Late Season Collapse???

[New York Panther]

Is this a late season collapse?

I can understand your concern given Pitt's history of late season collapses under Capel. But let's add a little perspective here. The previous collapses have started much earlier, not the last week of the regular season.

Furthermore, the two games this week are both on the road and both have a unique circumstance attached to them. ND was Brey's last home game after 23 years, so there was extra motivation there. Miami is a higher ranked team than we are, and they will be out for revenge after blowing the game at Pitt.

Even if we lose to Miami, I can't imagine we won't win some games in the ACC Tournament.

 

[rockypanther]

I disagree. If this happened, he WOULD be fired.

It won’t happen though and he’s gonna win ACC COY. It will be interesting to see how many times he’s mentioned for other jobs this off-season, whether real interest like Georgetown or for extensions.

My god can you imagine the Hoya message board meltdown from HoyaPoker when it was rumored for a month Pitino was getting the job and they introduce Jeff Capel? That would be a come clean mome

This is a ludicrous post. It’s like some Pitt fans are secretly rooting for Pitt to collapse so they can scream “I was right!!!”

That’s called anxiety. Not a Pitt hater. I for sure wouldn’t spend as much time and money on Pitt if I wanted them to lose.

 

[Pittisit4me]

The late season collapse happens if and only if our 3 point shooting percentage collapses. Our ability to make 3's in bunches is this team's calling card, it has masked our inabilities on the defensive end, especially the last handful of games.

 

[Vader_Storm]

We lose tonight to a 2-16 team
We lose to Miami
We lose the 1st game of the Acc tourney
We miss the March Madness
We lose 1st game of the NIT

Is this a late season collapse?
Would this expose Capel as having the same issues as we all feared in the 1st place?

No. The answer is no, it would not be considered a late season collapse.

1) This team has maxed out its capabilities as far as actual talent. Just look at the preseason expectations of people on this forum or Nationally. Look at the recruiting rankings. About 95% of people had Pitt in the bottom half of the league or at the very bottom. Very few people thought they would be in the top half of the league competing for a Bid.


2) Every player on this team improved over the course of the season from non conference schedule to ACC schedule except 1 player, Blake Hinson. Almost every player improved this year from past seasons. Look at the stats. Look at the shooting percentages. Look at the offensive power ratings player by player. Look at the eye test. That is coaching guys. And we didn't have Dior, Hugley, or Jeffress this year, regardless of how people view them as players.


3) Capel has actually improved the ACC record every year he has been here

4) Capel has improved the recruiting dramatically, and we have serious talent coming in next year along with Dior

5) My own preseason expectation for Capel were in order for him to keep coaching here:

a) Keep the current recruiting class, especially Carrington
b) push to win 20 games
c) make a push for the NCAA Tournament whether we get in or not

All those things happened. To suggest a collapse in any sort of way by losing road games is ridiculous. Everybody loses road games and can lose road games in a bad way. Just because we have road games to finish the season doesn't mean it was a collapse.

6) This season has been a great success. I hate to break it to people, but if Rick Pitino was coaching our team all year, we aren't winning many additional games if even 1 more game than what we just achieved. Capel has maxed out this teams potential. These players aren't getting any better than what they had become for this particular season. Blake Hinson and Elliot are not shooting 50% from 3 if we changed for Pitino or someone else. The defense isn't going to greatly improve because of our own athletic ability limitations and height limitations. This team was not competing for the Final 4 with the current talent on the roster. We have a chance to still win an acc regular season championship. The word fired and the name Capel do not belong anywhere near each other right now.