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.
We knew Penn State-Pitt was going to be a night game broadcast by the Mouse Monopoly. We just didn’t know which station. Turns out they are going big for it:
One of college football’s most historic rivalries will be showcased in primetime when Pitt and Penn State clash at Heinz Field this September 8 in front of a national ABC television audience at 8 p.m.
This will be the first night kickoff for a Pitt-Penn State game in 31 years. On November 14, 1987, the Panthers defeated the Nittany Lions, 10-0, in an ESPN televised game at Pitt Stadium that started at 7:30 p.m.
This game is going to be one of the wilder ones.
Still not convinced that it will have College GameDay as well for it. But we will see.
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.
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.
We all saw it coming. Most of us cannot bother with even a semblance of outrage any longer. I’m hoping not to have to talk about it other then in the context of the two remaining games.
Pitt AD Heather Lyke made it clear that Pitt wanted to continue the series with Penn State in football. Lyke also made it clear that Pitt wasn’t going to bend over backwards to make it happen or keep waiting. For all intents and purposes, making it very public that Penn State was the one keeping it from happening.
Penn State AD Sandy Barbour, this week made it known that Pitt and Penn State were not going to see each other again until at least 2030.
I won’t lie, it never really dawned on me that Pitt lacked a formalized Hall of Fame for its past greats. We’ve seen them honored in the past whether with a number retired, ceremonies lauding their past achievements. Annual award ceremonies. Names etched in the steps near the Cathedral. But no Hall of Fame.
While my initial thought was “there isn’t one already?” Followed by wondering declaring one at this point a little redundant. It is still a good idea to formally create one.
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).
McGowens is rated as the fifth-best prospect in the state of Virginia and the 88th ranked recruit in the nation by 247Sports. He jumped to No. 80 in the Rivals Class of 2018 rankings upon his reclassification. McGowens received offers from more than 40 Division I institutions including Clemson, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Kansas State and Marquette before deciding on Pitt.
McGowens is Pitt’s highest rated recruit (according to Rivals rankings) since Steven Adams (No. 5) and James Robinson (No. 59) in 2012. He is the Panthers’ first Rivals Top 100 commitment since Damon Wilson (No. 100) in 2015.
It highlights both how aggressive a tack Pitt is taking in announcing a big recruit, and the impact of Jeff Capel immediately. By some degree, it also drives home that Kevin Stallings wasn’t exactly lighting it up in recruiting for however brief his time.
I was away with my son on his first Boy Scout camping trip this past weekend. End of April, you figure at worst a little damp. Did it rain the first night and all morning? You bet. Did the temperature start plummeting after the rains stopped so that it was mid-30s by the evening and right around 30 by the morning. Of course. How the boy or I aren’t sick (yet), is a mystery. On the plus side, the new cot I got saved my back so I’m not trying to type while hanging from an inversion table.
Being away meant not watching the draft, but more importantly not being able to comment on yet another new commit for the men’s basketball team.
It’s almost as if Pitt AD Heather Lyke tried to take the first year a little slow, publicly. Feel things out. Line up some things. And now… just unleash a firestorm of change.
Obviously there are the numerous coaching changes that have occurred. Hey, an accolade for wrestling.
Today she had a meeting with reporters and there were some really good things.
Sorry. One of those weeks where I am everywhere but home.
As much as I wasn’t enamored with Marcus Carr as a true point guard by the end of the year, the fact was he was the only option. And he was just a freshman. And, given the upheaval, he was someone Pitt and Jeff Capel wanted to keep.
But from the moment he got his release, major conference teams came calling. Him not coming back was unsurprising. Just annoying at how long he took to make that decision.
University of Pittsburgh Director of Athletics Heather Lyke announced Wednesday afternoon the hiring of Lance White as head women’s basketball coach.
“When I first met Coach White, his genuine personality, energy and excitement about being at Pitt was evident and contagious,” Lyke said. “He has a tremendous pedigree in coaching and has been an instrumental part of several successful women’s basketball programs that have sustained success at the highest levels. I am confident he is more than prepared to build a program that brings great pride to our University. We are thrilled to welcome Lance and his wife, Melanie, and their children to Pittsburgh and the Pitt family.”
White comes to Pitt after spending the past 15 years at Florida State, where he helped the Seminoles to a 350-145 (.707) record, including 12 seasons with 20 wins or more. Since White’s arrival at FSU, 10 players were selected in the WNBA Draft, eight Seminoles earned ACC All-Defensive team honors and 37 earned all-conference awards. He helped Florida State reach the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the past 14 years, while the team won at least one NCAA Tournament game in its past 15 appearances. For his standout coaching efforts during the 2016-17 season, White was named the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association National Assistant (WBCA) Coach of the Year.
White was also an assistant coach at Texas Tech before FSU. Texas Tech is also his alma mater.
Pitt men’s basketball coach, Jeff Capel, completed his staff last night with the hiring of Milan Brown. Brown had been an assistant at College of Charleston. But before that, he had been the head coach at Holy Cross and Mt. Saint Mary’s for a total of 12 years.
All three of his assistant coaches have head coaching experience. Especially the two lead assistants — O’Toole and Brown.
There is a logic to it. As much as the assumption was that Capel would hire a name, stud recruiter, Capel himself is the name, stud recruiter.
If you wish to be angsty about the offense, go right ahead. There wasn’t much at all. To large degree, though, that is not surprising.
The play calling was always going to be safe and vanilla for this game. Two of the likely starting offensive linemen did not play. One due to minor injury and the other because he isn’t on campus yet.
We expected the defense to be ahead of the offense, and by all appearances has better talent. But if you went, were you really there for the football?
