Yes, I'm going to go with the null hypothesis we could do far worse. Its not like we don't have open scholarships available.
Nelly Cummings to Portal
- Thread starter TheSpecialSauce
- Start date
Do you guys purposely try to take victories before we face anyone tough to look dumb later? Hopefully he keeps playing this way but why jinx yourself. Trying to get a win in before the annual Capel collapse? Let’s see what happens next few weeks before we start drafting another contract extension and patting ourselves on the back.
Although I did proclaim he was better than any guard on the roster 😉
You had this one right way back when.
I thought there was enough tape on Nelly verses P5 teams prior to this season to expect him to be a competent G for Pitt.
He’s been great so far, let’s hope it continues and take the victory lap at the end of the run
Yeah. I actually think we can go at least .500 in ACC (should) and probably even better but there’s still a LONG way to go.
Capel’s teams have won early in conference play before. I think this year is different for many reasons but this isn’t a team that can just show up and win. They will have to focus and execute every game to win no matter who they play in the ACC and we haven’t seen one of Capel’s teams capable of that yet.
Hope this year can finally be that year. I’m optimistic but any victory lap before we are in some postseason tourney is silly.
And then is this a repeatable action for Capel? Convincing 3 24 year old guards (2 of who were here, one that had a prior relationship) and a 24 year old hometown hero is the definition of a fluke. So we need to repeat this same portal action next year if we do make a postseason tourney.
I think it can be, but it’s why this really needs to be a proof of concept sort of year (finally). Assuming the kind of play that we’ve seen continues, I think this will be attractive tape that you can sell out of the portal. And I think the pieces that you’ll be trying to replace in the backcourt are the pieces that have the most plentiful options available in the portal. They finally got a little lucky with having a local guard become available and be an effective ACC PG, but they’ve gotta take advantage of that luck and use his success to find a replacement next year.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to figure out why we’ve managed to have more success finding effective wing/forward types than we have finding guards until this season.
I actually think we can be ok provided we finish strong.
I think Capel has finally learned his lesson that it’s important to actually recruit a roster with skill and shooting and good fits at a school like Pitt as opposed to just trying to go after the best possible players. We ended up with a bunch of players who were like Duke-JV players..
Maybe this opens his eyes that having a guy like Greg Elliott, even though he’s a step slow, can be more beneficial than say Trey who has NBA athleticism but can’t play basketball. Or seeing how Nelly can promote winning basketball in a way a guy like freshman/sophomore X couldn’t (and I like X).
So yeah. I’d have to think his eyes have opened a bit and he now realizes the formula to winning here. Having some sort of plan and recruiting to it as opposed to just going down the Rivals recruiting rankings.
And I think once you get into that tier of players, he can win some battles at that level here at Pitt. Even if he can’t beat out LSU/UNC/Duke for the very top guys like he thoight he could when he came here.
COVID being over and being able to get guys on campus has seemed to matter too.
Because everyone is a wing forward type now, very limited 5’s and elite guards with skill are rare because they either wanna be Russell Westbrook or Steph curry (and not follow the proper steps to be steph). I doubt Del was letting Steph do 6 dribble moves with trainers when he was 12 years old… but that’s another convo.
I’m basically just superstitious and don’t wanna jinx this team by crowning them too early. I also will not move my terrible towel from the tv that I threw on top of it before Kenny’s last drive. Yes I’m crazy
Attracting talent hasn't been an issue for Capel. I do think they weren't ready for impact of the portal and needed to make adjustments to their approach.
I hear you…but at the same time, it’s not like the guards we have now are plus athletes with skill. Those guys are out there and there’s gonna be more every year. You can find Jamariuses and Elliotts in the portal. Virginia Tech and Wake Forest find them every year. Jalen Pickett and Cam Wynter at Penn State fit that description too. They’re out there.
Which is one of the reasons I’ve been so hard on them…
If you take multiple years to adjust your approach in your job and have bad results and constant problems are you keeping your job? This may be the first year he’s deserving of keeping his job
That’s what’s so frustrating about thinking about next year and beyond. Nobody’s saying that it’s an acceptable result to be in year five and have it be the first year where you can see a coherent roster and have it show up on game day. But that’s the situation we’re in, and the biggest bang for Pitt’s buck is clearly to have Capel work out and not have to buy him out at all. If his future rosters are constructed and play like this one, then I think that can be sustainable. What’s the likelihood of that though? It’s not an easy call.
Well if they win 10-12 ACC games and go to the NIT then they’re obviously keeping him. 8-9 prob puts him on a year to year and he stays. Any less would get dicey because the bottom would have dropped out again
I believe Capel thought he could build culture through a cohesive roster. Unfortunately when X and Trey were freezing out Champagnie - the roster wasn't built to the point where he could bench those two clowns. He could do so with a roster like they have now.
Hopefully they can go .500 here on out and the remaining players can teach the incoming freshmen how to be a team player.
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