128 thoughts on “The First Pitt Basketball Open Game Thread (The Citadel)”

    1. Femi was the presumed Starting PG. and one of the Top 3. he’s playin…and against the Citadel it shouldn’t matter.

      Like

  9. What’s the bigger tragedy?
    Pitt getting thumped by the Citadel or me wasting my night watching the disaster?

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  10. This year may be “Stallings 2”. Chapel gone if that happens. It’s like year after year with him he’s going out on the street and asking kids if they can ball…

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    2. Especially if he doesn’t recruit anyone good and maybe loses more transfers. His best chance to stay is the fact that he was Heather’s first top coaching hire.

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  11. This season starting like last season. It was St. Francis last year who ran us out of our own gym.

    One huge difference this year, no Champ to put up 20 & 20’s, to even make some of the games competitive.

    Liked by 2 people

  12. I no longer believe Capel is our answer as a men’s basketball coach. I have been one of his supporters but I think it is now just a matter of time before he is asked to move on. This is going to be a very, very long basketball season!

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  13. Perhaps to play it even safer….Capel should schedule Mercyhurst or Thiel for next year’s Opener.

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    1. Capel should schedule a couple of wheelchair teams….and make them dribble the ball. Pitt would win by 4…maybe.

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  16. The Twig is basically useless on both sides of the court. Beat very easily several times to the hoop.

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      1. Akron has a very good coach. His name escapes me right now as I type, but he is really solid and they brought back a lot of talent…..they will do well.

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  20. Looks like this game is the Citadel vs. Hugely. Can any other player play ball?!
    🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

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  21. The Citadel finished in 8th place of the Southern Conf last year. 5-11 in conf of a 10 school conf.

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  26. Just walked in. I cannot watch game and it looks like we lost?? Say it isn’t over and we still have a chance?? If they lose to citadel, the AD is in deep doodoo, as well as the coach.

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    1. no coaching either. As you can’t tell me The Citadel recruits 4 star players. What they do get is fundamentally sound players.

      Liked by 1 person

  28. I cannot watch this any longer. It is just a waste of my time. We may not win a game all season.

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      1. Pitt Juggernaut: Hopefully you are correct! It would be a shame if we do not win any games. How far have we fallen! I wonder if we are worse off with Capel over Stallings? I did not think I would ever type that sentence!

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        1. Scratch Colgate & possibly UMBC & Monmouth off the list. Former Pitt Asst. Pat Skerry coaches at Towson. So either them or Jacksonville are the best bets.

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  29. Hughley & Femi have 36 of Pitt’s 48 points. Hughley won’t get all these garbage baskets against bigger legit D1 players as he is tonite. The other 7 stiffs total 12 point combined.

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  31. Jamie should still be here at Pitt

    I for one of few never wanted him gone

    as opposed to MANY here, not all

    I had hope for Capel but no more

    beyond sad, disgusting barely starts to get close

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Who will we beat on this schedule? I’m afraid we may not win A game all season.

      I feel bad for Pitt fans who paid for season tickets.

      Beyond sad…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. My best guess is either Towson or Jacksonville. Monmouth isn’t bad and neither is UMBC. Colgate has had some very good teams lately and been Dancing.

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  39. Some positive news courtesy of Pitt football! Pitt has moved up 4 spots in the College Playoff Rankings this week to No. 21. Starting to believe Narduzzi is a better coach than Capel. How depressing is that!

    Liked by 1 person

  40. Just got home from a meeting. Watched the scoring but not the game. Went about as I thought. We will win at least one game but I’ll be dammed if I can tell you which one!

    As I said before .. we finally have an inside game but zero guards. Burton won’t be back for another 3 weeks at best. He will help greatly a guard.
    This is a really bad talentless team. I’m so sorry Pitt fans.

    The ladies will be very good this year! On the bright side.

    Liked by 1 person

  41. Two of the 5 pieces are there. Maybe as many as two more. It looks bad right now, but as I said, we need to put up with rebuilding for 2-3 more years.

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  42. No wonder Capel doesn’t want to play Duquesne.

    Thoughts on FB team for Thursday night:

    Cam Bright has not started the past two games (for some reason), yet he was arguably Pitt’s best defender. I would spy Cam on Howell the whole game – Sir V, Campbell III, Petrishen, Pine and Kamara can rotate throughout the game, playing the hot tackler at any given moment.

    Duzz cannot “settle” for FG’s.

    TE Blue Mountain Bart needs a handful of touches – let him play and show the world how good he is.

    KP8 and Addison need to both have great games – their best of 2021.

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    1. Prediction – Pitt wins 41-34 if Cam Bright starts this game. The Panther run game helps Pitt grind to a win.

      The pollsters are impressed and moves Pitt ahead of all 3 loss teams.

      Go Pitt!

      Liked by 1 person

  43. Went to the hoops game since am in town visiting. What a mismatch. Hugley and Odukale were pretty good, everyone else looked like they belong in D2. Other 3 starters hit 3 of 23 shots; bench guys combined for 5 pts and 3 shots. This will be a rough one

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Capel and Pitt basketball did not set the table well for Panther fans for this Thursday night showdown with the hated Tar Heels. I’m having trouble getting the bad taste and very poor images out of my mouth and brain.

    UNC will be playing loose and fast, while the Duzz lead Panthers will probably be tight and flat footed. We’ve taken a few punches early in games and bounced back for victory. This one has a different feel to me.

    I hope my feelings are from the meatball sandwich I ate.

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  45. Scooters game summary to me since I had to miss the game:
    No guards
    No shooting
    No recruiting
    No coaching
    No fans

    And yes, we still have season tickets.
    Sigh 😕

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Give up the season tickets like I did for football. Save your donation money. You can buy almost every game on stub hub wherever you want to sit for under $20 bucks unless Duke and UNC are in town.

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    2. Capel and three former D1 head coaches on the bench and this is the best we can do. And you forgot “no defense”. Incredibly sad.

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    3. Sounds like Scooter nailed it!

      Maybe Burton will help a bit…. I’d tell Santos to keep shooting – he looks like the only other hope and help offensively for Femi and John…

      Go Pitt.

      Like

  46. It’s been a long time coming. And it’s a long time gone And it appears to be along time, Appears to be a long time, Appears to be a long time Before the Dawn

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 1 person

  48. I know nothing about basketball but attended Pitt during Jamie’s glory days and am a casual fan, former hs football coach here. I have questions:
    1) Capel came from Duke. That’s a great bball school. He was mentored by Coach K. Shouldn’t that attract the best hs players in the country? I understand two starters are out but many have said the team would have stunk anyway. Why is the recruiting awful?
    2) Why do the good players that get recruited and succeed with Capel transfer? I liked Ryan Murphy and Trey McGowens. Why does everyone with talent leave?
    3) This is starting to feel like Stallings 2.0. How long does Heather give Capel to turn this around?
    4) Is this team capable of winning ONE conference game?
    5) Is there anything schematically that Capel and company can do to make up for the lack of talent to give us a chance to win?
    6) How did a perpetual top 25 program for almost twenty years turn into a joke?
    7) I never thought we would be pining for the days of Ralph Willard.

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  50. When Capel arrived, he was forced to bring in two sixteen year olds as the nucleus as his team. Talented but immature

    But where Capel blew it was his 2nd year. Still thinking he was at Duke, he pursued all the blue chips, and got none. Champagnie was a good prospect but not considered a blue chip by any means.

    Capel now seems to understand that good prospects from the Northeast maybe his best option, but that’s what he has right now …prospects.

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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  51. Transfers and suspension fall back on the head coach. This team would be much better with X, Toney, McGowans, Brown, Murphy still on the roster.

    Time to think football. Go KP, another show case game coming up. It will be high scoring. Pitt needs to pound the rock.
    Agree about Cam Bright. Rather him play than Petrishen.

    I am sure Gabe Houy is out which is a shame. I heard PN say during the summer that Houy was in great shape because this was the first year he could go after it in the off season as far as training. He has had lots of injuries. He was finally getting to display the talent the coaches obviously saw in him as a recruit. Hope he recovers to finish the season. On the same note, I hope Pitt coaches have realized you have to rotate in younger OL guys for game experience so when injuries happen, younger players can step in without a drop off.

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  52. Honestly, given the transfers, Sibande’s injury and Horton’s suspension, I expected this to be a slog and possibly a loss. I told my wife as much. I witnessed this atrocity in person and was stunned by 1) how bad Gueye is: weak and slow; could Olapade be that bad that Gueye is getting all those minutes? 2) Jeffress’s 100% lack of confidence; they got nothing from him. He looks like he’d rather be playing video games in his dorm room, 3) the lack of fundamentals: not moving feet on defense, not boxing out on defense, and the horrific FT shooting. If Horton and Burton can make it back at some point, they might be able to salvage a few wins against some of the non power-5s, but I suspect it might be another winless ACC season.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Your analysis made me spill my coffee with laughter, great job fillippelli. Could you imagine getting an evaluation at work, “You are weak and slow.” What about instead of lacking confidence, “You have a 100% lack of confidence and we have no tasks for you to do.” I feel bad for our non-injured players that will soldier on through this season.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Horton won’t see the floor again this season – the script was written last season with Hugely.

      I predict no wins for this season – worse than Stallings famed 0-18 ACC campaign.

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  54. If it’s any consolation.. Navy beat 25th ranked UVA last night. On its home floor, UVA scored 3 points in the final 8 minutes

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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  55. I always rely on Coach Dan for basketball expertise, but players seem to come in under Capel and never get any better. Great athletes (Champagnie) are great because they are, but they don’t become better players. He’s had plenty of time to prove me wrong. You only need to see how badly his team always plays defense (always) to understand that he and his assistants can’t coach at a D2 level, or they are recruiting kids unable to learn……His fault either way.

    Liked by 1 person

  57. To be more specific on defense, spend time (if you can stomach it) watching the players’ footwork as the ball moves, watch how they fill lanes, watch how they defend the baseline, watch how they pressure non-shooters, but leave shooters wide open…….It has been this way since the day Capel got here. Everyone likes to watch offense (and that is painful too), but watching us play defense truly shows how bad this coaching staff really is. Like it or not.

    Liked by 2 people

  58. Can’t stand to even look at bball this year. LatestPittsburgh weather for Thursday calls for showers starting at 7 and full blown rain by 8:30 for rest of night. Joe Dinardo.

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  59. The ACC is not about players coming in and getting better. You don’t build a program from the floor up. You build it from the ceiling down in this league. You get your class, then you get your role players. Then those role players carry the next class that comes in. I agree with the all or nothing approach. Almost the college version of “the process”.

    I have no interest in watching an average team in the ACC. I just don’t. Swing big. Is Capel the right guy? It’s year 4. He hasn’t lived up to his recruiting reputation yet but he’s also been very very close a couple times. Efton Reid was Pitt until LSU, LSU’d. The LSU situation told me that Heather most likely is not letting Capel play with the same deck of cards as some of these elite schools. If you want to be elite, you have to play by their rules. Otherwise you have a stacked deck against you.

    But, regardless of Capel, I prefer this approach. I’d rather be awful than average. Average is the alternative. We see it with football. It’s absolute hell.

    DUKE is obviously a one and done school … UNC is not a one and done school but recruits at an elite level … UVA is not a one and done school but recruits at an elite level (the roster alwasy has a 5 star and other top 75 talent … some people like to argue that but UVA recruits at a very elite level) … and then you have FSU, who took about a decade doing it the old school build-a-roster way, but now has arguably the most qualified NBA talent in the ACC year over year.

    Basketball recruiting is not like football. The rankings don’t mean as much. The top teams are one and done teams churning thru a roster every year. UVA, UNC, FSU are all very elite but may not show up in the seasonal ranking because their kids don’t turn over as often.

    I’ve said this before, to be a Final 4 team you have to have at least two top 50 players and two top 75 players in the rotation. If that’s not what you’re recruiting for in the ACC, you’re destined to be Notre Dame basketball.

    I don’t want to spend a decade getting there. Keep swinging big and if Pitt moves on from Capel, get another guy who swings big.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Maybe your best BB comment ever. The ACC is a different monster. Only way to succeed is to build top down! Very hard to do.

      I’ve been an ACC Fan for forty years. It’s all about top tier talent and outside shooting. Pitt’s weaknesses…forever. Tear down the Pete! No one’s coming this year anyhow. Put up a football basketball complex. Host major concerts and conventions off season. Make it a project for Pitt Engineering School! Think outside of the box…..have vision… for once!

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  60. … and by the way, FSU is my favorite team in the league not named Pitt. I love the kids they recruit and the way they play.

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  62. One would think that our current situation in men’s basketball would be a cautionary tale for our football program. But it won’t be. At this point we are likely to finish the football regular season at 8-4 or 9-3. And when we do, there will be many Pitt fans calling for the firing of Coach Narduzzi because “that is his ceiling”. Shades of the drum beat for getting rid of Jamie Dixon because he couldn’t get us past the second round of the tourney. Or he couldn’t beat the cream of the ACC.

    Never mind that we usually walked out of the Pete having watched a Pitt victory. Or if we did lose, the game was more often than not decided in the final few minutes.

    Do we really think that 2-10 or 3-9 seasons are not a possibility for a football team? And doing so for six years and counting (the basketball equivalent) is worth the risk in the hopes of finding that magical coach to take us to 11-1 or 12-0?

    And if we were to crash and burn, how much harder would it be to get back to relevance? If we struggle so much to rebuild a 13-man basketball roster, how much harder would it be to rebuild an 85-man football roster?

    Aesop nailed us with the story of the dog with a bone looking at his reflection in the water.

    Liked by 1 person

  63. My main gripe about Capel’s coaching is year after year his teams lack fundamentals! Again, this team may win only one game but I’ll be damned if I can tell you which one.
    WVCC game will be over first 10 minutes.

    Liked by 1 person

  64. If we move on from Capel the guy we should go after … but never will, well because … is Rick Pitino … That’s the type of person you need in college basketball. Great recruiter and great X’s and O’s … and a great scum bag.

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  67. Although I am feeling sick about having season BBall tickets. Feeling mightily ripped off.
    I get that we can’t compete in the ACC this year, but getting trounced by the Citadel seems absurd.
    If Capel can’t add immediate help to next year’s class and he loses Mintz, it is time to start over.
    After the portal debacle last year and no one was fired makes you wonder. What are the assistant’s doing?
    No recruits, everyone jumping ship. I’d say the handwriting is on the wall. I don’t see how any one can say
    Capel is going to get that big time recruiting class with the product that is out there right now.

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  68. If Pitt does go the steady eddy approach, I think BK should be the guy. If Pitt really wants to play ball, it’s Pittino. That’s the line you have to cross to make the jump in college basketball. It just is.

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  69. gc – Mintz is the key … he has to get at least two other guys. Mintz will probably dip if he doesn’t. If he does, the roster all of a sudden looks a lot better. There is some value on the roster right now that could pair well with a couple elite recruits.

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    1. I agree Mintz and two guys plus Hugely and Femi would be good.
      Plus Burton, Sibande and others and you might have a decent team.
      However, those two other guys are just a pipe dream right now.

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      1. Haha … very much so … but he has one hooked … get the other two and it’s that class I’ve been talking about … but, I can’t say I have confidence he’ll be able to do it.

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        1. And to be honest, Mintz I don’t think is top 50 so he needs two guys better than Mintz in the mix IMO.

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  70. November 9, 2021​

    Pitt’s Pickett Named Semifinalist for Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award

    PITTSBURGH—Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett—who throws “the best deep ball in college football” according to former Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart—has been named a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, it was announced today by the Davey O’Brien Foundation.

    This is the latest national award to select Pickett as one of its premier contenders. He previously was named a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award “Top 10 Candidate,” Maxwell Award semifinalist and Senior CLASS Award finalist.

    The accolades have been well earned. As ACC Network’s Eric Mac Lain said, “Kenny has continued to make the case for ‘QB1’ in the entire draft. Not the (ACC) conference—the entire country. Nobody else in any league is playing as consistent as Kenny Pickett. No one is playing as well as Kenny Pickett. … He’s a Pro playing college.”

    Pickett’s production this season has been at an elite level. Through nine games he has completed 69% of his passes (235 of 342) for 3,171 yards with 29 touchdowns and only three interceptions. With four rushing scores, he has 33 total TDs this year.

    Pickett is piloting the nation’s highest scoring offense at 45 points per game. He has led the Panthers to four 50-point games this season, their most since 1905.

    Pickett is highly distinguished among FBS quarterbacks with top-10 national rankings in no fewer than eight NCAA statistical categories: passing touchdowns (third, 29), total offense (third, 379.2 yards/game), total passing yards (fifth, 3,171), passing yards per game (fifth, 352.3 avg.), total points responsible for (fifth, 198), points responsible for per game (fifth, 22.0 avg.), completions per game (sixth, 26.11 avg.) and passing efficiency (seventh, 172.8 rating).

    In addition to his athletic excellence, Pickett is accomplished academically and from a community and leadership standpoint. Pitt’s two-time team captain earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing and is presently enrolled in the Katz Graduate School of Business. He has been nationally lauded for his NIL initiatives, which have emphasized philanthropy as well as his teammates.

    Three Davey O’Brien finalists will be selected based on voting by the award’s National Selection Committee as well as the Davey O’Brien Fan Vote, which will take place on the award’s three social media accounts—Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The top five vote getters on each platform will receive bonus committee member ballots that will be added to the votes cast by the National Selection Committee.

    To participate in the Fan Vote, fans must like the original Davey O’Brien Award post highlighting the quarterback. Each round of the selection process will offer two one-week voting periods for fans.

    The three finalists will be announced on Nov. 23. The winner will be announced during ESPN’s live telecast of The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 9.

    Pickett has led the Panthers to a 7-2 overall record and first place in the Coastal Division with a 4-1 ACC mark. Pitt, ranked in both major Top 25 polls this week, hosts North Carolina this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN.

    Remaining Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Timeline

    Semifinalists Announced (Tuesday, Nov. 9)

    Round 2 Fan Vote Open (Week #1 – Tuesday, Nov. 9-Sunday, Nov. 14)

    Round 2 Fan Vote Open (Week #2 – Tuesday, Nov. 16-Sunday, Nov. 21)

    Finalists Announced (Tuesday, Nov. 23)

    Round 3 Fan Vote Open (Week #1 – Tuesday, Nov. 23-Sunday, Nov. 28)

    Round 3 Fan Vote Open (Week #2 – Tuesday, Nov. 30-Sunday, Dec. 5)

    Winner Announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards (Thursday, Dec. 9)

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  73. While I’m all in for KP getting awards, if he doesn’t win at least two of the last three, he isn’t going to win anything except a crummy bowl game, maybe.

    “We not me” is how they win those games.

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  75. Obviously Pitt FB and BB are at the opposite ends of the spectrum in accomplishments. Is it time for Pitt to look at changing the athletic facilities and resources of these two sports as it did in 1999?

    Liked by 2 people

  76. What surprised me was the ability of the Citadel to get off so many 3s. One would think that with Hugely in the paint the guards could come out and stop the three point shooting better. The second biggest surprise was Jeffress. This kid was considered a major recruiting success. I realize that the top players are supposedly offensive wizards, and coaches must coach up the defensive part. But with all those D1 coaches on the staff, my third surprise is the poor fundamentals everyone has talked about.

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  77. If guess you folks haven’t figured out yet that Capel is not really a very good coach. Even if he recruited some good ACC caliber players I still think Pitt would be out coached by many others with less talent on their squads.

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    1. He’s made an Elite 8 on talent. Talent trumps coaching up to a certain point. But, I don’t disagree. The Feb slides the last couple seasons, I’ve seen as a coaching concern.

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  79. Pittsburgh Sports Now reporting that Johnson, Toney, and Coulibaly all had good outings on their new teams. Something is very rotten with Pitt basketball and it is time to stop sugar-coating the issue. I can’t
    completely fault Capal because he has assistant coaches who might be part of the problem.

    We all are cognizant of the fact that there are schools that have $$ channeled through alumni to entice players to play for pay…yeah, football and basketball. But, when you take a hard look at the facts there are many programs that have managed to stay “relatively” clean and have winning seasons. The “clean” schools may not rank consistently in the top 10 for football or make it to the”Sweet 16″, however, they win through strong coaching, recruiting, and alumni who show up at the games eliminating half-empty stadiums and arenas. Pitt fails on many key levels. ……and of course, Pitt has an administration and AD who are
    incompetent when it comes to understanding the importance of developing the structure needed to support
    winning athletic programs ( any bets on how long our non-revenue producing sports coaches stay in Pennsylvania).

    We are a disgrace in baketball///no other way to put it and one loss away in football. from another mediocre
    football season despite having an All-American QB!

    The Pittsburgh sportswriters are for the most part “Happy Valley” clones, however, as bad as Cook is I have to say that he is often right!

    So, what’s the answer? $$ talks and nobody walks– is the old cliche. Cancel your season tickets with a letter to the Administration and to AD clearly explaining that you are tired of being embarrassed by the complete inferiority of our nationally exposed athletic teams. I know that this may seem unrealistic and despite my physical limitations which have kept me away from the Burgh and the glories of great tailgating
    desperate times call for desperate measures. .

    I am soon to be 79 and believe me I bleed BLUE AND GOLD, but I have reached the very limit of my patience. Last night’s debacle was the finishing touch. Yes, I want to see the Panthers win out the rest of
    the season for KP’s sake, but the QB cupboard is bare for next season as a result of inept recruiting.
    ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I am totally with you isnore – I got in last night and checked here about the game and was advised not to turn it on as it was embarrassing. Turns out, it was more than embarrassing. This is on the AD, the coach, and his assistants.

      We need to stop making excuses for the pay to play and dirty programs arguments. There are no such things any more folks. NIL removed all that and makes it all legal, which it is. If we take a collection for the POV and raise 10k, we can have Pickett or any Pitt athlete say real nice things about the POV. Our Ad has failed here. Granted, she cannot do the deal for the player, but she does have access to the boosters…which brings up the bigger issue.

      Will athletic departments give up some of their fat cat boosters and let them give money to the athlete students, or will the AD’s keep the money and relationship so they can meet their fundraising goals? What would you do if you were the AD?

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  80. The fact our transfers are doing well at other schools tells me recruiting is not a major problem if Pitt can keep and develop its players. That leaves coaching and locker room issues. The poor fundamentals tells me that the development is not there, and the assistant coaches are not doing their job. Since Capel is signed for 5-6 more years, he must be forced to clean out the assistant coach dead wood and get some coaches that can teach and improve the locker room atmosphere.

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    1. Too early to determine if Pitt transfers are going to have a good season for their respective teams. PSN was looking for a dramatic response in my opinion. Let’s see how that plays out over the course of the season. You can have players that mesh with a team and players that don’t. It doesn’t mean that they are great players if they have a great season. They may have been better fits with

      Basketball is the easier program to turnaround due to the number of players needed to effectuate positive change.

      Jeffress had an awful shooting night and I believe he needs a sports psychologist to help him get over bad performances quickly. He needs to work through bad nights and there are other ways to do it. I did not watch the game but my guess is that despite our size advantage, we did not bully or drive our way to the hoop. The most aggressive team usually gets the calls in basketball. I go to basketball Coach Dan to confirm that, but it makes sense to me. Without watching, Pitt is soft mentally and physically. You just can’t go onto any field of play and allow an inferior opponent to dictate an outcome. You just can’t do it.

      Not blaming the loss on Jeffress. Bad Plan. Best chance at victory is to ride with Hugley, Femi and Jeffress.

      Like

  81. Tony was a very good player and X was always a good non-con player. Coulibay came off the bench on sub-group of 5 team lol. X and McGowan were bad seeds. The Tony transfer hurt and Champaignie made a wise business decision.

    It’s a very bad team. The team was very bad before the Nike and Horton situations. I tried telling everyone. This is not a season follow Pitt basketball … at all. It’s not a foundational team. The team is basically back to square one after the first 3 seasons under Capel. Not really a place any of us wanted to be or expected to be.

    Next year’s class is the only thing you should be following this season. Can Capel add two more higher rated kids to go with Mintz? Mintz, last I saw, was only ranked # 68. He’s not a program changer. Pitt needs at least one program changer (top 30) and another similar ranked player (50-75) to go with him to jump start the program.

    If you can’t beat them, join them. Pitt’s next coach should be first Pittino, and second Miller.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. As I posted before….if Capel can not get any more other Top 100 players. Mintz will de-commit.

      And you’re right 1 Tweener type player is not going to change anything.

      They need a class similar to Smith & Lane & Gore.

      So he has the Gore type in Mintz. He needs a Smith & a Lane.

      Like

      1. Already rumors out there today that Mintz is going to decommit. He definitely should not sign and keep his options open. Another losing season hopefully Capel and Pitt can reach a feasible buyout. No way Capel can want to go on after four losing seasons, but for the money, he can fake it.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Oh yea…..wouldn’t be surprised. Who in their right mind would want to come to this sh8t storm.
          Losing to The Citadel, who hadn’t beaten a P5 school since 1989.

          And if the Mintz kid watched that game….i’d be like in shock.

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  82. Coaching was suspect last night and it’s been poor thruout Capel + brother + Crew’s time at Pitt.

    Only way we could have beat The Citadel last night or at least make it a close game, was by
    pressing them.

    They had very small & slowish guards, who didn’t seem to be that great of ball handlers either.
    And after finishing 8th in a 3rd rate league last year and predicted to be 9th of 10 teams, that
    would normally be the case for that type of a team.

    Did you see Pitt press once ?

    Even though depleted, we had the bigger and more athletic guards.

    The Citadel did NOT have 1 starter over 6’5″ tall. Our PG is 6’5″ tall.
    https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4701839/femi-odukale

    And if you can’t shoot from the Outside…which Pitt can’t….you gotta create turnovers and get
    layups.

    This isn’t Rocket Science….but appears to be….to Capel & Crew

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I kept muttering to myself during the game: “Why don’t they full court press, even a few times?!” A few turnovers, a few easy hoops, and it’s a ball game again.

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      1. Even a half court trap….could have caused them trouble and produced some turnovers.
        If you(being the Coach) felt we were too depleted to full court press.

        Our wings (the trappers) have long wing spans if nothing else.

        And perhaps at least it could have taken them out their offensive rhythm.

        Point is, you gotta try something different and play to your strengths and their weaknesses.

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      2. This team is so unathletic. I was hoping for some fast-break points and my lord how slow the team looked getting up the court. This is what you get when you whiff on all your top recruits.

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        1. Wait until they start playing teams with legit, tall Front lines. Citadel had no starter taller than 6’5″.

          It won’t be that easy for Hughley….so your down to Femi scoring and his FT shooting still stinks.

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  83. Very poor coaching.. But what I don’t get is if Tony and X had a problem with Champ, why didn’t they just finish the season to see if Champ went pro? Something doesn’t add up here. And you are right, fillippelli. The obvious thing is to press their mediocre guards to get some turnovers. Can the coaching really be this bad?

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    1. If Capel couldn’t have talked them (Toney & X) into staying the rest of the season, which amounted to 4 more games…..something is seriously wrong with his communication skills with these kids.

      Plus like you said, if they stayed the 4 more games, then you can convince to wait and see if
      Champ is even going to be on the team next year.

      Doesn’t add up….you’re right.

      Liked by 1 person

  84. I guess everyone knows by now that Mintz decommited. I guess me watched the mess last night. Capel’s coaching career is toast…

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