Emotions will surface when Pitt honors its seniors, but big game vs. Syracuse awaits

There will be smiles and tears, back slaps and hugs and flowers for the ladies Saturday when Pitt honors its five seniors in front of a sold-out crowd at Petersen Events Center.

Those extracurricular activities will occur before the ball is tipped to start the game, but unlike many past senior days at the Pete, there will be other even more important business to handle when the clock starts ticking.

Pitt will play Syracuse in the first of its three remaining games that will help decide the ACC championship. If the Panthers (20-8, 13-4) win them all, including games next week at Notre Dame and first-place Miami, they will be ACC regular-season champions for the first time.

When senior point guard Nelly Cummings was asked how he wants his class to be remembered, he gave a succinct answer that leaves no room for misinterpretation.

Nelly Cummings, on Pitt bonding on “adversity.” pic.twitter.com/1gaUoND7yo

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) February 23, 2023

“Champions,” he said, without embellishment.

No one could say it much better, but Jeff Capel came close. Referencing the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, one of his good friends in the coaching profession, Capel said, “As Coach T says, the main thing has to be the main thing. And the main thing has to be to beat Syracuse.”

Yet, Capel isn’t insulated from the emotion of the moment. He brought all five seniors to Pitt: Cummings, Jamarius Burton, Greg Elliott, Nike Sibande and Aidan Fisch, a Franklin Regional graduate, former student manager and walk-on who earned a scholarship this season.

“It probably will be a very emotional day for me,” Capel said. “Since I’ve been a coach, for the most part, they always have been. When you look at what guys mean to your program, what guys mean to you individually as a coach. Their belief in you, the relationships, things you’ve been through together. To think that’s the last time at home you’ll have a chance to be with them, it’s always emotional.”

For Capel the player, however, his last home game at Duke had a different feel.

“Senior nights were always emotional, except for mine,” he said.

Capel said he did not have a “fairy-tale” career at Duke like many Blue Devils who played for the legendary Mike Krzyzewski.

He was a four-year starter who played on a team that reached the national championship game when he was a freshman, but Duke went 13-18 the next season. As a senior, he was the target of boos from fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium, “which stung, big-time,” he said.

“We had been through hell as a program,” he said. “If we won my senior night, we won the ACC. That was all I was worried about.”

Duke won the game, but Capel did not get emotional for his final game at Cameron. “I was kind of emotioned out,” he said. “It was really important for me to have (the program) going back in (a positive) direction.”

Capel succeeded that night, and his current players have been similarly successful in changing the trajectory of the Pitt program.

“I hope that people will look at them as guys who came in and were unbelievable teammates,” Capel said, “that fought and persevered and believed in this place, believed in what they could do to help change it.

“These guys have been through a lot, and they’ve handled it unbelievably well. It shows their character and their toughness. To see it going in a different direction, a more positive direction, is pretty cool.”

It’s important for Cummings, especially, because he had visited the Pete from his hometown of Midland as early as the third grade when he played AAU basketball and practiced in a back gym. He even joined in drills with Pitt stars such as Sam Young.

“It felt good when I was growing up to see the guys winning,” Cummings said. “Everyone felt like they were a part of it. This year something we brought back is everyone feeling they’re a part of it. We’ve done a lot of good things here at the Pete. I’m happy we made it this far.”

But when the ceremonies end Saturday, Cummings will understand the reality of the moment.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said, “still.”