This run Pitt is on is by design, and it does not come as a coincidence.
Jeff Capel's Panthers are one of the oldest teams in Division I college basketball. With that age comes the necessary experience to be able to overcome what some younger teams may not be able to.
Three days following a 79-72 loss at Virginia Tech, Capel and the Panthers will take the floor for a rematch against Georgia Tech in a 7 p.m. tip-off Tuesday inside the Petersen Events Center. That does not leave much time to analyze the loss in Blacksburg, which could serve as a benefit to the veteran Pitt team.
After all, that experience does come in as a factor.
"You don't have the type of year and competing for first place in the league without being really good," Yellow Jackets coach Josh Pastner said during Monday's ACC coaches teleconference. "They're an older team, they've got a lot of older guys. (Jamarius) Burton's been outstanding from start to finish of the year. He's just a guy that can go get you a bucket. They've got multiple guys that can make shots, that can make 3s, and they're connected right now. They've got a really good guard in (Nelly) Cummings, an older player, they've got an older player in (Blake) Hinson, and they've got a couple other guys. They've just got an old team, and I've always said it: Get old and stay old. When you're older you just have an advantage, and they're one of the oldest teams in the country and they've got really good players. Coach Capel's done a great job, and they're a good basketball team."
According to KenPom's advanced analytics, Pitt is the 16th-oldest team in Division I, with an average experience of 3.00 years of playing time. This checks in third in among ACC teams, as Notre Dame (3.64 years) is the third-oldest team in Division I, and Virginia (3.62) is fourth.
(Penn State is the oldest team in Division I at 4.02 average years of experience.)
"I think an older team takes ownership of itself and a lot of times coaches itself," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "I've had those rotations when a Pat Connaughton or a Jerian Grant or a Ben Hansbrough, you'd actually defer to them a lot of times about how you want to defend a ball screen, what you're going to run on an out-of-bounds play."
Cummings, Burton, and Greg Elliott retain status as graduate students and are in their final respective seasons of eligibility. Nike Sibande is a redshirt senior and also is in his final season of eligibility, and Aidan Fisch is a true senior in his final season. Hinson and walk-on KJ Marshall are juniors, and so are the currently inactive John Hugley IV and Will Jeffress, which intend to redshirt this season.
Six players have not hit status as a junior: Freshmen Dior Johnson, Vason Stevenson, Jorge Diaz Graham, and Guillermo Diaz Graham and sophomores Federiko Federiko and Nate Santos. Johnson and Stevenson intend to redshirt this season.
I followed up with Pastner to ask about what advantages an "older" team present. His answer stemmed from conventional wisdom:
"Just by natural physiology of 22-, 23-, 24-year olds going to be better than an 18-, 19-year old," Pastner said. "That doesn't mean they're going to be a better pro or get drafted or anything with the NBA, but in college basketball, an older, veteran, mature team that's in those age ranges I mentioned, physiology they're going to be better than an 18-, 19-year old. And, obviously, when you're including the additional year of the COVID year, that makes a huge difference, as well."
But, as Capel noted in the teleconference, a team can have "older" players on it, but they still need to be coached up and have the right frames of mind within a team setting.
“I don’t know if there’s an advantage," Capel said. "I just think you have to have good players and guys that fit together, guys that are connected, guys that want to be about the right stuff. You can have older guys and all that stuff and they’re not about the right stuff. There could be selfishness, there could be jealousy, there could be any of that stuff. I just think you've got to get the right guys, guys that fit, guys that understand how much they need each other. Certainly if you have some older guys and you have some experience you’re hopeful it’s good experience and it's experience that helps you get better. Just because you have older guys doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be good."
The thing about Capel's Panthers: They are old and good.
The ACC Tournament begins two weeks from Tuesday, on March 7. Many Pitt players have postseason experience that surely will factor into the team's performance.
Capel, of course, has won a regular-season conference championship and a conference tournament championship (2003-'04 at VCU), and he has been to the NCAA Tournament three times, in which he has a 4-3 record. He took Oklahoma to the Elite Eight in 2009 before falling to eventual national champion North Carolina.
Cummings led Patriot League tournament champion Colgate in scoring with 20 points in the Raiders' loss to third-seeded Wisconsin in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Elliott was on the 2019 and 2022 Marquette teams which made the NCAA Tournament, and he played 11 minutes in the 2022 first-round loss to North Carolina. Burton played nine minutes in Texas Tech's loss to Arkansas in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
There is postseason experience within the coaching staff, and three veteran starters and leaders have deep postseason experience which is an intangible most teams cannot say they have.
North Carolina rode the wave as a No. 8 seed to the national championship game in its first season under Hubert Davis. His current Tar Heels -- which might go from preseason No. 1-ranked to missing the NCAA Tournament -- are the 25th-oldest team in college basketball, per KenPom.
"The two years that I've been a head coach, we've had older guys, experienced guys," Davis said. "I think it's important to have both (old and young players). I think it's important to have talented young players and talented experienced players and experienced players that have been there before that understand what it takes on a daily basis to prepare, to practice, and to play at the highest level and to have that example for the younger players. I love that balance. I like that balance of having talented younger players alongside talented experienced players and, to me, I think those are the type of teams that I really like to coach."
MORE FROM OAKLAND
• Capel was candid as ever Monday about how the ACC is held in such low regard with respect to other power conferences. He even went as far to call out the ACC Network for how it covers its own league:
"Yeah, it's interesting," Capel said. "For me, I only hear that it's down when you talk about those teams (Pitt, NC State, and Clemson). You don't hear it when you talk about Virginia. Maybe it's because of what Virginia has done nationally during the time that (Tony Bennett has) been there. He's done an unbelievable job. They've, maybe, been the premier program if you look at accomplishment throughout definitely -- probably -- the last eight to 10 years.
"I don't really understand it, to be completely honest with you. I don't know that coach (Dean) Smith, coach (Mike Krzyzewski), coach (Roy) Williams, I don't know if it's because they're not here anymore so the national reputation of that. Coach (Rick) Pitino, same thing. But, I don't really get it. When you look at the success that we've had in the NCAA Tournament, when you look at the success we've had in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, if you look at what our guys have done nationally as far as coaching, as far as players, as far as talent, as far as draft picks, all of those things, it's more than anyone.
"I've never really understood it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't think it helps when we have our own network and there -- I was watching when we were at Virginia Tech the night before, I'm watching our own network and one of the first questions that comes up is: 'Is the perception a reality that the ACC is down?' I never see that on the Big Ten Network. I watch the Big Ten Network a lot because one of my best friends coaches in that league, and so I'm watching them. And, man, they are always, always pumping the Big Ten. Always. And I think it's a really good league, but I think that ours is, too, and I wish the people that represent us would have the respect and pump our league and be positive instead of looking at negative things."
