During the days when the Pitt basketball team was ranked and competing for conference titles, the football team would bring recruits to “The Pete” for recruiting visits in order to impress them with the atmosphere.
This coming Saturday, there will be a bit of role reversal between the programs.
Jeff Capel and his team will be hosting one of the top juniors in the country and will be bringing him to Heinz Field for the Pitt-Penn State game.
Butler 2020 4-star point guard Ethan Morton told Pittsburgh Sports Now that he’ll be in Oakland this Saturday and will conclude the day by attending the big game Saturday night.
“I’m going there this weekend with an open mind and looking to learn whether it’s my overall basketball knowledge or getting to learn more about the Pitt basketball program and how they operate,” said Morton. “I’m excited to keep building my relationship with the coaching staff and for getting to meet the players. The players will be working out in the afternoon before the game and I’ll have a chance to watch that. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to learn a lot and about what they do both offensively and defensively and systems they run. I’m also looking forward to watching the coaches in action and how they act and run things.”
Capel has targeted Morton, who is one of the best junior point guards in the country, since taking over at Pitt. This past year, Capel was thrown into the fire and never had a chance to develop a strong bond with kids in the Class of 2019. With Morton, Capel will have two years to really develop a relationship, and he’s doing his best to let him know how much he’d love to coach him at Pitt.
“I usually get a text from him once or twice a week. I think he’s done a really good job of building a relationship with me, my high school coach and my family as well. He’s a really personable guy that’s surrounded himself with a really good staff. I think his character and everything about him is going to be really positive for the program and the guys that he’ll be able to attract to Pitt. He’s been really easy to connect with because of his personality and because of him being a former point guard. I think it’s gone pretty well so far.”
