Stop me if you've heard this setup before: Jeff Capel's Pitt Panthers are set to face an underwhelming opponent sitting a couple spots below them in the ACC standings. It's a team that appears to be a little shaky and vulnerable.
Holding up the "stop" sign yet?
It's the exact premise Pitt faced against Wake Forest in their official conference-play opener on Saturday at Petersen Events Center. And just as he spoke before that one against the Demon Deacons, Capel maintained ahead of his team's matchup on Wednesday in Chapel Hill, N.C., against the University of North Carolina that his squad won't underestimate anyone.
Especially not North Carolina.
"Look, they're still talented. It's still North Carolina," Capel was saying on Monday during an ACC coaches teleconference. "They still have really, really good players. They're just having to adjust with some injuries to some key guys. And I think if anyone had injuries to key guys, especially at that position, the point guard position, then you can seem out of sorts at times."
To Capel's point, the Tar Heels lost freshman guard Anthony Harris for the year to a torn ACL, while seven players total have missed games due to injury. But injuries alone won't sink a program, particularly when you look at some of the other variables involved with a team like North Carolina.
"We know they'll be ready to play," Capel said. "They have a Hall of Fame coach [Roy Williams], one of the best that's ever done it, on the sidelines. And they still have really outstanding players. And it's a fanbase that's very passionate, so we know that we're going to go into the lion's den, so to speak, and we just have to be prepared for it."
Capel is particularly familiar with that "lion's den." As both a player and assistant coach at Duke University, Capel is acutely aware of life inside the Dean Smith Center for opposing teams. It's rowdy and passionate, as he notes, so what does he tell his team to help them prepare?
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