I don’t write a lot about basketball because football is my first love, but I know enough about the roundball game to be dangerous, and there is no harm in reporting the news.
It’s no news that Pitt is on the schnide. Pitt lost their 8th straight against a mediocre BC squad last night, mostly due to poor shooting and a continued inability to solve the 2-3 zone. Say what you want about Dixon’s lack of ability to get this team past a certain level, but his disciplined offense could pick apart that zone. It will be interesting to see how Capel addresses this in the offseason (through coaching). Lack of depth and lack of big men are not helping either.
The good news is that we all knew this would be a rebuilding year, and with a couple of ACC wins under their belt and some very competitive losses, Pitt has probably already exceeded expectations (granted the bar was set so low…). Of course when a young team with a couple of talented young players, and a talented, likeable coach flashes…expectations do tend to move.
Nonetheless, most fans are keeping things in perspective, I think.
Meanwhile, help appears to be on the way. Capel landed his first 2019 recruit this week, 6’6″ wing Gerald Drumgoole, and this was widely regarded as a very good thing.
There are rumblings of more future commits too. Mike Vukovan is posting tantalizing headlines on PSN (insider subs):
Dokish certainly does
What do you think? Will this year’s team figure out how to pass and shoot?
When (not if) will Jeff Capel land his next recruit?
Things are trending up. The question is, are they trending up fast enough?
Hail to Pitt
Michaelangelo Monteleone
