ADVERTISEMENT

Ceiling Unknown?

DC_Area_Panther

Head Coach
Jul 7, 2001
13,853
4,794
113
Keep getting the feeling that the 2024-2025 panthers are like a car that isn't running smoothly. One that has a higher ceiling than shown to date.

Austin playing better than expected. Dunn out injured. G D-G still not in shooting sync. Corhen sporadic at the post. Cummings, Kante and Delalic showing flashes of what they eventually can be.

If Capel can get this machine fully tuned its ceilling can be a lot higher than it currently appears, IMHO.

Just one fans impression though.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 4Mark_Marty
I think we have seen what it’s like when the team is peaking in December. They run out of gas in March.

I would guess that most basketball rosters are exactly like this in the days of NIL.
 
Keep getting the feeling that the 2024-2025 panthers are like a car that isn't running smoothly. One that has a higher ceiling than shown to date.

Austin playing better than expected. Dunn out injured. G D-G still not in shooting sync. Corhen sporadic as the post. Cummings, Kante and Delalic showing flashes of what they eventually can be.

If Capel can get this machine fully tuned its ceilling can be a lot higher than it currently appears, IMHO.

Just one fans impression though.

Xmas morning thoughts. I think what you are describing is pretty easily diagnosed/explained. Amsel missed 6 weeks. Dunn is in the middle of missing 6 weeks. Papa is coming off a knee and Beebah is a freshman.

If everyone gets healthy and acclimated to playing together, I think there's some upside as well. I'm not as concerned about the bigs as others on the board.
 
Last edited:
The glaring issue remains our rebounding. That needs to be improved for us to win the league or make a deep NCAA run.

Merry Christmas, fellow Panther faithful!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cavalier Panther
The glaring issue remains our rebounding. That needs to be improved for us to win the league or make a deep NCAA run.

Merry Christmas, fellow Panther faithful!
Part of the issue with this is that Corhen is simply a bad rebounder - he was a bad rebounder at Florida State, and that has continued here. He’s been a significant rebounding downgrade from either Fede or Guillermo at the 5. Guillermo’s keeping the team afloat rebounding despite playing out of position, and I think you’d see an improvement if he was playing full-time at his natural position again.

But even then, our team defensive rebounding percentage of 71.8% is fine - nestled right amongst teams like Mississippi State (72.2%), Wisconsin (72.1%), Alabama (71.3%) and Clemson (71.3%). It’s not all that far behind the best team in the ACC in Duke’s 73.2%.
 
Xmas morning thoughts. I think what you are describing is pretty easily diagnosed/explained. Amsel missed 6 weeks. Dunn is in the middle of missing 6 weeks. Papa is coming off a knee and Beebah is a freshman.

If everyone gets healthy and acclimated to playing together, I think there's some upside as well. I'm not as concerned about the bigs as others on the board.
You can also argue corhen is adjusting to more minutes and bigger role and gdg to a new position too. Hopefully they will improve as well.
 
This team has the potential to REALLY improve. We’ve improved significantly the last two seasons and this is our deepest team by far.
 
My only quibble with anything in this discussion is calling the Post (5) G D-G's natural position. I dont think it is. His natural position is more a 3 or 4 where he faces the hoop. Problem this year is that he has had to shoot off the dribble or on the move and not getting his feet set as a result. But, maybe that is beginning to improve (based on last game's performance).

I think there is some merit to bellieving Corhen is a downgrade defensively in the post compared to Fede. Fede is taller and longer and quicker off his feet.

An improved more experienced Kante as a regular backup to Corhen could potentially fix some of this problem.
 
Keep getting the feeling that the 2024-2025 panthers are like a car that isn't running smoothly. One that has a higher ceiling than shown to date.

Austin playing better than expected. Dunn out injured. G D-G still not in shooting sync. Corhen sporadic at the post. Cummings, Kante and Delalic showing flashes of what they eventually can be.

If Capel can get this machine fully tuned its ceilling can be a lot higher than it currently appears, IMHO.

Just one fans impression though.
I agree. The season stars can align.

I don’t expect much from Dunn in Jan and Feb. Others need to make improvement.

I like our defense and we can win with that alone.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: FireballZ
I agree. The season stars can align.

I don’t expect much from Dunn in Jan and Feb. Others need to make improvement.

I like our defense and we can win with that alone.

Dunn's defense will be very important. Our D has been terrible at times.
 
Keep getting the feeling that the 2024-2025 panthers are like a car that isn't running smoothly. One that has a higher ceiling than shown to date.

Austin playing better than expected. Dunn out injured. G D-G still not in shooting sync. Corhen sporadic at the post. Cummings, Kante and Delalic showing flashes of what they eventually can be.

If Capel can get this machine fully tuned its ceilling can be a lot higher than it currently appears, IMHO.

Just one fans impression though.
I agree but as others have said I think the key will be how much they improve on defense and defensive rebounding. I think the offense will come along as Dunn Beeba and Amsil get acclimated I’m not as confident on this teams ability to improve on the defensive boards. They don have dominant physical guys so it’s going to have to be a collective effort
 
Even though we lost Hinson and Bub, I thought we could make up for it via a better distribution of talent 1-5.

I can't say we're there, honestly. I expected more out of Cohren, and I thought Delalic might be an X factor who was potentially our 2nd-best player behind Lowe (just going off how he was talked up by some on this baord).

As it stands, I definitely do not think this team is better than the Jan - March iteration of last year's team.
 
Even though we lost Hinson and Bub, I thought we could make up for it via a better distribution of talent 1-5.

I can't say we're there, honestly. I expected more out of Cohren, and I thought Delalic might be an X factor who was potentially our 2nd-best player behind Lowe (just going off how he was talked up by some on this baord).

As it stands, I definitely do not think this team is better than the Jan - March iteration of last year's team.
This team is less efficient at rebounding and much more efficient at scoring. The metrics are far and ahead better than at any point last year.

2023-2024 main 7
PLAYERPRPG!ORTGUSGORDRASTTO
Blake Hinson4.4117.223.33.012.34.99.7
Carlton Carrington3.4109.823.01.616.824.015.2
Ishmael Leggett3.1112.322.76.415.913.311.8
Jaland Lowe2.1105.921.72.210.223.414.4
Zack Austin2.0119.014.56.015.26.97.2
Guillermo Diaz Graham1.9116.119.49.415.811.517.1
Federiko Federiko1.5116.513.511.815.78.018.2

2024-2025 (I will include the three misfits AD, Kante, for reference). Corhen isn’t a rebounding beast, but light speed ahead of Fede offensively versus last year.

PLAYERPRPG!ORTGUSGORDRASTTO
Ishmael Leggett4.2118.924.04.515.614.713.1
Jaland Lowe4.0110.728.93.313.630.815.2
Damian Dunn3.5132.121.03.97.014.77.1
Zack Austin3.5138.413.23.712.72.06.7
Cameron Corhen3.1126.016.48.912.17.617.5
Brandin Cummings2.4134.517.83.18.98.06.6
Jorge Diaz Graham1.2161.114.45.56.57.86.1
Guillermo Diaz Graham0.9102.817.88.920.48.820.4
Papa Amadou Kante0.9121.321.013.710.77.515.4
Amsal Delalić0.4103.814.74.212.710.929.6

Pitt was 39th in Net last year this time and 11th this year; they then dropped to a low of 82 in mid Jan and finished 44 pre tourney.

Pitt was 43 in Torvik this time last year; eventually dropped to 81 and then finished 45 pre ACC tourney. So people remember a late season surge, but really after a pretty bad dip.

This years team does not have Hinson, but Ish, Lowe, Austin are better in a lot of ways. Cummings also outpacing Lowe versus last year. Not to mention Corhen offense making up for Fede rebounding advantage and poor FT shooting. Hence being 10-2 with 3-2 in q1/2 this year and solidly in at this point in time.
 
This team is less efficient at rebounding and much more efficient at scoring. The metrics are far and ahead better than at any point last year.

2023-2024 main 7
PLAYERPRPG!ORTGUSGORDRASTTO
Blake Hinson4.4117.223.33.012.34.99.7
Carlton Carrington3.4109.823.01.616.824.015.2
Ishmael Leggett3.1112.322.76.415.913.311.8
Jaland Lowe2.1105.921.72.210.223.414.4
Zack Austin2.0119.014.56.015.26.97.2
Guillermo Diaz Graham1.9116.119.49.415.811.517.1
Federiko Federiko1.5116.513.511.815.78.018.2

2024-2025 (I will include the three misfits AD, Kante, for reference). Corhen isn’t a rebounding beast, but light speed ahead of Fede offensively versus last year.

PLAYERPRPG!ORTGUSGORDRASTTO
Ishmael Leggett4.2118.924.04.515.614.713.1
Jaland Lowe4.0110.728.93.313.630.815.2
Damian Dunn3.5132.121.03.97.014.77.1
Zack Austin3.5138.413.23.712.72.06.7
Cameron Corhen3.1126.016.48.912.17.617.5
Brandin Cummings2.4134.517.83.18.98.06.6
Jorge Diaz Graham1.2161.114.45.56.57.86.1
Guillermo Diaz Graham0.9102.817.88.920.48.820.4
Papa Amadou Kante0.9121.321.013.710.77.515.4
Amsal Delalić0.4103.814.74.212.710.929.6

Pitt was 39th in Net last year this time and 11th this year; they then dropped to a low of 82 in mid Jan and finished 44 pre tourney.

Pitt was 43 in Torvik this time last year; eventually dropped to 81 and then finished 45 pre ACC tourney. So people remember a late season surge, but really after a pretty bad dip.

This years team does not have Hinson, but Ish, Lowe, Austin are better in a lot of ways. Cummings also outpacing Lowe versus last year. Not to mention Corhen offense making up for Fede rebounding advantage and poor FT shooting. Hence being 10-2 with 3-2 in q1/2 this year and solidly in at this point in time.

I'd put money on the mid Jan - March version of last year's team beating the December version of this year's team. Both had/have plenty of flaws, though.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT