It should be to nobody's surprise that Jamarius Burton took the initiative to call a players-only meeting to assess his team's temperature after Pitt's 78-76 loss to Miami Saturday in Coral Gables, Fla.
It should also be to nobody's surprise that this veteran Panthers team quickly put that defeat behind them with their play in the ACC Tournament set to begin in Greensboro, N.C. at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
"I just felt like it's easy to hang our heads after two tough losses," Burton said Monday at the Petersen Events Center. "We knew the stakes, we had an opportunity to have a share of the conference regular-season title. We all wanted that. It was in our fingertips. I don't want anybody to be dismayed by the outcome. We still have a tremendous opportunity in the (ACC) Tournament, and we just want to have our best foot forward, moving forward."
Blake Hinson claimed the meeting was "totally necessary" to have, and Burton was the one who did most of the talking. Anybody who knows Burton knows he is probably the most level-headed player -- and person -- out there, and it was only fitting he was also the calming voice to a Panthers team which lost its final two games to close the regular season.
These players-only meetings can be perceived on either end of the spectrum as a positive or negative thing, given the circumstance. Pitt played out of a double bye in the tournament, and instead of beginning Thursday against either of No. 8 Syracuse or No. 9 Wake Forest as the No. 1 seed, it will serve as the No. 5 seed and see either No. 12 Florida State or No. 13 Georgia Tech Wednesday in the second round inside Greensboro Coliseum. Should Pitt advance, it will face No. 4 Duke at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in a quarterfinal.
"Wiping off the blow as a team," Hinson said about the meeting. "All of us just checking in with each other, because we lost that opportunity, but there's plenty of opportunities ahead. That's all it was. Another ACC game (coming up). None of them are easy."
By the sound of it, this meeting can only be taken as a positive.
"I would say the temperature was great," Burton said. "Everybody was still locked at the task at hand and understood that we still have goals in front of us and that we have the opportunity to continue to write our story, and that was the big takeaway from the meeting.
"... It's never about condemning one another and being down on one another. It's all about us moving in the direction. We took two tough losses. Like I said, it was right there in our fingertips. Just wanted to make sure everybody's still in the right spirits moving forward."
Perhaps this just sheds more light into the type of leader Burton carries himself as. While Hinson said he didn't necessarily think the meeting changed anybody's mindset -- which is a positive to draw -- he still thought it was good for the team to check in with each other.
Hinson called Burton the "outright leader of this team all year."
"That's the voice we need," Hinson added. "I don't really see anybody else fit to do so as well as he does it. It's a calming voice, it's a down-to-earth voice, and I'm glad he's there to do that for us."
From the coaches' standpoint, losing two in a row overall and three in a row on the road is no going tot change how ACC Coach of the Year Jeff Capel and the staff are going to prepare their team for the ACC Tournament.
"Sometimes there is (a need for change), but we're not panicked," Capel said. "We've played three teams on the road, the last three games we've lost on the road -- I thought Virginia Tech was desperate, and they played their butts off. I thought that was the one time, maybe, this year, in a while, that Notre Dame played with purpose. We played against a heck of a team against Miami and had a chance to win. I think we'll stick to what we've been doing."
As for points of improvement and work heading to Greensboro, Capel stated the obvious that Pitt needs to defend and rebound better.
But, also ...
"We have to be better in every facet," Capel said. "It's crazy, you've already seen some craziness happen in some of these conference tournaments that are going on right now. You have to try to not get too emotional. You have to be able to utilize and use emotion the right way, use it in the positive way and don't let emotion use you."
MORE FROM OAKLAND
• I wondered out loud on this week's H2P Podcast whether Capel could activate Dior Johnson for the ACC Tournament. The former top recruit intends to redshirt this season after battling legal troubles earlier this season.
Johnson would have to play 25% or less of Pitt's games his season in order to retain a redshirt, but Capel has mentioned before that Johnson has been practicing with the team. (Though, he has not traveled with it.) Johnson could theoretically play in part of the ACC Tournament and subsequently Pitt's postseason and still retain the redshirt.
I asked Capel whether he and his staff have considered activating Johnson for the ACC Tournament:
"No."
I followed up: Is that on the table? At all?
He laughed it off and responded: "No."
• The same goes for Will Jeffress, who had surgery Dec. 1 to remove a bone from his foot. Capel said last week Jeffress was cleared for everything but contact.
I asked Capel: Is it possible that he could get cleared to play?
"No."
• Nate Santos has played in just 12 minutes spanning five games since Feb. 11. Capel clarified Santos is not injured, and he will be available for the ACC Tournament.
"You can expect to see everyone," Capel said.
(Everyone except for Johnson, Jeffress, and John Hugley IV, at least.)
Nonetheless, not seeing Santos on the floor down the stretch of the end of the regular season remains an enigma for now. Capel is down three scholarship players and Santos' athleticism arguably could have been utilized in moments against Notre Dame and Miami when Pitt needed a spark.
• Despite Greg Elliott's struggles over the last two games, don't expect Capel to move newly minted ACC Sixth Man of the Year Nike Sibande into his spot in the starting lineup.
"I'm glad," Capel said of the lineup. "I'm content with what we have."
Elliott scored two points total over his last two games, going back to Wednesday's loss at Notre Dame. He has made 1 of 8 shots from the field and has missed all five of his 3-pointers since Wednesday. Meanwhile, Sibande has scored in double figures in each of his last three games including his 16 points in 28 minutes Saturday. Elliott played 16 minutes Saturday.
"I think he made five 3s in the second half against Syracuse, but he didn't shoot it as well against Notre Dame and certainly didn't shoot it as well against Miami," Capel said of Elliott. "That happens. I've always said, when you're a guy that shoots the basketball, you've got to shoot. You have to have convenient amnesia and you have to be able to forget very, very quickly. He shot the ball really well in practice today.
"... He can get down a little bit, but we get on him when we see him like that because we need that all the time from him, we need that energy all the time from him."
Sibande earned the ACC Sixth Man of the Year award in a runaway vote, it was unveiled Monday.
"He's been great," Capel said of Sibande. "You talk about somebody starring in their role, he's done that. I've said it from the beginning of the year, I think he's like a sixth starter. I think we have six starters. He's a guy that's really a start for us. He plays starter minutes, he can close games for us, he's helped us win, he brings a different type of energy, he has pop -- what I mean by that, an athleticism that we don't have. He's been tremendous. It took a while because when you come off that injury (last season's torn ACL) there's a physical barrier you have to get over, and there's also a mental barrier that you have to get over. You can do it in practice, you can play, but it's different when you're going against someone. It took a little bit for him to find that rhythm again, but once he found it again he's been unbelievable for us."
