Dear Readers,

After long and heartfelt introspection, including what I have done on here in the past, the current and future state of college football and basketball and what I want to do in my personal future, I have decided to close down the “The Pitt POV” blog at the end of Pitt’s 2023-24 basketball season. 

I know this will not be good news to all of you who are my friends, who read and comment, and those who take the time out of their busy lives to draft articles for others to enjoy. I hope you find another venue to be together again.

You could probably tell that I have been backing away from Pitt football after the 2021 season. Part of that was my reordering priorities after the death of my son, but mostly it is because I just do not care about Pitt athletics any longer. I just don’t.

The changes we are seeing in college athletics these days make me really wonder if I, personally, could get up the energy or redirect my moral and ethical basis to overlook what I genuinely believe is the first stage of a failure of decent college sports. Obviously, I cannot.

To me it is one of the saddest outcomes of modernity we have gone through in my lifetime of 68 years. Is it all that important in the main scheme of our lives or America’s issues? For some it is not even a thought to hold, I am sure. Others will toss aside the past and say that these changes are inevitable. Maybe it is and I feel it is just too damn bad that this rings true in college sports today.

I have been associated with Pitt football from the time I could understand such things, around age five, and watching this erosion of athletics at the university I love hurts. I do not see it being fun any longer and truly hate that the idea of the students/athlete being jettisoned so completely, and it will be in the next few years, at least for the two main sports teams.

In other words, you can have it; the course has been run for me.

I am closing the blog as early as possible so that if someone wants to they can create a new Pitt Sports blog before football season and get it up and running by Pitt’s fall camp. 

If that is something anyone out there would like to do, and I am sure you will get every reader and commenter the POV has now on a new Pitt blog, I would be glad to help you set a new one up. Here is a video my daughter and I posted on YouTube years ago that shows how to do this. My email address is rkohberger@gmail.com if you want to contact me to help walk you through it. I’ll be glad to help.

One restriction I will ask of anyone who is thinking of blogging in place of the POV is that any new blog does not have “The Pitt POV” or any semblance of that as the title.  That is because I have been all over this blog since 2016 and my name is so strongly associated with it that I do not want to be affiliated with a new blog not owned by me.  I do not think that is too much to ask after all this time and effort I’ve given and I hope you respect my thoughts on that.

Thank you all for everything. You all have truly made The Pitt POV what is now and for its sterling success over the years. Most importantly you helped ensure the POV was a premier place to visit for civil, honest, and humorous discussion. The best in the business as they say and here is some proof of that.

Note: A typical novel is about 80,000 words long – but maybe anywhere between 60,000 to 100,000 words.

So, you all got 19 novels out of the POV. Also, compare those “comments” numbers to any other Pittsburgh Sports blog, or any blog anywhere practically, and they won’t even be close and you guys made that happen.

YEAR	POSTS	WORDS PER POST	COMMENTS	VIEWS	VISITORS
2016	176	1,267	16,981	432,172	52,385
2017	331	913	36,108	736,722	73,891
2018	279	921	47,151	806,553	68,974
2019	218	643	37,419	649,638	62,357
2020	198	1,016	32,264	526,192	55,458
2021	213	745	33,260	511,323	50,997
2022	167	642	23,005	445,369	42,947
2023	133	753	22,278	387,036	37,311
2024	37	567	5,644	68,961	6,421
TOTALS	1,750	1,507,089 (Total)	254,160	4,536,966	450,766

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, it has been a joy to get to know you all and to read your well formed thoughts and opinions. Please have a good, happy and productive life where civility abounds and sportsmanship rules…

LCDR Reed Kohberger, USCG (Ret.)

Reed: Dan asked me to repost this article so that we can compare this info to what actually…thanks again Dan!

Ed: Here is another great in-depth article on Pitt basketball from our resident POV expert, Dan72. Let’s hope his thought and predictions come true…

Following in the footsteps of the dismal failure of Pitt football in 2023 is what may be the most talented Pitt Basketball team ever assembled! Being led by one of the top backcourts in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Pitt will rise to the level of where our guards can lead us. 

Keep in mind that both starting guards, Bub Carrington and Jaland Lowe, were 4* recruits and MVPs in every tournament that they played in high school (HS). I have seen Carrington play three times for St Francis HS here in Maryland. St Francis is in what I call the ACC of HS Basketball here. He is strong, quick and can shoot lights out. Eventually I think he will be a #2 guard at Pitt but I’m fine with his running the offense as the point guard. His size is his great advantage and he can post up with anyone in the ACC. 

Lowe is a small and thin but lightning quick point guard who can shoot lights out from behind the 3-point arc and drive the ball through traffic like a ghost! I do worry about his size in the ACC, but he is a 4* stud. 

Originally I thought losing Dion Johnson would kill Pitt this year, but I think our guards will adapt well to ACC play because the Ishmael Leggett, a Junior transfer from Rhode Island (RI) is an absolute stud at point guard. He led our scoring against Georgetown in our most recent scrimmage with 22 points. He has a poise that reflects his previous two years starting at RI. He will be the rock in Pitt’s front court. 

Like most coaches, I too think the best thing about freshman is ‘They are sophomores next year!’  But not in this case because I believe Lowe, Carrington, and Leggett will manage the defensive presses and pressure that ACC teams will throw at them even if they are first year players. 

Federiko Federiko has a year of experience at Center and just completed a summer of playing against tough competition. The twins Guillermo Diaz Graham and Jorge Diaz Graham share the same off season play, plus one of them has added 23 LBs of muscle since last season.  Blake Hinson is really the glue that holds this team together. His qualities in his Captaincy now as a senior and his personal leadership in coming back this year are outstanding.  For players coming off the bench, I see Zach Austin from Highpoint University being a shooting and dunking plus when spelling the starters from the bench. 

Losing Strong Forward Papa Kante by injury for the year is a blow. His post-up game and strength in the point guard position will be missed and his non-availability will be an example of how depth will be the biggest problem in this upcoming season for Pitt. 

I have been trying to figure out Coach Capel’s offense since the blowouts by West Virginia (WVU) and Michigan and narrow loss to Virginia Commonwealth to start last season. After watching game tape, I think I can call his offense ‘NBA Free Style’ basketball with the emphasis on three point shooting.

Capel runs a basic motion offense with very few set plays as he uses the NBA Triangle spacing (editor added link here) to create mismatches.

Rarely does Pitt’s offense get more than four passes deep. If Pitt is making 3-point baskets they are almost impossible to beat, if not, well you saw it when we played WVU and Michigan last season. I think our size and depth inside will allow Pitt to have more of a scoring presence underneath in this year’s edition of the team. 

Now, where will Pitt finish?  

Pitt is good team but so are North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Virginia, and Florida State. My best prediction is we will end up fourth or fifth in the ACC and anywhere from a fourth seed to a ninth seed in the NCAAs. Most polls currently have Pitt seventh in the ACC. 

Let’s have a great year as fans and not get too high or low with individual wins and losses. Enjoy watching and following the huge talent on this team that Coach Capel and his staff have worked so hard to put together!

Pitt’s Current 2023 Roster

(For a look back – here is a link to all the info on last year’s 2022-23 roster...)

Blake Hinson – 6’8” Forward – Hometown: Deltona FL Senior Grad – Mississippi / Iowa State,  22-23. G 36 Pts 15.3 RB/G 6.0 Asst 1.2

William Jeffress – 6’7” Guard – Hometown: Erie, PA Junior      21-22 G 3.0 Pts 2.9 RB/G

Federiko Federiko – 6’11” Center 220 lbs. Hometown: Helsinki, Finland Junior, 22-23 G 6.6 Pts 5.3 RB/G Votes for ACC Defensive player of year/ All Defensive team

Guillermo Diaz Graham – 7’ Forward Junior 245 lbs. (was 220) Hometown: Canary Islands Spain, 22-23 Pts/G. 3.5 RB/G Appeared 33 Games All ACC Honor Roll

Jorge Diaz Graham – 6’11” Center Sophomore 215 lbs.  Hometown: Canary Islands Spain.  22-23 Pts/G 2.2 RB/G 2.2 appeared 31 games.

Michael Hueitt Jr – 6’3” Guard Grad Transfer from Catawba/ ODU/UNC Greensboro.    22-23 Pts/G 4.7. Rb/G 1.4 37.5 % on 3-point shots. 

Vason Stevenson 6’3” 190lb Guard Sophomore walk-on from Montour HS. 

Zach Austin 6’7” Forward, Redshirt Junior from Highpoint U. Avg 14.2P/G, appeared 31 games w 26 starts 43.7 Avg from field. 33.6 from three double figures 26 games 

Ishmael Leggett – 6’3” Junior Guard from MD.  Avg 10.7 p/G 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists at Rhode Island.

Carlton “Bub” Carrington – 6’5” freshman guard 4 star from MD avg 26 pts / game 7 rebounds 6 assists in HS. Over 2000 pts scored 1000 Sr year.

Jaland Lowe 6’3” Freshman 4* Guard.  Avg 26.4 pts/game 8.1 rebounds 4.3 assists 3.1 steals over 2000 pts scored. 

Benjamin Mayhew – 6’4” freshman guard from Wilkinsburg PA avg 25 pts/g 6 rebounds 

Malcom Barnes -6’6” freshman forward from a Cleveland 3* avg 13.1 pts 5 rebounds

K. J. Marshall – 5’10” senior guard from Reading PA. Returns to Pitt from Mars Hill U and once played at Pitt in 2019.

Jajuan Nelson – 6’7” freshman forward from Philadelphia, avg 15.2 pts/ g 8.8 rebounds Division MVP 

Here are the ACC teams and their final conference rankings of the 2022 season:

H2P!