GREENSBORO, NC (93.7 The Fan) – As he sat at the podium with four key players who had played their final game at Pitt to his right, Jeff Capel powered through what had to be a tough news conference emotionally following the 84-73 loss to Xavier.
“I'm so proud of my team,” Capel said Sunday. “You know, everyone in our program and especially our players have just done such an amazing job this year. For me as their head coach and for all of our coaching staff, I am so grateful for the journey that they have taken us on, they've allowed us to be a part of.”
It was quite a journey, especially when you consider he pieced together a new team in the span of months.
“These guys showed up every day with a great attitude, with trying to get better,” Capel said. “They were unbelievably together, faced different types of adversity, but never wavered in their commitment to each other and their belief in each other.”
“When you get to this part of the season, you know, it's cruel. Like, the ending is cruel because you're together, you're doing all these things, and then for everyone except for one team it comes to an abrupt end. I know our guys are hurting.”
“This is a game that we really wanted to win, and we had a chance, but we just came up short. But I'm just so proud of them. I'm so proud of -- I feel so
lucky that I've had a chance to be around them every day and to watch them, to watch each of they are individual journeys, to watch our collective journey. These are a group of guys and especially these four right here that will always hold an incredibly special place in my heart.”
Related
Senior recognition
Sharing the dais, Nelly Cummings, Nike Sibande, Jamarius Burton and Greg Elliott all had a role in the Panthers season. What impact Capel thought they had on his program.
“They're tough,” Capel said. “They're workers. They're selfless. They're really, really good teammates, and they all wanted to be a part of something. They all had healthy egos, not ego problems.”
“And they all had the ability -- these four guys had the ability to believe even when something maybe didn't look strong. They had the ability to believe in themselves, to believe in each other and to believe in what we could do together. I think they understood in order for it to become what it did become, it had to be together.”
“Again, these guys, man, all of them, but these four were the leaders. You know, just what they've done for our program, for me, for the city of Pittsburgh, for the University of Pittsburgh, you know, it's been a group of guys that I think our city fell in love with.”
“A group of winners. A group that's unbelievably connected, and guys that came in and believed in themselves, believed in each other, and believed in our program.”
Federiko situation
Injured at the ACC Championship in this building, Federiko Federiko was able to return against Iowa State to give the Panthers 10 minutes. He went into the game at the 13:34 mark, but played only one minute.
In a game where they were at a big disadvantage in the paint, their best low-post defender was unable to play a role.
“When Federiko came in the game, he was limping as he was running up and down the court,” Capel said. “I'm not going to put him in a position where he could cause any further damage, so I made that decision not to play him any more the rest of the game.”
Back to work
The season coming to an end, no time for a vacation for Capel or his staff. The transfer portal is open and upon returning home, he will contact those potential additions as well as recruiting in state playoff games.
“The way the job is now, you don't really get a break,” Capel said. “You know, it's not like it was five years ago, ten years ago in the profession. So you get right back to it. You start to figure out. You try to figure out -- the very first thing is that you try to figure out your roster. Then you try to figure out who can you go get?”
“I have people on my staff that have already started that process as far as looking at young guys, or guys, I should say, that have entered the portal already. Some high school kids. I mean, look, we'll look everywhere to find the right people.”
“We want to get good players, but it's really important going forward, especially after this year with these guys, to make sure we have the right people. So that will probably happen when I get back to the hotel (Sunday afternoon). We'll start looking at that.”