It took two full seasons for the Pitt basketball program to get back on track under Ben Howland, who had to revamp the program following five seasons of mediocrity under Ralph Willard.
Howland can arguably be credited for laying the foundation for the early portion of Jamie Dixon's success of making the NCAA Tournament in 11 of his 13 seasons at the helm, as Howland put Pitt back on the map with a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and an Associated Press Top 25 ranking as high as No. 2 in the 2002-'03 season.
The same 2002-'03 season which resulted in Pitt's first-ever Big East Tournament championship, dating to 1980.
Howland and various members of that historic team were celebrated during the Panthers' thrilling come-from-behind effort in their 71-68 win over No. 20 Miami on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center. Howland caught up with us before the game and offered some insight into what reminded him of that particular team:
"Toughness. Physical. Blue-collar. Work ethic. Togetherness. Unselfishness. Physicality. Great Kids. Great players," Howland said. "Brandin (Knight) was the heart and soul and an incredible leader, but we had some really high basketball I.Q. Jaron Brown, unbelievable basketball I.Q. Donatas (Zavackas), highly developed. All those kids. Julius (Page). They were well coached before we got here, so we were really blessed."
Does that sound familiar?
Those nine descriptors Howland gave of that championship team can apply to Jeff Capel's current team. One which, as Capel illustrated after the game, is all about Pitt and nothing else.
Just look at this current team and the traits to fit.
The heart and soul: Jamarius Burton. High basketball I.Q.: Nelly Cummings. Highly Developed: Blake Hinson. And those descriptors extend to Greg Elliott, Federiko Federiko, and everyone else in between.
"The pieces fit. We’ve got guys that are over themselves for the most part," Capel said. "They’re about the team. They just want to win. Period. That’s all they want to do. They just want to win. They don’t care who gets the glory. They want Pitt to have all the glory, because I think they understand if that happens, then individually they all get something."
The difference between previous Capel teams to the one which is on a current pathway to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 is exactly a mirror image of the makeup which Howland recruited and built for that dream season.
And, keep in mind, Capel is navigating this magical run without three of his main horses. John Hugley IV played eight games before he made the call to sit out the rest of the season and work through personal issues. Top-rated recruit Dior Johnson is redshirting after dealing with off-the-floor issues in the preseason. Will Jeffress had foot surgery and will not play this season.
But the pieces which Capel has recruited, albeit perhaps in a different manner than Howland did given the nature of college basketball 20 years after the fact, have been able to carry that same torch that the team 20 years ago did on its road to glory.
"I see them making the extra pass, I see them penetrating and kicking out. I really like their chemistry," Howland said. "And, they're young. Those three big kids (Federiko and Jorge and Guillermo Diaz Graham) are all very young. There's a bright future with those guys right there. It's fun to watch the development of this team. They've had some great wins already, and it's really exciting. I was thrilled for them when they beat Virginia, beat Carolina, at Syracuse. They've had some really good wins."
Howland spoke to Capel's team before this season tipped off. Here is a bit of the advice he had for the current group:
"Just talked about what a blessing it was to be a Pitt Panther and how fortunate they are to be here and they're a part of something really special," Howland said, "and to learn and keep striving to get better every day, and the bottom line is it's all about playing together. Being unselfish, being tough, giving yourself up for your team. That's something that our players really exemplified. Jaron Brown, so unselfish. No one on our team cared who scored the points. All they cared about was winning. It was so fun to be a part of that."
Remember what Hinson said after the Panthers' win on Wednesday?
"This team don't got no back seat," Hinson said. "It's a whole caravan worth of good guys happy to go along on this ride, and we're going to ride it. There isn't no back seat. We don't see no back seat. Everybody's on the car ride having a good road trip. ... Ain't no front seat, ain't no back seat. Just the driver, and we're all in there."
Previous Capel teams were unable to embody that. This Capel team can.
And, it has.
