Jeff Capel has been deeply embedded in the game he loves from the day his hands were big enough to hold a basketball.

He’s chased the sport from Fayetteville, N.C., where he was the state high school player of the year in 1993 to Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., to Grand Rapids, Mich., even to France, to play professionally.

Now, he’s at Pitt, in his third season trying to rebuild the Panthers’ program.

But the sport is not the same this season. Pitt games have been postponed seven times because of coronavirus concerns, mainly arising on somebody else’s campus. The game that was to be played Wednesday at Louisville was postponed — with no rescheduled date — and there’s a chance the Panthers (9-6, 5-5) won’t play a 20-game ACC regular season. Capel tested positive for covid-19 in December and missed a game.

By Feb. 8, 2020, Pitt had played 24 games. This year, the team is stuck on 15, perhaps until it visits Georgia Tech on Sunday.

Capel said Pitt won’t play a nonconference opponent to fill the void. And none of the five games that need to be rescheduled probably won’t be played this week.

“There was some talk about it, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” he said.

This season is so strange, Capel said, even the victories are difficult to enjoy.

“Maybe I’m sounding like a Debbie Downer, but there hasn’t been much joy, to be honest with you,” he said. “Even if you have a great win, it’s joy in that moment and then you go back to reality, and the reality of the situation is not good, in my opinion.”

He worries mainly about his players and what’s going through their heads. There are games on the schedule, but no guarantee they will be played.

“These young people are dealing with a lot this year,” Capel said. “Everyone, the players, the coaches, are in need of mental health help. You have this game that we love, that normally brings joy to your life, even sometimes in the losses. (At least) you’re playing. You get to do something that you love. You get to compete.

“And that’s messed up this year. There are no fans. The competition is just weird. It is. The games are weird. There’s not a lot of joy. As a coach after a loss, I am mindful of that.”

But the break this week isn’t totally unwelcome. Without games, Capel can spend more time developing his five freshmen, whose playing time has been reduced in recent weeks. Only Femi Odukale has played in all 15 games.

“It’s certainly a different year for the development part,” he said. “It gives us more practice time this week, so that will be good for them. It will be good for us.”

Also, there is the matter of opponents double-teaming ACC leading scorer Justin Champagnie in the past three games.

“Justin has adjusted, and we’ve adjusted,” Capel said. “Against (Virginia Tech, a Pitt victory), he was patient. He didn’t force. When the other guys were making shots, it forced (the Hokies) to play single coverage in the second half and then he scored.

“I worry about Justin. I worry about him getting tired just because of the attention and everything that happens when you are a really good player and you’re not used to it, to the attention, being the hunted. It can be mentally draining. Not playing on Wednesday, hopefully, is good for him and good for us.”

When Pitt resumes its season Sunday, it will be Georgia Tech’s third game in a four-game, seven-day stretch that starts Wednesday against Virginia.

“(Coach) Josh (Pastner) knows his team, but, boy, that’s hard,” said Clemson coach Brad Brownell, whose team plays Georgia Tech on Friday. “We had three games in seven days, and our guys were exhausted.”

Pastner said he and his administration are “on board” with the revised schedule, but he’s aware of the challenge.

“We played Florida State on Saturday (Jan. 30, a 76-65 victory) and turned around and played Louisville on Monday, less than 48 hours (a 74-58 road loss), and got our butts kicked. I thought we were gassed on that Monday game.”

Capel said he doesn’t know how his players would react to a similarly crowded schedule.

“Hopefully, we’re not in that position where we have to find out.”

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