GREENSBORO, N.C. — Turns out, Blake Hinson prefers talking about Barack Obama, his Pitt teammates and the city of Pittsburgh more than he does his former team, Iowa State.

Hinson sat on stage Thursday and was peppered with questions about Iowa State, where he spent the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Fair questions. Pitt will play Iowa State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum.

But in those two seasons, Hinson never got in a game, and he never has been of a mind to provide the details.

Asked about his thoughts and emotions facing former teammates, he said, “I’m just ready to play my next game in March Madness, and I’m focused on winning.”

Then, he was asked if he had a reaction Selection Sunday when he saw Iowa State could be Pitt’s first-round opponent.

“No,” he said.

Asked to explain what attracted him to Iowa State, and why he left, Hinson said, “I would rather not say.”

On Pitt and Obama, he was much more forthcoming.

“Yeah, I love it (at Pitt),” he said. “This is my favorite location I’ve ever been. The group is special all the way. Like outside of the teammates, you know what I mean, I’ve made connections with a lot of people out in the city.

“I’m thankful beyond belief for these people, these teammates and everybody here. I would need a whole hour special of an interview to talk about the love I got for everybody here.”

Meanwhile, reporters were interested in Hinson’s thoughts about Obama picking Pitt to defeat Iowa State.

“All right, Barack,” Hinson said. “You think Barack is going to see this (interview)? Barack, what up, man? I love Barack. I’m not going to forget that right there.”

Rear-view mirror

Jeff Capel has spent 14 of his 48 years as a head coach at VCU, Oklahoma and Pitt. He reflected Thursday about all of it.

Capel noted all three places have been “rebuilds … or where you’ve got to go in and try to correct some stuff.”

“I had the fortune of being an assistant (at VCU) for a year. So, when I got the job, I kind of knew what we needed to change.

“We had talent. But the thing we had to do was change the image of the program. We weren’t very well thought of in the city of Richmond. The thing I was most proud of in my four years there was that we changed the image and the character of the program.”

VCU ended up going to the postseason (NCAA and NIT) in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1980s.

“When I went to Oklahoma, obviously, I took over for (now-Houston coach) Kelvin Sampson. The identity of toughness, rebounding, defense, physicality, that was there, but we had to add talent. They lost a lot of guys, and the whole recruiting class blew up once I took over, so we had to add talent.”

He recruited Blake Griffin, leading to an Elite 8 appearance in 2009 where he was joined by — but didn’t play — Jamie Dixon’s Pitt team.

“Then, after that it fell apart.”

He added that in his second season at Pitt (2019-20), he saw hope with a 16-17 record.

“Then, it fell apart,” he said. “So this has taught me patience.”

At Pitt, he’s grateful to be surrounded by “really good people.”

He said tough times become easier when those above remain supportive.

“The first four years were hard. Last year was really hard. Last offseason was really hard, but you find out who is really with you,” he said.

Injury update

Capel said there is no update on Federiko Federiko’s playing status as he tries to recover from a knee injury suffered last week. He didn’t play Tuesday.

“It’s still kind of day-to-day,” the coach said.

Federiko said he has been working with the training staff and feels “much better,” but Capel makes no promises.

“We will do what’s best for him long-term, not what’s best in the short-term for us,” he said. “It has to be what’s best for him. We will not put him or anyone out there if there’s going to be any harm for right now or for anything in the future.”

Capel and son at the podium

Capel was joined on the podium by his son, Elijah. Given the long hours coaches work during the season, he is pleased to have his family with him.

“It’s cool, man. It’s really, really cool,” he said. “You know, one of the things that I wanted to do was to be able to get back to this stage because he wasn’t born the last time I was a head coach (at Oklahoma) and was on this stage.

“My girls, they were, like, you know, 3 and 1. Actually, I don’t think Syd was born. She was in my wife’s stomach when we were in the Elite Eight.

“This one loves basketball, so for him to be able to be here is really, really cool.”

Can he play, though?

“He’s all right. Let’s not get his head too big,” Capel said.

Elijah likes to shoot baskets after games at the Pete, but his dad had his warning:

“There’s more to the game than just shooting. That’s all he wants to do.”

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