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Don’t look now, but Jeff Capel now has all the pieces in place to contend for the ACC and perhaps, eventually, more.
The Pitt coach and former Duke star and assistant won a commitment from power forward Jon Hugely. At 6-9 and 240, he adds another piece to Pitt’s future front court, currently a serious weakness.
Only a few days ago, Capel got a commitment from another big man, 6-10 Max Amadasun. As we discussed the other day, Pitt already has a highly athletic core of midsized players who are only going to get better. Now he has two very promising big men to put behind them.
Not only is Pitt well on the way back now, but Capel has proven that Mike DeCourcy, who is rarely wrong, is in fact quite wrong.
When Pitt joined the ACC he said that the Panthers would be cut off from Jamie Dixon’s northern recruiting base.
While Capel has not abandoned that turf, he’s not restricted himself to it either. Here are where his recruits are from:
- Rochester, NY
- Brooklyn, NY
- Bronx, NY
- Vauxhall, NJ
- Mt. Laurel, NJ
- Reading, PA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Norristown, PA
- Cleveland OH
- Woodbridge, VA
- Pendleton, SC
- Huntsville, AL
- Fort Wayne, IN
- Mali
DeCourcy’s impulse wasn’t entirely wrong. What he didn't take into account is that the right coach, at any school, can do great things. We think Capel is about to.