Gotta make those bunnies Burton

Let’s go! H2P!!

Good afternoon, Pitt takes on Georgia Tech today in a key ACC game for the Panthers. Pitt takes a 4-2 ACC record into today's game and will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak.

Follow along here for updates from today's game.

That would not help us for making the tourney.

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Stephen I would love for you to do a breakdown of our offensive rebounding problems. I have my guesses as to the issues but would love to see you put some clips together if you have time.

And if you have a few extra minutes give us a better understanding of how we weren’t getting into the corner to defend the 3pter in he first half and what adjustment did we make for the second half.

I was going to title this, “What the hell is going on?” But we’ll keep it clean, at least in the headline.

This past weekend was certifiably insane. It was probably that way across college football, but it certainly was the case at Pitt.

Guys are visiting and then they aren’t and then they might be and then they are and then they aren’t. Rinse, repeat. At one point, I heard Pitt might have seven or eight transfers on campus; in the end, I think they only ended up with two or three.

- Part of the problem was the structure here. So many transfers want to enroll midyear, which is good for everybody, since that lets them work in spring camp with their new teams. But there’s a time crunch on visits. The December contact period ended Dec. 17, a few days before Signing Day. But most colleges were still finishing their fall semester and finals week at that point, which means it was difficult for a lot of transfers to go on visits. Obviously, some are able to make it work on the weekends, but it’s not ideal for all.

As a result, the NCAA created a mini-visit period for transfers who plan to enroll midyear. That window was Jan. 4-8 - last Wednesday through yesterday. That seems like a good plan, but there are two issues:

- One is that it’s only five days. If you’re a transfer who didn’t take any visits in December or maybe only took one, you could be looking at trying to fit three, four or even five visits into that five-day period.

That’s a crunch.

- The second issue is that some schools - like Pitt - start the spring semester today. So that means getting a guy on campus, convincing him to commit and then getting all the admissions and enrollment stuff done as fast as possible. Today isn’t the deadline for that paperwork, but the deadline is coming up, and while our focus is all on football, there’s still an element of school here, and it would be ideal to, you know, not miss too many days of classes.

- So this small visit window created a lot of headaches. I’m not too sure what the answer is; maybe another visit window of three or four days between Christmas and New Year’s. Coaches probably won’t want that, but it might be the best solution among a crop of not very good options.

- But I digress. The situation is what it is now, and the coaches had to deal with it. I think it’s important to understand the situation, though, because it provides context for how crazy the weekend was.

Take Florida cornerback Jordan Young, for instance. As of Friday afternoon, I was told by two different but reliable sources that he was coming in for a visit. Right around that same time, Young was apparently at Missouri, and it sounds like he never made it to Pittsburgh.

Young wasn’t the only one to flip back and forth on his visit. UNLV receiver Kyle Williams was also coming in until he wasn’t (he ended up visiting and committing to Washington State). There were probably more - situations where the Pitt was literally waiting to find out if a player got on the plane to fly in.

- We confirmed two visitors: Florida receiver Daejon Reynolds and LSU defensive back/running back Derrick Davis.

- Reynolds has been a top transfer target for Pitt in the transfer portal since he entered last month. A four-star prospect in the recruiting class of 2021, he played in a handful of games over the last two seasons at Florida, with his big breakout game coming in a game at Vanderbilt this year when he caught eight passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. He also had two catches for 74 yards against Eastern Washington and finished the year with a total of 11 catches for 244 yards and two scores.

From what I’ve been told, the visit with Reynolds went well. He didn’t commit while he was in town, opting to go home and discuss the decision with his family. But as I mentioned earlier, the spring semester starts today, so Reynolds - or any transfer who wants to get in for the spring - needs to decide sooner rather than later.

- The Davis story is one we’re all familiar with. A former four-star safety prospect from Gateway who ranked No. 101 nationally in the class of 2021, Davis chose LSU over offers from basically everyone coming out of high school. He played in 12 games as a freshman, but only two of those games saw him play on defense, as most of his playing time came on special teams. This past season, he made five appearances, playing on defense in two of those.

Davis’ most notable playing time came late in the season, though. In LSU’s November win over UAB and Citrus Bowl win over Purdue, the 6’0” 210-pounder lined up in the backfield. He carried the ball five times for 28 yards against UAB and then recorded six carries for 29 yards and a touchdown in the bowl game.

From everything we’ve heard - and have reported here for the last few weeks - Pitt doesn’t appear to be sold on him as a defensive player, but the staff is interested in him playing running back, and they hosted him for a visit this weekend.

- Pat Narduzzi tweeted on Sunday that Pitt landed a commitment, and we believe it was Davis who committed. I imagine an announcement should come soon on that (again, the short timeframe for the spring semester and all of that).

Pitt could certainly use another veteran running back on the 2023 roster. Davis isn’t exactly full of experience - he carried the ball 11 times at LSU - but he’ll be going into his third year of college, which is valuable. Rodney Hammond will be Pitt’s top back this coming season and C’Bo Flemister will be right behind him (assuming he returns). After that, Pitt has two freshmen in TJ Harvison (who is already on campus) and Montravius Lloyd (who will get here in June).

Another upperclassmen between the top two and the freshmen would be good to have, and Davis should fill that spot.

- Beyond that, we’ll see what develops. I have heard a couple times from a few different people that there are more changes coming to the roster. The expectations seem to be for Pitt to add anywhere from 6-8 more players to the roster, either from the transfer portal or the 2023 recruiting class.

That will require a bit of attrition, of course, but I don’t think anyone should be surprised by more departures.

- Finally, the continuing saga of Dante Cephas is still ongoing. The Kent State transfer receiver and former Penn Hills standout was an early portal target for Pitt and a lot of other schools. His interests seemed to span a few conferences, but as the new year approached, it became clear that he was going to have limited options, if any, for transferring ahead of the spring semester due to issues with qualifying credits. That pushed his potential transfer to post-spring, when he could presumably go as a grad transfer.

A week or two ago - as Bob Dylan said, I have no sense of time - it looked like he would follow that path and pursue his path as a grad transfer with a move to Pitt. Now it sounds like Penn State is more likely. But I’m also hearing continuing doubts about if/when he’ll actually be able to transfer.

My guess is this will go on for a bit longer, but it may end up being a case of “Believe it when he steps on the field,” regardless of which school he picks.

Unbelievably dark and funny show. Really takes the gloves off. Brutal takedowns

Nice win on the road. Still think this is a NIT team but they are much better to watch and actually play like a team.

I was incredibly impressed by the discourse in a previous thread concerning anxiety so taking it a little further.

I decided when I disagree with someone on here to just stay silent instead of calling them an asshole. Apologies @NCPitt.

Anyway- trying to do more good.

One thing that triggers anxiety for me is flying.

I completely understand how safe it is. But losing control or not being in control are major areas of concern.

I recently booked two flights for March and April. Las Vegas (work) and FT Lauderdale for April (Fun) and I have noticed my anxiety lingering in the background.

Anyone else experience this? How do you deal with it? anyone else have triggers?

entertaining so far. Pretty sure Filipowski is an NBA player, one and done. I thnk he is the best player Pitt has played against so far this year.

There was a great thread on the Pitt football board about anxiety. So I wanted to extend to this board. With my current job I write grants to the CDC and work with millions of dollars to get mental health supports to kids in schools and communities. In addition I have suffered from crippling OCD and an Anxiety Disorder. In fact I am just coming out of a long depression. have just begun to be open with friends about that.

How does this relate to basketball. I don’t know why Hugley is out but I am guessing it or anxiety and depression. For people that suffer from that mental health condition it is mentally and physically exhausting. If that is what Hugley is dealing with I am impressed that he is on our bench and cheering. So for all of us on here I think we have to give Hugley a lot of empathy because my guess he isn’t playing due to those reasons.

I also think it’s important to distinguish between OCD and losing your confidence as a shooter. My son was unfortunate enough to get my OCD. His record for made 3 pointers during training is 42 makes out of 50 attempts. We have also in the same gym with the same conditions had days where we made less than 15. The major difference is he has an actual mental health diagnosis of OCD which is the flooding of intrusive and negative thoughts which greatly changes his ability to focus on his shooting form and his usual shooting technique. We often leave before he gets to 50 because emotionally he gets so overwhelmed with these OCD thoughts.

When we look at a player like Greg Elliot or Nate Santos I think we must also take into consideration hey may be prone to OCD and high anxiety mental health challenges. The severity comes and goes. That’s why I am still hopeful with Santos and think Elliot’s struggles recently are more mental health related and he will work through those. His shot form hasn’t changed so what’s going on.

If you want two real big examples of how mental health changes and negatively impacts a player google Markelle adults Shot or Google Ben Simmons. Even our Sam Young probably had OCD which caused him to play hours and hours of basketball outside normal practices and games leading to bad knee tendinitis. Dixon had to order him to stop all the extra stuff and he got healthy and took off.

I am bringing all this up because we look just at the basketball skills and performance. But when players struggle sometimes we don’t look at some of the other things they may be dealing with. I am on my way to pick up my son from the basketball gym right now. He has been here since 8:00am because he had an off shooting night in his game last night. Mental health is no joke.

For me, this is where we all see if Pitt is going to collapse yet again and ruin their promising season or if they do what they need to do and handle their business. 5-2 in the ACC if they win and very much in the hunt for an NCAA berth.

If they lose, that would be 3 in a row and in all honesty I would say it's more likely than not the team will collapse under Capel. It's been a constant for 4 seasons now.

So let's hope Pitt plays well and beats GT because otherwise I think a second half collapse will most likely happen.

Need to get back on track.

Keep checking all of them folks…

Daejon Reynolds now shows up in the https://find.pitt.edu/ directory?

I think I could have made that layup…maybe not.

Our average rebounding as a team is 38 per game. In our last 3 games we have average 31. Georgia Techs average in their last 3 games is 40 rebounds per game.

During those last 3 games Georgia Tech has also averaged over 10 offensive rebounds a game. That’s a pretty strong number.

We need to keep them off he boards. Playing at Georgia Tech we can’t give them easy offensive rebounding baskets and we need to attack the glass.

This topic was brought up in a thread about Aaron Donald, and it seems like a good topic for off-season banter. Pitt currently has 10 retired numbers, with Donald's inclusion seeming likely in 5-10 years as his NFL greatness continues. Here are my thoughts on who should have their numbers retired at Pitt, a school with far more talent in our history than most college football fans are aware.

YES: Dorsett, Fralic, and Green were all named 1st Team All-Century by SI in 1999 (we were the only school with more than 1 player in the best-22). Ditka was 2nd Team All-Century in the same article. Fitzgerald is arguably the greatest college WR of all time, and he won multiple major POY awards in his big season. Goldberg was top-3 twice for Heisman, 2x unanimous AA, was the clear leader on 2 national champs, and was #12 draft pick. May won the Outland Trophy and gave up 0 sacks for 2 consecutive years. Aaron Donald won every award possible and had dominant stats that would have been amazing for an All-American DE. May has the weakest credentials of this group, but he won the Outland so I'm putting him in (Regarding using that logic to put Antonio Bryant on the list since he won the Biletnikoff: a) the Outland covers far more players than the Biletnikoff, b) Bryant wasn't a unanimous AA, c) Bryant got no Heisman votes in 2000 [whereas 10 different players got at least one #1 vote, and 9 of them got 3 or more #1 votes], d) his stats weren't that crazy, e) 63rd overall pick).

NO: I'm going no on Covert, Schmidt, and Marino. Covert was a 1x consensus AA (never AP AA) with no awards. Schmidt is most famous for a speech he gave before an upset victory, 0x consensus AA, was the 85th draft pick, and played on Pitt teams that were a combined 10-18. Marino was a super-duper pro and played on great Pitt teams, but he has almost as many interceptions as TD's at Pitt, had all his stats beaten by Van Pelt who was behind a much worse line, 0x AA, 4th and 9th in Heisman voting, and no big awards.

Give me those 8 above, and keep the bar set at their level.

Pitt has a lot of seniors who can come back for another year of eligibility, and those players have been announcing their decisions lately. On today's Morning Pitt, we're looking at the latest decisions, what they mean for the Panthers in 2023 and which seniors have not yet made an announcement.

Is one reason why I prefer college BB to the NBA. While I appreciate athletic bigs, I think there is nothing better than two true low post Fives, going at each other, posting up, shooting baby hooks, battling for boards and just affecting play. It's so rare to get this because most athletic bigs leave after a year. Having two mature bigs go at each other brings me back those bygone days of Ewing, Hakeem, Sampson, etc...