PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – He didn’t say it as a name drop, rather to prove a point. Pitt head coach Jeff Capel mentioned during his radio show on 93.7 The Fan while he believed Mike Krzyzewski was the greatest coach of all-time, it would mean more to him when he played to get words from Duke senior Grant Hill than Coach K.
“The best teams that I’ve been on are player-led,” Capel said Thursday on 93.7 The Fan and the Pitt Panthers Radio Network. “There is a voice in that locker room, rather one or two, and they are able to keep everything straight.”
Two years ago, when Pitt returned to the NCAA Tournament they had guard Jamarius Burton. The transfer senior who once screamed at Capel to take a teammate out of the game because he wasn’t where he needed to be. Burton would then later pull that player aside and explain what he needed to do.
Last year it was transfer Blake Hinson who was the voice in the room. The Panthers were 1-5 in ACC play when they were preparing for what seemed like a certain loss.
“We were just getting ready to play Duke, who had just beaten us by 31 points,” Capel said. “Blake Hinson had the most patience because we had two freshmen guards. But Blake told those guys there has to be some seriousness. We are acting too silly and acting too goofy. And if you don’t change. You have to see me.”
It took a little bit before they found those voices this season, but recently seniors Ishmael Leggett and Zack Austin have taken on those roles.
It was actually Hinson who helped Austin. During a zoom call with the team a couple of weeks ago, he said someone had to step up and lead. He later talked to his former teammate.
“He said you have to be yourself with it,” Austin said on the Jeff Capel Show. “You can’t do something you don’t normally do. You got to be who you are in how you deliver the message. I’m a different player on the court than I am off the court. Off the court I’m laughing, smiling, pretty much childish sometimes. On the court I try to be as serious as I can be.”
Now he’s found himself doing more talking, much of it on defense as his constant message is for them to communicate better.
“I think it grew gradually,” Leggett said. “I’m usually a lead-by-example guy. Do what needs to be done, come to work every day and show up. This year I felt like I have to take more of a vocal leadership role. My teammates have helped me come out of my shell more, but it’s been a gradual thing.”
So how does Leggett do it?
“Brutal honesty,” Leggett said seriously. “We were in that little stretch where we couldn’t win. It was like nobody is coming to save us. We got to get off the mat and stand up. Just like Coach (Milan) Brown’s message was last week was just stand up, no one is coming to help us.”
“That’s the top dog, when the top dog talks, you listen,” said sophomore guard Jaland Lowe. “It means that he’s got something to say. We have to step our game up. His word means a lot to everybody. He’s not the most outgoing guy, when he says something, he means it, for real.”
“You have to be a guy that everyone respects,” Capel said. “The way they respect you is they know you are working and doing things you are supposed to be doing.”
He now believes they have a pair of transfers who are comfortable doing what needs to be done.
There is little margin for error if Pitt is to get back to March Madness. They are going to need every advantage they can get.
“You can’t change the past, only thing we can do is focus on what is in front of us and that’s the next opponent,” Leggett said.
That is Saturday at Notre Dame with tip at 2:15p and pregame starting at 1:45p with the Voice of the Panthers Bill Hillgrove, Pitt great Curtis Aiken and Cale Berger on 93.7 The Fan.