85 thoughts on “Pitt Basketball vs Robert Morris Open Game Thread”

  1. I’ll be the first to chime in. The Capel crew better be ready to play tonight. Why our AD allowed us to walk into this hornet’s nest is beyond my understanding. Hopefully Capel’s message to his charges will begin to sink in: You guys are not nearly as good as you think you are.

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  4. And another thing… Murphy is outmatched in close quarters. His ball handling skills are not of the caliber of the ACC

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  6. Pitt goes from 7-0 to 7-10. Each guard w 3 turnovers. Sloppy selfish basketball. Complimented by 2 misses at the FT line. Pitt is in trouble. Hard to imagine.

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    1. danh72: You and I will be singing this tune all season. He has ZERO NBA skills. The only thing he does well is drive the basket. He’s below average at shooting, ball handling and most importantly, decision making.

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  16. 27-27 at half. Unreal. Some of the worst basketball I’ve ever seen Pitt play. Thank God the Pens are on soon.

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  17. Brown keeping them in the game, never thought I would say that.

    Good thing RM’s shooters cooled down.

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  18. I think the announcers said it best, the 2 Panther guards have superior athletic abilities they just have to make better decisions on the floor and until they do that this team is going to struggle.

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  19. Can’t get the street ball out of these guys… imagine if 1960-1975 rules were part of the game… this crew would give up and go home!!!

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  22. I never watch the NBA, so I have no idea regarding Xavier’s prospects. But I don’t recall Steven Adams lone season at Pitt as being very impressive and I believe he had a decent NBA career.

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    1. Steven Adams was 7 feet tall and athletic. A completely different type of player. If you are 7 feet and have skills, you are a lottery pick. To his credit he developed into an excellent NBA center. The X man is 1-8 against Robert Morris with 5 turnovers. Sorry but he’s a LONG way from the NBA. My point is that he should stick around for another year or two to possibly develop into an NBA talent, rather than popping off after his freshman year saying that he expects to leave after this year. The guy can’t make a jump shot. Kind of a prerequisite to playing in the NBA.

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  24. anyone know what happened to Eric Hamilton? Pitt only played 7 and Drumgoole only played a couple minutes

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  25. Looks like Capel wanted to take no chances in the second half.
    Short bench. Much better game by Brown and McGowens.
    Champagnie starting to show up as well.

    I will be at the game on Friday. No idea what to expect.

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  26. If you watched the first 2 games, Hamilton looks like a good athlete but with very little in the way of BB IQ.

    Capel has yet to recruit a big – the player from Cleveland does not want to play C – he considers himself an F.

    Brown played well tonight and probably helped Capel keep Hamilton on the bench.

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  28. I’m not saying I disagree with you, Eric and Dan, because I don’t have enough knowledge of the NBA. But I do have mixed feelings about the Xavier early exit to the NBA topic. (We know what mixed feelings are, right? That’s when your sixteen year old daughter comes home at 2 AM carrying a Gideon Bible.)

    Selfishly I’d like to see Johnson stay for all four years. But I also wonder what is more attractive to elite 5 star recruits: A team that is successful in the won-loss column or a team that sends players to the NBA, particularly before their eligibility is exhausted.

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  29. I think the idea of X going pro was based on the concept that he would make a big improvement this season …. but have yet to see it. Still can’t shoot from the outside consistently and turns the ball over too much.

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  30. Xavier Johnson is not going anywhere. The NBA only has two rounds and he would have to pay a team to draft him. Love the young guy but he ain’t near close to ready.

    Fran being at Hemmingways? That’s a lay up!

    Dan, you will never be under par if you don’t believe.

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    1. Ike I believe Pitt will easily beat the University of No Classes Thursday eve but I seem to be alone. As for under par …par for me is 80 and I broke it 5x this summer. Best golf I’ve played in 30 years. Surgically repaired shoulder is the reason.

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  32. X has a long way to go to become a competent point guard. Hopefully he dedicates himself to doing just that.

    Great to see McGowens have a good game. He was instrumental in our two big wins last year but disappeared offensively most of the time. Of course the ACC is a whole different story than today.

    Brown definitely looks better than last year, by the way the only one that contributes from the previous malfeasance. Not going to be nearly enough in the ACC though. Disappointed that Hamilton didn’t play much and what is up with Coulibaly? You would think Capel would want to give these guys good auditions unless he already knows…

    Murphy looks to be just what the doctor ordered to replace Wilson-Frame, both in shooting and leadership.

    Not nearly the athlete that are our two guards, but hopefully the hard work it took to get him here rubs off on the rest.

    Let’s not forget that we lost all of our important games just two years ago and that was the first win on the road in two years. The second string on a lot of ACC teams could still beat us most of the time.

    Don’t expect miracles.

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  34. RMU lost to Marshall 69 to 60 and then Norte Dame 92 to 57. And quite frankly I didn’t see any big talent gap between RMU and Pitt. Maybe a little talent gap but certainly not big. I’ll stick with my early prediction of 4 ACC wins at best.

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    1. So you are saying we have 3 more coming this season since Pitt already beat FSU last week.

      Who then? BC, WF and GT?

      Any others?

      Probably not –

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  36. this team is fragile ….. not a lot of depth. But I am not going to predict Ws and Ls because I have no idea how the rest of the league is.

    And I certainly am not going to rely on comparative scores in early November. Hasn’t Coastal FB taught you anything?

    In fact, we already got an early example … Pitt beat FSU which in turn beat Florida, which was ranked 6th (and in fact, still are 15th)

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  37. There is a lack of depth due to the staff missing on all the big fish it went after.

    Should have focused on some JuCo players who can bang and rebound.

    Last night shows how far this program has to go still.

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  38. You never know in basketball, hot shooting vs cold shooting is always possible. Pitt probably won’t be a favorite in any game though. Also which way the ball bounces off the rim makes a huge difference.

    Is anybody getting fired up besides Fran in his driveway? Glad the game isn’t today though, brrrr.

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    1. I read somewhere that the ACC schedule was released in Jan but the NFL schedule wasn’t released until May. But of course, the NFL is a god in this country (I have maintained it to be a false idol for many years now) … and can care less about Pitt

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  40. I am super psyched for Fran’s tailgate tomorrow. An evening game with a meaningful outcome on the line. I think most expect it to be a nail biter.

    Temps will be brisk but not brutal. About 42 or 43 degrees when Fran and I set up at 3 PM. Ike, we will have chairs for you and Mrs. Ike awaiting your arrival. If someone is sitting in them, Fran will personally remove them (Ha!). If you decide not to go into the game, we start tearing down the tailgate around 7 PM. If you head home then, you will be there at kickoff or shortly thereafter.

    Looking forward to seeing everyone again. Gordon, you will be missed but enjoy Nemacolin. Though I must say that in 2018 I spent my 45th wedding anniversary at the Pitt-Penn State game at Heinz Field while my wife sat home alone (I assume). And we’re still married.

    I also plan to be at Hemingways on Friday. I assume we will be in the back room for those coming to join us.

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    1. JoeL and family – LizL, ChrisL and youngest daughter PaigeL are all looking fwd to the tailgate and game. And of course, my buddy BigAl will be there too.

      I will admit though that I sometimes wonder why I drive 5.5hrs up to Pgh to potentially see another disappointing loss to the Tarholes (where are you, Emel?). But the kids need our support, especially with the Steelers game conflict. Any of you who are on the fence should come on down and join us!

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  41. Tried to post yesterday but word press is the worst. Yup, the most disturbing thing should be he only played 7 guys. Even if they all had the flu, it’s Bobby Mo. NBA, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ,ha ha, ha, nope!

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  42. Positives: Pitt learned a lesson and shared the basketball much better in the second half. Nice game by McGowens, we will need him if we are going to have a decent year this year, and he is certainly a much better PG than X right now, not even close. Also, I was completely wrong about Brown, he is clearly a better player this year, never saw that coming. Champ is going to contribute this year, as expected. And finally, Pitt showed resiliency again as they did against Florida ST., when they fell behind.

    Negatives. X has been bad, out of control, still trying to do too much, and missing every layup, we will need him if we are going to make any noise at all this year. Also, though I suspect we’re waiting for a weaker opponent, we really need to incorporate Coulibaly and especially Drumgoole into the rotation, and I suspect this will eventually happen, but if not this would be a big disappointment.

    I know this is not a hoops board, but a bit surprised at the whining/crying by a few, ups and big downs happen every year in college basketball (see Kentucky vs Evansville last night).

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    1. Coulibaly looks nowhere ready and Drumgoole looks a tad overmatched right now himself, but is needed more on the perimeter.

      Just so many young players still on this roster. i think the announcer said 10 freshmen and sophomores on this squad, but that sounds like one too many. It will be interesting what Capel does with the final scholarship.

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      1. Good thoughts Nate, however Re Coulibably, he has not played enough in games to determine whether or not he will contribute this year, though maybe Capel has decided as much based on practice?? Big men always take a lot longer to develop, I just hope he gets a lot more live game time as the year goes on. Way too early to tell about Drumgoole, I suspect things will click for him as he finds his niche within the offense.

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  43. OT: Back to FB, Peak @ the Lair is reporting 5 Pitt commits plan to enroll early(January), WR J Addison, RB I Abanikanda, LB A J Roberts, LB S DeShields and WR A Henninghan.

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    1. Great news for sure. The roster is being build nicely. Just need a QB to step up and take us to the next level behind a better O-line.

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  45. Wolfe, still have my Under Armour laid out and our overnight bag packed. Thank You for the shout out. I’m like Sidney Thornton and as Chuck Noll once said, I have problems and they are many! Lot’s of POV all-stars coming to the tailgate and game and I don’t want to miss it.

    The game weather looks like it’s pull your country cure dried hammy time for UNC, not hoping for injuries but PITT could use a break now and then.

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  48. My son told me this:

    “Today is the 15th anniversary of Tyler Palko’s 5 TDs at Notre Dame and the 20th anniversary of the last game at Pitt Stadium, also against Notre Dame…”

    Hail to Pitt!

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  49. Watching the Clemson game and we are having success with the shovel pass…maybe tomorrow it returns with a vengeance…cant believe we never run it.

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  50. Can’t say enough good about the new RMU arena. Perfect for that size school. They did a great job designing it.

    Good to see Rocky Bleier, Mel Blount, Kevin Colbert, Charlie Batch in attendance. Ju Ju Smith-Schuster in
    the student section to promote a big night for the university. Good for them.

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  51. Narduzzi goes for a fourth and goal from the one yard line and PITT scores a TD to Georgie on a pass in the back of the end zone. It helped to have Georgie and Nate. PITT may have challenged for the national title with that offense and this years defense.

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  52. Great to see Dabo fuming on the sideline about a bogus penalty call.

    Orndoff just scored on a shovel pass. Go Fran!

    Go Pitt.

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  53. #16 ranked Pitt is on the mat on Friday evening against the #4 ranked Ohio State squad.

    Pitt will likely lose this dual meet, but this will be a good barometer…

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  54. there may be only 4 or 5 games at the most where Coulibaly, Drumgoole, Hamilton, etc can show us what they can do … Monmouth, Ark Pine-Bluff, Northern Ill, Binghampton, Canisius. The other pre-season games are WVU, Kansas St, Bradley/Northwestern winner, Rutgers and even another ACC game in early Dec at Louisville

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  56. I think Drumgoole and Hamilton will both get plenty of opportunities beyond the weaker group named above, but unfortunately Coulibaly may not.

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  57. Seems to me that when you are trying to totally rebuild a team, which Capel is forced to do, you should take chances on some kids. If we don’t see Drummer or Cool in those games, it doesn’t bode well for Pitt’s future. True Frosh are playing everywhere, and they will never be able show if they have some promise unless they get actual game exposure.

    Maybe they aren’t ready, but if they are not and the only recruit who gets playing time is Champ, then 2-3 wins in the ACC may be as good as it gets. Brown/X/Trey/Murphy can’t play 35-37 minutes consistently and not wear down, especially during the ACC season.

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    1. Maybe Coach Capel just didn’t want to take any chances last night on not being able to stop the long road-losing streak.

      They put the list of longest road-losing streaks on TV, and it didn’t look good to see Pitt on it – like with the 4th longest streak…

      Go Pitt.

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  58. Valiant effort by Pitt Men’s Soccer against Top Seed and #1 offense in Country, Clemson. 1-0 loss, but a terrific effort. Jay Vidovich is doing a great job with our Soccer program.

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  59. Picked up the hand and foot warmers, so I’m ready to go. Really looking forward to seeing everyone. The game is just icing on the cake!

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