Chris Peak's 321 Column (Basketball)

[Chescat]

At the tail end of his column
he concentrated on Bball. He
visited the open practice and
basically said there is no one
particular stand out star. He
felt Pitt will have to succeed
as a team. Defense and the
teams intensity and a total
group effort will be needed.
Capel so far has been saying
much the same.

I've been saying something
similar, "committee." I feel
the same; Pitt's going to
have to do it collectively.
I've repeatedly mentioned
Pitt's last game (a close loss
to Miami) where Sibande and
Femi both went for 20+ and
Horton for 10. Those three
IMO can hit double figures
consistently. Add Hugley
and Gueye to the mix plus
maybe a surprise in Payton,
and we might see something
more than we originally
expected. It's still very early
but maybe, just maybe. As
for me, I gotta see it in
game time reality.

 

[Protes]

At the tail end of his column
he concentrated on Bball. He
visited the open practice and
basically said there is no one
particular stand out star. He
felt Pitt will have to succeed
as a team. Defense and the
teams intensity and a total
group effort will be needed.
Capel so far has been saying
much the same.

I've been saying something
similar, "committee." I feel
the same; Pitt's going to
have to do it collectively.
I've repeatedly mentioned
Pitt's last game (a close loss
to Miami) where Sibande and
Femi both went for 20+ and
Horton for 10. Those three
IMO can hit double figures
consistently. Add Hugley
and Gueye to the mix plus
maybe a surprise in Payton,
and we might see something
more than we originally
expected. It's still very early
but maybe, just maybe. As
for me, I gotta see it in
game time reality.

So, we have to play as a team? Imagine that!! 🤪

 

[Chescat]

So, we have to play as a team? Imagine that!! 🤪

Funny! I guess when they can't
say anything about top level
talent, that's what's left. By the
way, Capel talking the same,
plus a need for team "love."

 

[HailToPitt1985]

In this day and age, it doesn't happen very often that successful teams win as teams. There has to be at least one player who the rest of the team knows is their "go-to" guy and is the top end talent. Usually, it's 2 guys with one dominant. Look at our most successful teams. We had a Blair, Young, and some very good supporting guys like Fields, Wannamaker, Brown. If we're depending on success with a committee of players, none of which are the obvious high end talent, we're going to get the same results we've been getting under Capel....mediocre.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Funny! I guess when they can't
say anything about top level
talent, that's what's left. By the
way, Capel talking the same,
plus a need for team "love."

Team love??? That's sounds weird and a little freaky.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Funny! I guess when they can't
say anything about top level
talent, that's what's left. By the
way, Capel talking the same,
plus a need for team "love."

The culture was changed by Jeff Capel by demanding a full team concept. All summer its been said over and over. If you watch any of the Pitt media press release videos from twitter everything talks about team, being there for one another, stand as one, no letter "I" in the word "team", etc... All "team" based. Even the interviews from the other day from the actual players, when questions were asked about who stands out from the the new guys or sophomore players, each player said all of them for each players individual ability to bring something to the table, which is the correct answer, standing as one team.

Any player this year that breaks from the team concept and tries to be a hero is going to be benched. Any of them. That message is really clear by Capel right now.

I wasn't going to ever post this as I believe in moving forward, not backward. Anyway, I found it interesting that over the summer, Xavier Johnson was interviewed, and Johnson had a few very interesting things to say in regard to the past at Pitt.

Ill keep it short.

-Johnson was best friends with Toney and Mcgowens. The 3 of them actually talked about playing together in college at a high school event before any of them even came to Pitt. Johnson keeps in contact with "those" 2 players and was / is best friends with Trey.

-Johnson also indicated he may text with some other Pitt player once every full blue moon. Meaning, almost never or never. He has next to zero relationship with anyone else at Pitt. Its clear as day why Johnson said Femi doesn't need a mentor. He didn't care about him.


-Johnson was / still is bitter in regard to Champ's success and you can tell when Champs name and success is brought up he gets upset. As the season proceeded last year, the chemistry clearly got worse. Jealousy also took place. And X not only had his issues on the court with his technical fouls and being benched, he also openly admitted he was thrown out of multiple team practices, including the one right before the Virginia Tech game when he came off the bench to start the game.

-For this season to be a success, its going to be done as a full team unit and not this hero ball or big 3 nonsense garbage talk from last year.

I am cautiously quite optimistic this season is going to be quite a bit better than people think and am looking forward to seeing it play out. I think right now our team has bought into what Capel has said and guys are embracing their roles accordingly.

 

[PittMBA]

In this day and age, it doesn't happen very often that successful teams win as teams. There has to be at least one player who the rest of the team knows is their "go-to" guy and is the top end talent. Usually, it's 2 guys with one dominant. Look at our most successful teams. We had a Blair, Young, and some very good supporting guys like Fields, Wannamaker, Brown. If we're depending on success with a committee of players, none of which are the obvious high end talent, we're going to get the same results we've been getting under Capel....mediocre.

Oldest argument on this board! I mean - to be a legit conference championship and in turn an NCAA contender you almost invariably need a future pro or two and a collection of really good college players. Kind of why Howland’s teams were so remarkable in that they were so good without a future NBA player and played almost perfect team basketball.

Capel doesn’t need contend for a championship or realistically even the NCAAs this season- but they have to show something — somehow sniff the middle of the league , play with some grit / heart, and have at least 3 of these sophomores (and I include Payton in that mix as he has 3 years eligibility) show they can be the core of a top 1/2 of the league team— can say Femi, Hugley , and Jeffress look like the kind of potential juniors and senior winners we haven’t seen since Lamar Patterson and Zanna? That’s what I’m looking for.

 

[pittchagg]

The culture was changed by Jeff Capel by demanding a full team concept. All summer its been said over and over. If you watch any of the Pitt media press release videos from twitter everything talks about team, being there for one another, stand as one, no letter "I" in the word "team", etc... All "team" based. Even the interviews from the other day from the actual players, when questions were asked about who stands out from the the new guys or sophomore players, each player said all of them for each players individual ability to bring something to the table, which is the correct answer, standing as one team.

Any player this year that breaks from the team concept and tries to be a hero is going to be benched. Any of them. That message is really clear by Capel right now.

I wasn't going to ever post this as I believe in moving forward, not backward. Anyway, I found it interesting that over the summer, Xavier Johnson was interviewed, and Johnson had a few very interesting things to say in regard to the past at Pitt.

Ill keep it short.

-Johnson was best friends with Toney and Mcgowens. The 3 of them actually talked about playing together in college at a high school event before any of them even came to Pitt. Johnson keeps in contact with "those" 2 players and was / is best friends with Trey.

-Johnson also indicated he may text with some other Pitt player once every full blue moon. Meaning, almost never or never. He has next to zero relationship with anyone else at Pitt. Its clear as day why Johnson said Femi doesn't need a mentor. He didn't care about him.


-Johnson was / still is bitter in regard to Champ's success and you can tell when Champs name and success is brought up he gets upset. As the season proceeded last year, the chemistry clearly got worse. Jealousy also took place. And X not only had his issues on the court with his technical fouls and being benched, he also openly admitted he was thrown out of multiple team practices, including the one right before the Virginia Tech game when he came off the bench to start the game.

-For this season to be a success, its going to be done as a full team unit and not this hero ball or big 3 nonsense garbage talk from last year.

I am cautiously quite optimistic this season is going to be quite a bit better than people think and am looking forward to seeing it play out. I think right now our team has bought into what Capel has said and guys are embracing their roles accordingly.

What do you anticipate those roles being for the current roster? Seems like we might be playing as many as ten guys.

 

[FordhamIII]

Haven't heard much mention of Jeffress so he'll surprise and have a breakout year.

 

[lunzhegu]

Ditto on what Vader said. The player interviews were impressive for how the players spoke but also for what the players were talking about. Teamwork and chemistry. They saw it and we all saw it the past few years. But they lived with it. The so-called three heroes were hot dogs who were over-rated by the Board. If they were good players, they wouldn’t have lost so many games. We all watched Howland and Dixon teams with mostly 3-star players and a couple of 4-stars dismantle and dominate Big East teams for a decade, and they did it as a team. Johnson was talking about getting out of here as a freshman. No commitment to Pitt. In contrast we saw former players hanging around, coming back for coursework or medical treatment. Pitt was a family. Capel did the best he could getting three well-regarded players at the last minute, but he had no upperclassmen (whose importance he alluded to in his interview) to school them. They all showed what their attitude was throughout their careers here. Bad luck for Capel and Pitt. The coaches know what they are doing. They have some older guys, and they have guys who are talking about playing as a team and building each other up. They have guys who talk about coming here because they think the coaching will make them better players. If we learned anything during Dixon’s years, it should be not to judge people by how they are when they get here.

 

[VincePITT]

In this day and age, it doesn't happen very often that successful teams win as teams. There has to be at least one player who the rest of the team knows is their "go-to" guy and is the top end talent. Usually, it's 2 guys with one dominant. Look at our most successful teams. We had a Blair, Young, and some very good supporting guys like Fields, Wannamaker, Brown. If we're depending on success with a committee of players, none of which are the obvious high end talent, we're going to get the same results we've been getting under Capel....mediocre.

Ben Howland's last 2 years.
2001-02; 29-6
2002-03; 28-5
Pitt played as a team, focusing on defense, rebounding & passing!

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Oldest argument on this board! I mean - to be a legit conference championship and in turn an NCAA contender you almost invariably need a future pro or two and a collection of really good college players. Kind of why Howland’s teams were so remarkable in that they were so good without a future NBA player and played almost perfect team basketball.

Capel doesn’t need contend for a championship or realistically even the NCAAs this season- but they have to show something — somehow sniff the middle of the league , play with some grit / heart, and have at least 3 of these sophomores (and I include Payton in that mix as he has 3 years eligibility) show they can be the core of a top 1/2 of the league team— can say Femi, Hugley , and Jeffress look like the kind of potential juniors and senior winners we haven’t seen since Lamar Patterson and Zanna? That’s what I’m looking for.

I didn't mean that the high level players had to be future NBA stars. Quite the opposite. Those Pitt teams had some high level COLLEGE players and they played as a team. I don't give a rat's ass about NBA players. Those Pitt teams always seemed to have a go-to player who was very talented as a college player. They played hard, rebounded, played defense, and played for each other. If and when Capel can ever find that with any of his teams we'll never know. He hasn't done it yet and I don't see it happening in the next year or 2.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Ben Howland's last 2 years.
2001-02; 29-6
2002-03; 28-5
Pitt played as a team, focusing on defense, rebounding & passing!

And we had a coach who could....you know....coach.

 

[WannyandWalt]

And we had a coach who could....you know....coach.

Ding ding ding

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Saw this picture of Hugley on twitter. Looks like he dropped 20 pounds. Assume he's focused and has been getting himself ready. Just a picture, but I was immediately taken back by his appearance.

 

[DT_PITT]

The culture was changed by Jeff Capel by demanding a full team concept. All summer its been said over and over. If you watch any of the Pitt media press release videos from twitter everything talks about team, being there for one another, stand as one, no letter "I" in the word "team", etc... All "team" based. Even the interviews from the other day from the actual players, when questions were asked about who stands out from the the new guys or sophomore players, each player said all of them for each players individual ability to bring something to the table, which is the correct answer, standing as one team.

Any player this year that breaks from the team concept and tries to be a hero is going to be benched. Any of them. That message is really clear by Capel right now.

I wasn't going to ever post this as I believe in moving forward, not backward. Anyway, I found it interesting that over the summer, Xavier Johnson was interviewed, and Johnson had a few very interesting things to say in regard to the past at Pitt.

Ill keep it short.

-Johnson was best friends with Toney and Mcgowens. The 3 of them actually talked about playing together in college at a high school event before any of them even came to Pitt. Johnson keeps in contact with "those" 2 players and was / is best friends with Trey.

-Johnson also indicated he may text with some other Pitt player once every full blue moon. Meaning, almost never or never. He has next to zero relationship with anyone else at Pitt. Its clear as day why Johnson said Femi doesn't need a mentor. He didn't care about him.


-Johnson was / still is bitter in regard to Champ's success and you can tell when Champs name and success is brought up he gets upset. As the season proceeded last year, the chemistry clearly got worse. Jealousy also took place. And X not only had his issues on the court with his technical fouls and being benched, he also openly admitted he was thrown out of multiple team practices, including the one right before the Virginia Tech game when he came off the bench to start the game.

-For this season to be a success, its going to be done as a full team unit and not this hero ball or big 3 nonsense garbage talk from last year.

I am cautiously quite optimistic this season is going to be quite a bit better than people think and am looking forward to seeing it play out. I think right now our team has bought into what Capel has said and guys are embracing their roles accordingly.

Thanks for the report on some of last year's shadier details. This is completely congruent with everything I was told along with reports from @Matt Steinbrink and others such as @BballinsiderfromPitt have been reporting starting in February.

My biggest questions that will need to be answered come from your quote: "The culture was changed by Jeff Capel by demanding a full team concept."

I have little doubt that this was the culture Capel wanted from Day One. (Or if he wasn't demanding a "full team concept," one has to wonder why not?) But I have little doubt that he's been preaching this to his troops from the beginning. This question is to why was he unable to instill this culture. Beyond that is the question as to what has Capel actually done differently to change things for this group that will make a real difference.

It's one thing to say that one demands a full team concept. It's another to really get the team to buy in.

Of course, this is what we all want to see. This is especially true for me as a fan because I really think the guys are going to indeed a huge culture change to improve over last year. I say this because I'm still basically a bit concerned about our overall level of talent (and/or ability). I think Capel will need to find a way to get the group to perform greater than the sum of their parts. Unfortunately, at times over the last two years, it sometimes felt like we were performing at less than the sum of our parts.

Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at our parts next Saturday. "Full team concept" or not, Capel and our Panthers will be well served if it looks like Big John and/or William are ready to take a steps forward this year. I also think the key to our success lies in the hands of Femi. I confess I'm a big fan of our sophomore point guard, and despite calls for a "full team culture," by coaches and fans, I think we will need him to put it all together sooner than later if we want this season to look noticeably more positive than the last three under Capel.

 

[Chescat]

Thanks for the report on some of last year's shadier details. This is completely congruent with everything I was told along with reports from @Matt Steinbrink and others such as @BballinsiderfromPitt have been reporting starting in February.

My biggest questions that will need to be answered come from your quote: "The culture was changed by Jeff Capel by demanding a full team concept."

I have little doubt that this was the culture Capel wanted from Day One. (Or if he wasn't demanding a "full team concept," one has to wonder why not?) But I have little doubt that he's been preaching this to his troops from the beginning. This question is to why was he unable to instill this culture. Beyond that is the question as to what has Capel actually done differently to change things for this group that will make a real difference.

It's one thing to say that one demands a full team concept. It's another to really get the team to buy in.

Of course, this is what we all want to see. This is especially true for me as a fan because I really think the guys are going to indeed a huge culture change to improve over last year. I say this because I'm still basically a bit concerned about our overall level of talent (and/or ability). I think Capel will need to find a way to get the group to perform greater than the sum of their parts. Unfortunately, at times over the last two years, it sometimes felt like we were performing at less than the sum of our parts.

Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at our parts next Saturday. "Full team concept" or not, Capel and our Panthers will be well served if it looks like Big John and/or William are ready to take a steps forward this year. I also think the key to our success lies in the hands of Femi. I confess I'm a big fan of our sophomore point guard, and despite calls for a "full team culture," by coaches and fans, I think we will need him to put it all together sooner than later if we want this season to look noticeably more positive than the last three under Capel.

Well I'm pretty certain he was
PREACHING a "full team concept."
All coaches basically do that. The
difference was he was allowing
the opposite to occur. Just
watching X and it's clear that
Capel allowed singular one
on one play from his PG. In
fact that was the very essence
of our offense. X was talented,
but wildly inconsistent. Capel
ran a pg oriented offense with
an undisciplined, and selfish pg.

The difference this year is there
is no super star, go to type of
player in this group. These players
aren't stupid...I'm sure they know
the root of the problem the last
few years. IMO Capel can/will
use this to insist on a total
team buy in. If it's TEAM
that Capel wants, then he
can't allow I/ME performances
as he did with X and Trey, (yes
Trey too). I recognize their
talent but I feel he allowed
them to go too far with
their me first type of play.
Let's see what he does with
this group.
Just my two cents.

 

[whirlybird optio]

Saw this picture of Hugley on twitter. Looks like he dropped 20 pounds. Assume he's focused and has been getting himself ready. Just a picture, but I was immediately taken back by his appearance.

Nice to see my a pic of my son on Pantherlair next to Big John. All of the guys were at the volleyball game yesterday. Definitely seemed like a good group. Hope they overachieve.

 

[DT_PITT]

Nice to see my a pic of my son on Pantherlair next to Big John. All of the guys were at the volleyball game yesterday. Definitely seemed like a good group. Hope they overachieve.

Is that really your son?! Is that your second? My son is now 16 -- I think your daughter is just a year or two younger?

 

[whirlybird optio]

Is that really your son?! Is that your second? My son is now 16 -- I think your daughter is just a year or two younger?

Girl just turned 13, boy is 10. How time flies…

 

[DT_PITT]

Girl just turned 13, boy is 10. How time flies…

Indeed.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Well I'm pretty certain he was
PREACHING a "full team concept."
All coaches basically do that. The
difference was he was allowing
the opposite to occur. Just
watching X and it's clear that
Capel allowed singular one
on one play from his PG. In
fact that was the very essence
of our offense. X was talented,
but wildly inconsistent. Capel
ran a pg oriented offense with
an undisciplined, and selfish pg.

The difference this year is there
is no super star, go to type of
player in this group. These players
aren't stupid...I'm sure they know
the root of the problem the last
few years. IMO Capel can/will
use this to insist on a total
team buy in. If it's TEAM
that Capel wants, then he
can't allow I/ME performances
as he did with X and Trey, (yes
Trey too). I recognize their
talent but I feel he allowed
them to go too far with
their me first type of play.
Let's see what he does with
this group.
Just my two cents.

The superstars were only superstars in their own reality. They were good college players that just wouldn’t buy into a team concept . They ( X , Trey & Toney ) came to Pitt when there was absolutely no talent and upperclassman leadership and they got away with a lot of selfish play . When there’s nobody even close to putting forth a winning effort on the bench it ties the coaches hands . Do you try and win or do you sit the only guys you have that could produce a win ?

Along comes Justin C and instead of embracing a guy who can help you win his teammates jealousy rears it’s ugly head .

JC came into a situation with no returning D1 players accept JWF and brought in 3 freshman that turned out to be cancerous for the long term development of the program . They’re all gone now and the reset button has been pressed . Wipe out the first three yrs of JC era , he has a long term contract and he’s not going anywhere for awhile . Ultimately the next few yrs will tell the tale of whether he was a good hire , no one was coming into the post KS apocalypse and win .

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Nice to see my a pic of my son on Pantherlair next to Big John. All of the guys were at the volleyball game yesterday. Definitely seemed like a good group. Hope they overachieve.

Must have been cool for both of you. Can't even remember how I got to the picture on twitter. It was in a feed and must have been retweeted by someone. Apologies if you didn't want it on the Lair.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

Saw this picture of Hugley on twitter. Looks like he dropped 20 pounds. Assume he's focused and has been getting himself ready. Just a picture, but I was immediately taken back by his appearance.

That’s one giant mellon!