72 thoughts on “Pitt at Louisville Basketball Game Thread”

  2. To get 4 tech fouls on Pitt bench to start the game is outrageous and a sign this staff is just not big time!

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    1. Only one foul on the bench. One on Hugely for losing his cool and 1 right after on Capel for arguing. Considering they drew blood on Hugley and he got called for a foul, then they bumped him so hard he lost the ball but no foul, I can empathize… although they all should know better. At least Capel was defending his player.

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  3. How do you expect your team to play under control and with discipline when the coaches can’t.
    Both those bench fouls on Capel #2!

    At the least, this staff needs a housecleaning!

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  5. I am glad I quit watching the Pitt’s men’s basketball team’s games. It is saving my heart a lot of stress!

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  8. I’m surprised there are so many empty seats. Louisville is 9-4 and 3-0 in the ACC.

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  10. Lucky Horton is in and is unconcious!

    So if Burton is required by ACC rules to wear a mask, why aren’t the refs making him actually put it on his face?

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  12. I like it when Hugely shoots from behind the arc! Pulls their big guy out and sets up a follow shot when he misses as expected! Dan is probably having a heart attack!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Excellent defense and more ammunition with Horton. Adds another6 points per game, enough to win most their previous games this year.

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    1. Poor coaching is what I saw – I kept my comments to myself throughout the game.

      Pitt has talented players who are missing FT and fundamentals of the game.

      That is a coaching issue.

      Liked by 1 person

  26. John Hugley is the best post player we’ve had in many moons.

    Team gave good effort but a few awful passes coming down the stretch made for empty possessions…

    Go Pitt.

    Liked by 3 people

  27. When Capel goes back to Duke next year, I want Pitt to hire a young up and comer who demands fundamentals! The ACC is not just a scoring league but a sound fundamentals league.

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  28. Continued improvement in turnover area. But they just don’t shoot well enough. They also need to be over 70% ft shooting as a team. I’d have them shooting free throws all night long.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Despite the disappointing ending, see this as ANOTHER step in the right direction.

    Coming from Capel’s longest and biggest CRITIC on this Blog.

    Well, the biggest part might be arguable.

    Liked by 2 people

  30. Oh… A special “shout out” to the Pittsburgh Cop whose decision to CONVENIENTLY be absent for Horton’s day in Court help make this close loss to Louisville possible.

    Can you say SARCASM? I knew you could.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. Any Panther fan that checked out on this team is missing out…Too many unforced errors and missed crunch time FTs, but damn this team plays hard to the unfortunately bitter end. This is a team of scrappers without a prima donna in sight…Very refreshing after the last several years.

    Liked by 8 people

  32. I recall the days when Pitt dominated in the paint and the opposition entered at their own risk. Pitt needs to get back to that but they need another big body to go with Hugely.

    Liked by 2 people

  33. One thing I have to say is how hard these kids play, and there seems to be a lot less big egos. There is talent but just not enough

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 5 people

    1. Does Pitt have a basketball team? I understand Pitt has plans to tear down the Pete to build a parking lot. Maybe Chapel and his coaches can get a job as parking attendants.because they sure have no idea how to run a bb program!

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  34. OT: Pitt has now won the ACC with Heinz as its home field. Does this change the thinking as far as ability to maintain a winning program with empty seats and bussed students?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Heinz was a great place to be this year. It should be even better next year.
      Never seen the fans that responsive. Winning football makes a huge difference.
      Same with the students, they were awesome. I think you will see more fans ours and theirs coming for a weekend in Pittsburgh. The bars the restaurants the hotels and other activities are a draw, especially if the football is competitive.

      How many other schools offer as wide a range of accommodations, night life, food and beverage services, a casino, science center, history center, cultural center, all within walking distance or free subway?

      Liked by 7 people

  35. I am really surprised at how well this team came together. If Capel could have held on and added a couple recruits he may have had something next year. Who knows, maybe he will score some decent talent in the portal. Hugely and Odukale are already very good. Burton belongs as well. The fact that we aren’t getting blown out is amazing.

    Hope he can hold on to his key guys this year. Too bad Moe doesn’t have another year, He might be skinny but what an athlete.

    Heather’s patience worked with Narduzzi, who knows what might happen.

    Liked by 1 person

  36. I think that Capel is doing a good job of fielding a competitive team after all the setbacks. Pitt is still a couple of years away from finishing in the top half of the ACC. But I am convinced Capel can recruit well enough to get there.

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    1. I’m practically in shock that Pitt is competitive at this point but UNLESS he gets something happening on the recruiting front, why would anyone think that he is capable and expect it is going to happen?

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    2. If Pitt was in the old Big East they would’ve won that game last night. But they’re in the ACC which values; 3 Pt shooting: Free throw %: fundamentals…. In that order. Still, I now think Pitt has a good basketball team. I’d pay to see them play and I will in a few weeks!

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  37. OT, but at this point with Jordan Addison, he has to be the hottest commodity related to Pitt football and is likely in the midst of figuring out tons of NIL opportunities(with Pitt and elsewhere potentially 😦 )

    what and how would anyone advise him? does Pitt assist guidance through these things? do they provide reliable and trustworthy mentorship, legal advice, etc. which obviously helps Jordan but also serves Pitt’s interest?

    should he seek out independent guidance away from Pitt to serve himself best? legal? maybe individuals like Larry Fitz, AD, etc?

    I’m obviously hoping he stays but somewhat similar to KP opting out in his own best interest and some fully on board with that, if advising Jordan IN HIS BEST INTEREST, what should he be doing?

    the iron is HOTTEST for him right NOW!

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  39. It is good to watch competitive games. Hope we can keep that up as we get into the heart of the ACC schedule.

    There are some head scratchers though. I was hoping that Nate Santos would be the 3-point assassin that other teams always seem to have against us. Guess not.

    Noah Collier is only averaging 1.9 points per game in 11 minutes per game. Can’t seem to make himself a factor in the paint. But then, 6-10, 230 lb, Max Amadasun is averaging one basket per season, so…..

    Onyebuchi Ezeakudo is 44.5% on 3-pointers. But he is 25% from the free throw line. What is the farthest you can move away from the free throw line and still be a legal free throw?

    Looking forward to being at the Pete on Saturday. Hopefully meeting Fran, Scooter, and others from the POV at Hemingways beforehand.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Wolfe – Ha-ha. That’s funny about Eze moving back from the free throw line on free throws.

      Seems to me the biggest problem for poor shooters is not enough arc on the shot. I’d try to get everyone shooting rainbows… 🌈

      I don’t think we’re very good – no bench and we don’t have that reliable shooter – but Hugley is fun to watch…

      I’m puzzled we aren’t seeing Santos but still seeing Jeffress…. Defense, I guess…

      Go Pitt.

      Liked by 1 person

  41. While Damar Hamlin has been absent from anything meaningful regarding the Buffalo Bills… Dane Jackson has been anything but.

    Hamlin 1 tackle… Jackson 39.

    Always thought Jackson was something MORE than average.

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  42. Hamlin is behind a very good player. He won’t play unless there is an injury.

    Jackson worked his way into the lineup last year.

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    2. Jackson being better than Hamlin doesn’t take anything away from Hamlin though. I don’t get the point of saying it. Hamlin is behind a borderline pro-bowl safety. Should have been in the pro-bowl IMO.

      I think Pinnock was better than both of them … there was a reason he was drafted a few rounds ahead of both, too …

      But, I don’t get the point of tearing a Pitt-man down to make a point.

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  45. I don’t why Capel shortens the bench so much. Olapado, Santos have not played. He can shrink their minutes, but he needs to give players a breather. In Santos case, he could be gaining valuable experience. He does this every year.

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    2. Clay Helton was went wrong … epically, wrong … a toxic Athletic Dept didn’t do him many favors, either …

      The bad: Things quickly unraveled after that Pac-12 title season. USC finished 5-7 the next year and Helton was clearly too loyal to assistants who weren’t performing or simply didn’t recruit. That season put Helton squarely on the hot seat, and as a result the 2020 recruiting class finished 64th nationally, depths never before seen throughout decades of USC’s recruiting.

      Another excellent article about his tenure … I cherry picked some stuff but the entire program was/is toxic …

      https://theathletic.com/2825394/2021/09/14/clay-heltons-usc-firing-ends-a-tenure-defined-by-its-setbacks-and-one-overriding-weakness-accountability/

      “Everyone knows him as a nice guy, and what happens with nice guys sometimes is they can get tricked,” one former USC staffer said. “He does everything the right way, and if you tell him to do something and tell him to be there at 8:30, he will be there at 8:30. Unfortunately, players and adults, sometimes they might not be there at 8:30, and there’s no accountability to that. It was just kind of disappointing. There were never any actual repercussions.
      “Yes, he is a nice guy and you can peg him as an amazing person, but at the end of the day, the staff members and the players could get away with a lot. And a lot of leeway because they knew how nice he was. To a fault.”
      After speaking to people who have been around the program during Helton’s tenure, the sense is this: USC’s players really liked Helton, but there was never that healthy sense of fear that comes with making mistakes. That’s why the same errors were made over and over again with no real consequences.

      “The former coaches on this staff who had a lot of control, they took advantage of it,” one member of the program said. “They got really lazy, and recruiting tanked. Clay went to back-to-back New Year’s Six bowls. He won a Rose Bowl, but he had much better players there who could overshadow some of his weaknesses. But when you stop recruiting … and get your ass beat by Stanford, then you really see the warts.”

      Helton’s tenure shockingly disproved the idea that “USC recruits itself.” The Trojans’ 2020 recruiting class finished No. 64 in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite, an embarrassingly low ranking that remains a blemish on a program that treated top-10 recruiting classes like a birthright.

      USC skimped on its recruiting structure, and the athletic department decided to pinch pennies. That’s how it ended up with such a small recruiting staff in comparison to your peers. That’s also how Helton ended up flying on Allegiant Airlines when he went to Ohio to recruit five-star offensive lineman Jackson Carman during the 2018 recruiting cycle.

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  49. —For those who like to diminish Pitt’s accomplishments, Pitt’s strength of schedule last season was 57th, the second easiest of Coach Duzz’s seven-year tenure.

    —KP’s Pro Football Focus passing grade was 92.3, second only to the Heisman Trophy winner…

    —I remember hearing somewhere where KP had the best passer rating against blitzes. If I got that right it’s pretty impressive. Speaks well to the coaching and Kenny’s preparation…

    —Jordan Addison had 33 receptions over 20 yards – more than any other player. That’s an amazing stat. Eleven of those went for TDs.

    I stole some of this info from an article by Johnny McGonigal of the PG.

    Go Pitt.

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      1. Pitt football’s Strength of Schedule from the ESPN site and from another site called Team Rankings (TR):

        Year —— ESPN — TR
        2015 —— 28 —— 34
        2016 —— 30 —— 21
        2017 —— 21 —— 46
        2018 —— 2 —— 17
        2019 —— 61 —— 63
        2020 —— 28 —— 51
        2021 —— 57 —— 39

        Obviously some subjectivity comes into play, but both estimate the 2019 season as being Coach Duzz’s easiest schedule and 2018 as his toughest schedule…

        H2P!

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        1. BTW, in 2018, the “toughest” Duzz schedule, Pitt went 7-7, but 6-2 in conference.

          In 2019, Duzz’s “easiest” schedule, Pitt went 8-5 but only 4-4 in conference.

          In both seasons Pitt played two ranked teams out-of-conference. They were PSU and UCF.

          Go Pitt.

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  50. Pitt women basketballers just played an embarrassingly poor first half against #3 Louisville.
    Losing 40-13.

    An amazing 24 turnovers by Pitt — with 10 by the PGs. Harris and Hayford playing awful.

    Louisville is very good and puts a lot of pressure on any offense, but this is ridiculous…

    Go Pitt.

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  51. Indiana men’s basketball looks pretty good one year removed from the Miller dynasty.

    One year with a new coach and they are clobbering tOSU.

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  52. is that the same Indiana team that lost to Syracuse and PSU?

    it’s basketball, on any given night….., and especially on HOME court

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  53. so, nobody willing to offer Jordan Addison advice?

    how about, stay at Pitt and serve OUR best interests,,,,, because loyalty and scholarship and…. ?

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