Say what you want about our team’s performance against superior talent, but Pitt has performed admirably against like-and-inferior foes. We’ve exceeded many fans’ expectations this year, and these individual honors are well-earned.

Six Panthers Named to All-ACC Football Team

An additional six Pitt players received Honorable Mention recognition

 

PITTSBURGH—Six Pitt players were named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Football Team announced today by the league office, while an additional six received Honorable Mention All-ACC.

Senior tailback Qadree Ollison and senior offensive tackle Stefano Millin were second-team All-ACC honorees. The Panthers had four third-team selections: senior tailbackDarrin Hall, senior guard Mike Herndon, sophomore center Jimmy Morrissey and sophomore placekicker Alex Kessman.

Receiving Honorable Mention recognition were junior Maurice Ffrench (as both an all-purpose player and return specialist), senior fullback George Aston, senior offensive tackle Alex Bookser, senior guard Connor Dintino, junior cornerback Dane Jackson and junior safety Damar Hamlin.

The official All-ACC Team is voted on by conference head coaches, a representative from each of the 14 schools’ radio broadcast teams and select media members who cover the league on a daily basis.

Ollison and Hall were arguably the top tailback tandem in the ACC this past season. The Panthers have never had a 1,000-yard rushing duo but are on the cusp of that historic first.

Ollison (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Canisius) has rushed for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns on 176 carries (6.44 avg.). He is only the sixth player in Pitt history to achieve multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Ollison had 1,121 in 2015 when he also was a second-team All-ACC pick.

Hall (Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) has rushed for 935 yards and nine touchdowns on 123 carries (7.60 avg.). His yards-per-carry average ranks sixth nationally and second in the ACC.

The Panthers’ offensive front has paved the way for a ground game that ranks 18th nationally (232.7 avg.). Millin (Massillon, Ohio/Perry) was a key addition for the unit this past offseason, joining the Panthers as a graduate transfer from Kent State. He has started all 12 games at left tackle.

On the interior, Herndon (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) has started every game at right guard. Morrissey (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./La Salle College H.S.), who maned Pitt’s center position for 23 consecutive starts, had his all-star season cut short due to an injury sustained late in the Nov. 17 Wake Forest victory.

Kessman (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) leads the Panthers in scoring with 68 points on 10-of-13 field goals and 38-of-40 PATs. He has displayed one of the strongest legs in college football, kicking six field goals of more than 50 yards over the past two years. This season, he has a 55-yard kick, two 54-yarders and a 53-yarder.

As champions of the Coastal Division, the Panthers (7-5, 6-2) will face Atlantic Division winner Clemson (12-0, 8-0) in the Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game this Saturday, Dec. 1. The game, played in Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, will kick off at 8 p.m., and be nationally televised by ABC (WTAE-TV, Channel 4, in Pittsburgh).

 

 

93 thoughts on “ACC Accolades

  1. Hard to believe there are 2 other kickers better than Kessman. Maybe because they likely kick in better weather

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  2. funny part about this is that I believe Pitt has had at least one first teamer ever since it joined the ACC but now they are division champs, they have none

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Seven seniors recognized. Sad that Weaver didn’t get mentioned, but the competition is tough.
    I think no first teamers is correct. Makes their accomplishments even more meaningful.
    Teamwork and coaching. Need to recruit more elite talent.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Weaver had his moments but playing at DE I’m sure the competition for any award at that position was stiff.

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  4. How did Q, not be 1st team. He was 2nd in the ACC in rushing yards. Both in overall games and Conference games.

    He was also 2nd in the Conf at yards per attempt at 6.4 yards per carry. The kid from BC only avg. 4.9

    That’s a very significant difference. What an utter farce.

    Liked by 4 people

  5. I agree that Weaver is impressive and IMHO deserved some sort of recognition.

    People were mentioning Narduzzi to Louisville in the last post. I guess anything is possible, but the Louisville opening doesn’t concern me. On the other hand, if the “migraines” of Urban Meyer are too much and he steps down at OSU, I’d hate to see Narduzzi on any list for that opening.

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    1. Narduzzi’s record is not good enough for any of the jobs mentioned. The only place his name might be mentioned is if Dantonio stepped down at MSU.

      Liked by 3 people

  6. Plus Q was a major factor in Pitt winning the Coastal Division.

    What did BC win ? I’ll tell you……… nothing at all.

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  7. Part of this is Pitt’s fault and part is the local schmuck media. Neither promoted Q much at all during the season. I mentioned this before, you google Q….you get a measly 40,000 results.

    You google the kid from BC you get 23 million results.

    Pitt’s PR dept sucks, I could find a 12 yr old kid with a smartphone and twitter account who could do better.
    And the local scum media, well ….what can you expect of pedo infested scum like them,

    Liked by 2 people

  8. Would not think of trading Ollison for the “OVER-Hyped” Back from BC.

    And as for Weaver… In two years, the NFL Draft will show how LITTLE 46 Sports Writers and 14 Biased Coaches actually did know.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Exactly PoD…….the Beantown media got behind the BC back and pushed him to the national media.

      Pgh’s media did neither for Q. Same thing for Weaver.

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  9. I think part of the issue with Ollison is that he split carries with Hall, which actually makes his accomplishments more incredible, but may lower the opinion of some. No doubt he is worthy of first team.
    Maybe since 4 offensive linemen and Aston received honors, they thought anyone could do well behind that much beef. Also, Ollison is not flashy and very humble. Getting a thousand yards as a freshman and a senior, taking a back seat to Conner his sophomore year and playing fullback his junior year. Really a team player and an awesome credit to PITT!

    Liked by 4 people

  10. I agree with all those saying Ollison deserves first team. He’s been very impressive not only as a player, but a leader. I’m willing to bet the BC running back doesn’t have 2 solo and 2 assisted tackles like QO.

    The other guy getting a bad deal is Aston — it’s a shame he has to considered with TEs, because he’s not one.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. The most amazing accomplishment is of the O-line which was very doubted before the season as was their coach. Borbely and his hogs deserve all the credit for this year’s success. Only two starters from last year, one playing out of position, the other a walk-on. A transfer from Kent and two guys that couldn’t find a position until they were seniors. They deserve all the credit in their world for their perseverance and dedication to Pitt.

    Liked by 6 people

  12. ^^ Exactly gc, 5th year seniors no matter where they came from should be applauded and guys like Herndon and Dintino stuck it out the whole 5 years plus without much playing time. Something or someone must be making these young men happy enough to do that?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Not a word of Pitt in the lengthy text of the article at all. You wouldn’t even know we won the Coastal or even play in the ACC. I really hate this conf.

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  13. Well, we won the coastal so we should have the best players and most recognized…..at least from the coastal. That seems to make sense. So we got a lot of mentions, for a mediocre team. Congrats to the individual players for being recognized, but let’s not confuse the recognition coming from a dominating team. We were the best of a bad bunch.

    It is what it is. Also, hard to promote OL in a conference dominated by spread, run/pass option teams. We are harder to defend because other teams are too busy scheming against RPO teams and not brushing up on their tackling. That goes away when you have DL talent like we will see against Clempson and Miami.

    The only person (if any) pushing for Narduzzi to OSU…..would be his agent, if he even has one. He would not be considered. Go back to comments around the time that our newest coaches son, a 5 star OL committed to OSU. I indicated that things may change at OSU and was mocked. My prediction is still no different although I think it is more than 50% Urb is on his way out. It helps that Cleveland and Cincinnati may have openings for a new head coach. Coach Johnson should be all over that and asking his son not to commit in the early signing period so that all things can play out.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I have yet to come across any Pitt fan, on the POV or otherwise, who thinks that Pitt is a “dominant” team.

      We know our team has many flaws — which makes it all the more satisfying that Pitt went 6-2 in the Coastal.

      Who is saying Pitt is a dominant team?

      Go Pitt!

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  14. Good point Huff the third. We already see Urb constantly rubbing his head on the sidelines whether his head hurts or he’s building an excuse. I know it’s documented that he has a cyst in his head though. I do agree, Myer is headed out of Columbus after this season.

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  15. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ACC RECOGNIZED PLAYERS!!!!
    Thank you for your hard work and representing the university well! We are proud of you!!!
    Pittman4ever

    Liked by 1 person

  16. +++++++++++++++++++++ MOVING OF THE GOAL POSTS +++++++++++

    You got to love it.. right? Eh, me? Not so much. Let’s ask ourselves, how many times did we move the goal-posts just this year? After the blowout losses then the annual loss to UNC and people were already saying they can’t see 4 or 5 wins the rest of the season. 4-8 or 5-7 at best. The Goal-Posts were moved. Oh dear.

    Good thing Heather decided for PITT to play the rest of the season and lookie what happened? PITT goes on a win streak and somehow miraculously wins the ACC before heading to Miami for their last game. And guess what happened then. That’s right, the Goal-Posts changed again. Expectation grew and grew!

    But, PITT doesn’t play well in Miami and loses rather convincingly although the score doesn’t sound like a blow-out loss it pretty much was one. Ah oh, now lookie what happens. I think many are right back where they started from. Being overly critical of this overachieving PITT football program. Now I’m not saying there isn’t room for reasonable criticisms especially considering this is a PITT football blog. All I’m saying we make it pretty easy to be critical when we keep moving our expectations. Might as well eliminate prediction threads altogether if we sway back and forth on the fence like we do.

    So what! PITT won the crappy ACC Coastal Division this year. The Division was terrible I read. It’s not that this isn’t completely untrue, it does ring out-loud to me that some folks around here can never be happy at least for a minute. All of a sudden what PITT decided would be their first two priorities going into the season, bowl eligible and ACC Coastal Champs, is being completely dissed on and diminished and why? We kept moving the doggone Goal-Post!

    Liked by 8 people

    1. Ike, I agree. You can never make everybody happy but when you look at last year and then go to being the Coastal Champions ans bowl eligible the next year that is impressive for a bunch of “not so talented 2 and 3 star recruits”.

      Liked by 2 people

  17. If Pitt goes 12-14 over the last 2 years, Heather moved the goal posts last year herself with that ludicrous extension. If Narduzzi is worth his pay, he’ll win the Coastal again next year. 9 regular season wins should be the goal but I have a feeling Vegas will peg Pitt at 7. Pitt has a very easy OOC schedule next year along with 7 home games.

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    1. re: if Narduzzi is “worth his pay” — Isn’t he getting paid somewhere in the middle-to -bottom of the pack of ACC coaches? Given that, a division championship seems like an overachievement.

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        1. I agree top 40 … but I’d argue that unless your team finishes in the top 25, then you probably cannot expect to win a P5 division. So if you pay him top 40 and logically think you’ll get top 40 results — that doesn’t equate to division titles. If we start paying top 25, however, that’s a different story, and I would say that titles should be expected with somewhat degree of frequency.

          Liked by 1 person

  18. Narduzzi won the AAC Coastal. That’s why he was paid and extended plain and simple. HCPN checked all his employers boxes this season….. and it’s not over yet.

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  19. Another good one I keep hearing is how PITT is Lucy and they keep pulling the football away from the fans. Well, I think that CAN be the opposite sometimes. PITT thought they had kicked the ball this year but the Lucy fans ripped it right away at the last second. If you can’t be happy with the ACC Coastal Championship and a date to win the entire ACC on a national stage?? I don’t know what to tell you.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. ike, many will say that Pitt winning the Coastal without a single first team ACC player is further proof that the Coastal is crappy this year. I look at it from a slightly different perspective in that even though Pitt’s recruiting over the past few years has not produced a single first teamer this year, they were still capable of functioning as a team in a manner that produced some positive results. Against a stronger Coastal next year, however, they will not be so lucky. Even Ffrench, who was named a mid-season All American, could not perform at a sufficient level over the entire year to attain first team ACC status.

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    1. Having no 1st teamers is more a product of being slighted than guys not deserving. Q deserved to be 1st team, finishing 2nd in the Conference in Rushing Yardage in ALL Games AS WELL AS ACC CONFERENCE GAMES. (even sharing carries with another RB who nearly had 1000 yards as well)

      As did Ffrenchy, who was the ONLY Returner in the ACC with 2 TD’s. And led the Conference in Avg Kickoff Return yard per attempt.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Tonight Pitt is a 12.5 underdog to a very good Iowa team playing at home. Iowa is huge in the paint so it will all be about Pitt being able to get out and run. That means it’s all about not getting crushed on the offensive boards. All about boxing out, working angles and sometimes letting the Iowa bigs catch the rebound and then taking it away from them. This is a really bad matchup for Pitt. I expect us to play well but come up short. If we win this one, the sky’s the limit for this team.

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      1. JM,,,,,Center is not as important as it used to be because of the Flex offense which is an outside shooters dream and draws the big guys away from the basket. Still, we may get a huge commit tonight on one. If we get both commits tonight you’re looking at next years top ten preseason team.

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  22. Unfortunately I’ll miss the first part of the game, but I’d want to see how X will do when there are bigs waiting for him at the hoop. Lots of things I want to see, hey, I’m interested in Pitt hoops again!!!

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  23. Saw this posted and thought it was interesting…

    Ages of Coastal FB coaches:
    Brown. 67
    Cutcliffe. 64
    Johnson. 61
    Richt. 58
    Mendenhall. 52
    Duzz. 52
    Fuente. 42

    —Makes me think that Fuente May be at VT, the Steelers of college football when it comes to changing head coaches, a long time…

    —Brown’s darn near as old as I am…

    —Duzz needs to continue to develop as a head coach – especially he needs to find a way to attract elite recruits to Pitt…

    —From a coaching standpoint, I think Duzz winning 6 games in the Coastal, in spite of the experience/ability shortcomings of this team, was impressive.

    Go Pitt!

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    1. Major, most of the credit for this season should go Borberly. Had Peterson been retained I do believe Pitt would not being going to a bowl this year.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I agree with you, jrn. Who would have thought Borbely would have been such a significant hire. And he was probably “championed” to the Duzz by Watson…

        The college football coaching carousel works in strange ways…

        Go Pitt!

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  24. Not one team from the ACC Coastal ranked in the top 25. That was part of my point above. We are the best of a motley crew.

    The ACC will be mocked nationally for this and Pitt is getting crushed for having the largest point spread of all of the conference games currently at 25 points.

    Interesting thought. If Ohio State really beats down Northwestern (expected) and Georgia beats Alabama and OKlahomie beats TX, will the selection committee penalize Notre Dame for not playing in a championship game? Candidly, if ND was in the coastal (because they are located by a coast), the championship game of the ACC would most likely have been ND v. Clempson.

    The selection committee may have a chance to push ND into a conference and really shake up the college football landscape. Wishful thinking on my part I suppose.

    Clempson, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, OSU, ND. Who gets in?

    If the above occurs and I am on committee, I keep ND out for just that reason and send the message that in order to be considered you need to be in a power 5 conference. Pick a conference golden domer jackwagons!

    @ POV Owner – is the term jackwagon, referencing a college, namecalling?

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    1. Shame to leave any of those teams out. Shows why they need an eight-team playoff.

      Hope Clemson doesn’t feel the need to run up the score against Pitt to help their cause, but I think they just might…

      Go Pitt.

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  25. I think NDs agreement in FB with ACC runs out in 2026. New ACC Network could be more money for us. Unsure how much ND would get. ACC could expand to Temple and CT, dump ND.

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  26. Huff III, what makes you think the B1G west is any better than the Coastal? Or the Pac12 South? How about anyone on the B12 aside from Oklahoma or WVU?

    The only good game this weekend is the SEC. Northwestern only lost 1 B1G game but lost to Akron and Duke at home. They also beat the worst P5 team (Rutgers) by 3 points while Texas just beat Kansas (the 2nd worst P5 team) by a whopping 7 points.

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    1. Never said the other divisions were better. I actually typed that exact thing in previous posts about conferences and divisions. What I said above focused mainly on the point spread was nearly 26 points. The most the other spreads were came in at 15 points. Fearing a blowout, not a good game. I think the osu northwestern game will be a blowout.

      Alabama favored heavily, but I think that will be the best game of the weekend. I think georgia has a chance.

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  27. PITT beat one of the two teams ranked in the top 20 from the ACC Atlantic division and have earned the chance to try and beat the #2 over-all rated team in the country. What else should or could have they done?

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      1. The Miami game really only had an effect on the PITT fans. Yes, I would have loved it if PITT had won and it bums me out a little they didn’t.

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  28. I don’t care if any of the players earn a spot on the post season ACC team. Winning the Coastal Division is a great accomplishment and a building block for the future.

    Liked by 2 people

  29. Navy would be the perfect team for the ACC and throw in Temple. Not so sure they want another Florida team. Although UCF is a big up and comer. Cincy and even Buffalo are options as well creating a North division.

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  30. So here’s a question for thought. 2 teams play their home games at Heinz. One team is beloved, followed, highly rooted for and adored. The other not so much. The question is “WHY”? I submit for the first 40 years that the Steelers were losers nobody cared that much about them. When they became winners – everybody wants to follow a winner! Pitt has been mediocre for nearly 40 years and does not have much of a following. Is this the main reason WHY???????

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    1. The Steelers had a good owner, good drafting and good coaches…winning soon followed and continues to this day.

      Pitt has a terrible owner (BoT), average drafting (3 stars), and mediocre coaches since Jackie

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      1. Steeler’s owner wasn’t so good and their drafting wasn’t so good either — until they hired Chuck Noll in 1969.

        Prior to that they were the definition of mediocre…

        Go Pitt!

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    2. Actually when you think about it….considering those (40 ?) actually 35 years of mediocrity, Pitt has a decent following, in a pro sports town and a city that has many alumni of Creepy Valley and Morganhole, that are lifers in da Burgh.

      Liked by 1 person

  31. Ike: I’m always a half full rather than half empty guy. But I understand the perspective of being disappointed with the Miami loss. And it was not fluky turnovers or bad calls. It was a pounding. It does reinforce the point that 4 and 5 stars are better than 2 or 3. And lets face it, we aren’t getting many of the former to commit these days. We laid the proverbial POV egg.

    I am elated to be playing in the ACC Championship game, but sometimes be careful what you wish for. I hope I’m wrong, but I see us getting our butts (is that OK, MAM?) kicked. We wont sneak up on them this time. Unfortunately, I see it as another opportunity to be embarrassed on national TV (See PSU, UCF and ND)

    We have made great strides this year. I hope that we can all agree that HCPN is going nowhere. Even if he finished 4-8 he was going nowhere. That was nonsense.

    But we have a ways to go.

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    1. I don’t think we were embarrassed in losing to ND. It was certainly disappointing how we lost, but I wouldn’t call it an embarrassment, especially considering nobody this season came any closer to beating them than we did.

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    2. I was just discussing the game with ikesbrotherfromanother, last night and we both agreed that a large part of this game was the officiating. It was a one score game for most of the 1st half, and only 10-0 at halftime. For the game Pitt had the ball for over 12 minutes more than Miami. And further the game was a 1 score game (10-3) with 3 minutes left in the 3rd Q. Does that sound like a pounding.

      Any time Pitt did have a good offensive play it seemingly got called back, which had a direct impact on
      how the game progressed. Even with that, Pitt had as many 1st downs as Thug U (or 1 less)

      Pitt had 10 penalties for 100 yards. Miami (which is known as an undisciplined team) had only 3 for 30.

      I will agree with you, we were pounded……by the refs.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. More numbers to consider, Miami was avg’g approx 7 penalties a game, as was Pitt pre-game.

        So ours was a +3, while theirs was a -4. In a close game which this was for 3 quarters, that is significant.

        Liked by 3 people

      2. Pitt could have played another 4 quarters and they would not have scored any more
        Pitt’s O was as bad as Wanny’s in the Sun Bowl.

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      3. Those 3 penalties on Miami came after our 10 had already sealed the win for Miami. Refs on the take always do that to hide what they’re doing in the final box score.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Exactly Jack……in a close game, defensive game, which it was…..10-3 with 3 minutes left in 3rd Q, taking 100 yards away from 1 team is YUGE.

          Officiating wise the Miami game and the Wake game were almost identical in the 1st half. Only when they decided to not call anymore penalties on Pitt in the later half of the 3rd Q and 4rth did Pitt put 28 points on the board.

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  32. Missing: Miami is better than PITT and it’s because they have 4 and 5 star players on their roster. I don’t feel the shame as you do in losing to them. The way they lost? Yeah, maybe a little. At the same time, PITT won their division and Miami did not.

    I say again. Unless anyone forecast that PITT would go 8-4 AND win the ACC Coastal, how can there be all that much disappointment? If you predicted anything less, you’re just reaching for something to complain about imo.

    I never expected a 180 degree turnaround 4 years ago but I continue to see progress after a 3rd year setback which is completely of the norm. Throw out the anomaly of last years record, as we do on the POV, and Narduzzi’s record is 23-13 in the regular season. Yes I know that’s playing with statistics. Not looking up the records again but I believe Narduzzi can still have more wins in his first four seasons than any PITT coach since Jackie Sherrill.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Looks like we came in second for the Samuel kid. Coming in second is pretty good on the PGA tour but really stinks in recruiting!

      Hoping we still can snag a couple top-notch bigs!

      Go Pitt!

      Liked by 1 person

  33. Big Hoops Matchup for Pitt tonite at 9pm(ESPNU) vs #14 Iowa (both teams are undefeated)

    This game is going to show if we can deal with good to very good Big Men with our undersized kids.

    Iowa’s Top 2 scorers are 6’11” soph(Luke Garza) and 6’9″ junior(Tyler Cook). They both avg around 16 ppg. And combined shooting around 60% FG.
    Only avg’g 5 and 7 rpg though, which isn’t great for kids that tall.

    After them you drop down to 3 kids who avg around 10 ppg. Two large Guards at 6’5″ (McCaffery) and 6’6″ (Weiskamp), both Freshman. And a 6’1″ junior PG (Bohannon) who only avg’s 3.8 apg, which is highest on the team.

    They have beat #13 Oregon(by 8) & Uconn(by 19)

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  34. You would have to say, Pitt should have the quickness on their side tonight. Pitt likes to get to the rim off the dribble. So we’re going to have to spread the court imo, to get Iowa’s big guys away from the basket.

    If Iowa plays Zone we could be in big trouble, as we’re not a great outside shooting team unless Frame gets hot. Plus Iowa has 2 large Guards which could make shooting over them, tougher as well.

    Additionally we need to get into transition mode any time the opportunity presents itself, which goes without saying. A Halfcourt game will not go well, considering Iowa’s size.

    This might be a good game, to press, if that is in Capel’s bag of tricks.

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  35. Look at the block in the back call on Medure during the return, that was a tap on the shoulder like he was asking if the defender left his lights on in the parking lot. It’s telling me the refs weren’t taking any chances.

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  36. What’s troubling is it was in the ACC’s best interest to have Pitt win that game being as they were ranked and are playing in the ACC championship game. So it makes no sense for them to be against us in that game!

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    1. correct
      But Pitt will get zero calls their way in the championship game
      It will be worse officiating than 13-9
      But Wanny found a way
      Can Narduzzi?

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  37. Bowl Update: Listened to Paul Zeise coming home from work tonight. He had a Raleigh NC, ACC beat writer on talking ACC bowl landings. The beat writer opined that had Pitt beaten Miami they would have have gotten the Camping Bowl in Orlando vs WVU. Now he thinks Syracuse gets the match up with WVU and Pitt is slotted for the Pinstripe Bowl again against a middle of the Pack Big 10 team.

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    1. Yea we really need to pull the big upset to improve the Bowel Slot. I for one, don’t want to see Alabama vs Clemscum again and neither does 80% or more of the rest of the country.

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    2. Considering going to any bowl game except NYC. Not a fan of the city and hoping for somewhere warmer.
      Too bad we’re not playing Clemson in Death Valley. We have a pretty good record there.

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  38. Me too, JoeL, although can’t lie…I really thought the Music City Bowl in Nashville would have been a cool venue!

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