Capel hire huge for Pitt basketball
When Jeff Capel was hired last Wednesday as the new men蘑菇视频 basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh, two thoughts went through my head.
First, Pitt hit an absolute home run and second, as a Duke fan, losing Capel as the associate head coach under Mike Krzyzewski will hurt the Blue Devils.
Capel is considered one of the top recruiters on the country and he played a major part in getting several top recruits to commit to Duke since he joined Krzyzewski蘑菇视频 staff several years ago.
Capel brings head coaching experience to Oakland as he had successful stints at both VCU and Oklahoma. It was at Oklahoma where he recruited current NBA star Blake Griffin.
Capel was ultimately fired and blamed for issues that led to the NCAA breathing down Oklahoma蘑菇视频 neck, but he was never formally accused of any wrong doing.
A recruiting guru, Capel蘑菇视频 first selling job will be to try and keep some of the current Pitt players who said they were transferring out.
While things won鈥檛 turn around right away for the Pitt team, Capel will indeed get an influx of major recruits to commit to the school within a few years.
The only question though will be, how long will Capel stick around?
He had several major Division 1 offers the last few years but he did not take them.
Yes, he is now the face of the Pitt program, but once Krzyzewski retires, will Capel be the front-runner to take over at Duke?
Regardless, getting Capel in the fold is huge for Pitt.
Having covered him professionally and speaking to him several times personally, Capel is a top-notch person who is passionate about coaching.
Kudos to Pitt for hiring him.
PSU蘑菇视频 NIT title
There has been a lot of positive buzz over Penn State winning the men蘑菇视频 NIT, but I see two opinions of the actual accomplishment.
Yes, the team got to play extra games and tournament experience as it won another NIT championship. The players got more time together on the court and with most of the team returning, this is a positive for Pat Chambers and his team.
The other aspect of the feat is that the team was not good enough to make the NCAA tournament, again, and the NIT is about as irrelevant as you can get. One may say that since Penn State missed the 68-team NCAA tournament that it is the 69th best team.
Tony Carr announced that he will enter the NBA Draft, and if he stays in it, losing him will be a big blow to next year蘑菇视频 team.
But only two seniors graduate and while losing Carr, a sophomore, leaves a big hole, Chambers finally seems to have things going in the right direction for Penn State蘑菇视频 men蘑菇视频 basketball team.
If he can finish off another strong recruiting class, the team can definitely make the NCAA tournament next year.
Considering how long Chambers has been at Penn State, he needs to make the NCAA tournament sooner rather than later or things will start to get a little hot under his collar.
Local duo helping LaRoche
The LaRoche Redhawks are off to a 13-4 start on the young baseball season, and a pair of local grads are doing their part.
Freshman outfielder Hudson Novak and junior catcher Shane Roebuck are doing their part. Novak, a Laurel Highlands graduate, is hitting .345 with 12 RBI, while Roebuck, a Brownsville grad, is hitting .429.
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