Capel presser today @ 2:30
- Thread starter King Of All Message Boards
- Start date
I have to laugh because I really think Pitt can be a great place for talented basketball players to play for. The Pete has been refurbished and looks great. There is some tradition to point to if that helps. The conference is exceptional for hoops. Go get some players and put a very competitive team on the court. This is turning into the Batan Death March and it doesn’t have to be.
Absolutely - Hey, whatever happened to that last thread we Interacted on?
Dont answer if you don’t want this one deleted.
No clue what you’re talking about. But please remind me.
Edit - you referring to the PantherInKentucky thread?
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Pitt had good regular season success in the big East. However, in that same period wvu had more final fours and elite eights. There really isn’t much national history. We had two number one seeds, one of which was wasted. I think most of us want a final four, but are biased in thinking we have a storied program. Even in the Big east tourney they crapped out. They always peaked too soon.
I think you're being a bit too critical here. He literally just said "some history," he never compared us to Duke or Kansas. We were one of the best teams in college basketball for a non-trivial amount of the last 20 seasons. That certainly qualifies as "some history."
7:45 mark
Question: How is the rest of the team taking this?
Capel: Great, and I dont think anyone on the team was surprised followed by a laugh. Goes on to say the team had good meetings and good practices since then.
Tells you what you need to know of a "team" disconnect that was starting to boil.
Question: How is the rest of the team taking this?
Capel: Great, and I dont think anyone on the team was surprised followed by a laugh. Goes on to say the team had good meetings and good practices since then.
Tells you what you need to know of a "team" disconnect that was starting to boil.
Sounds like maybe the ones who left thought they were untouchable and acted accordingly. And in terms of the best chance of winning they kinda were. Push came to shove and enough was enough. Especially since thy weren’t winning anyway. The old we can lose with ya we can lose without ya.
Two things I thought were interesting.
When asked about X remarking earlier that he wasn’t mentoring Femi because he didn’t need one, Capel responded that “everyone needs a mentor”
Later, when asked about now having two extra scholarships available, he responded that he had been expecting that.
Do you believe the first question asked?
Contrast that to the tenure of questions asked to Barnes and Stallings in the stallings hire press conference.
Goes back a "tad" to Krauser vs Knight. Granted and I can say this and Capel cant, the only player X has cared about is X. If he just listened to the Coach as opposed to a few people in his circle that thought he was better than Jordan going all the way back to his freshmen year, maybe things would have been different. Time to officially move on from this.
Yes I agree I am. I have the same “perception” that PITT was very good. But objectively, they were ranked at some point in the top 10 during 11 different seasons. But then they only received a 1 or 2 seed on 3 different occasions. So they really only were expected to have 2 final fours and 3 elite 8’s. They got one elite eight. Not necessarily a part of history and no real success to show for it. As I said, I feel they always peaked too soon. We had high expectations that were never really sustained each year except for a select few. Yes they got close and were good, but never sustained greatness per say.
Regarding the open scholarships it is pretty confusing. He says he was planning on having those 2 scholarships which brings us to 4, 5 with Hugley’s, 6 Drumgoole’s assuming he is gone and 7 if Champ bolts. Yet they’re recruiting like everyone is coming back. They’re really depending on a team of all transfers to compete these next 2 years?
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Except Pitt. We have no plan.
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Except Pitt. We have no plan.
It's professional malpractice to not have filled a single scholarship by this point. COVID or no. It's worse now that we have 60 minutes per night to fill on an already bad team.
Maybe he was angling for a reclass or two? I think we all knew there would be more than 1 'ship available; probably at least 3. JC had to have been planning for that. I don't think I read it that he expected X and Toney to bolt, though.
I think this is a reasonable explanation, but he better be pretty darn sure he gets a few good players because this could get even uglier real quick.
Out of curiosity, what did you want him to say? Assume you already knew that airing dirty laundry was never going to happen, nor should it. What should he say?
The lack of 2021 recruiting is a bigger issue than these two guys leaving, or the play over the last month. It's the main thing I've been critical of Capel about.
I think the departures of Toney and X was precipitated by some childish fight between the 2 of them involving someone's girlfriend and it spilled over into the locker room. That and someone's Dad got involved. That never turns out well for anyone.
So did Capel intentionally leave out pantherlair? More petty behavior-did Chris put Jason's account on a timeout or something?
Yeah I disagree. Only thing that matters is that he gets those recruits in time for the season.
Saying “I don’t know what happened” makes him sound like a dope and not in control of his program.
There are a hundred ways to answer those questions without dumping on the players. Kevin Stallings could’ve given that presser.
You’re be silly
He’s focused on the players still here - as he should
No reason to take swipes at those kids
You're not engaging in good faith dialogue. I have stated multiple times that I am not asking him to speak negatively about XJ and Toney.
What he needed to do was tell the public, "I am in control of this program and I made these decisions because it was the necessary move. I'm not happy that we're in this situation but I'm going to work my ass off to fill those scholarships."
It's not what he said but how he said it. It's the same indifference and resignation that we heard all the time from Stallings.
I dont know that I'd call it indifference but he didn't really give any confidence that he can turn things around. Basic boiler-plate coachspeak. I posted earlier I think he needed to start hyping up his 2022 class. That class will make or break him. If he doesn't have a good class SIGNED in November, he's done.
The one thing he did say that was more than basic coachspeak was that the returning guys werent surprised by the transfers. I mean, honestly, these were just immature primmadonnas of low character. Problem is that seems to be the majority of this AAU/Instagram/transfer ASAP generation. Today's kids are different. I almost feel like each team needs to hire a glorified babysitter/caretaker to help with their hurt feelings at times.
I always crack up at these this generation is bad old man type of posts. Kids are kids. They don’t know any better. They follow the adults in their lives who are screwing them up.
Also, to call them primadonna’s is one thing. To call them low character is bush league about 3 kids who believed in Capel and came to Pitt at its lowest point. We have no idea what was said to them in their recruitment or what was promised and they got 3 years of losing because the team was Put together badly and didn’t have enough talent.
The transfers have 2 sides to the story, SMF. It’s not ALWAYS on the players.
There's a finite number of available, good, recruits. This number gets smaller and smaller as time passes in the recruiting cycle. You're expecting Capel to leave the bar with the hottest girl at 1:59 am. Could it happen? Yes. Is it good strategy? Probably not.
not ideal have nothing for 21, but let’s not judge until the class is filled. I’ve seen it, I’m sure you’ve seen it, there are a few kids that could potentially reclass.
does the timeline matter as long as he pulls a top 25-30 class?
If they have a top 30 class I will streak thru the quad naked. This class is gonna be filled with mostly transfers and maybe 2 freshmen, imo.
No, it doesn't, but with an ever dwindling number of available recruits, the likelihood of having such a class falls by the day. Additionally, we're now 2 starters short of where we were on Monday. Our needs are growing and the resources available to meet those needs are shrinking. Not a good trend.
The needs are certainly growing...
However, there is a 2022 guard out there right now for example that is a 0 star that looks like the 2nd coming of RJ Davis part 2, let me put that out there now. Kid has a 4.2GPA, may or may not consider a reclass I dont know yet. But he is a major piece of talent currently in 2022.
The point is, there is substantial talent in this 2022 class. We have to "get it", but there are options both in 2022 and for 2021 reclass potential.
This does go back to what I said the other day however. We cant sit on players like JHS and Rice when there is other major talent out there. We screwed up big with NY players previously. This is a player not to screw up with and should be hard pressed to commit, now.
You had me up until you said the timeline doesn’t matter as long as he pulls a top 25-39 class.
You matter-of-fact wrote that as if there’s a reasonable possibility of that occurring??
What more can you promise any recruit other than an opportunity to play and improve your game to potentially fulfill your dream of playing professionally ? Oh of course I’m sure the academic considerations were also very important to them .
X and Trey haven’t improved and have no chance of having an NBA career and Trey has had an opportunity at two schools now . Toney has improved, but likewise will never be an NBA player . All three will find some minor overseas team to play for , but I doubt that is very satisfying for them . That’s not on JC or his staffs , those guys simply aren’t talented enough .
How could any rational thinking person believe that going to a program with the worst D1 roster in the country would result in playing for a winning program in a yr or two . In fact you needn’t look much further than at both X and Trey for not improving one lick for Pitts failure to achieve that goal .
You constantly say the past performance of a team has nothing to do with recruiting , but your wrong . Everyone wants to win and choosing between a winning and losing program is a no brainer . Losing wears everyone out .
Every year, we hear that there are enough of these mid-level guys, 3* maybe some 4*, to go around for a lot of teams and we'll get our share just by default. Every year, we get very little and the 2021 class is basically empty. Capel was brought in as this great recruiter as his strength. So far, nothing has proven that to be the case.
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