Capel, Dambrot are right for each program

Ihaven’t been to a Pitt basketball game since February 2016. Pitt beat No. 15 Duke, 76-62, in Jamie Dixon’s final home game as coach and went on to make the NCAA tournament, but there was a palpable feeling the program had started to decline. I didn’t like ACC basketball, at least not in comparison to Big East basketball. I also had no interest in watching Kevin Stallings coach. I was so thankful I wasn’t at the 106-51 loss at home to Louisville in 2017. It was easy to stay away.

Jeff Capel is going to bring me back.

I haven’t been to a Duquesne game since I was a ridiculously younger man. Former athletic director Brian Colleary begged me to give the Dukes a chance so I went to Palumbo Center in January 2004 for a game against unbeaten Saint Joseph’s. Danny Nee was the Duquesne coach. The program was on its way to a 10th consecutive losing season and 21st in a 23-year span. We’re talking Pirates-like. Saint Joseph’s used a 24-4 run to take a 47-22 halftime lead. I left the building thinking, “Enough with Duquesne.”

Keith Dambrot is going to bring me back.

All of this might seem like strange timing on my part. Pitt’s and Duquesne’s seasons again are showing signs of crashing and burning. Pitt had a brutal 59-56 home loss Saturday to Virginia, its fourth loss in a row and seventh in its past nine games. It might not win again this season. Duquesne lost Saturday at No. 5 Dayton, 80-70, its sixth loss in its past nine games. It could struggle to get two more wins to make it 20 for the season.

Capel and Dambrot are frustrated.

“It was a dumpster fire that I took over,” Capel said after a loss last week to Florida State. “We need time to recruit, and we have to win some recruiting battles. It’s going to happen, but it’s not going to happen right away.”

“I’m not so much frustrated for me, but I’m frustrated for our guys,” Dambrot said after a home loss last week to George Washington. “I’m frustrated for our fans, the Pittsburgh fans that want Duquesne to be good because we just haven’t been quite able to get over the hump. We’re close to being upper-echelon and then, when you lose, you become average. We’ve made progress, but it’s not fast enough for this old guy.”

I get that impatience. Of course, Capel and Dambrot want their team to be a big winner. Not today. Not tomorrow. Yesterday.

But that shouldn’t detract from the impressive progress Pitt and Duquesne have made. Clearly, Capel and Dambrot are the right men for the challenge. Clearly, they are going to make their program relevant again.

Pitt was 0-19 in ACC play under Stallings in 2017-18, the year before Capel took over. It won three regular-season league games in his first season and has doubled that total this season. It’s not hard to imagine Pitt doubling it again next season.

“Obviously, they’re very young,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said Feb. 8 after a loss to Pitt. “I would be surprised if preseason rankings next year … they’re not one of those teams that’s picked in the top three or four in the ACC. I think they’re really good this year and I think they’re going to be really, really good next season.”

Dambrot, in his third season, has led Duquesne to 16, 19 and 18 wins. They probably should build a statue of him on campus if the team gets to 20 wins this season. He has done an amazing job resurrecting the dead. You have to be really old to remember Duquesne’s glory days under Red Manning in the 1960s and 1970s. It hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 1977.

Those were fun times around here. Some of my best memories are of Pitt, Duquesne and West Virginia going after each other on the court. Pitt coaches Tim Grgurich and Roy Chipman, Duquesne’s Mike Rice and West Virginia’s Gale Catlett didn’t like each other and didn’t mind telling you all about it. Their games remain some of the best and most exciting of my career.

Pitt took the success to a new level in the Big East. Ben Howland and Dixon don’t get enough credit for making the program a national power. I loved those days. I routinely would drive all over the Northeast to watch Pitt play. The Big East tournament always was my favorite event of the year, better than Super Bowls and World Series and Final Fours and Stanley Cup playoffs. I loved every second of that phenomenal competition.

I have missed college basketball.

Good college basketball. I am thrilled Capel and Dambrot are, slowly but surely, bringing it back.