I have seen every argument possible about why we need an on campus stadium (of which I am not in favor). An issue that most people missed during this election was the future administration's disdain for higher education both because of political leanings (left) and the absurd price. It is early but it does sound like Trump's administration is going to closely look at endowments and taxing them along with potential penalties. They plan to create the "American Academy" with these funds. It was explained to me that the best way to move around those punitive measures would be to spend the endowment. Real estate and construction are the most conservative measures and would easily move around any type of federal tax scrutiny. PITT has the 29th largest endowment ($5.5 billion) in the country and would certainly be under attack. I think much depends on how aggressive the endowment tax would be (it could be upwards of 20%) but PITT would need to quickly take money out of the endowment for a project to benefit the University. A stadium is a no brainer. They would actually lose money by not buying land and building the stadium.

I liked Pitt against the spread last week against Clemson but this week I unfortunately see a blowout for a fourth straight loss. Louisville seems like the best team in the ACC with a crappy record.

Interesting game… first game between ranked teams I have seen this year.

The high school seasons officially starts here in the coming week. We might begin to see reports on Pitt coaches at different events.

Hoping for a good locale. I was going to do Greenbrier but didnt realize it was a Friday afternoon, and not Black Friday. Not taking the kids out of school for that. Have to save those for March Madness!

Hoping for the Disney tournament or Bahamas

I know we all rip on Lunardi, but his latest now his Pitt as last four bye. He has Wisconsin and UCF in next four out, so winning against one of those teams may prove vital for post-season chances. Miss State is in as a 9. Ohio State is a 5.

Clemson 8, Miami last in, Pitt last bye, UNC 3, Duke 1 and Wake 7, are the 6 projected ACC right now.

Clemson alum here! I will be visiting Pittsburgh for the first time for our game in a few weeks. We are staying in Lawrenceville at an Airbnb. Getting up there Thursday afternoon, playing golf Friday, game Saturday obviously and then fly back to SC Sunday morning.

My questions for the board are any recommendations for dining/things to do/places to see?

I could go without any long touristy events but don't mind the type of sightseeing that takes an hour or 2.

Shame both teams got mollywopped this past weekend and took some shine of the matchup. Was hoping for a 3:30 or night game to maybe squeeze in an extra 18 on gameday, but that's not happening with the nooner.

Thanks for any help

…may be even more pissed off than we are after losing (giving the game) to Clemson. That stadium will turn on them quickly if they come out flat against Pitt Saturday.

I'm in the South Side for Pat Narduzzi's weekly press conference. I'll post news and notes in this thread.

When we kicked that FG to take the lead and there was 1:40 left I just knew that Pitt would find an excruciating way to lose. It's what we do. I just sat in my stadium seat and waited for the creative way Pitt would find to grab defeat out of victory....Being a Pitt fan is not easy.

Torrey is #1, Liv is #6! Login to view embedded media

This is beyond awful

It should be an amazing dual. Last year, Lehigh did not wrestle their full team, and Pitt won 21-12. I will give a full preview for this, but the gist is that there will be a lot of high-level close matches. Hopefully, the crowd will turn out well. Unfortunately, there probably won't be any students because it is over Thanksgiving Break. Regardless, it should be one of our better duals this season

Would Holstein transfer if Nate Yarnell starts the rest of the games this year

I never get tired of this....congratulations Olivia!

Would Holstein transfer if Nate Yarnell starts the rest of the games this year

Would Holstein transfer if Nate Yarnell starts the rest of the games this year

Here's the thread for tonight's Pitt-VMI game. I'll post news and notes in this thread throughout the game and we'll use this thread to discuss the game as it happens.

Here's some reading material before the game starts:

The storyline: Behind a triple-double from Jaland Lowe and spread scoring, Pitt had little trouble dispensing with VMI in a 93-48 blowout win Monday night at the Petersen Events Center.

Records: Pitt (5-0), VMI (4-2)

KenPom pre-game: No. 19 Pitt, No. 340 VMI

Stat leaders:
Jaland Lowe - 11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists
Ishmael Leggett - 14 points, 6/9 FG
Guillermo Diaz Graham - 13 points, 5/12 FG
Cameron Corhen - 12 points, 5/5 FG, 6 rebounds
Jorge Diaz Graham - 12 points, 4/4 FG, 4/4 3FG

Lowe’s career night
The star of Pitt’s win on Monday night was Lowe, the sophomore point guard who scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 10 assists for his first career triple-double.

Lowe had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists when he came back into the game with 3:13 left to play. He collected a pair of defensive boards to hit 10 on the rebounds and then connected with Jorge Diaz Graham for a trio of three-pointers to complete the historic achievement.

Lowe’s triple-double was the sixth in Pitt history. The Panthers got a triple-double from Bub Carrington in last season’s opener; the last triple-double prior to that was in 1998, making the back-to-back nature of Lowe and Carrington’s triple-doubles even more remarkable.

400
Monday night was the 400th game in the history of the Petersen Events Center. The building, which opened in 2002 with a Counting Crows concert, has been hosting Pitt men’s basketball games since the Panthers beat Duquesne on Nov. 22, 2022 of that year; four days shy of exactly 22 years later, Pitt defeated VMI to claim win No. 309 in the building. That ties Pitt with Wisconsin for the seventh-most home wins by a men’s basketball program since the 2002-03 season (although the Badgers host UT Rio Grande Valley tonight).

Pitt is now 309-91 in the Petersen Events Center.

Sleepy stretch - and the response
Pitt attacked the paint and drove throughout the first 10 minutes of the game and built a 19-6 lead with those kinds of scores. But VMI’s biggest threat in the first 20 minutes came during a three-minute stretch when the Keydets rattled off a 12-2 run to cut the lead to three.

After a three-pointer capped the run, Jeff Capel called timeout to rally the troops, and that’s what happened. Leggett hit a three on a pass from Lowe after the timeout, and then Guillermo Diaz Graham executed a steal and fast-break to score again before Leggett recorded a steal himself and fed Lowe, who was fouled and sank two free throws.

Pitt’s lead was back to 10, and the Panthers kept up the intensity for the rest of the half to finish on an 18-2 run and take a 19-point lead at halftime.

Zone response
Pitt has had issues against zone defenses this season, and the zone is VMI’s primary defensive system, so Monday night presented an interesting challenge.

And while the Keydets had some success against the Panthers defensively in the first half, Pitt ultimately ran away from VMI by finding ways to attack the zone across the court - either by scoring in the paint, hitting midrange shots or draining three’s.

The Keydets also pushed the Panthers with a full-court defense and an aggressive, attacking offense.

Stat dominance
Pitt defeated VMI is virtually every stat category. The Panthers outscored the Keydets, of course, but they also held an advantage in rebounding (47-31), made field goals (35-15), three-point field goals (12-6), turnovers (8-15), points off turnovers (20-5), points in the paint (40-18), fast-break points (27-0) and bench points (32-18). VMI’s lone advantage was in second-chance points - 18-11 - built off the Keydets’ 13 offensive rebounds.

Spread scoring
Pitt used 12 players in the game against VMI, and 10 of them got onto the score sheet, from Amsal Delalic’s three points to Leggett’s 14. Six of the 10 scorers also reached double figures.

Among those scorers in double figures was Jorge Diaz Graham, who has found himself seeing limited minutes in recent games but came off the bench to knock down all four of his shots - all three-point attempts - in the game.

Most notably, his final three shots were all on passes from Lowe, and they represented the final three assists Lowe needed to complete his triple-double.

Second-half notables
Pitt was 10-of-15 from three in the second half, and the Panthers had assists on 18 of their 22 made baskets after halftime.

Up next
Pitt will face LSU on Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm in the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

These housing prices are outrageous and they arent coming down. I guess that's not a bad thing since so many people are paying these prices.

** It’s fair to wonder why we schedule opponents such as VMI. Should we proclaim that the best outcome is to drive up the score enough to drive up our NET?

** Fortunately, in the long run the Panthers were up to that task. But it didn’t necessarily start out the way, and when VMI cut our lead to cut three with just under 6 minutes remaining in the first 20, many of the few thousand fans at the Pete were likely thinking WTF?

** During VMI’s 10-2 run of that moment, there were at least three trips where they just drove by our defense. TBH, I found this a little troubling. And knowing that VMI played zone, there is still the wonder if that’s going to be something that gives us struggles throughout the course of the campaign.

** IDK what Capel told the troops in the huddle when he called timeout. Whatever it was, it worked. And in the game’s final 25+ minutes, the Panthers outscored VMI 72-30. This includes only surrendering 10 field goals in that time.

** IDC how bad the opponent is. That’s impressive.

** Despite this tremendous advantage on this night, IMO we still haven’t really yet seen how good this team can be. Sure, we finally started hitting shots, and Ish’s three out of the timeout was actually our first of the game, which we followed with 11 more.

** Perhaps the biggest reason we can suggest that we haven’t really yet seen how good this team can be is because it still seems TBD how good Jaland can be. This is a bit of an odd assertion about the guy who just notched a triple double. But he looks to be forcing a little bit on the offensive end, even compared to how he played down the stretch last year.

** I assume that it’s Jaland’s POV that he needs to be the prime catalyst of the offense, and last year Bub and Blake carried that mantle. Hopefully we’ll enjoy him growing and getting better, and I do think he’ll eventually be fully up to the task.

** And keep in mind that my expectation for Jaland is to be named All-ACC.

** Beyond giving Jaland the opportunity to work himself out and gamer his 11-10-10, I suppose the next best value of a game against VMI is to drive up the MPG of our team members beyond our first six.

** I was glad to watch Amsal and Brandin, AKA Beebah, combine for 34 minutes. I expect both players to have critical roles once games really start to matter in January, even if both are being brought along a little more slowly than some of our pre-season hype for them would have wanted. Amsal certainly has a great looking shot from deep, but it’s going to take him some time and confidence to learn more about when and how to let it fly. And I like how Beebah isn’t forcing things thus far. But there may be times when we might need him to offer a bit more. He seems to have it in him.

** It was such a blast to watch JGD drain four of four threes, especially since the last three threes were the buckets to earn Lowe his 8th, 9th and 10th assists. Both guys seemed so absolutely thrilled for each other for these accomplishments.

** I should also say that I really like the decision of our CEO to bring Jaland back in the game down the stretch to pursue those last two caroms and three dimes. Some from the older school types might think this is rubbing it in a bit against a substandard opponent. But the kids certainly find it to be plenty of fun, and having fun is what this is supposed to be about isn't it?

** I also enjoyed watching Papa’s 6 minutes which probably drove up is ORTg and DRTg a little higher. But he’s still a large step away from playing important minutes.

** As for our top six, Zach was Zach, and GDG had another strong game. But I will once again offer my assertion that it’s likely not best for our team when he leads us in FGA. Perhaps this is something Capel wants to see when the Panthers are facing zones, and there’s no reason to forget that he drilled threes at a 40% clip last year. This year he’s gone 7-22 which isn’t bad, but it feels to me like he’s rushing them a bit. Or perhaps it’s just another chance to GDG to prove me wrong just as he has for most of his first two years.

** Cam and Damian continue to be tremendous additions and FYI, neither was ranked among ESPN’s top 200 College Basketball’s transfers for this year. Meanwhile, #1 ranked Kadary Richmond is averaging 8.8 PPG at St. John’s and #4 ranked AJ Storr is averaging 10 PPG for Kansas. And we already saw what #7 Tucker DeVries looked like, SMH!

** We’ll end this edition with a nod to another transfer who wasn’t ranked among ESPN’s Top 100 the year prior. After all, in the early going ISH has certainly looked like our MVP. What’s best about ISH isn’t just what he’s doing on the offensive end with both production and efficiency, he’s also been our best defender and our overall leader actually. And after VMI cut the lead to three, he sparked the 16-1 run with his three, then a steal. So if he wasn’t a Top 100 (or 200) transfer, then Ish, just like Blake, Jamarius, Damian and Cam, were certainly steals for Capel.

** Despite this wonderful 5-0 start that has the Panthers now at #16 in Kenpom, things get a little more interesting on Friday against LSU, They come in at #41 in Kenpom, about 300 spots better than VMI. So it’s a perfect test to learn where our Panthers really stand in this early season. I can’t wait!

** But in the meantime, HTP!

with Lebron and Duquesne basketball? I have seen several references to this on PSN.

Action Network (McMurphy) - Pinstripe vs Wisconsin
247Sports - Pinstripe vs Michigan
ESPN - Pinstripe vs Wisconsin // Sun Bowl vs USC
CBS (Palm) - Holiday vs Washington

Those are some pretty fun matchups. 10 wins on the table despite numerous injuries and low expectations - Finish the year strong and throw in all the chips for 2025.