Some of these thoughts have already been expressed….

*The oddsmakers are once again correct. I guess we know why Pitt was 7.5 underdog.

*The turnout by Pitt fans for the game was fantastic. Kudos for showing up at a road game that’s not in driving distance. Too bad Pitt didn’t show up as well. However….

*SMU is a much better team period. Their only loss is to playoff contender, BYU. In fact, I think they’re just as good as Miami.

*SMU is a faster team than Pitt. Texas is as deep as Florida for football talent. A good reason to keep looking in Texas for recruits.

*I’m a little concerned about the play calling. It’s almost becoming predictable? Reid up the middle. Pass to Reid. Reid to the outside. I know he’s the best playmaker on the team, but it’s clear that defenses are keying in him. I don’t know what the solution is at this point with Holstein struggling. Perhaps a little more methodical on the play calling until Holstein is more comfortable?

*I don’t understand the lack of use of Daniel Carter. We all know that he’s not a threat to go all the way on every carry, but he can pick you up a few yards at a time and sometimes can break off longer gains. He seems to be a good runner between the tackles unlike Reid.

*The defense did a 180 from last week against Syracuse. No turnovers again by the defense. The tackling was poor. No pressure up front. Even when they got pressure on the QB, they weren’t fast enough to close in on him.

*As for Holstein, I know the OL is not playing well, but he’s not the QB we’ve seen the first 5 weeks of the season. I’m of the opinion that Holstein should start next week, but have a short leash. He needs more work on his mechanics.

*If we lose to Virginia next week, the season could spiral out of control with Clemson and Louisville on deck and BC on the road is not a bad team either. It’s a must win.

** And so it begins … another season of what many of us love so much …Pitt Basketball!

** For most of us, I’m sure a season with much higher expectations is a most welcome return. But there are downsides to this too.

** When expectations are lower, it seems it’s easier to enjoy anything good we encounter in the early going, while simply dismissing the not so good as merely meeting expectations.

** That said, I suppose we fans should be nothing short of pleased with a 40 point opening win. And make no mistake, there was plenty that was pleasing.

** But when expectations are higher, this also invites greater scrutiny trying to decipher the differences between the pretty good of where we are and the really good of where we think we can be.

** So let’s start with some of that really good. Jaland Lowe and Ish Leggett were really, really good.

** It’s a little difficult to find something in either’s game this day that wasn’t at a high level.

** Jaland’s finishes sometimes defy description with how pretty and effortless he makes them look. Additionally, he commands the ball on the offensive end with a tremendous understanding of what he wants to do with it.

** Ish’s finishes are often the complete opposite, filled with strength and toughness. This also won’t be the first time Ish gets double digit rebounds, and he might be the odds on favorite to lead his team in the category.

** Both really got after it on the defensive end too, which really sets the tone for the entire team.

** These two are primed for combo season at the highest level we’ve seen from a pair of Pitt guards in a long, long time.

** Maybe Julius and Brandon? How about Jason and Sean? Maybe even better than both. We will know in time, but at the moment, it’s hard not to dream, and such thoughts aren’t out of the question.

** Behind our first pair would appear to be a really good second pair too. I was a little worried after Damian’s quiet first half, but he found his stride in the second half. He a quality guard, and I suspect there will be plenty of moments and matchups that will call for Mr. Dunn to back down a weaker guard for an easy 5 footer in the lane.

** Beebah has plenty of game as well. What we can tell about Mr. Cummings is that he knows how to score. But he also showed a little later in the game that he can be a bit loose with the handle when he tries to do a bit too much. For example, it’s going to take some time for him to learn that it’s a little harder to split screens with the dribble like he could in high school.

** The key for both is to find how they best compliment Jaland and Ish. This seemed to be a bit of an issue in the first half until it all came together in the second 20.

** Knowing that Amsal joins the fray soon enough, and he slates as a guard, this is a very deep and talented team at the 1-2-3 spots.

** Having said all of this, it’s probably fair to suggest that the difference between the pretty good and really good this year will be with how we progress at the 4 and 5 spots.

** We all know we have plenty of length and that will serve us well at times. Still, I left this contest a bit discouraged with how we defended down low. Both Cam and GDiaz were muscled in the paint, and allowed more baskets one on one than you’d like to see against a team like Radford.

** Granted, we never helped or doubled in the paint, and I’m sure that will be part of the defensive game plan at times later in the season.

** Both Cam and GDiaz have some needed offensive skill that was sorely lacking last year. This will certainly help, but both need to be more judicious on when to use it. Early on, it looked to me that Cam was looking to shoot the ball a little more than might be healthy for the greater good. And GDiaz really did not look good during his few attempts to put the ball on the floor and drive. There may be times for these actions, but the overall team’s offensive chemistry will depend on both filling their respective roles a bit better.

** Zach smartly didn’t force his offense, but we’ve learned to expect more on the defensive end than we got today. This was especially true on the defensive glass where he simply needs to claim more than one carom. The same can be offered to Cam and even Jorge to an extent.

** Clearing the defensive glass seemed like something that needs to be improved for the whole team. It even seemed like there were moments when Radford wanted it a little more.

** Despite overall concerns about interior defense, the defensive pressure from the guards was enough to hold Radford to 31% shooting for the game. And they hit about a half dozen of really tough, well defended shots.

** So I am I being a little too tough on our Panthers after a 40 point season opening win? Perhaps. But for this campaign with higher expectations, I hope our Panthers will concentrate on what it takes to be a really good team instead of a pretty good team.

** Really good teams leave no doubt. To me Capel’s crew learned in the opener tonight that there are still areas that need a little work to remove any doubt.

on ESPN

looking forward to home opener against G Town on 8/22. how are supposed to look this year?

We are #18. Pretty good with the loss to SMU. No complaints H2P

2025 guard Chance Mallory just decommitted from UVA earlier this week. Two sources told me this evening that they expect Pitt to take a hard look at Mallory. I have also talked with Mallory since he reopened his recruitment and he is in no hurry. He is going to take his time to figure everything out. Kevin Willard from Maryland visited with him today

Whimper. .209 hitter. Somebody make it stop.

UGH. That is all I can say. I didn't start until I got home on DVR when the game was already at half time but my texts betrayed how bad we were playing. Here are some thoughts.

• I'm really happy that our players are mentally tougher than our fans. Some of the posts on here are embarrassing. Yes, we probably were not as good as most of us thought we were.
• It's hard for me to pin any of this on the coaches. I don't see Narduzzi as someone that takes any team lightly. It was just a bad night where everything went wrong.
• Holstein isn't right. Whether it's the shoddy o line play or not wanting to have another game like the Cal debacle, he's not hitting open receivers and is bailing from a clean pocket when he has one. 3 fumbles also aren't going to do it.
• I'm not about to discard the Bell offense because we see guys open on replay. However, we do not have a good run blocking line and played a stout run defense so why we continue to try and run for it on 3rd and 2 is beyond me.
• We need to get some linemen in the portal. We aren't going to run any offense with what we have this year but hopefully we see some improvement.
• Lost in all of this was a pretty good Kenny Johnson game. Season high 8 catches and his first TD since YSU.
• Congrats to Malachi Thomas on first college action and TD.
• I have to say, I really like Jake Overman. Shame he's a senior.
• That was the worst tackling I've seen from a Pitt team since I don't know when. I do think there were a few standouts even if our defense mostly sucked. Louis, Lovelace, McMillon (glad he's ok), Lynum, Bass, Edwards, Matlack, and Marcelin all flashed.
• If I had to guess where we end up, I'm saying 9-3. I think we will handle UVA and BC and likely lose to Clemson and L'ville. But I also think 10 wins is still possible either through a bowl game or a big time performance in either of the two potential losses. If I told you before the year that we might win 10 you'd have thought i was drunk. Luckily, no matter how bad we lost that game, it only counts as one loss.
• BONUS - PSU really is always the sum is lesser than the parts. OSU tried to give that game away. They were up 10-0 after the pick 6 and never scored an offensive TD. Smith stopped running on what would have been a walk in TD in the 4th. Warren is an incredible player and you somehow only have him touch the ball 7 times. On the final drive, OSU ran a read option twice and both times no one took the QB. Then you have Franklin jawing with a fan calling him out about being a man a week after hiding behind a curtain refusing to answer questions about yet ANOTHER rape under his watch.

Frankly needs to retire. Awful showboating performance as usual.

As @JimHammett said the one sequence that the ball went out off Redford, he somehow thought he blew an “inadvertent” whistle when it was clearly OB.

Dude is awful,

Is it just me or is there an obvious issue there? It seems we have not gotten alot of good to offensive lineman lately . I know Enos is new and there is a learning curve there or possibly strength ...but the guys were just blowing through and by him in the last game . Maybe its due to the quickness of the other team . The entire offensive line with possibly the exception of Williams seems slow and unable to give the QB any advantage. I am not cutting anyone down I am just asking if there is any help that is available there. I love Reid but he is not the only weapon on the offense running or receiving. Other teams are gearing up for him, I feel like there are other weapons that can be utilized. It seems like Holsteins only choice is I gotta go with Reid. Kenny Johnson, D Reynolds and Rodney Hammond and Carter are good players and I still feel like we should be using Bartholomew more. Its almost like he has to help block to make up for our offensive line inconsistent play.

Welcome to the 2024-25 College basketball season! I am at the Petersen Events Center tonight for the Panthers' opener against Radford.

I'm starting the game thread early, well, because I'm here early because I thought traffic was going to be worse than it ended up being.

Cheers to a new season!

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Funny how media narratives drive public opinion. One is an MVP and the other is a washed up loser.

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Does anyone else see a little Julius in Ish?

Just wondering

I just saw a Pitt fan in the stands with a “new colors” t-shirt with “Joe Knew” on it.

Great!

Pitt moved up from #37 to #32 in KenPom and from #50 to # 44 in Torvik ratings.

• Miami takes down #5 Stanford.....3 sets to 2
• Missouri takes down #9 Texas.....3 sets to 2

Also....#3 Penn State beat Iowa and #2 Nebraska beat #7 Wisconsin

Nate Yarnell has more composure, sees the field better, makes faster decisions and throws a nicer ball than Holstein.

I get that Holstein is a Rs Freshman and played well early but for whatever reason he is playing scared and is tentative. I hope he figures it out soon because QB play is going to be the difference between 7 - 5 and 9-3 or 10-2.

If anyone can't use their's. Feel free to text 814-241-8525.

I’m still pretty confident in our team. That defensive effort last night was an outlier against a team who was clearly very talented and better prepared. We routinely missed tackles and gave up on plays, which is very uncharacteristic. That doesn’t happen to us often, and I don’t expect it to happen again.

Offensively, they’re having trouble making a counter punch to the adjustments defenses have made against us. But I think we’ll eventually take another step forward. There’s still a lot of talented players on that side of the ball.

Oddly enough, I felt more nervous about that SMU game than I did about playing Clemson in a couple of weeks. They are clearly very good, the night game, atmosphere, stakes, and our team being very young and inexperienced… It was a perfect storm.

I think we’re clearly better than Virginia and Boston College. They don’t have big-play offenses and their defenses give up lots of yards.

Clemson at home is certainly a bigger challenge, but they really don’t blow me away on either side of the ball. Most of their impressive wins have been against terrible teams.

Louisville on the road is probably the toughest game left, and that defense gives up lots of yards, too. Shough is extremely streaky at QB and makes his fair share of mistakes.

I guess what I’m saying is 10-2 or 11-1 are still on the table. We were never gonna be 12-0. If you thought that after 3-9 last season, you’re just not being rational.

I’m looking forward to see how we rebound at home this weekend.

H2P

Been taking our cars here for years, was there last month everything same as usual

Took my dad's car up there earlier today to get it inspected, lobby emptied out, sign on the door says Permanently Closed

Anyone know anything about this? In the old Davis Shopping Center where Seabase is and the DMV office used to be. I know Sheetz is putting in a location there, wonder if the AAMCO franchise owner decided to hang it up or Sheetz bought out his lot along with the rest (Seabase is still going to be there)

Hope they open at a new location, really don't wanna have to find a new place to take our vehicles