Capel's Challenge: A Season Without Senior Lineup

It’s a season of change for Capel, who finds himself without a lineup of 5th year seniors. Capel, who has been on the bench for two straight games, is facing a new challenge. Seth Brown has moved to left field while Ryan Noda has entered the lineup at first base, batting seventh in Wednesday’s series finale.

Meanwhile, Pitt wing Au’Diese Toney, one of Capel’s three original recruits to the program, has decided to sit out the rest of the season and enter the transfer portal. This decision was made through mutual agreement between Toney and the team. Toney had developed into a leader on the team and one of its most productive players. He was second on the team with 14.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

Capel emphasized Toney’s importance after he missed the team’s last game against Florida State on Saturday. ‘We missed him,’ Capel said. ‘It’s our second-leading scorer, second-leading rebounder, second in assists, he’s our best defender. He’s also one of the guys that we have that has experience, and he’s played well against Florida State. So we missed that. Big loss for us. But the guys stepped up and played well and gave us a chance to win.’

To replace Toney in the starting lineup, Capel utilized senior Miami (Ohio) transfer Nike Sibande against Florida State and Sibande responded with a season-best 12-point performance. Freshmen Will Jeffress and Noah Collier could also be options.

Despite the challenges, Capel’s team managed to put together a three-game winning streak, capped off by an impressive 76-67 win over North Carolina last week. However, the team has struggled in recent games, with six of Pitt’s last nine losses being by double digits.

With two games left in the regular season, Pitt sits with an overall record of 11-18 and 6-12 in the ACC. In four seasons with Pitt, Capel’s teams have records of 14-19 (3-15 in ACC), 16-17 (6-14 in ACC), 10-12 (6-10 in ACC) and 11-18 (6-12 in ACC). That’s a combined record of 51-66 overall and 21-52 (.292) in conference play.

Despite the challenges, Capel is likely to return in 2023, largely due to a hefty $15 million buyout after this season. Next season, that number drops down to $5 million. So, as Capel navigates this season without a lineup of 5th year seniors, it’s clear that the future holds more opportunities for growth and development.