Let's Take a Step Back and.....

[Chescat]

take a deep breath. The last several weeks have been a little nutty on here
worrying about Capel and his inability to land a Big. I purposely stayed
out of most of these threads, since different posters were saying
he deserved a low letter grade, some wanted him placed on the
"hot seat," he wasn't the right fit for the job. etc. etc
I like Capel, and have believed from the beginning that he was coming
here from being an ASSISTANT at Duke. That doesn't necessarily make
him the recruiting guru that some expected him to be. Obviously it was
a lot easier recruiting there. In his defense, he inherited a disaster of a
program. He is not a Bobby Knight or a Calipari and isn't by his name
alone going to bring in elites.
He's been patient in the face of many recruiting rejections. He finally
landed Hamilton, a Big who will give us a much better presence in the paint.
Capel ain't done recruiting, let's see what he does with the last two
scholarships he has. I feel this team is better today than it was at the end
of last season. By the time it heads off to Europe it will undoubtedly be even
better than today.

 

[PittFathead87]

It’s a marathon not a sprint.

 

[PittCity]

It would have been better than last year before Hamilton.

 

[docpanther26]

Chescat well written, thank you. Coach is not done recruiting. We will definitely have a better team going into next year.
Many on here like you said were probably expecting Coach Capel to immediately bring in five star recruits. Holy smokes, now we are asking them to coach...which I believe they can very well. When I coached travel baseball, it was easy to coach division 1 talent. It’s more impressive to coach division 2 and 3 talent to the point where they are competitive with D1 talent. Coach Capel and his staff will do the same, elevate these players he has to much better players. This is going to be fun!!!

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Has anyone been able to get Gary off the ledge yet?

 

[Chescat]

Coach Capel and his staff will do the same, elevate these players

Yes, I believe he will. Actually I felt he did last year. I know some fans were
disappointed to some degree last season, but I felt our players overachieved.
We had no inside presence, we were very, very young and inexperienced,
our best players were freshmen, and yet we were competitive in almost all
of our ACC games. They showed no quit, won a few games they had no
business winning, and bought into what Capel was teaching and preaching.
All that does not happen by accident...it's coaching. If you coached at the
"travel" level, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yup..."fun."

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Yes, I believe he will. Actually I felt he did last year. I know some fans were
disappointed to some degree last season, but I felt our players overachieved.
We had no inside presence, we were very, very young and inexperienced,
our best players were freshmen, and yet we were competitive in almost all
of our ACC games. They showed no quit, won a few games they had no
business winning, and bought into what Capel was teaching and preaching.
All that does not happen by accident...it's coaching. If you coached at the
"travel" level, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yup..."fun."

Yeah, the knock against him was his coaching. I was impressed last year for the reasons you stated, and it answered any questions I had.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Has anyone been able to get Gary off the ledge yet?

Drinking draino

 

[jrnPitt]

Chescat well written, thank you. Coach is not done recruiting. We will definitely have a better team going into next year.
Many on here like you said were probably expecting Coach Capel to immediately bring in five star recruits. Holy smokes, now we are asking them to coach...which I believe they can very well. When I coached travel baseball, it was easy to coach division 1 talent. It’s more impressive to coach division 2 and 3 talent to the point where they are competitive with D1 talent. Coach Capel and his staff will do the same, elevate these players he has to much better players. This is going to be fun!!!

I'm not sure about having a better team coming into the 2019 season.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

I'm not sure about having a better team coming into the 2019 season.

I am. Much better quality and quantity of depth with the quality of replacements for our transfers out. Improved post since Hamilton appears more talented (possibly by a lot) than Chukwuka and may even be better than either Chukwuka or Brown as a defensive rebounder and on offense in the post.

 

[CougarClaws]

I'm not sure about having a better team coming into the 2019 season.

Much better. Believe it.