg Elliott has become Pitt's go-to spot-shooter after a run at Marquette. Federiko Federiko appears to be a diamond-in-the-rough find at center from a junior college. Jamarius Burton is taking the next step forward in his second season at Pitt and has had two 28-plus outings over his last three games.
Capel made the claim that this 2022-'23 Pitt team is "definitely the most mature" of the ones he has coached. Going into the transfer portal can be a crap shoot at times for just one player, but finding four players to all fit in at once is exactly how Capel has approached this season's roster construction. A roster which, in his own words, he is optimistic can continue to grow together and maintain Pitt's solid start to ACC play, despite past teams crumbling with similar starts under their respective belts.
"Doesn't give me comfort; I'm not comfortable," Capel said. "I am optimistic, I'm hopeful that all of us can learn from the past. The guys -- we don't have anyone that was on that team two years ago (when) we were 4-1 (in ACC play). But all of us have different experiences whether it was Greg from Marquette, Nelly at Colgate, Blake's experiences at Ole Miss and at Iowa State, we all have experience. JB at Texas Tech and at Wichita (State). Good and bad. They've told me some stuff on teams that they've been a part of, that they've experienced, that they've learned. And, so, the thing we talked about is bring all of those experiences with us, good and bad, and let's learn from them and let's try to not let that happen here."
Capel was hired away from Duke prior to the start of the 2018 season -- more on that below -- and took on a program which needed some rebuilding. Pitt had endured two brutal seasons under Kevin Stallings which resulted in a combined 24 wins in two seasons following Jamie Dixon's exit.
Much to some perceived scrutiny of why Capel would leave Duke, his alma mater and where he was an associate under Mike Krzyzewski, he never second-guessed it. Even through tough stretches including the transitioning into the start of the Heather Lyke era as Pitt's Athletic Director in 2017, he never had a doubt that there was going to be a chance for him to succeed in building Pitt back up to prominence for the first time since Dixon's days.
"I knew I made the right move," Capel said. "Look, when I took this, I knew it was going to be a difficult task. I understood where the program was, and there were a lot of factors with that, and it wasn't one thing. There was one thing that was blamed -- or one person that was blamed -- and that's not it. There were a lot of things. One person doesn't make a program, one person doesn't break a program. I understood it. I understood it even more when I got here. You don't know a place or you don't know a person until you're with them all the time. When I got here you start to understand, you start to see. I think one of the biggest factors is that it's a new neighborhood. It was in a new neighborhood. It wasn't Big East. It was the ACC.
"When I took the job here I was shocked -- I mean, absolutely shocked -- that first month, first few months when I would talk to kids, talk to AAU coaches, talk to kids' parents -- recruits, I mean -- and they had no idea that Pitt was in the ACC. And this is not, like, national, this was looking at Ohio kids or neighboring states. And so I knew it was going to be difficult. When I got here it was almost the end of the school year, and so the recruiting cycle was as far as available guys, and so I understood that. The job, when you look at it, in the four years prior to me coming of Pitt being in the ACC, I'm the third coach, and Heather is the third AD, so there wasn't a lot of stability."
Then a global pandemic happened, which further threw the rebuild off of is axis by cutting off recruiting avenues. Then came sweeping changes to the business of college athletics which are still evolving to this day, in the one-time transfer rule and the concept of name, image, and likeness deals. That forced further adjustment.
"After Year 2 the world changed with COVID. You play a season the next year where you have no fans. You go from March of 2020 to July of 2021 where we could do no off-campus recruiting, we can't have no people here. One of the first things I learned when I took this job after being here for a little bit is that we've got to get kids on campus. Most people have never been to Pittsburgh, and so most people have an opinion of what they think Pittsburgh is. I know I did before I moved here, and it's nothing like I imagined or thought it would be. And so we had that period where we couldn't have anyone here.
"Once that was over with the landscape of college athletics changed with one-time transfer, and then you introduce NIL. So it was just all these things in a four-year period that happened -- three of which you didn't anticipate. That made the job even more difficult. But, I never questioned whether I made the right decision. I never did that. I felt like I made the right decision. I never had a 'dream job' whenever I got into coaching. My dream was to coach in the ACC. I believed in this program, I knew the history of it, I believed in Heather and Chancellor (Patrick) Gallagher, and most importantly or just as important, I should say, I believed in me and what we could do. It's been hard, it's been difficult, it's been a lot of setbacks, it's been a lot of that. But, we're still here, we're still swinging, and we're trying to get better each day. We're fighting. I really like the group of guys that we have, I really like the three young men that we've signed, and I really look forward to our future."
Those "three young men" bring forward another dynamic recruiting class and will surely add to this already flavorful recipe Capel seemingly has figured out. Pitt's 2023 class is currently ranked 24th in the nation and second in the ACC via 247Sports. In that class are four-star guards Jaland Lowe and Carlton Carrington and three-star forward Marlon Barnes Jr. There is also the 2024 commitment of three-star Brandin Cummings, the younger brother of Pitt guard Nelly.
"All three of those young guys are talented, and I think they have big upside," Capel said, "and I think they have a chance to be really, really good players. But, they have to understand it's a process, and I don't think any of the three are afraid of the process. I think they look forward to it and look forward to the work that it's going to take to become the players that we know they want to be."
MORE FROM OAKLAND
• From 1993-'97, Capel was a mainstay within the machine that was the middle of Krzyzewski's tenure at Duke:
Duke Athletics
Pitt coach Jeff Capel playing for Duke in the mid-1990s.
Duke Athletics
Jeff Capel, left, receives instruction from Mike Krzyzewski, circa mid-1990s.
Jon Scheyer experienced the same program, the same Coach K flavor, and turned in an All-American track while winning a national championship in his four seasons playing for "Coach K" from 2006-'10.
In Durham, N.C., the student has become the master, as Scheyer is off and running in replacing Krzyzewski as the Blue Devils' head coach to begin the season. On the flip-side, the Blue Devils alumnus Capel will trek to his alma mater to lead his Pitt team against a non-Coach K-coached team for the first time in his tenure.
No matter, as the two former Krzyzewski assistants are set to clash, Capel noted the expectation of seeing much of Coach K's expected influence on the game.
"I think there probably are some similarities," Capel said. "Jon and I both played for Coach, so the things that we were taught, that were instilled in us, they're things I think we probably both really believe in. The way the game should be played and the team should be. He had a lot of success as a player there, I had some success there as a player. We both worked there, and so there will be some similarities, but there will also be some differences. Jon has done a good job of putting his imprint on the program in the first year. Very difficult task, but you could see it, and I like to think that I have done some things my way, as well, here and the other places I've been."
Scheyer and Capel shared the bench alongside Krzyzewski from 2014-'18 as his assistants. Duke reached the NCAA Tournament in each of those four seasons, winning an NCAA championship (2015) and going to a Sweet Sixteen and an Elite Eight. Capel and Scheyer's relationship date to meeting each other at the 2010 Final Four, but the two grew close after Scheyer was hired as a special assistant to Krzyzewski in 2013.
"We spent a lot of time talking about ball, talking coaching, talking life, and I don't know if either of us when we met would think we'd be in this position on Wednesday night," Scheyer said during an ACC coaches teleconference on Monday. "But, I'll tell you, he's done an amazing job with this team. They're together, they're tough, and obviously they're really good. ... I know he'll have (Pitt) ready, and what they've done -- they're as hot as any team in our league -- so we know how good and what a challenge they'll be for Wednesday night."
• Capel said there was no update on the status of forward John Hugley IV, who has not played since Dec. 10 against Sacred Heart for what was described as "personal reasons." Despite this, Hugley has been present for each of Pitt's five games since and has sat on the bench in street clothes for each of those.
Capel added there is no urgency to get him back on the floor, and that "I don't know" if Hugley will return to the floor this season. He reinforced that Hugley's absence is not injury related.
"The focus is making sure he's OK, making sure he's good physically, mentally, and in a space that he can play and help us," Capel said.
