155 thoughts on “Roundball: Pitt at Syracuse Open Gale Thread”

  1. From PSN: Hugely, Sibanda and Collier out for this game for Covid contact tracing. Pitt’s chances for winning in this game have now gone from slim to none IMO.

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  5. We are going to get killed today but these slow (like we’ve never seen a basketball) starts must stop. 2/3 zone is meant to speed you up. Pitt playing way too fast.

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    1. Let me add we have to make the bunny shots. This does not look like D1 basketball to me – hasn’t for years…

      Pitt’s best player is the sixth best on the floor – maybe worse as I’m not sure how good the (3) refs are at balling.

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    1. Shooting 2-14 from the field – I’m thinking this team practices with the bright lights off in the Pete.

      Cheap foul called on X, but that has nothing to do with the flow on the offensive side.

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  9. Can any of these guys play football? Maybe there is a WR or TE amongst this group of poor BB players. None would be good on the defensive side in FB because they don’t seem to play any in the sport they were recruited for.

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  12. Of the Pitt players missing today, only Champ is a 3 pt shooter. Yet we can’t make a 3.

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  15. Cuse players are laughing at how ridiculously easy it is to beat Pitt. My suggestion would be run the floor, drive the hoop and play some street ball. Do SOMETHING different – there is NO half court O with this team. NONE!

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  16. Capel is a disaster. When will you guys admit he is a terrible coach, avg. recruiter and not a culture fit.

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  17. Can someone please guard Braswell? So much for all the hardworking & effort to comeback. If you walked away at the half and just came back, you missed a good offensive effort to pull within 3 points and then poof, gone with 3 wide open shots by Braswell.

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  19. Capel looks totally disgusted with the team’s play. He’s starting to see what we’ve seen for three years now.

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  23. Pitt is playing hard. Outworking Cuse on the glass. Need to continue to play tough D and move the ball. They have a shot to win. It’s more than I reasonably expected.

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  26. Come on Pitt…you gotta win when Tyrel Brown scores 8 points. Cause that ain’t happening often

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  30. I dont know what you guys were watching, but when I turned it on, we were down 11 and won by 3.

    Eazy peazy.

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  32. Syracuse is awful. They kept throwing up off balance 3 pointers and kept missing. Pitt offensive rebounded really well against a 2-3 zone which is a weakness for zones. Back to the mud.

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  34. I suggest Upittbaseball save his next comment for the next Pitt Baseball game thread. On the other hand, if that’s what it takes to trigger a Pitt basketball win, bring it!

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  36. Started watching w 8 minutes to go just to see if Pitt had solved the 2/3 zone. Unreal win! Pitt with 20 offensive rebounds stuns Cuse! Capel is a terrific coach and did everything right down the stretch. Xman was King of the Court! For Cuse, live by the 3, die by the 3! H2P!!!
    Happy for Capel and this under manned team.

    Liked by 4 people

  37. Syracuse was not disciplined and was winning by 18 with 4 minutes left in the first half. Most everyone turned it off and I don’t blame you. Pitt is hard to watch, but at least during the last 7 minutes I watched, Syracuse was even more difficult to watch if you are a believer in fundamentals. After a complete game, I do not think Pitt knows how to attack a 2-3 zone. We were less bad than the cuse today.

    Femi looked good.

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    1. Arnold

      Break out your Blue and Gold Silk Hat and celebrate ya filthy animal!!!! Pitt won! Wins matter!

      Enjoy it!

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  38. Arnold – you missed the awful mess of the 1st half – messier than a pig sty after a rain storm.

    But in the 2nd half, steady SR Terrell Brown (IKR) calmed the storm and brought the sunshine back to Pitt BB at least for that half.

    Game ball to TB for sure – Brown knows the Orange.

    Good win…

    H2P!

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  39. I’m confused by a lot of these comments.

    The Orange were favored by 10? And Pitt won?

    Hope ike is happy tonight with these Panthers…

    Go Pitt!

    Liked by 4 people

    2. The game turned as soon as I posted my post about our awful shooting.
      Capel must have used it for motivation ! lol

      Game flipped entirely after my post. Pitt almost couldn’t miss and Syracuse tanked.

      H2P !

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  40. Two freshmen, Jeffress and Odukale, combined for 15 rebounds! Jamie Dixon would be pleased!

    X Man didn’t shoot it well, but he had 7 assists, 3 Steals and only one turnover. James Robinson would be pleased.

    Go Pitt.

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    1. X hit a critical 3 and had a real nice alley-oop to Brown, and 2 nice free throws at the end. But, he was completely out of control at the 30 second mark and tried a wildly off balance drive to the basket, that fortunately for Pitt, was blocked out of bounds by Cuse. That could have been a costly mistake, but it wasn’t. He was just out of control, which is frustrating.

      Dan, would you go with the 1-3-1 offense to combat the 2-3 zone? I would, with of course the middle 3 flashing to the high post and bounce passing low to the baseline forward. I dont think we attacked the zone well for the 7 minutes I watched. The good news was that the cuse just kept chuckin from long distance, without success. Live with a gunner, die by the gunner. They didn”t have a go to strategy to kill clock and get good shots. Beehive let them keep chucking and kept them in.

      I don’t think upitt or anyone else was wrong as they critiqued the game. Pitt looked bad, just the cuse looked badder.

      I would call their long shooter a ball hog, but that is offensive to my kind.

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  41. I’m amazed how much better the team is defensively this year. I haven’t seen good defense here for about 6 or 7 years

    Wonder if these team would know how to respond if by some odd chance they would would take a big lead in the 1st half

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  42. Heard about the early deficit while working and my phone just flashed the final score.

    My first thought was to read the thread.

    I hope Dan got to see the whole thing… he deserves to see the comebacks. No one more passionate about Pitt MBB than him.

    Mark – your posts about Capel are silly. But post them all you want.

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    1. Well, if you don’t want to go thru the ebb and tide of a game, we shouldn’t have a “during game comment section” so that everyone can only post when it is over. That doesn’t make sense lastrow. I think it is perfectly acceptable to be frustrated by the horrible game that was being played and then pivot to better comments when the play improves. I guess I don’t understand why a poster shouldn’t say that was a dumb shot when a player takes a fade away 20 footer with a 7 footer in his face and nobody in rebounding position. What are we supposed to type…. hey that was great, we are so disciplined, rah rah ree?

      I didn’t turn the game on myself until 7 minutes left and they played well when I watched. In fact, I gave play by play and was the only one doing it because I thought everyone else gave up hope. We still made a lot of fundamental mistakes in the 7 minutes, but the cuse made so many more mistakes, it was laughable.

      Also, I didn’t notice a typical cuse big man presence in the game from what I saw.

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      1. It is funny to read the posts Arnold because they reflect the normal emotional flow that many fans go through, particularly during a hoops game. I can’t speak for lastrowofsection4, but my enjoyment of it is because I see myself
        In those comments, with some exceptions.

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  48. This comeback was almost identical to the Northwestern game. To me, that makes it less likely to be a fluke.

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  49. The difference this year vs the last few years, winning with defense, rebounds and points spread amongst more guys. Quite refreshing and different, that and these ridiculous come from behind, stink in the first half wins.

    Today without Champ, Hugely Sibande and Collier. Most unexpected.

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  50. I just watched the tape of the 2nd half…this was a very good win.
    I don’t see this as a gift as much as a hard fought comeback.

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    1. Well you know any time Pitt wins it is because the other team tanked or stinks or both.
      ( That’s sarcasm for any of you tone deaf guys)

      Liked by 4 people

  51. In Capel we believe! We still need to change the way we warm up though! We start games atrociously!! Good win against the Orange!

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  53. Seems to me, even with the players missing, our players are starting to look significantly “longer.” In other words, more like a real ACC team.

    And Femi looks like a recruiting steal…

    Go Pitt.

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  54. Shooting off balance three pointers is a gift. Cuse thought they had this game in the bag up 18. Beehive lost control of them and let them gun away. It almost started snowing in the carrier dome with those high, long balls.

    Put a comment in earlier for your review Dan – just making sure that the textbook hasn’t changed.

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  55. That’s their game Ziff…they gun.
    That’s how they scored 101 earlier this year.
    Live by the sword, die by the sword.

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  56. Ziff. Going with a 1/3/1 offense against is standard against a 2/3 and that’s exactly what Cuse practices against daily.
    Cuse runs a 2/3 but they play a 3/2 out of it as well as a matchup zone.

    You are correct, Pitts offense was lost much of the game vs Cuse D. They tried flashing the 3 to the high post (I preferred the 4 ) if he was available but when he got there, he was as matched-up and had little room to maneuver.

    I far preferred Jamie Dixon’s Solution vs 2/3. Put two Bigs down on low blocks and after entry ,have them exchange sharp no look passes to each other on set plays. It’s un-defensible if done well and it’s why he owned Syracuse.

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  57. This game should be a good recruiting tool for Capel. I’m very surprised and pleased at the rebounding and defense this team plays. Can’t wait to see this team in 2 years.

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  58. Liked by 4 people

  59. Dan, as a coach are there any tricks to getting a ream off to a faster start? Pitt is a fighter, but right now they are not good enough to overcome 18 point deficits against most good teams.

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    1. Voice….there are no tricks but I’ve seen coaches scrimmage the first 10 before a game and start with a full court press. With Pitt, they’re simply a young team and starting slow, like you’ve never seen a. Basketball, is one of the traits of a young inexperienced team. See St Francs…slow start then a full court panic. At least they’ve gotten over the panic !

      I’ve decided not to tune in til the second half!

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  60. Liked by 2 people

    1. Very interesting interview. I particularly liked JC’s comments on Terrell and X. Trying to hold practice with 3 guys, I think he said, gives a little insight as to how difficult it is coaching this game in the Covid era. Another step forward last night for Pitt men’s basketball.

      Liked by 2 people

  63. Hard to believe that Pitt would win this game. I’m happy to say that I was “dead wrong” saying Pitt had no chance to win with the player loses that Pitt entered into this game due to Covid and injury.

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  64. Dan nailed it at 9:31 pm…but Capel doesn’t yet have the 2 bigs capable of playing well down low.

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    2. Yes, I agree. And I also agree that about your comments concerning bigs. Hughley does have the potential based on his offensive skillset, including his passing ability. I know he’s still green, but I would’ve really liked to see Collier in that matchup last night.

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  67. First off, anytime Pitt beats cuse at anything, I’m happy. Wiping the smirk from Buddy Boheim was icing on the cake.

    The jury is still out as to whether Capel was a good hire – he is way better than Stallings, but that could be said about any of us on this blog as far as coaching goes.

    Jeffress is from Erie and the young man received valuable starters minutes yesterday. While he only scored 2 points, he rebounded well (7 or 8 boards). The whole team is scoring challenged as I was when I played in my younger days. There were many other things I could do to help the team such as hustle, block out, set picks and play aggressive D. This team is starting to do the little things that help the team win – if we could just get Champ back and add another scorer to come along side Toney, this team could win some meaningful games.

    I’m not ready to “wait for next year” yet.

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    1. yes, Jeffress is from Erie and he is going to be a really good all-around player in the next year or so.

      But Champagnie and Okudale are both from Brooklyn. I highly encourage the Pitt HC., whoever he may be, to continue pursuing the NYC area

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  68. To get that many rebounds without Hugely, Collier, Sibande let alone Champ is great stuff. Even more incredible is to get help from Brown, who has had good games before, not many and not lately.

    Can’t help but get excited about the future. Can’t wait to see who Capel brings in next year. How about a point guard, another big, another scorer.

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    1. Had to look it up. Feb 11, 2017, we beat them 80-75 at the Pete. Under Kevin Stallings. Also Jamie’s last win at Pitt was over Syracuse in the ACC Tourney.

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  73. Syracuse helped a lot, but I’ll take the win. It was good to see Horton hit some 3s. You can tell just by his release when he’s in rhythm and forcing it. Other observations:

    Jeffress — Not confident on the offensive end, but love the effort and rebounding.
    Odukale — Definitely a player. He will be big going forward.
    X — He is who he is. Fantastic in one moment, terrible in another. I continue to be frustrated that he hasn’t fixed his jump shot. That low release drives me nuts. Overall, I don’t think his game will ever truly mature, but his importance to this team cannot be understated.
    Toney — LOVE him. It may be via the D league, but he will play in the show for a number of years, I predict.

    Overall, I’ll take the win, particularly against ‘Cuse. And I’ll take 6-2. Champagnie’s absence will be hard to overcome, but hoping that consistent scoring from Horton and Odukale, and maybe the emergence of Jeffress as the season goes on, will help to fill that gap.

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  74. On to Football: PSN reporting Central Catholic’s CJ Thorpe is entering the transfer portal from PSU with 2 years of eligibility remaining. Played OG at PSU the last 2 years but it looks like he fancies himself as a Defensive Lineman. Translation: If you want me to come to your school I’ll only do so if you play me on the DL. He was a 4 star coming out of Central Catholic but evidently PSU only saw the need to use him on the OL.

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  79. I asked my wife (also a Pitt grad) if she wanted to watch the Pitt-Syracuse game on TV with me starting at 10:30 pm which is late for us. I didn’t tell her it was a replay. When they were down 18, I predicted Pitt would come back and win 63-60 Pitt. When ‘Cuse hit those three, three pointers late in the game she wanted to give up on the game and go about her business. I encouraged her to have confidence in her alter mater. She really enjoyed the end of the game commenting how its so much more fun watching Pitt when they win. I am a bad person for never telling her it was a replay?

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  81. As for myself I didn’t tell my wife Pitt was playing. I told her I was going down the street to help my buddy split wood.
    We drank beer and watched the game…after the game I tossed some sawdust on myself and went home.

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  82. Tex will enjoy the fact that the cuse tarped the basketball sections around the court. I did comment about this during the football season when Narduzzi was saying how hard it was to go on the road to play a game. My response to that was… bunk.

    When you take the home crowd out of the equation, the games become more even (refs don’t feel compelled to make calls for the home team, momentum issues, communication issues for visiting team due to noise, etc.). None of that was present due to the covid so Pitt dodged a bullet in my mind. A good win.

    When i tuned in on the am radio last night and then posted, I thought that i was the only one here. I truly thought everyone had tuned out which by itself, was funny to me.

    @6&34 – care to share the bet you placed? If you didn’t make an advantageous bet for you, you are crazy. If you did however…….Bad boy!

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    2. Making a bet in that circumstance would have been immoral. I would never do that to anyone let alone my wife who is the love of my life.

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  84. A lot of happy times with Howland & Dixon – none with Barney Stallings except when Heather terminated his coaching duties at Pitt.

    Capel stayed the course last night and sneaked out of the Carrier Dome with the W. The NW comeback was a good one too. I smiled when I heard Capel’s post game comments – he’s definitely a Steelers fan and it shows.

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  85. Per footballscoop.com

    Cory Sanders is a leading candidate for the Florida safeties coach position.

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  87. And now the NC State QB enters the portal. There are a couple of decent QBs on the portal now, and it will be interesting to see if Narduzzi goes after one of them. By my count, he should still have 2-3 scholarships available for players on the portal. If Turner decides to leave, it could open up another one.

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    1. Never gonna happen…..when you got the Doozi/Pickett bromance.

      Plus no QB’s will want to long Marathon runs during games to get awful plays from Mr Whipple.

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  89. Hold on!!! The NC St QB who is transferring is Bailey Hockman who just threw 3 interceptions in the bowl game. Arm strength wise, I would take Bill Stull over him.

    The QB who beat Pitt was Devin Leary who won 2 more games as NCS starter before breaking his leg and being out for the rest of the year.

    Trust me, if you watched the NCS bowl game …. you would take Yellen, Davis or that new Texas QB over Hockman without blinking an eye

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  91. I don’t get the sourness over Yellen following the Notre Dame game. If you want to blame Pitt players blame the offensive line. Or if you want to blame anyone else, blame Whipple for his blocking schemes and play calling. Or PN for not punishing players who commit penalties. Yes, Yellen does not have legs but one can be a successful Power 5 QB without them even though it certainly helps to have them.

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    1. Really, getting thrown in against ND without an O-line or running game or tight ends. Seriously how do judge a guy based on that? It would be like judging KP for the Clemson game.

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    2. the entire team was beaten down vs ND, even the DL. I actually thought Yellen did a commendable job at Miami in his first start.. Nothing great but Pitt was in the game until mid 4th quarter

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    3. That ND loss was a team effort. I think Kenny might have made the game a skosh more interesting, but we were losing that game either way with the defensive lapses.

      Unfair to judge Yellin on that disaster but having said that, he doesn’t appear to be mobile enough to be successful in an offense with subpar OL.

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  93. Pat Signal up this morning for the 2022 class it would appear.—-On Yellen, simply put the guy can’t provide Pitt the run option at QB. He’d be a sitting duck back there. I’m hoping he transfers out.

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  95. On the subject of Yellin, Beville, etc….

    Some deficiencies can also be addressed by recruiting really good OL and good (don’t even need great) TEs.
    Running game improves….better pass protection…another reciving option to help convert when needed.

    It all starts up front.

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    3. Keep in mind the ACC 2 of the top 4 teams positioned in the playoffs. Both lost to the other top 2 teams.

      The fact that those two top teams were not in regular bowl games moved lesser teams into the slots of top tier bowl games against top tier teams from other competition. In the case of UNC, the 3rd or 4th best team in the ACC having to play TX A&M the #2 team in the SEC and 5th ranked team in the nation.

      And on down the line from their…

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    4. are you all aware that in this century, the ACC and Big East have won 15 of the 20 NCAA tourneys. And 4 of those BE titles where when Pitt was in it?

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      1. Again. We’re a basketball conference.

        But football pays the bills

        I’m glad a new northern ACC commish is coming in

        The south can rot

        I live in the plains or southwest. And a republic

        And part of north Mexico

        I’m not a southerner and never will be

        I’m Texan. And we look like the world.

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        1. Texas is hardly considered one of the ‘plains’ states.

          And you’re right you’re not a Southerner…since you were born in PA.

          Which would make you also not a texan.

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