I swear, if Pitt basketball ruins 13-9 Day for me… Well, I’ll rant and complain so uselessly…
It’s been a while since I got around to — well, much on this site. But especially basketball. In that time, Pitt has gone 2-2.
After bottoming out against Penn State (I recognize the words, but not the arrangement), Pitt played better against Oklahoma State — but still lost. They seemed to be showing improvement by handling Lehigh relatively close to how they should. Then fell back a step, struggling to close out High Point.
The problems that plague Pitt are glaringly obvious — turnovers and offensive rebounds. Lord, I think someone just walked across my soul as I typed that.
Against High Point, Pitt shot 55% overall. 42% from behind the arc. Hell, they were 19-22 (86%) from the free throw line. High Point was held to 38% shooting, 18% on 3s and 73% (11-15) on their free throws.
When you commit 22 turnovers and only get 6 offensive rebounds, however, High Point was able to get that volume discount on attempts. High Point attempted 27 more field goals then Pitt. 27.
I shouldn’t be surprised. It is fairly consistent with what this team is like to this point. Ineffective on the offensive glass and way too casual with the ball. Yes, hallmarks of youth and all. Still, doesn’t make it easier to watch.
Tonight it is Duquesne in the 86th annual City Game. A game that features a cast of players who generally speaking know and really care nothing for the history of the game. Including the coaches.
Neither coach is putting excessive importance on the City Game.
“I hate to sound like a coach,” Stallings said, “but it’s really important (because) it’s the next game. We really, really, really want to win the game. We really do. But we have a game on Tuesday no matter what happens Friday.”
Pitt seniors Ryan Luther and Jonathan Milligan were part of the Panthers’ loss to Duquesne last year, and they both remember what it felt like. Luther was recruited by Duquesne and his father went there, so he recognizes the buzz surrounding the game.
“There’s no denying it,” he said.
“We have a bunch of new guys who really don’t know anything about the rivalry,” Milligan said. “Ryan and I, we probably have a little more of a chip on our shoulder just because of what happened last year.”
This is where I go off on a tangent about Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot. A hell of a good hire for the Dukes that emerged out of a complete shambles of a coaching search. Dambrot turned down Duquesne initially. Choosing to stay at Akron. Duquesne was rebuffed numerous times and the search seemed to be spiraling completely into farce. Then they somehow were able to convince Dambrot to reconsider to everyone’s shock.
As much angst as there can be over a coaching search, it’s the final hire and results that matter. Dana Altman was hired away from Creighton by Oregon after over a month of the Ducks getting rebuffed by every other coach they pursued. At Creighton, he was not necessarily on the verge of getting fired, but the fans weren’t crying when he left because he seemed to have peaked there a few years back — plus that whole going to Arkansas for a couple days before running screaming back to Nebraska to escape that insanity.
Tennessee football may be on the verge of falling ass-backwards into hiring Mike Leach after nearly settling for Dave Doeren. I don’t even pretend to understand how they are doing this.
Back to the City Game for a moment. It’s down at the Paint Place and the streaming tonight is on Facebook. Oy.
BTW, HCPN makes the 2nd lowest salary ($1.87m) in the ACC .. only about $300k over 1st year HC at Wake Forest. And there are only 2 other Power 5 teams that make less .. and one is an interim coach.
Lastly, Altman was finally lured no doubt to Ore by the deep pockets of Phil Knight …. after he was unable to reel in Dixon.
This is not a team at Pitt. It is a myriad of players that could not get recruited by any other D1 team. No center or big man at Pitt is fatal.
Dukes 78 – Pitt. 55. Pitt has no chance to win this game.
This is not a team at Pitt. It is a myriad of players that could not get recruited by any other D1 team. No center or big man at Pitt is fatal.
Dukes 78 – Pitt. 55. Pitt has no chance to win this game.
And the beat goes on…
The offensive rebounding will be in the 5 or 6 range and turnovers around 20.
How does a military college get this kind of money? FSU isn’t small potatoes either.
A&M is a very large ‘state’ school. Its not military. And it has many wealthy alums in the oil business. Plus their alumni donate like crazy. They could pay $10M per year for a coach and not blink. They are one of the richest programs out there.
FSU reminds me of UCLA. Always under-performing given the resources at their disposal.
Let’s see if they can string together two halves to win the City game.
H2P!
Should exit the City game with a win.
H2P!
If we win those 3 we are only at 7 wins. The win total will probably stay single digits.
Unfortunately…
H2P!
The outlook for the Panthers in conference play is absolutely bleak. KenPom expects Pitt to go winless in the ACC and Sports Illustrated more charitably predicted a 2-16 conference record for the team in its ACC preview.
I would be very happy with 9 and ecstatic if they pull a big upset somewhere along the line ala Pitt football. WVU unlikely but I would take anything in the ACC other than WF which is the game I am “counting on”. 🙁
While Pitt certainly is playing better, I think 2-16 ACC record still may be too optimistic …. I hope not
I put the over/under of Pitt TOs for that game to be 27 …. again, I hope not
It was great to see Kene get two put-backs on his two ORs.
When a team shoots 62% from 2, there are not many chances for ORs.
It may be because of the level of competition over the last 3 games, but Pitt has shot 65% (2s), 40% (3s) and 81% (FT). Looking back to OKSt, which was a bad 3 point shooting game (20%), the 2 pointers were shot at 70% (23/33). This shows me that the motion offense that Coach Stallings is running is starting to be effective.
Hopefully, once the team starts to get a feel for from where and when the shots are taken, players will be in better position to rebound.
Many may not have noticed, as the clock was winding down, last night, Carr had the ball and was fouled. The ref did not call it. So, the defender fouled him twice more, still no call, as time expired. Carr was pissed (rightfully so). Carr showed poise, but the ref should not have allowed that to go on right in front of him. Carr and the ref exchanged words after the buzzer.
It had me in stitches, and it alone, was worth the price of admission!
Towson looks like a team that will give Pitt fits. They appear to go deep into the bench and play a tough defense.
They play at good Oakland team 2 nights before they get here. Hopefully they are worn out.
Beat OSU!
Clemscum
Oklahoma
Georgia
Alabama
In that order – tOSU does not earn a spot – can’t forget the blowout loss to Iowa.
USC is #5 and tOSU is #6
The B1G Joke and PAC 10 conferences sit out this year.
I’m hoping Franklinstein stays at psu so Pitt gets 2 more shots at his poorly coached and highly talented team.
H2P!
I say Bama but was ambivalent on Wiscy v tOSU until the end of the game when I started to kinda hope for a Wiscy comeback. Torn because I really don’t like the automatic cred the Big10 gets so would be good with them being shut out.
Oh yeah and really hate ONE B10 team too that I would be OK if they never get into the CFP.
Bama shouldn’t be put in also. USC has a better SOS and SOR than both Bama and OSU … plus IMO and others, they look like the best team of the 3. It’s a no-brainer to me
Hoping for a Pat Signal today with one or more of the Florida players committing.
Patriots vs Bill game featuring two starting RB’s from Pitt at 1pm today.
H2P!
Pitt also lost to the other three – cuse, GT and unc.
Now that right there puts this past season into perspective for me – bad is putting it mildly. A lot of fans point to SOS and I believe that added to the misery. But losing to the bottom three says a lot too.
The miami win and the VT effort shows me there is hope for next year, even though the non-conference schedule has psu, nd and UCF.
H2P!
and guess how many 2018 opponents are listed in the current Top 25 CFP rankings? six
LOL, it could be worse…..it WAS worse for many of the prior 30 years. One more schollie just opened with Moss leaving.
M Ffrench and incoming frosh Vince Williams will be candidates to replace him on returns … and Ffrench in the slot.
Nathan Michael Bossory?@WhosThe_Bossory
Upon extensive discussion with family, the specialists, and my psychiatrist, I have decide to forgo pursing my sixth-year. Instead, I will be training next semester while deep sea fishing and drinking cold beer in Panama. Thank you for your support! #ProudPittMan
where do I sign up?
QH was tons of fun, mostly last year. Needs to add a few ounces.
I read in PG today that DeJuan Blair had 195 offensive rebounds in 09, while the current Pitt team is on pace for 220 for the season
Carr PG
JWF SG
Stevenson SF
Luther PF
Blair C
Parker 6th man
Dreaming…
But it shows how weak recruiting has been at the 5 since Adams.
C- Adams
F- Zanna
F- Patterson
G- Wright
G- Robinson
Bench- Young, Artis, Newkirk
I think they could have made a good run, especially with a better NCAA seed than 8th. Who knows .. if they would have made a deep run, recruiting may have picked up a bit and ….
Agree on the rebounding. As soon as a shot goes up, the team is heading in the opposite direction instead of crashing the boards. It is so obvious.
Note that Fraud was paid $12M to leave, but both coordinators were retained. My guess he is that he just wears thin on the admin.
Both coordinators were brought in last year to improve the program, and they were 2 wins better. Bennett, of course, was Pitt DC from 08-010 … and allegedly Narduzzi wanted to hire Napier this past year but I assumed ASU outbid them.
It will be interesting to see how this goes.
QH terrible decision, but wish him luck. His receiving skills are very limited. Ford will replace him on punts and kickoffs is my bet.
“Shitt on Pitt”
No, there’s no rivalry.
