Only two years ago, then-Miami coach Jim Larranaga climbed a ladder inside the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., tore the last cord from the basket’s rim and held it in the air joyously.
His team had defeated Pitt, 78-76, to claim the No. 1 seed in the 2023 ACC Tournament. All that separated Pitt from claiming the top spot was a missed 35-foot shot at the buzzer by Blake Hinson.
Now, take a look at where Miami and Pitt stand this season while they prepare to meet at noon Saturday at Petersen Events Center. It didn’t take long for fortunes to shift.
Miami (6-18, 2-11), which went to the Final Four that season, is last in the 18-team ACC.
Pitt (14-10, 5-8), a winner in two NCAA Tournament games two weeks after Hinson’s miss, is tied for 11th with former contenders Notre Dame and Virginia. And the situation could get worse with Jaland Lowe (concussion) and Damian Dunn (elbow) out with injuries.
Side note: Only Jeff Capel remains among the coaches of those four teams. Larranaga and Virginia’s Tony Bennett abruptly resigned early this season, weary of the direction college athletics is taking with transfers and NIL payments. Notre Dame’s Mike Brey resigned two years ago.
Capel loves the game and his job too much to take that route, but he has a difficult task ahead of him to get Pitt back in the NCAA Tournament conversation.
While Pitt freefalls toward the bottom of the ACC standings, the Miami game gains importance. The Panthers, who have lost eight of 10 and four in a row, are three games out of 16th place in the ACC.
What’s special about 16th place? The three schools that finish 16th through 18th do not qualify for the ACC Tournament next month. A loss to Miami reduces the gap to two.
Meanwhile, here are five thoughts to take into the final stretch of the ACC regular season:
1. Capel on an expanded ACC Tournament
A year ago, Capel was asked about a new-look ACC Tournament with SMU, Stanford and California swelling the conference to 18 schools. Pitt was in no danger of missing the 2024 tournament, but he felt bad for those teams facing that predicament in the future — meaning now.
“I would want everyone in the ACC Tournament,” Capel said during an ACC coaches’ conference call. “I think it’s an opportunity for every team to have a chance at the postseason, and that’s really what March Madness is about. You can get hot. It could be an unbelievable story, and if you don’t allow teams to go there, then you strip a program or programs of that opportunity and kids of that opportunity.”
Logistics aside, it’s difficult to argue his point.
2. Beware the Hurricanes
So, what about this current iteration of the Hurricanes?
Bill Courtney, a longtime Larranaga assistant, was named interim coach Dec. 26. It was the same day his boss resigned and five days after Miami started a 10-game losing streak with an overtime loss at home to Mount St. Mary’s.
The Hurricanes have won two of their past three games, 63-57 against Notre Dame and 91-84 vs. Syracuse — both at home. Also, Louisville — one game out of first place — only led the visiting Hurricanes by five points with little more than five minutes to play Feb. 8.
In other words, this is a game Pitt could lose.
”We’ve been playing our best basketball of the year over the past two weeks,” Courtney said prior to the Syracuse game.
The Miami player atop Capel’s scouting report is Matthew Cleveland, a 6-foot-7 senior guard who scored 32 points against the Orange and is eighth in the ACC with a 16.8 per-game scoring average.
“He’s grown so much as a player and a person. His leadership skills have really blossomed,” Courtney said of Cleveland, a transfer from Florida State.
The good news for Pitt fans: Miami is 0-6 on the opponent’s home floor.
3. The times in which we live
Capel does his best to avoid what is being said about his team by the geniuses on social media. But with players constantly checking their phones, it’s almost impossible. Plus, he has a lot of people looking out for him.
”Obviously, when you’re losing, there’s a lot of negativity,” Capel said Thursday on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan. “As much as I tell these guys, ‘Don’t read stuff,’ I know they do because they’re addicted to their phones and they’re addicted to social media.
”I don’t, but I know it’s out there when I get texts like, ‘Keep your head up … coach, I got your back.’ Then you know whatever.”
4. Don’t try so hard
Capel continues to be pleased with his team’s attitude and work ethic through dark times, but he would like it if they didn’t try quite as hard.
“That’s been part of our problem with a couple of guys in particular, with Jaland and with Ish (Leggett). It’s coming from a great place, but sometimes you can try to do too much,” he said. “You can think, ‘I have to make a great play,’ instead of, ‘We need to make plays.’
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“A mistake sometimes can lead to another mistake if you don’t leave the mistake in the past and move on. One of the things we’ve talked about recently is just try to win every possession. Give every possession the concentration and the attention that it needs and deserves.”
5. Learning how to lose
Learning how to deal with adversity could be a life lesson for some players.
“I’ve continued to be impressed with this team because we’ve shown up every day, trying to get better, trying to correct some of the mistakes that we’re making,” Capel said. “I think that will bode well for us as we move forward. But, for me, most important, it will bode well for them individually, each guy. Because when you get into the real world (beyond basketball), you have to show up the right way with the right mindset and the right attitude.”
Capel’s most difficult job at the moment is more than strategically trying to quell the other team’s best player.
“I’m the leader, so it’s all on my shoulders,” he said. “I have to do a better job of helping our guys, helping them feel better about themselves.”