8pm.

Raycom affiliates or ACC NE/WatchESPN.

It’s been quite a while since Pitt beat Louisville. Pitt hasn’t beaten Louisville since the Cards joined the ACC. The Panthers have lost 12 straight to Louisville. The last win came in March 2008. Almost 11 years. Yikes.

Rick Pitino isn’t running things anymore. Louisville is in the midst of a transition of their own. Albeit with Chris Mack, late of Xavier, now running things.

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12pm.

Raycom Syndication.

The good news is that this game is a sellout. The clearest evidence to date that the fanbase is optimistic about this team going forward under Head Coach Jeff Capel.

The bad news: the disparity of talent and experience on the court.

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7pm.

ACC NE/WatchESPN.

My favorite quote in the game notes today:

The Panthers are one win shy of matching their win total from a year ago. With a win Monday, Pitt would become the first team in the NCAA to match its win total from 2017-18.

Whoever is compiling the game notes is having a lot of fun this year.

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7pm

ACC NE/WatchESPN.

I realize Pitt is now a Volleyball School, and their opening tournament game — which Pitt is hosting at the Pete is airing at the same time.

…But there is still this game.

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9:00 pm

ESPNU

After being left out of the ACC-B1G Challenge last year (wisely, it seems safe to say), Pitt returns to the cross-conference melee. They face a surprisingly good Iowa team.

At the time of the dividing of opponents, the expectation was that Iowa was going to be in the lower-half of the Big Ten. Not in the basement, but somewhere in that 6th to 11th range. They still might end up there by the end of the year, but at the moment they are the third highest ranked Big Ten team (behind Michigan and Michigan State).

Iowa is ranked 14th in the AP and 15th in the Coaches. 32d per KenPom — but that comes with the caveat that stats driven rankings are not very good in the first month or so of the college basketball season. The Hawkeyes have a strong national ranking thanks to upsetting Oregon in the 2K Classic and then taking out UConn (who upset Syracuse) to win the non-con tournament.

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7:00 pm

ACC NE/ESPN3.

I really thought that as the kids got older I would start getting some time back. Nope. Just the opposite. Always something else. Somewhere to be. Something to do. Something that costs more money, so keep grinding and working. Ugh. Oh, the self-pity.

Anyways, Pitt is coming off a good win over Troy. A decent Sun Belt team that gave Pitt some issues with rebounding and uncomfortably Villanova-esque free throw shooting. Yet despite that, Pitt never trailed in the game; and after opening up a 7-0 lead to start the game, never let Troy get closer then 5 points the rest of the game.

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7pm.

ACC NE/ESPN3

First off, thanks to Justin for covering for me on the last two open threads. Waiting for bail money is— This past weekend was my son’s Boy Scout Thanksgiving camping trip. It’s held in a cabin (thankfully, and not in tents). It involves all the families coming out on Saturday for a dinner prepared by the kids. Somehow convinced my wife to switch with me for the second day so I just got to town on Saturday for the football game before running back home just in case our teenage daughter got any ideas about things with no parents around on a Saturday night. That’s the story I’m using and you can’t shake me.

As for tonight’s game.

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Good afternoon everybody!

Chas is currently passed out drunk errr um on the run from the law busy! Yea, busy is the phrase. He asked me to put up this thread and tomorrow’s slightly important football game thread oh god please don’t Pitt this please please please. I’m super confident in both outcomes.

7pm tip-off at the Pete. ACC Network for those of you who are saving up drunken energy for the football game. We saw some good and bad things against YSU, but the key to me is we saw effort. This team isn’t going to the NCAA tournament, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive. Games like tonight are a good chance to build up confidence against what appears to be an inferior opponent. Trey McGowens showed explosive athleticism that Pitt has not had in awhile, much less from a freshman. Rebounding looks like it will be a season long issue given the lack of height on the roster.

What do you yinz think?

7 pm

ACC Network Extra

The season is upon us and cautious optimism reigns. Not that Pitt is going to contend in the ACC. Or even that they will get to the NIT. No. The optimism is because there is hope for the future.

Pitt has some dynamic young players. They have a coach that isn’t riding out that final paycheck. There’s flat out energy from the fanbase that has been lacking for the last three years.

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Hey, team basketball practices started yesterday. No, I’m not trying to change the subject. Stop questioning such things.

MMMMmmmm. That new coach smell is still there. Everything is upbeat and positive. There’s energy and good vibes (no, not that one, but now I’m thinking about it) around the players, the coaches and fans.

Pitt’s website has videos of the interviews with Head Coach Jeff Capel, senior Jared Wilson-Frame and junior Malik Ellison.

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You probably know that Kene Chukwuka decided (at last) that he would remain at Pitt. Cynically, his choices were going to be limited — much like Malik Ellison. He played one year of junior college, and if he transferred would have to sit out a year and be a junior. Unlike Ellison, he is not a high-level player, so development and getting on the court are big deals.

Chukwuka has some potential. The hope coming into last year was that he would redshirt first. That became untenable. Don’t give him a green light to shoot threes, and he can be a more effective and efficient player. His minutes will likely go down, which is also a good thing for his overall development.

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Okay, maybe not exclusively, but I definitely expect to see it more then once this season. Definitely a ton of 4-guard rotations.

Plus, a Jeff Capel puff piece.

In recent radio interviews, Capel has stressed he won’t just look to add bodies. Which means, despite a glaring need for more in the frontcourt, he’s not going to reach for a player if he can’t help this year. After missing out on traditional transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones (he went with NC State), Pitt didn’t waste much time.

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Morning.

The Women’s Softball Team got screwed by the NCAA Selection Committee. After making it to the ACC Championship game, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion to FSU. Then to be one of the last teams out of the Tournament, as ND  (who they never actually played this season) was the last ACC team in. I don’t pretend to follow Women’s College Softball, but I can still generate reasonable outrage when a Pitt team is screwed.

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Malik Ellison, a talented shooting guard, has finally decided that he will remain at Pitt.

Malik Ellison is coming back. pic.twitter.com/VQjB7PpDa4

— PittCabe (@PittCabe) May 8, 2018

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Curtis Aiken is one of Pitt basketball’s great players. He is also an color analyst for Pitt. His son, Curtis Aiken, Jr., had been a rising junior. As a junior he was considered a 3-star recuit.

A knee injury hindered his senior year, and he fell off the radar, and isn’t ranked by some sites. That said, he still had offers from TCU (yes, we know) and Tennessee. He had also taken an unofficial visit to Arizona (uh-huh).

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