PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt head coach Jeff Capel has often said you can often learn more about your team by how they handle winning than coming back from a loss. So far, Capel likes the progress of building off last year's NCAA Tournament team.
"Everything I've seen this summer has been really good, really positive," Capel told 93.7 The Fan. "The offensive relationships have organically happened. The closeness, the togetherness that we have, but right now is the easy part. When we start playing games, that's when we will figure out."
They did play a couple of games over the last few days against someone other than themselves. The team went on a nearly two-week trip to Spain, as probably no surprise, Blake Hinson led the team with 51 total points in the pair of games. Hinson explored going professional after his first season with the Panthers, but decided to return.
"It's huge," Capel said. "One of the great things, and I think he will bring it this year, he did last year. He brought an incredible energy every day to practice. Blake is a guy that loves to play basketball. There is such a joy that he has. For a coach, every day in practice you just felt positive energy."
Instead of last year when he was fitting in with fellow transfers Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, Jamarius Burton and Nike Sibande, Hinson is the only one coming back of that group. The only starting senior returning on a team that's 180 degrees from last year, an experienced frontcourt but youth and transfers in the back.
There are four scholarship guards and three are freshmen (Dior Johnson, Jaland Lowe and Carlton Carrington) and the other is junior transfer Ishmael Leggett from Rhode Island. There is also the addition of transfer forwards Papa Kante and Zack Austin, freshman Marlon Barnes and a healthy William Jeffress.
Capel said one of the best ways where they can understand and learn from each other is by taking an international trip. It's not only the time together, but how they adapt to a new environment. Plus, the coaches can observe all of it.
"It's huge for me and for us and a coaching staff," Capel said. "I've felt the biggest part of coaching are the relationships. At least for me, it's the way it's always been. It's authentic, sincere and something that I place a great value on. Getting a chance just to spend time with them."
When the coaches aren't around several former players have been at Summer practices. Not just the guys who played for Capel, but those who won Big East Championships-Dejuan Blair, Levance Fields, Sam Young were among the names that quickly came to Capel's thoughts.
"One of the really cool things of where we are with our program right now, and it's taken some time and been hard at times, we do have older guys now that want to come back and want to be a part of it," Capel told 93.7 The Fan. "They have great pride in it. Even guys that were just here for a year—Nelly, Greg, Jamarius helping out most of the summer."
They won't be a surprise to opponents this year. Even as big a turnaround as last season was, that group got punched in the mouth pretty early. Capel believed that team had great chemistry going into the season, but three straight losses and down at half to Alabama A&M, they had to figure out who they were going to be pretty quickly.
That group overcame adversity and got Pitt back to March Madness for the first time in seven years. This team has talent on paper, a strong frontcourt with several players returning. What will it do when adversity hits?
The ground work is being laid now. The trip has allowed them time to get to know each other, now they have a couple of months to take the next step in the journey to prove that Panthers basketball is more than just last season.
