Some Redshirt players under Howland or Dixon
Carl Krauser
Lamar Patterson
Gilbert Brown
Talib Zanna
Tray Woodall
Mike Cook
Jaron Brown
Chevy Troutman
That’s a lot of proven talent that had the benefit of an extra year under their belt. Players that developed and became tough in time. The coaches identified them for their high school talents, and developed them in college. Jamie Dixon always had upperclassmen on the floor year after year. Just look at that list of 5th year seniors above.
Your criticisms in this particular post are fair toward Jeff Capel in the game 1 loss. They aren’t fair when we have zero redshirt seniors, 1 senior who is barely going to play this year in Brown as a backup role player, 2 juniors, and a team loaded with underclassmen, 2 of which had preseason injuries , 1 still isn’t eligible, and another is a 17 year old kid. There are 7 new players on this basketball team and before Jeff became Coach Pitt was one of if not the worst P6 team in D1 basketball history.
I think the 2 players everyone should be focused on with respect to Jeff Capel’s ability to both recruit (find talent) and develop talent are Toney and Johnson and how they finish this season since they are 2 years into the system and were recruited by Capel. Followed by Champ, Drumgoole, and Coulibaly and how they finish the year in comparison to year 1, both statistically and efficiency. Brown isn't a Capel recruit and doesn't count.
Time and time again people have thrown the towel in way prematurely on young talent and not given them a fair share of time to develop. Brad Wanamaker sits at the very top of that list as constantly disrespected and underappreciated and I would make the case that Brad won more here and was more successful here than anyone.
2 Big East Titles, 2 #1 seeds, 4 Top 20 finishes, 111 career wins, the list goes on and on. 4 Straight years Pitt was in the Top 10 Nationally at some point. Had Mike Cook and Levance Fields both not gotten hurt in 2008, that team was more than good enough to get to the Final 4 too. 3 Years under Brad’s career we were in the Top 5 Nationally in the country. Amazingly, the 2009 team didn’t win either the Big East regular season or tournament after going 15-3 in conference and that team went to the Elite 8. Warrior is the appropriate word here since all Brad did was win consistently. To top it off he made the NBA. And in Brad's freshmen year some people wanted him gone from the team.