131 thoughts on “ACC Tournament – Day 3 Featuring Duke vs. Pitt”

  1. Michigan is going down. Looks like Lunardi can take them off his ridiculous bracket now.

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    1. And doesn’t the U look awesome beating a .500 WF team by a measly 2 points? Anyone who took Miami and the Over got hosed.

      H2P!!!

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  7. Someone cover someone !!

    What a horrible start proving wee don’t belong on the same floor!!

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  16. You’re seeing the real Pitt team today and it’s real coach. No smoke and mirrors.

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  22. Second half last game vs Duke Pitt went 10 minutes without a basket. Pitt trying to break that record now.
    Need pop up threes badly.

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  26. It will take me to save the day. Payment is a mutton, tomato and lettuce sandwich that’s all.

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  28. This 30-40 point butt waxing may be the last nail in the coffin for our NCAA hopes…

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  29. Well I have not watched an entire game yet this year, and when I have watched them, any lead they have magically shrinks. I’ll take one for the team and turn it off and enjoy my vacation for a bit.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. not likely legs at this point, effort

      and not bad calls either

      Duke is long and playing with intensity on perimeter D

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  36. No Pitt started with more than 4 points. I’m done here…I think I’ll vacuum the house…

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  41. Duke travel. Took about 4 giant steps then a Pitt foul.

    Pitt playing so sloppy. Turnovers and easy baskets just terrible.

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  43. Burton threw that pass blindly. And then Hinson compounds it. In any case, Duke’s size is too much for Pitt. The D is intense but combined with the length, it’s brutal.

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  44. OMFG! I expected for our guys to at least be competitive. Can’t believe I raced home for this sh*t! Way to pick a time to go stone cold.

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  46. A total loss of poise in this game. Cummings makes so many mistakes. No one is shooting well and they can’t solve Duke’s defense.

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  51. Kinda predictable what with the way Pitt hasn’t been playing defense at all…the last several weeks. 82 points to Syracuse, 88 to bottom feeder ND, & 81 yesterday. Pitt’s D does not present any problems to anyone…..including the worst teams in the ACC. Duke could hit a 100.

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  53. In other news, the Hoopies played a team yesterday whose coach was just suspended/resigned. Today they play Kansas whose coach is ill and unavailable for today’s game. When was the last time a D1 school played back to back games against teams without their head coach? And in the conference tournament no less.

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  56. Is there a worse matchup in the ACC than Duke for our style of play? An eraser under the basket and tight D all around the 3 pt line. Nothing left but midrange jumpers?

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  60. Cummings plays so freaking scared. If you’re the opponent and you’ve watched a few Pitt games, you know you can allow him to penetrate because 90% of the time he stops in the lane and is forced into trying to make a pass back to the perimeter. I know he’s small, but for FFS, drive, use your body to create separation, and at least try to draw a foul or dish to a cutter.

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  67. Spring practice starts in about a week…..I hope that we can avoid injuries. Panthers had a better than expected basketball season and to be honest I really can’t get excited about the NIT. See you all later.

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  68. God is merciful….my regular link never did work….and then the one Jackagain posted
    went down and never came back. Thank you God !

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  70. How many of you thought I was being facetious when I said Pitt was going to lose by 30-40?

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  72. Capel is disaster. He has one decent year in 5 and now we will be stuck with him for another 4-5 years. Losing by 30 to a below avg. team is an embarrassment. But hey at least half his family is on his staff.

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  74. Can’t get mad. Pitt’s legs we’re shot 6 games ago. Can’t fight thru screens, hit pop up 3s, run the floor or play D with tired legs.

    Capel has played six players all year.
    Was Santos so bad, he couldn’t get more time?? Nelly played practically every minute of every game. Capel refuses to call time outs until the damage reaches critical mass!
    His teams are easy to play against;
    he never changed defense or offense or anything! And opponents have reels of tapes to look at and prep.

    Loses to. Va Tech, Notre Dame and today are the direct result of the above. Pitt won’t play again for at least 7 days. I’d give Em four days off just to get their legs back.

    No H2P today. Too embarrassed to type it!!

    Liked by 3 people

  78. This was disappointing but it still was a season that exceeded expectations and the well isn’t bone dry for next year. H2p!

    Larry V

    Liked by 4 people

  80. Well, I guess it could have been worse. Only lost by 27 while giving up 96 points. I hope the next Pitt coach has a modicum amount of knowledge about defense.

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  81. Pitt seriously working on Mintz according to my AAU buds who called to make sure I didn’t resume drinking or start mushrooms after todays debacle.

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  82. I can’t believe how many don’t seem to appreciate the season we have witnessed and basing everything on today’s result. After the 1-3 start to the season everyone would’ve signed up finishing 17-16 because you know Capel’s contract still keeps him safe.

    This team has had thin margins all season long and almost won the conference. Pitt is not going to the NIT, not missing the NCAAs. This squad is giving us something to look forward to for the first time since 2016, Selection Sunday (thanks for that drought BTW, Patrick Gallagher and Scotty Barnes).

    But hey, those who want more, make sure you funnel your NIL money through the proper channels so it goes toward buying better players. These rosters are perhaps the best Capel can do here.

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    1. Pitt’s season got flushed when they lost big to 2 win ND, not this afternoon. They could have hung a banner, now Lunardi is proven right Remember they lost 3 out of the last 4 games and also flushed their opportunity to get to the Big Dance during this slide which would have helped recruiting.

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  83. It was a much better season than anyone could have expected and it isn’t over yet. Beating Miami in the title game might have left an easier path to winning the ACC championship but we will never know. In the meantime, thanks to the guys for giving us a reason to watch every game. And I have no trouble saying it…

    H2P!!!

    Liked by 6 people

  85. Well that felt like November! Hopefully we are still in the dance and some time off will allow the team to get some rest.

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  86. Patrick Ewing is out at one of our old hated rivals…..G-Town.
    After the lowest winning % in conference games of any school in America
    the last couple years.

    Over the last two seasons, Georgetown had a 2-37 mark in Big East conference play, which was the worst conference win percentage of any team in Division I over that span.

    May the Hoyas continue to make terrible hires !!!

    And after an attendance of only 13,900 (59% of capacity) in today’s doubleheader that
    involved 2 NC schools within 30 to 90 miles of G-Boro (Wake is only 30 miles away) Duke & Wake. It is indeed time to move the tournament, when in NC to Charlotte, which has much better access( an American Airlines major hub), much better Hotels (like a Ritz Carlton), much better restaurants and a much better newer NBA luxury type Arena, the Spectrum.
    Yes I use to go to the other Spectrum…..in Philly when Dr J & George McGinnis ruled.

    So the two ACC tourny sites should be NYC & Charlotte. Also Number 1 & 2 banking centers in America.

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    1. So why not Pittsburgh? Plenty of great infrastructure, hotels and restaurants within walking distance. Not overly expensive. Should at least be in the rotation.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Big East plays at Madison Square Garden. ACC did play in New York but in Brooklyn(?) in the arena that the NY Nets play,

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  87. Thank goodness I walked into a meeting at 2:30pm yesterday instead of watching the start of the Duke game.

    The Blue Devils shot 63% from the field with Filipkowski scoring 22 points in 16 minutes of court time.

    Duke had been shooting 74% from the field with ten minutes to play when their bench was already being cleared. With four minutes left, the Blue Devils had scored 92 and their HC turned off the fire hose to trickle in 4 more points to keep the score under 100.

    Duke starters, played less than 27 minutes and scored 67 points. Pitt as a team scored 69 points in 40 minutes.

    We will get to watch at least one more Pitt game this season. We are all hoping for more, including some D.

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  89. There is always next year Pitt fans!

    But truly, Pitt BB has been a pleasant surprise this season. They won without a true star player out on the court and that says something about the current coaching staff.

    You guys know much more about the team than I do but 22-11 with a very close conference championship game loss by two points against a #16 ranked team is nothing to be ashamed of…

    Liked by 5 people

  90. So an otherwise fantastic ACC season ends in a most disappointing way. Pitt simply ran out of gas and had no offense or defense left yesterday. A team on the decline vs one that is dramatically trending upward. The young future stars vs the mature experienced journeymen.

    It was still the best Pitt team and season by far since the Jamie era and one that was a joy to experience. The ending does dramatically point out that elite talent is hard to overcome, first in Miami and certainly yesterday afternoon.

    One mystery to me yesterday was why Pitt gave up on the three point shot when it was their only hope. Elliot only took one and Hinson four, no doubt the Duke suffocating defense had a lot to do with that but still, why not continue to fire them up?

    Of course the biggest disappointment is how Pitt’s defense disappeared down the stretch, probably as Dan has pointed out due to tired legs. Way too many easy baskets underneath and wide open shots given up.

    I probably won’t watch but the Duke -Miami game should be something today, the two most talented teams in the conference.

    Our coaches and players are still to be congratulated for this excellent and most unexpected year. Here is to hoping that they have a few more wins in them before it is done.

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  91. It appears they were emotionally spent. Too many close games will wear a team down. When they got behind early there was no juice left to mount a come back. The legs were gone but the mental mistakes were high, giving up way too many points in recent games.

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  92. I don’t think we lost yesterday’s game yesterday. We lost it last week when we failed to keep the double bye.

    The ACC Tournament includes 7 games where a well-rested team plays an opponent who just played less than 24 hours ago. In all 7, the rested team won. Even last night’s match between NC State and Clemson. Clemson won by 26. They outscored NC State 41-18 in the second half.

    I realize that the rested team is always the higher seeded team (lower seeding number), but this conference has had so many “upsets” all season long, that you would expect at least one or two to occur in the tourney. Maybe the exhaustion factor is bigger than I realized.

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  93. Every year I used to go to Myrtle Beach to play in a printers golf tourney in late March. The first day everyone played their A game but….after three nights of drinking and no golf all winter, even a 5 handicap couldn’t even hit a fairway. Exhaustion was overwhelming!

    That is Pitt! Pitt played Thurs. vs ND, Saturday vs Miami, Tues vs GT and yesterday Vs Duke. Duke sat that entire time!!

    Pitt has been coming apart at the seams the last 7 games. Perhaps Pitt in addition to tired legs, is merely an above average team! Before Miami, Pitt played seven teams with losing records and lost two of them. Pitt’s NET went from 66 to 77 after the Duke game.

    Capel expected a full compliment of players at seasons beginning but lost Dior and Hugley Pre season.

    Yesterday the rubber met the road. If the whole resume is taken into account, Pitt is in the NCAAs. Perhaps in a playin game, if not it’s NIT.

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  94. So how much does Duke have to pay Filawpowski to keep him from going pro this year?
    Boeheim lamenting Pitt buying a team is such a joke. He and all elite teams have been doing it forever, but now that it is legal it’s a travesty.

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  95. According to Lunardi today (if you care what he thinks):

    In our latest Bubble Report (through March 9). PLAYED THEIR WAY IN: Penn State, Mississippi St. and Rutgers. PLAYED THEIR WAY OUT: Nevada, North Carolina and Michigan. TOO CLOSE TO CALL: Pittsburgh, Utah State, Arizona St., Oklahoma St. and Clemson (five teams for three spots). LURKING: Oregon and Vanderbilt.

    H2P!!!

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    1. Call me crazy but I would much rather be an 11 seed that an 8-9. We need the rest though so we need to avoid a play-in game.

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  97. Pitt deserves to be in the NCAA tournament.
    Duke is Duke, way too much talent for Pitt.
    The best teams peak at the end of the year. Pitt wore down. Maybe because Capel once again stopped using his bench. Did Santos see any time the last three games? How about the other twin?
    Watched a few Big12 games, it is old Big East basketball. WVU plays like a football team. I hope they get a tournament ref that stops that garbage. Terrible basketball.

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  98. You would have to go back to Feb 1 to find any meaningful PT for Santos. He only played in blowouts since then. The same for Jorge for the most part. Sometimes, both twins. Capel did a great job this year but why shorten the bench when games get more intense and come tournament time, the games are more often. Pitt looked slow and tired against Duke. The top six were exhausted.

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    1. I was wondering about Capel’s practices too. Did he wear them down like Dixon used to do?

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  99. What is a Lunardi and why do people care what it says? LOL. I don’t follow the projections. Be back when the tournament is set in stone.

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    1. Lunardi is the self proclaimed NCAA big dance specialist who is wrong more the right similar to A -hole Mel Kiper, NCAAs draft predictor who privately then (when outed) publicly worked and was paid by the Ravens.
      Once the Ratbirds found out how often he mislead them, the axe was applied. Soon Lunardi will be
      proven wrong…. Again !!

      Liked by 2 people

  100. Duke has five 5 star players starting, with two of them expected to be high first round picks. Pitt can’t match the talent level, and as the Duke Freshmen played together during the season they just got better and better. Pitt’s game, as Capel frequently mentioned, is to play together, communicate well and share the basketball. This would hopefully result in the the whole being greater than the parts.

    But this breaks down as exhaustion sets in. Players try to cover for one another, and the communication suffers leading to many easy baskets. The emphasis on defense only works if you have a deep bench and can cut down on the starters’ minutes throughout the season.

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  101. Last but not least…. This years success opens many a closed door for recruits and transfers! Players want to play for proven winners and Coach of the year!!

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  102. Dan, keep us up to date on any Mintz rumors. Pitt needs one or two transfers to complete its roster for next year.

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  105. Pastner out at GaTech

    did more than Capel with likely no more support and started a year or 2 before JC

    JC gets another year or 2 imo and still needs to show progression as this year was great but needs to be built upon with all things considered

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