126 thoughts on “Pitt at Miami Basketball Open Game Thread”

    1. Don’t worry Bernie, he’ll be in the NBA next year, so we won’t have to watch him turn it over 10 times a game. When he’s good, he’s very good. But his basketball IQ is not very high.

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    2. Don’t worry Bernie, he’ll be in the NBA next year, so we won’t have to watch him turn it over 10 times a game. When he’s good, he’s very good. But his basketball IQ is not very high.

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  15. Pitt teams(other than girl’s volleyball) see that word Miami..and something happens to them. Shrivel up like a prune.

    Should have killed their stinky football team.

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  16. And just like that Mr. Hyde is back. lol 18-16 now. Brown has made a difference since being inserted into the game.

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    1. Hey at least we finally scored some points. It was 16-0 at 13 minute mark. No inside game to speak of means we get NO easy baskets in the half court.

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  25. First half and embarrassment.

    If X-man….thinks he is ready for the NBA in this life time….go now!!!…..the way he played in that first half…this team will be MUCHbetter without his services.

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  26. We couldn’t have played any worse and were down 9. Still a game. But we will need to dramatically improve our play if we want to win this game.

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  28. I’m thinking that Capel may not be able to control this team. He can’t be the lousy coach as they make him look at times. Yes, skippy flipped a couple bricks as well. Meanwhile, Miami showed Pitt WHAT BALL MOVEMENT LOOKS LIKE.

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  30. Pitt shot 29.6 FG %. We get like hardly any layups or dunks unless it’s in transition. Capel will probably full court press in 2nd half to try and get some turnovers/transition baskets.

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  32. Our outside shooting is so damn inconsistent. We are 1-11. Really trey is the only player whose showed up today.

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  33. These players today, just don’t showup every game to play. Perfect example, Number 8 Michigan State plays a pedestrian Purdue team (9-7) today and gets blown out 71-42.

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  35. This game is gradually turning towards the unwatchable category. Horrible. We look terrible and they are hitting tough shots

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  36. So we weren’t ready when the game started and again when they came out of the locker room. Perhaps Miami is just toying with us. Anyway that’s played on a far superior team(to the opponent), knows what I’m saying.

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  38. Our offense is just terrible. Only reason we won the UNC game was hot shooting in the second half. This team will drive us nuts all season.

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  41. Pitt is not a team that can fall behind by 10 at any point. To start 0-16 is inexcusable. Someone said it earlier…maybe Capel just has NO control. I think every bit of it is on X man.

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  46. 51-57 with miami on the line shooting in an effort to convert a 3 point play. under 4 minute tv timeout

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  47. I about broke something on that McGowan pass….never a good thing to blindly drive into a triple team…but them to turn around and give up a fast break…my God…does anyone teach these guys!?!?!?

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  48. Okay…soon to be 14-7. If it wasn’t for utter disappointment we’d have little emotion for this team.

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  49. Until closer to the end when they fell apart, the offense flowed much better when X was on the bench.

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  50. Capel sends a message to Xman by sitting him for the final 15 minutes.

    Will find out if it is an injury or penalty. Hoping it’s a penalty.

    Game over 58-66

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  51. To my friend wwb, i didn’t say anything negative all game, until the big mcgowen turnover. He should have been taught not to leave without a plan in 7th grade. I put my typer on mute so I wouldn’t pick a part everything as I am accused of doing. Pitt played a perfect game. It was great. No issues.

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  52. This team fights but cannot overcome making mistakes.

    Some questionable coaching but this season will be up and down.

    Worst part is losing to a team who has been cleared in the FBI probe and we know they’re a bunch of cheaters. Miami got into the cheating business in hoops 10 years ago with that dirtbag coach, Frank Haith.

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  53. Miami shot 53% from the field – where’s the defense?

    Skippy 1-5 from three point land is not very productive.

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  55. On the McGowens pass to the Miami player, Murphy was wide open and begging for the pass. Trey said no thanks, I’ll drive to the hoop aimlessly. Maybe skippy clanks it but it was the better option than giving Miami a free slam dunk at the other end.

    Xavier has a short memory which is very unfortunate. The fact that he was told to go to his corner is a good sign but only if he finally begins to learn from his mistakes, which he hasn’t thus far.

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    1. I said the same thing at the time Ike. I hate to beat a dead horse, but Krauser, Fields, Knight and Robinson ALL would have kicked the ball to Murphy in the corner. We do not have a point guard. Period.

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  57. Praise Comcast for not showing this turkey. Dan, what do you make of it? This seems to be a team of individual performers who don’t accept the team concept. It may work against some teams but when the guards are neutralized there is no plan B.

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  58. Actually outscored them in the 2nd half 36-35. They need to be coached up to start faster. It’s a real problem with these kids on the road.

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  59. This team has maybe 2 ACC players…..you can pick em. The rest are more like A-10 players.
    Pitt has to decide whether they want to play the game or not.

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    1. Capel knew that before the season started. He hasn’t recruited a true PG yet. He knew X didn’t even play PG in HS…. obviously. So it’s all on him and his staff.

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  61. I saw something tonight ( and thanks Jackagain for the link) I’ve been seeing but tonight it stuck out. When X man starts the game selfishly like he did again tonight, I saw others faces and they didn’t like it a bit and they basically quit to start the game. Think back to when you were growing up and playing street ball and you had some kid whom every time he got the ball he threw up a shot/brick. Remember how you felt. Well there’s little maturity on this Pitt team and I saw looks like “I’ve had it with this guy”. Anyhow …if your thinking…you’re not playing basketball. A point guards first job is to involve everyone in the action. Xman is a selfish gunner and as I said before, I’d take his uniform! He has been death to this very untalented and uncoachable team!

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    1. Yea but they came back to tie it at 18-18 and X was the only Pitt player to have an assist in the 1st half.
      This team has 2 ACC players and that’s not X’s fault.

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    3. danh72…. to your point, they played much better (smarter and harder) when McGowens was at the point. Unfortunately, McGowens isn’t a point guard either. X is a cancer.

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    4. We called them the black hole teammates….once the ball went to the ball hog, noone ever got it back!

      Basketball is not a spectator sport for the other 4 on offense. If you’re watchin, they’re botchin! TEAM! As two of my close pirate friends said of bonds and van slyke, there is no I in team, but there is an A. Depending on how you were taught to print, there is an “a” hole. And there you have it. You can have an a hole in team.

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  62. History shows Capel does not win UNLESS he has the best Players on the court.

    I’ve been making this point for more than a year now.

    Do yourself a favor and recognize simple reality.

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    1. I’d take a Blake Griffin…..please. This year’s freshman class looks pretty thin with only Champagne Life as a contributor. He should redshirt Drumgoole and Coulibaly (or whatever) and hope they develop over time.

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  64. Here’s another excuse. Did anyone see where skippy blew out one of his sneakers in pre-game practice and had to wear a walk-on’s replacement pair a size too small? Now that is bush league……

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      2. Not only that but Maryland High Schools have very specific shoe requirements so as not to damage floors. As a player you have many responsibilities but first is to bring your proper uni and shoes. I am beyond words to explain how Skippy had no shoes! I conduct choirs and occasionally orchestras in my retirement. It’s like a sax player forgetting his sax. Unreal.

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  66. Pitt is great in everything. The turnover stat is discriminatory against free wheeling players and should be discarded and not relied upon going forward. Today’s attendance at the Pete to watch on the big screen was reported by Pitt to be 127,461.

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  68. Not to change the subject, but I’m thinkin’ that Coach Duzz should interview Richman about the Strength & Conditioning job…

    🤔

    Go Pitt.

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  69. When does the X man become more of a liability than a plus on this team? If Dan is right, then Pitt is in a no win situation. They don’t have a PG and we’re in the middle of ACC play- not a good time for an insurrection.

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    1. I like X-man in the last 5 minutes of a game if we’re ahead. The other 35 minutes he should be coming (maybe) off the bench. It’s as if he’s never played PG before in his life now. Glad Capel benched and openly criticized him. At least we know now it’s not coaching….he’s just selfish.

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  70. Something I happened across, which I found extra interesting given his play today:

    Patrick Mahomes was a 3-star recruit with 3 scholarship offers. They were from Texas Tech, Houston, and the Mighty Rice Owls…

    Also, in the NFL workouts, I was a bit surprised to see that Patrick only ran a 4.8.

    Go Pitt.

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  73. Pitt not only doesn’t have a true point guard it also doesn’t have a decent center to trott out on the court. Getting an ACC caliber center is a tough recruiting job since everyone across the country wants to recruit one of those. But not having a good point guard to play on this team after two years of recruiting is on Capel. There is no excuse to play this game without having a good point guard in play. Even a point guard who doesn’t shoot very well is better than what we are using now.

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  74. I don’t know if anyone remembers this …. but this game followed the same script as a game between Pitt and Cuse about a half dozen years ago at the Pete

    As I recall .. Pitt went out to an 18-0 lead … then Cuse scored the next 16 or 17 … then Pitt went on a mini-run and maintained a 6 to 12 point lead the rest of the game.

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  75. jrn- we had a PG a few years ago who averaged mega assists and zilch TOs, but couldn’t drive, couldn’t shoot. He got butchered on here every game! What WE want is what dookie and the earholes have – and there ain’t that many to go around!

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    1. actually, I would argue that the reason Duke didn’t even advance to the Final 4 last year, despite its massive talent, is because it didn’t have a true PG. They had 2 players in the Top 3 picks of this past draft (Zion and Barret) plus the 10th pick (Reddish) but barely got by UCF (1 pt) in the 2nd round, beat VaTech by 2 Sweet 16, and then lost Mich St in the E8

      Note that all 3 of the above named players were forwards ,,,, but they had no PG to run the team in crunch time

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  78. Down 4 with the ball and McGowens skips the pass to the wide open Murphy and instead hands Miami a break away dunk. Summed up the game perfectly. Maybe Murphy would have clunked it, but my gosh you have to make that pass. A minute or so later McGowens also ignored a wide open Murphy. I just don’t get it.

    All that said, it’s tough sledding for this team. No real PG, no inside presence on offense, and no real knock down shooters. It’s not like Capel hasn’t tried to fill these gaps. For one reason or another, the recruits chose other teams, despite what would appear to be a guaranteed opportunity to immediately get serious playing time in the ACC. It’s perplexing and frustrating.

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    1. Shooters have to shoot the ball while their teammates have to look to get them open shots. Miami demonstrated how this works. I’m starting to blame Capel a little, well at least for now. At least he benched X-Man but this for the second time. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…. … shame on me.

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  79. Champ is another head scratch-er. I knew the UNC game was an aberration of sorts. I’ll keep it perspective though, he is a freshman and all in all, PITT is still a very young basketball team.

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  81. That preferred-walk-on from Baldwin – he’s 5-11 and 210 pounds. He ran a 4.5 at Pitt’s camp??

    I would have thought that just about any 4.5 kid would get scholarship offers… 🤔

    Here’s hoping he can contribute at Pitt like Fran’s buddy George Aston did…

    Go Pitt.

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  82. Again I have to chuckle a bit when I read that PITT wasn’t ready to play yesterday. Terrell Brown and even Capel said it himself. A need to know here, I really like Capel, a lot, but it makes me wonder where all the criticism is compared to the other big time head coach for PITT who would have gotten hammered for the same thing? So to be clear here, I’m not sure if I’m saying that Capel should also get hammered or that Narduzzi should not. I’m leaning more towards kids being kids. It’s just not easy being a student athlete.

    Sometimes we all take for granted when 20 year old kids get on a plane and fly for hours and then are asked to play a game at full speed. Lets hope these young men grow up, mature and learn the rigors of college sports.

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  83. I never quite get the “they were not ready to play” stuff. I think back to my playing days, and I’m old, but I don’t ever remember having to get myself ready to play.

    To me, when you’re standing on the mound getting ready to pitch, or going out on the court for a game, that’s all that’s needed. I don’t care if it’s a game for a championship or a pickup game on the playground, I want to play well and win.

    I think we expect way too much from these young players. Takes time to learn and then to execute.

    Sometimes when I’m golfing I realize that even though I told myself to do something just before that last swing, I still didn’t do it… Coaches can tell players 100 times, but the games are fast and it takes experience to change instructions to execution.

    Unless you have elite players, which we don’t, you need upper-class players, who have been there and done that, to lead the way.

    Go Pitt.

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    1. John, I remember being devastated when it rained out a Pony League game. To me the game was everything…be it baseball, football basketball or a game of horse. Cannot understand for the life of me someone not being ready to play…or forgetting their shoes!

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  84. Two things here to John and Tx, Tx first.

    You hedged a bit there Tx. You leaned more on Narduzzi wouldn’t you say? I’ll ask you this, what about Ollison? Word was he got fat and lazy in the weight room, where did he end up? On the bench and yet PN was heavily criticized for that. Why? Because he kept the problem in house and didn’t run the kid down at the time. Where is Qadree now? in the NFL.

    John, I couldn’t agree with you more. I never played college sports but played lots of highly organized sandlot ball. One night we were playing a not so good team and winning handily when our shortstop looked over at me and half yawing and said. “don’t you just hate playing bums like this”. This was after I worked an 8 hour job of heavy labor (another story) so I looked at him and said, ” NO! I looked forward to this game all dam day” Of course I wasn’t pampered my whole life as some superstar so I didn’t no any different other than giving it all I had all the time.

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  85. After watching our team I think it is shot selection in large part. I see shooting from anywhere anytime in a haphazard fashion. Runners from everywhere, no set patterns or even setup attempts especially to start a game. The run outs at times are ridiculous.

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