9 pm.

RSNs and ACC NE/WatchESPN.

GT isn’t good. Their head coach has regrets about ghosting Xavier Johnson. But, Pitt is on the road, where; beyond not winning a game in a couple years, has looked really bad to boot. So, who knows tonight.

I’ve seen and read some talk about how this season is more frustrating then last season because Pitt has had more shoulda/coulda/woulda games that were losses rather then wins.

Bullshit.

Absolute and utter bullshit.

Not that Pitt hasn’t had more of those kind of games. That is a true statement. It’s the idea that because of that because Pitt has been so much closer in so many of the games. That because we, the fans, are more invested and not completely checked out on the season; that the losses are making this season more frustrating.

Nah.

We feel it more. Simply because we are back to caring. The losses sting. The emotions can run higher after the losses.

But last season was a pure and utter experience in misery. When the choices are to get mad each and every game or to emotionally check out to survive without  heading towards chemical dependence. That is far, far worse then having tough losses. Apathy is the worst.

And it simply comes down to this. At what point last year did anyone feel hope for the future of Pitt basketball as it was constituted?

Reasonably certain the hope didn’t spring anew until AD Heather Lyke fired Kevin Stallings.

Now, as much as we can be bothered — and yes, frustrated — by some of the losses. And this includes the effort put forth in some of the games (*cough* BC *cough*). How many of us are not already thinking about next season and the possibilities? The improvements. The growth.

Any frustration that we really have about this season stems more from the fact that we saw some really great things early in ACC action, and started believing that this team was way ahead of expectations.

Granted, it feels like more then a little overcorrection.

One other fun topic since I know it’s been pissing me off a bit. Terrell Brown.

Man, there’s a topic in frustration. I have to admit, I’m not sure how well I’m going to articulate some of this.

There are a lot of ways to come at this. The kid has such potential. He has size. He actually has some touch with his shot.

But that motor. You can see how frustrated Head Coach Jeff Capel is at times. He took him out of the starting line-up a couple games ago. He nailed his backside to the bench in the VT game after a few minutes of little to no effort on defense (and barely more then the minimum on offense).

Capel isn’t prepared to give up on him, and I don’t blame him. I want to believe he can be reached. We’ve seen the games. Not just flashes or moments. But entire games this season. Games where you can project him out next year and as a senior and be really optimistic. Thinking that the light has gone off and that effort, practice, ability and developing skill will all mesh.

But it has been uneven to be kind. It was the knock on him coming out of high school and it hasn’t changed yet.

It’s not like he’s the first, last or only player at the college (or pro) level with a questionable motor. He is, though, one of the first we’ve seen in a long time in a Pitt basketball uniform.

This isn’t some wistful look back for Jamie Dixon. That time has moved on.

The one thing, though, that we could count on with kids who played (not necessarily recruited) when Dixon was coaching.  That one thing. It was that you were almost always going to get effort. Games without effort were few and far between, and often led them to the bench. Hell, Dixon got effort regularly from Mike Young and Jamel Artis on defense.

Terrell Brown never would have been recruited to Pitt by Dixon because the fit would have been wrong for both sides. And we got used to that part of things. Even with the Stallings gap years, that is a perspective that hasn’t changed for most of us. Even if the talent wasn’t there, at least there was effort.

And this isn’t to excuse Brown. Frankly, I’ve been infuriated at times. It’s just that he’s a different kid, and there is still time for things to click.

At least that is what I’m hoping. And, once more this season is as much about hope for the future as anything else.