So, for once, brevity kept it short
Brevity, a man of his word
Yeah, about that...
I'll have a game preview up soon.
The ACC has recently experienced so much coaching turnaround that Jeff Capel, now in his 7th season leading the Pittsburgh Panthers, is either the third or fourth most tenured coach in the league, give or take what's going on with senior statesman Leonard Hamilton at this moment. (Brad Brownell is in his 15th season, while Kevin Keatts is in his 8th.) Back in July, Pitt's athletic director announced a
3-year contract extension that would keep Coach Capel in charge through the 2029-2030 season.
It's always a little awkward to see Coach Capel as the opposition in Cameron, but maybe a little more this time, after he told The Field of 68 in October's ACC Tip-Off that his favorite Glenbrook North High School player was Chris Collins, and not Jon Scheyer. (It's a
7-hour stream. Start at about the 4:57:00 mark.)
Jeff Goodman:
"Who is the greatest player in Glenbrook North High School history?"
Jeff Capel:
"I'm sticking with my boy Chris Collins..."
Field of 68 Panel (collectively):
"Oh!"
Jeff Capel:
"Hey, I know Jon [Scheyer] broke his records, but my guy, one of my best friends, a guy I talk to every day -- I'm sticking with CC."
Coach Capel has the Panthers in a very good position so far this season, joining Duke and Clemson at the top level of an ACC 6-tier cake. They have played a pretty good non-conference schedule: yes, there are losses versus Wisconsin and at Mississippi State in the ACC-SEC Challenge, but they also have a 24-point home win over West Virginia, an 11-point neutral court win over LSU (an SEC team!), and an overtime win over Ohio State in Columbus. Pitt is 3-0 in league play, with a 5-point road win over Virginia Tech and double-digit home wins over California and now Stanford (83-68:
recap,
box score,
highlights,
full replay)
Below is the Panthers'
roster. Coach Capel went with a 3-guard starting lineup until grad transfer Damian Dunn
injured his right thumb early in the Wisconsin loss and underwent surgery for repair. His predicted 6-week recovery is pretty much on schedule: Dunn practiced with the team before the Stanford game on Saturday, and Coach Capel
indicated that he could be medically cleared on Monday to play against Duke on Tuesday.
PROBABLE STARTERS
6-3 senior guard
Ishmael Leggett #5 (17.8 pts, 6.1 reb, 2.7 ast, 1.7 stl)
6-3 sophomore guard
Jaland Lowe #15 (17.4 pts, 4.7 reb, 6.1 ast, 1.9 stl)
6-10 junior forward
Cameron Corhen #2 (10.9 pts, 5.7 reb, 1.1 ast)
6-7 redshirt senior forward
Zack Austin #55 (9.9 pts, 3.9 reb, 0.3 ast, 1.5 blk)
7-0 junior forward
Guillermo Diaz Graham #25 (7.1 pts, 6.0 reb, 1.6 ast)
TOP RESERVES
6-5 grad guard
Damian Dunn #1 (11.1 ps, 2.1 reb, 1.9 ast)
6-3 freshman guard
Brandin Cummings #3 (7.9 pts, 1.9 reb, 0.9 ast)
6-8 freshman guard
Amsal Delalić #52 (3.8 pts, 2.5 reb, 1.0 ast)
6-10 redshirt freshman forward
Papa Amadou Kante #4 (3.4 pts, 1.7 reb, 0.4 ast)
6-11 junior forward
Jorge Diaz Graham #31 (3.1 pts, 0.7 reb, 0.2 ast)
BENCH PLAYERS
6-10 freshman forward
Amdy Ndiaye #0 (0.3 pts, 0.9 reb, 0.0 ast)
6-6 redshirt freshman forward
Marlon Barnes Jr #11 (0.0 pts, 0.3 reb, 0.3 ast)
6-4 sophomore forward
Benjamin Mayhew #13
6-9 freshman center
Liam Mignogna #24
6-7 sophomore forward
Jajuan Nelson #44
6-3 junior forward
Vason Stevenson #21
Whether or not Dunn returns to action, Pitt's guards could be a problem.
Ishmael Leggett, the reigning ACC Sixth Man of the Year, is a starter this season and was named to the
preseason All-ACC Second Team. His backcourt mate Jaland Lowe posted the ACC's only
triple-double this season, an 11-10-10 effort against VMI in November. His 6.1 assists per game is second best in the conference.
There are also a pair of reserve freshman guards worth noting. Brandin Cummings -- the younger brother of Nelly Cummings, who played for Pitt in 2022-2023 as a grad transfer -- set the program's
rookie record for points off the bench, scoring 30 against Eastern Kentucky last month. He was subsequently named ACC Rookie of the Week, which is not easy to do this season.
Amsal Delalić, listed as a 6-8 guard, is a 21-year-old freshman. He played pro ball in his native Bosnia and Herzegovina before joining the Panthers in the offseason. He could be a challenge, just days after Duke faced SMU's 7-2 rookie center Samet Yiğitoğlu, a mere 20 years old. (Maybe I should begin a series on Really Old Freshmen.)
Bart Torvik is seemingly not as concerned with Pitt's guards, predicting a 78-64 Duke victory. Let's compare the teams with a bunch of numbers, primarily from the college basketball section of
Sports Reference.
TABLE 1
| Category | Pittsburgh (12-2, 3-0 ACC) | Duke (12-2, 4-0 ACC) |
| Points Scored | 84.1 (27th nationally) | 80.3 (75th) |
| Points Allowed | 68.4 (101st) | 59.2 (6th) |
| Scoring Margin (NCAA.com) | 15.7 (28th) | 21.1 (9th) |
| Bench Points (NCAA.com) | 20.3 (247th) | 22.7 (174th) |
| Total Rebounds | 36.6 (169th) | 39.8 (37th) |
| --- Offensive Rebounds | 10.1 (229th) | 11.6 (125th) |
| --- Defensive Rebounds | 26.4 (106th) | 28.1 (26th) |
| Assists | 14.1 (135th) | 16.8 (54th) |
| Assist/Turnover Ratio (NCAA.com) | 1.45 (53rd) | 1.67 (18th) |
| Steals | 6.9 (201st) | 7.9 (111th) |
| Blocks | 4.5 (60th) | 3.9 (107th) |
| Turnovers | 10.2 (41st fewest) | 10.1 (36th fewest) |
| Personal Fouls | 16.6 (155th fewest) | 16.1 (111th fewest) |
| Field Goal Percentage | 49.5% (22nd) | 47.4% (75th) |
| 2-Point FG Percentage | 59.0% (28th) | 57.9% (43rd) |
| 3-Point FG Percentage | 35.86% (90th) | 35.91% (87th) |
| Free Throw Percentage | 77.7% (31st) | 75.1% (81st) |
TABLE 2
| Category | Pittsburgh (12-2, 3-0 ACC) | Duke (12-2, 4-0 ACC) |
| NET Ranking (NCAA.com) | #14 | #3 |
| --- Strength of Schedule | 65th | 17th |
| --- Quad 1 | 2-2 | 4-2 |
| --- Quad 2 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| --- Quad 3 | 4-0 | 4-0 |
| --- Quad 4 | 5-0 | 4-0 |
| KenPom (Ken Pomeroy) | #23 | #2 |
| --- Offensive Efficiency | 17th | 10th |
| --- Defensive Efficiency | 43rd | 3rd |
| --- Tempo | 172nd | 271st |
| Fastbreak Points (NCAA.com) | 11.9 (119th) | 11.6 (126th) |
| T-Rank (Bart Torvik) | #28 (T-Page) | #3 (T-Page) |
| --- Experience | 1.742 (281st) | 1.019 (357th) |
| --- Talent | 39.535 (77th) | 81.197 (3rd) |
NET quadrants
explained:
The quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent's NET ranking.
Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
Ken Pomeroy
defines efficiency as an extrapolated measure of points scored (offensive) or allowed (defensive) per 100 possessions against an average opponent. The more points you score and the fewer points you allow, the better. Tempo refers to the number of possessions per 40 minutes against an average tempo: the higher the rank, the faster the tempo. Faster isn't necessarily better; Houston is among the 5 slowest teams, and is KenPom #4.
Bart Torvik offers some clarification on Experience and Talent in the comments
here. Experience
"is based on class year (3 for senior, 0 for freshman) with caveat that it actually counts how many years a guy has played 10 games in, so if a guy is listed as a soph even though he's played two full years already, he'll count as a junior." Talent
"is based on composite recruiting ranks weighted for minutes played."
