8pm ESPN2
I should be looking forward to this game more then I am.
I love games between Pitt and WVU. The natural, good hate that bubbles around the teams and the fans. This should be the kind of game where you hear the cliche, “You can throw out the records when these two…”
Except you really can’t. Not tonight. These teams haven’t played in five years. The overwhelming majority of players have no real connection to the Backyard Brawl. Pitt has a coach that has no familiarity with it.
The only one out there with a strong bond to it is WVU Coach Bob Huggins. As both their coach and a former Hoopie. A coach with an already fiery reputation, surely will be actively trying to fire up his team even further.
Strictly looking at this as a match-up indicates how bad this is for Pitt.
No. 18 West Virginia (8-1) leads the nation in turnover margin (plus-10), creating 192 and committing 102. Pitt (5-4) is approaching the depths of NCAA Division I in turnovers, ranking 303rd of 341 teams with a minus-2.6 margin (10 7?130).
And there’s more.
While a far cry from the talent and experience West Virginia brings, the Panthers have faced two pressing teams — High Point and Mount St. Mary’s — in their past three games, and finished with a combined 39 turnovers. In practice, the team’s five-man offensive lineup will work against a defense with six or seven players to try to replicate the intensity. Players, and particularly freshman guard Marcus Carr, have fared well in those situations in practice, but those habits haven’t translated to games.
Presses are designed to rattle teams, particularly more inexperienced ones like Pitt, to make them feel as if they’re immersed in the kind of inescapable chaos that doesn’t end until they eventually score or give up the ball. While some teams that utilize such a scheme will play less intense defense once a team crosses midcourt, Stallings noted that the Mountaineers’ defensive pressure in half-court sets might be better or more aggressive than even their full-court pressure.
The key to beating such a defense, while far easier said than done, remains the same.
“Poise over anything,” junior guard/forward Jared Wilson-Frame said. “At this level, if you are a guard, you pretty much have pretty solid ball-handling capabilities. It’s all about staying poised and being mentally tough to know that, one, you’re not going to get every call and guys are going to foul you a couple of times and, two, being strong with the ball and being able to see over the defense. That kind of stuff helps your team be calm.”
The press, of course, isn’t all Pitt will have to worry about against West Virginia. The Mountaineers are grabbing offensive rebounds on 37.4 percent of their missed shots, the 14th-best percentage among Division I squads. Pitt, conversely, has struggled in that area, as a team without a cadre of talented and experienced big men is allowing opponents to get 32.6 percent of their missed shots (277th in Division I). Those woes came largely against small-conference challengers.
Things Pitt really struggles to do — take care of the basketball and get defensive rebounds to prevent second-chance points — are among the biggest strengths of WVU.
WVU doesn’t just try and speed teams up with their defense, they go fast at the other end as well. Pitt — and this may sound familiar from previous years — is among the bottom 20% nationally in tempo.
Pitt’s best hope, offensively, is on the perimeter. Pitt is at home and isn’t bad on shooting 3s. That is the one area of weakness for the Hoopies. Their aggressive defense and attempts at blocks and steals will leave them out of position or late getting out on a shooter after an extra pass.
A tightly called game could also be to Pitt’s benefit as the Panthers do shoot rather well from the free throw line. The downside is that Ryan Luther is a vital cog on keeping the team focused — and is their only consistent rebounder. He, though, struggles mightily from game to game with fouls.
Honestly, I haven’t felt this pessimistic about a Backyard Brawl game in football or basketball since a game at Milan-Puskar back in 2007. It isn’t that I lack hope. It’s that it is feeling overwhelmed by everything else.
I’ll gladly keep calling you out on your BS troll game, especially when you use selective memory to try and make points that are repetitive and don’t add to a discussion.
Stallings isn’t an upgrade over Dixon? LOL – no shit.
Athletic department is inept? Really? At Pitt? No way.
Jury is still out on Narduzzi? Enlightening.
No moral victory junk for me – reread my post – I was not happy with how to he game ended. Poor coaching IMO.
Troll Game? You give me to much credit.
Erie – No problem. Esa is really good. I see a lot of Big12 on TV here and he was very good last year.
Who is Ellison? A Pitt Player?
I feel like they could spend it if they truly wanted to invest. I guess that is what bothers me. I honestly think if I look at it the way you do I could get on board more.
The kid has a lot of talent and will probably start next year for Pitt.
Career Stats
40% FG Pct
33% 3P Pct
63% FT Pct
3 RPG
2.6 APG
2.1 Turnovers per game
That’s the key here. We have a Chancellor, not a President. The Chancellor is just one of many VP’s in the Pitt branch campus system … he just happens to be the VP at the main campus. The BoT controls everything.
In order for Pitt athletics to compete on a national scale, it will have to be a grass roots campaign and completely self-sustainable. Outside of the yearly athletic budget the BoT approves, Pitt athletics will have to rely solely on donations and fundraising.
The alumni currently donating to Pitt are donating to the Med school or law school or engineering school … not athletics.
Pitt could probably borrow from the endowment, but it would require a steady stream of donors contributing back (and BoT approval) … which they don’t have … and that requires consistent winning … specifically, consistent winning in football … which they haven’t had in 35+ years.
Pitt’s obviously had attendance issues, but they’re consistently one of the most watched teams based on TV ratings in the ACC. Pitt fans also generally travel pretty well for road games (outside of bowl games not in the alumni geographical area). Fans are obviously out there.
They won’t start giving money, however, until Pitt starts winning consistently. If Pitt football starts winning consistently, there is a lot of potential in fundraising. It’s all dependent on winning and winning over a period of time, however. One season won’t get the fundraising kicked off. Pitt fans are conditioned to expect the worst. It will take trust and the way to build trust is to build a legit football program that’s meant to stand the test of time.
There isn’t a magic button to just push and give a coach $5M.
While I like Duzz, I don’t see him thru blue and gold glasses. I hate the pro-style offense. I’d much prefer a modern RPO offense. I think, in theory, his defense will be very disruptive in the ACC. The defense has to turn the corner next season though … I think they started turning it this season but it wasn’t complete enough for me to fully trust that it has.
I like his vision for the program, however. I truly believes he sees college football with a 21st century eye.
I did not like Wanny’s, Graham’s or Chryst’s. Although, out of that group, I admittedly liked Graham the best because he approached the game from a modern angle … I never trusted he would be a longterm solution, however.
I know you don’t like Lykke, but she has the pedigree to do well. I like people who come from winning programs. She learned what a successful athletic department looked like at Ohio St. and she was successful at eastern or western or central Michigan … wherever she came from before Pitt.
In professional sports, you’ll be hard pressed to find a team that wins without a good owner and front office.
It’s similar for college. You need a good Administration and athletic department. Pitt has had neither for a long time. Gallagher talks the talk of making football a priority. Whether the BoT allows him to is another story. Lykke has the pedigree to be successful, even if she is inexperienced.
Modeling and an athletic department after Ohio St and a football program after Michigan St give me enough hope to keep believing in Pitt.
We didn’t hire people to make quick fixes, however. The athletic department and football program are going to take a while to come around. Luckily, we’re entering year 4 for football … it’s closer to being a reality. The athletic department is still in year one.
It’s going to take time. I’ve just accepted that.
Selfishly, I would have lyked to see both come back for their SR year and help this team get to the next level (not just a winning record, but 9 to 10 wins). But, if I was in their shoes, the opportunities AND risks are too great not to move on.
Who will be the next NFL talent to surface at Pitt? Are they even on the roster yet? P.Ford, Davis and Sibley come to mind – there are more I’m sure.
H2P!
I follow Pitt sports like they’re a family member. They annoy the crap out of me but, in the end, I feel like I have to stick up for them.
I come across as way too optimistic on this board. Generally, because I’m trying to offset the negativity. The negativity, in small doses is fine and well earned but the repetitiveness can wear on me.
Those that know me outside of this, see that I’m much more rational and realistic with my expectations.
I understand where Pitt is in the landscape of college athletics. Pitt is, by design, not ever going to be athletics first. It just won’t. That doesn’t mean Pitt can never reach that pinnacle. Schools like Stanford certainly have. It’s going to take luck and a big congruence of events for that to happen.
One of those events is finding a loyal coach with a plan. Whether you believe Narduzzi is the guy or not, my hope is that he is … and I, personally, think he is. Another is finding an AD with a winning pedigree who can gut the decades of complacent culture permeating throughout the athletic department. Lykke may or may not be that person. She has the pedigree but not the experience. She deserves a shot tho … and more than 6 months on the job before we start judging performance.
We do not have that with out basketball coach. He’s too unpopular for him to ever, truly, be given a chance. I’ve never seen a coach at any level in any sport, even a fraction of as unpopular as he is, let alone as unpopular, ever rebound and be embraced by the community that supports the respective team. I just haven’t so it’s unlikely that Stallings is the outlier to change that.
TT, I think Pitt tried to copy the Duke model and financially promote the program that was winning consistently, that was basketball. So they tore down the stadium and built the Pete.
Then the BE imploded and they learned that the real money is in FB, not BB. The ACC move saved us and woke up the BoT a little to this reality.
This is how close it came to our sports demise. (Never hate on BC)
I Lyke Kenny Pickett and Nick Patti seems to be a nice recruit. No other D1 talent on the roster. DiNucci is a good back-up.
Greg McElroy on XM-84 ESPNU radio said this morning that it took him a whole year after HS to grasp the college playbook. McElroy was the starting QB at Alabama in his JR and SR years and won a NC in 2010. He was later drafted in the 7th round by the Jets and played 3 years in the NFL.
Maybe, just maybe, Kenny wasn’t ready to start until the miami game.
K.Pickett SO
B.DiNucci RSJR
N.Patti TrFR
The (2) walk-ons with last names that begin with Z
Oh, and we lose two JR offensive weapons in QH and JW (ikr) who were both under-utilized by OC Watson.
Next year looks Lyke a tough year to be a Pitt fan (again).
“Recruiting oddity: Pitt football staff tracks top prospects to News-Press building”
The former Pitt OC was the main recruiter who attracted QB MacVitte to the Panthers.
Guessing the Pitt staff failed to develop this young QB.
Haven’t seen George play
The QB depth just took another hit.
Let’s see, besides the two walk-ons with last names that begin with Z, we have two scholarship QB’s – Kenny Pickett SO and Nick Patti trFR (provided he signs his LOI next week).
Explaining what he’s sacrificed to be the head coach at Pitt is hardly a cop out. In fact, he would have endeared himself to some fans if he had done this from the beginning. Hell knows he needed it.
He’s a dead man walking. He knows it. The fans know it. The administration knows it. I’m sure the players know it too. If anything this helps set the stage for him leaving.
It was a bad hire by a bad AD under bad circumstances.
Barnes is the one to direct your anger towards. There’s zero reason to pile on about his family. Whether you agree or not, it’s not anyone’s business, or right to judge, what a family decides is in their best interest.
Stallings will be gone soon enough. Just let him limp off into the sunset.
We’ll be able to direct our vitriol at someone else soon enough.
If they don’t move here at the end of the school year, I would say it is a lack of commitment to Pitt or to the family. Coaching is a nomadic lifestyle for most, I get that. However if I am hiring someone, I want them to be all in. Maybe there are issues, wife’s job etc. The guy makes 2 mill a year, with a six year contract, he can afford two houses and lots of plane tickets. His wife could be here every weekend, at least.
I do agree that Barnes is the bigger scumbag, but he is gone and Stallings has to take the heat for his own performance, which so far is below the line.
Jackagain- thanks for the highlights
Ugh!
But KS has all his time outs in his back pocket.
Meanwhile, Pitt wrestling loses to Clarion @ Home 24-20 to drop to 1-4. Tough start for our new HC.
Horned Frogs vs Corn Dogs
TCU’s toughest game to date was vs unranked Nevada. Kind of Lyke Jamie’s days at Pitt. Oh, wouldn’t we pay big bucks to have him back on the bench at The Pete. At least the move Barney made was good for someone.
H2P!
