With the full disclosure of the fact that I've only been a Pitt fan since 2001, I genuinely don't remember having this much excitement since maybe 2003 when we had a top ranked b-ball team and were returning Larry Fitz. There are some really good takeaways that came from this:
- We have the best AD of my Pitt sports lifetime. Steve Pederson sucked and somehow Barnes was worth. Our AD made a home run hire while every fan and media member piled on. She made a smart, calculated decision to hire Capel. This is a big time move. She must have either been giggling or steaming mad when people thought they were interviewing Scheyer.
- Capel's reputation is so good that every player said they wanted to come back before presumably even talking to him. Our upside is now back to the Dixon 1 seed days although I think the caliber of player he will recruit will eventually get us to a final four.
- Say what you want about this team losing every game but the only player we lose to graduation is Milligan and this team would not have lost every game with Luther. Now you add some additional fire power and a kid that sat out all year and suddenly things looks up. We always here the best part about freshman is when they become sophomores. Well we basically have a whole team of that. I know this is foolish but I'm going to say our worst case record next year is .500 overall and at least 6 wins in the ACC. I think the big bump will be the year after when he gets to put together his own class.
- This is the most excited I've been about a head coach since Wanny seemed to be gaining steam going into the 10 win season and the most excited about a team since the Fitz soph year.
- For all that said the ACC killed our basketball program, and it certainly hurt JD's type of player he liked to recruit, the money from the ACC allowed this to happen. From the buyout to paying both of our coaches, this is big boy money.
- If you have not given money this year give it NOW! I increased my donation by 50% this year. You don't need to give $1,000 to show support, give 50, 100, whatever you think you can spare without financial consequence.
