** Here are his words ...
I am honored.
I am excited.
I am ready to go.
** On April 1, Head Coach Jeff Capel started his tenure atop the Panther Basketball Program with brilliant piece of PR – these words on a full page ad in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
** At that moment, Pitt Basketball needed any good PR it could get, and Coach Capel’s words in the ad were nothing short of spot on for the short run.
** No fewer than three friends tore off this newspaper page and gave it to me, because it impressed them, and they knew what it could mean to me as a saddened Pitt Hoops fanatic.
** But PR is just that – PR – until it can be backed up with realities that can make it true.
** Just 24 days later, HCJC proved his PG ad wasn’t just PR – as he in fact proved he was ready to go. On that day he signed one of three fine freshmen who would help him with his harrowing charge of resurrecting a one proud program from the rubble.
** A little over 7 months later, that same program just showed its first real evidence that it is ready to go.
** There is one and only one MVP from this delicious win against top A-10 foe St. Louis today. That MVP is Head Coach Jeff Capel.
** We can point to the way his team played today following his guidance. And that mattered of course.
** But the Panthers were victorious today because Capel spent the next month following his headlines by working on the task of improving his team.
** Twenty eight days after his ad, he received a another commitment from a nice looking prospect from Arlington, Virginia.
** Count me among the many who were pleased by this prospect, but who were not completely blown away. A good player in time perhaps?
** Now feel free to count me among the many who are now wondering where Xavier Johnson could end up among the Panther greats. A really good player now for sure!
** I’ll always be one who resists the hype … one who wants to see how players in sports show over the long run. And there’s plenty of long run that needs to be played out for the X-man before we should rightfully speak of his name among the greats whose numbers hang from the rafters at the Peterson Events Center.
** But seriously, I can’t imagine Xavier could be doing anything more to make a believer out of anyone. I’m past the point where I think it should be said we should wait to see what he can do against ACC completion. He's legit. Let’s already put him on that All-ACC frosh team next some of those Duke players.
** 17 points in the game’s final 17 minutes? Xavier Johnson is ready to go.
** In those first few weeks after that PG ad, Coach Capel also added a modest 5th year transfer named Sidy.
** This helpful piece proved to be the other difference maker in this victory, and more evidence that HCJC was indeed “ready to go.”
** For those who may not have seen Sidy's high flying slam, this too was evidence these Panthers are ready to go.
** So I’ll step back for a moment for perspective. While this was a nice win, it was indeed only one win against a decent team, who was actually missing their leading scorer for the first half.
** Still, it had the feel of game that proves the Panthers are more ready to go, more than to simply take their place among the bottom of the ACC.
** For each of their first six games, for a team with so many new and young players, they have proven to be remarkably consistent and resilient.
** There hasn’t been a moment during this early season when they have been sunken by stretches of ineptitude. I’ll confess that I’ve worried that there have been moments during each of our first six games when I’ve readied myself for the killer run opponent run that ultimately never comes.
** During parts of today’s second half, it was easy to feel (and to know) that that the Bilikens were the much stronger team in the paint, and that would be the Panther’s undoing.
** But with every muscle flexed by St. Louis, the Panthers had a punch of their own.
** Our relentless offensive penetration game is now proving to be formidable.
** This seems like a pretty elementary point, but I love the fundamentals of our guards and how they use the glass to score off penetration.
** This isn’t to say the Panthers were perfect. Far from it actually. We are still woefully undermanned in the post and I don’t believe there is much more we can get from Kene and Terrell this season. We are going to play many teams with much better and stronger frontcourts than St. Louis. It might be ugly at times.
** And when trying to be a leader, Malik Ellison more often than not hurt his team by taking shots he likely should not have.
** Yet, singling out any one Panther for their pluses or minus probably misses the point of this contest. This was a team win, from a team showing they just might have a little more to say about this season than simply being better than the squad before them who failed to win a conference game.
** I was impressed with a better press that produced turnovers, while only turning it over 9 times. I’m wondering just how much more this will improve as the season goes on.
** I know I loved Jeff Capel’s ad on April 1. I said to myself that day that it made me optimistic that someday in the next few years I’d be really excited about Pitt Basketball again.
** Tonight I’m already optimistic about Pitt Basketball again. Goals such as the NIT, which even seemed a year or two away at best, can now even be viewed on the shorter term horizon.
** With Head Coach Jeff Capel, I am honored to write “dribbles” again. I am excited about Pitt Basketball again. Without a doubt, along with the rest of the Pitt Hoops fan world, I am really ready to go.
I am honored.
I am excited.
I am ready to go.
** On April 1, Head Coach Jeff Capel started his tenure atop the Panther Basketball Program with brilliant piece of PR – these words on a full page ad in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
** At that moment, Pitt Basketball needed any good PR it could get, and Coach Capel’s words in the ad were nothing short of spot on for the short run.
** No fewer than three friends tore off this newspaper page and gave it to me, because it impressed them, and they knew what it could mean to me as a saddened Pitt Hoops fanatic.
** But PR is just that – PR – until it can be backed up with realities that can make it true.
** Just 24 days later, HCJC proved his PG ad wasn’t just PR – as he in fact proved he was ready to go. On that day he signed one of three fine freshmen who would help him with his harrowing charge of resurrecting a one proud program from the rubble.
** A little over 7 months later, that same program just showed its first real evidence that it is ready to go.
** There is one and only one MVP from this delicious win against top A-10 foe St. Louis today. That MVP is Head Coach Jeff Capel.
** We can point to the way his team played today following his guidance. And that mattered of course.
** But the Panthers were victorious today because Capel spent the next month following his headlines by working on the task of improving his team.
** Twenty eight days after his ad, he received a another commitment from a nice looking prospect from Arlington, Virginia.
** Count me among the many who were pleased by this prospect, but who were not completely blown away. A good player in time perhaps?
** Now feel free to count me among the many who are now wondering where Xavier Johnson could end up among the Panther greats. A really good player now for sure!
** I’ll always be one who resists the hype … one who wants to see how players in sports show over the long run. And there’s plenty of long run that needs to be played out for the X-man before we should rightfully speak of his name among the greats whose numbers hang from the rafters at the Peterson Events Center.
** But seriously, I can’t imagine Xavier could be doing anything more to make a believer out of anyone. I’m past the point where I think it should be said we should wait to see what he can do against ACC completion. He's legit. Let’s already put him on that All-ACC frosh team next some of those Duke players.
** 17 points in the game’s final 17 minutes? Xavier Johnson is ready to go.
** In those first few weeks after that PG ad, Coach Capel also added a modest 5th year transfer named Sidy.
** This helpful piece proved to be the other difference maker in this victory, and more evidence that HCJC was indeed “ready to go.”
** For those who may not have seen Sidy's high flying slam, this too was evidence these Panthers are ready to go.
** So I’ll step back for a moment for perspective. While this was a nice win, it was indeed only one win against a decent team, who was actually missing their leading scorer for the first half.
** Still, it had the feel of game that proves the Panthers are more ready to go, more than to simply take their place among the bottom of the ACC.
** For each of their first six games, for a team with so many new and young players, they have proven to be remarkably consistent and resilient.
** There hasn’t been a moment during this early season when they have been sunken by stretches of ineptitude. I’ll confess that I’ve worried that there have been moments during each of our first six games when I’ve readied myself for the killer run opponent run that ultimately never comes.
** During parts of today’s second half, it was easy to feel (and to know) that that the Bilikens were the much stronger team in the paint, and that would be the Panther’s undoing.
** But with every muscle flexed by St. Louis, the Panthers had a punch of their own.
** Our relentless offensive penetration game is now proving to be formidable.
** This seems like a pretty elementary point, but I love the fundamentals of our guards and how they use the glass to score off penetration.
** This isn’t to say the Panthers were perfect. Far from it actually. We are still woefully undermanned in the post and I don’t believe there is much more we can get from Kene and Terrell this season. We are going to play many teams with much better and stronger frontcourts than St. Louis. It might be ugly at times.
** And when trying to be a leader, Malik Ellison more often than not hurt his team by taking shots he likely should not have.
** Yet, singling out any one Panther for their pluses or minus probably misses the point of this contest. This was a team win, from a team showing they just might have a little more to say about this season than simply being better than the squad before them who failed to win a conference game.
** I was impressed with a better press that produced turnovers, while only turning it over 9 times. I’m wondering just how much more this will improve as the season goes on.
** I know I loved Jeff Capel’s ad on April 1. I said to myself that day that it made me optimistic that someday in the next few years I’d be really excited about Pitt Basketball again.
** Tonight I’m already optimistic about Pitt Basketball again. Goals such as the NIT, which even seemed a year or two away at best, can now even be viewed on the shorter term horizon.
** With Head Coach Jeff Capel, I am honored to write “dribbles” again. I am excited about Pitt Basketball again. Without a doubt, along with the rest of the Pitt Hoops fan world, I am really ready to go.
