Jeff Capel has the Panthers rolling, and they roll into Syracuse today for a key ACC matchup.  Lets go Pitt!

Michaelangelo holds a degree in Travel Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a former staff writer for InPittsburgh Newsweekly, and currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a Pitt fan since 1997 after he witnessed Pitt upset #22 Miami on Thursday night at Pitt Stadium.

99 thoughts on “Pitt Basketball: Pitt vs. Syracuse Open Thread”

  2. This is a tough match-up for PITT. Outside shooting challenged and not a good offensive rebounding team.. PITT can hang with Cuse but they will need JWF to swish a few shots from outside. I can see lots of charging calls that go against PITT. X Johnson is good but he can run amuck at times like this… Think transition basketball!!

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    1. I think Capel will have a good plan of attack for the cuse zone.

      Execution by the players will be a work in process.

      Hard to find a station to cover this game on PCT.

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    1. Especially for a recently good team. But they are on the bubble for the Tournament and this will help.

      That’s why an upset for us on Tuesday would be so great for us come March. I believe Duke’s PG is still out with an injury. That Duke – Virginia game will be fun to watch at 6:00.

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  10. Pitt is trying way too hard to get the pass to the foul line… the one that begins to break down the 2/3 zone. If we don’t start driving the lane and shooting better, this one is a rout.

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  15. That is why Jimmy is playing Buddy – he knows they will win this game easily.

    Jimmy listened to Kham and Brown’s interviews on how Pitt would break the zone. Insight that helped cuse defend better.

    That is why Duzz is so secretively running the FB program.

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    1. “It’s obviously hard not to look ahead against Duke,” Panthers sophomore Terrell Brown said. “But since what happened during the Syracuse-Duke game, this makes the game so much more important to us. We have to get this one. We’re more dialed in on this game.”

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  19. Brian Batko@BrianBatko
    2h
    Pitt fans can have a pretty solid slate of TV today. Basketball game at 2, Darrin Hall and Alex Bookser (Qadree Ollison is out) in the Shrine Game at 3 on NFL Network, and George Aston in the NFLPA Bowl at 5 on FS1.

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  20. —Pretty impressive looking shooting by Battle…

    — I don’t get having Ellison be the guy for the entry pass on the foul line… Shouldn’t that be someone who can shoot it?

    —Great to see the fight in this team. They could have let it get away, and it still might, but they hang in there.

    Go Pitt.

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  22. danh72 knows his basketball. But Wilson- Frame is the closest thing we have to a shooter, so we’ll need him to knock a few down to loosen up the Syracuse zone. We clearly cannot penetrate and score.

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  24. Brown also needs to learn how to catch the ball. 3 have clanked off his hands. Be ready for the pass and know what you are going to do when you get it

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  26. We are playing awesome defense. But I just don’t know if we can score enough to win. And yes, even I am ready for Frame to hit a few

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  34. Pitt all year has had trouble w zone defenses. They simply don’t move without the ball. Started at OK St. 2nd half and has been Achilles heel since. Now they face the “mother” of all zones and results are predictable. Still the preening and posturing by Cuse showoff players is infuriating!!! H2P

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  35. Not every game will be like FSU, I get that. But they look intimidated. If Mc Goeens is invisible we obviously don’t stand a chance. But one 3 could get him going….I just wish we didn’t look so afraid.

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    1. Kham revealed Pitt’s entire gameplan on how they would attack the cuse zone in a lengthy interview – warranted him sitting on the bench, imo.

      Liked by 1 person

  37. dan – I forgot to mention the off ball movement. My son is screaming about that. Surprised Capel hasn’t done something. Lots of bystanders.

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  38. Don’t let this loss, or the one to Duke on Monday burst our bubble. We are going to be undermanned against most teams we face this year. We have very little inside scoring and no consistent outside scoring threat. Give Capel time. He’s accomplishing a lot with a limited arsenal of players.

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  39. No foul? Refs seem to have swallowed their whistles at our end. Jimmy B whining his way to getting calls again.

    But turnovers killing us this half.

    H2P!!’

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  42. I think you’re overreacting Erie. Playing a better team in their hot as hell dome – tough place to shoot generally. Young team still learning. And 8 minutes to play yet.

    H2P!!!

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  46. It’s going to be a season of ups and downs with this team.

    I like this team better than the last few. I’m willing to ride with them.

    H2P!!!!

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  47. Pitt’s big guys (to the extent any one wants to say they have any) were totally intimidated. The lack of motion on offense is infuriating. I hope they can keep it within 10 as it would be respectable. Lets go! Move without the ball! Box out!

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  49. Showing more energy now. But way too many open looks for Cuse. And not enough transition points by Pitt.

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  51. anybody who thinks this is not going to be an up or down year in the ACC is only fooling himself. Like it or not, Pitt will finish under .500, maybe 4 or 5 games under, but the main thing is these young guys getting better

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  52. —This Pitt team doesn’t have the weapons to attack to Cuse zone.

    —I looked at this game as a chance for the Pitt frosh to see the Orange zone and give us a better shot to beat the Orange at the Pete.

    For one thing, I don’t think we see Ellison playing at the foul line at the Pete. Though Coach Capel does need to recruit a player with the size and skills for that role.

    —A couple of times when Xman blew past his man and scored in a flash were really impressive.

    —Toney played like a frosh today – he was physically over-matched. I don’t think we’ll see that next season…

    —Battle is a heck of a shooter for Cuse.

    —Don’t get down on this team — for the players we have, they’re representing well…

    Go Pitt.

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  53. hey Anne, there is some good news. The big storm has been downgraded in the Pgh area. Any significant snow will happen real late

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  54. Bad match-up for our Panthers today. You beat the zone with three point shooting and from the foul line.
    Neither of which we are very good at. Jaime always seemed to have a guy that could do into the middle of the zone, make a shot or get the ball down low. Wannamaker and Patterson comes to mind. We don’t have that guy right now. Maybe Toney in the future. The zone definitely takes X and Trey out of their games, almost impossible to drive the hoop.

    Just not enough firepower underneath and from the three point line. Hopefully the rest of the ACC doesn’t start playing more zone against us.

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  55. Just a terrible matchup for us. But they never quit. Played hard to the end. Just close your eyes and think back to any ACC game last year, and you won’t feel as bad about today.

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  60. From the tip off to the final buzzer every ACC opponent of Pitt should play zone defense period. After the Duke, Virginia and the Louisville games this year(which will be loses) Pitt would have a tough time winning 3 more games if everyone played them exclusively with a zone defense.

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  61. If that would be the case, hopefully with Capel’s coaching the team could adapt and find adjustments to beat the zone (improvement, Something Stallings never seemed to be able to do) and hopefully not every team would play the zone as effectively as Syracuse or Duke.

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    1. Boeheim recruits players to play that zone …. tall and long.

      The good thing is Pitt has just seen the best zone they will face all year. The bad thing is that Cuse is by no means the best team they have seen. Duke is next and we already saw how good UNC can be. UVa and VT are down the road.

      And 4 of the teams that Pitt is on a par with …. Wake, BC. GT and Miami are all on the road. Note that the next hurdle for this team is to win actual road game. Sadly, none of these 4 teams are coming to the Pete this year

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  62. That’s right Mark. When you hear Syracuse basketball you automatically think of two things.. First, their whiny head coach and second their funky zone defense.

    Another thing to remember is that PITT hung with a good Syracuse team on the road, that just beat the #1 team in the country (Duke) A team that jrn is right about, they are not a good match-up for PITT. Like I mentioned earlier, Parker Stewert could have helped PITT in games like this.

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  64. Couple more things:

    Does anyone else miss Reed’s Sunday morning podcast? I sure do.

    Watch Halls run above, he’s the real deal and just might be a real steal in this next draft. << I’m a poet and didn’t know it.

    Michelangelo is doing a real good job stepping into Reed’s shoes…. but I still would like to see Reed spin out an article every so often. Isn’t that the POV’s modus operandi is? A fair and well balanced team/family.

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    1. I don’t see much in Hall that will make him have much chance at the next level….and nothing in THAT run.
      What exactly do you mean?

      Not saying he has no shot as I was impressed by some runs during the year that required vision and some level of jump step cut to get him a chance to use his very good speed.

      Hope I am wrong.

      Now, Ollison I think should have a few successful years somewhere.

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      1. He eluded a tackler while running through a closing hole (although a nice hole btw) against Shrine Bowl level competition. It was a good play on his part. So would not agree with “nothing”

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      2. And actually that run yesterday is sort of like those runs I am referring to as I just watched it on a bigger monitor. The line did a good job creating “a” hole but I don’t think it was where the play was originally designed to go.

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  65. I can see Hall and Ollison going in the 4th or 5th round
    Bookster and Aston being FA’s and invited to a camp

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    2. I agree, except for Bookser. I think he gets drafted. There just aren’t that many human beings who are that big and can run. I think he plays a while in the pros…

      Go Pitt.

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  66. Hey Tvax my friend. It’s been grilled into our heads that Hall doesn’t have any wiggle, well he show great eyes on that run and hits the hole with speed and power along with a little wiggle. I guess if you take away that run he didn’t have that great a game. How many times are we going to take away a Hall run until we realize this young man can tote the rock?

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  68. It wasn’t so much the wiggle with Hall as much as his eyes. He opened them and saw the light…. the daylight! Powell with another job well done. He was another good hire by Pat or King Pat….

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  70. Hall’s assets are he runs really hard every carry, and he has speed.

    You see a lot of runners in the NFL like that. The Steelers seem to like them – remember Willie Parker (who was a backup at UNC…). Look at Gurley. Bell and Shady are a couple of the few exceptions who have some wiggle…

    Pitt still needs to find another wiggler…

    Go Pitt.

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  71. Anyone wanting to meet up for a soda pop or snacks prior to the Duke game let me know..
    Hemmingways anytime from 5 – 8:15. Farmers High is holding a table in the back room for us.

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    1. You threw me Fran – I was thinking at first that you were referring to the Duke football game….

      I wouldn’t put anything past the Tailgate Master… 😊

      Go Pitt.

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