I've gone to the 1st/2nd Rounds almost every year since Dixon left so I've gotten to see a lot of those teams up close. This team has the "look" of one of those 10/11/12 seed type teams. Not to say they will make it but they have a lot of necessary pieces.

1. A big guy - Fede isnt great but he is serviceable. Can play D adequately, rebound, adequately, and can catch and dunk. You dont need Bill Walton but you arent getting an at-large bid with Rozelle Nix or Terrelle Brown. Fede is a good enough big.

2. A point guard - Nelly isnt a true point but he is growing into the ACC and has made winning plays at a lower level. You dont need your PG to be an All-American but if you can score a little, create a little, and keep TO's down, you have a chance. Nelly can be this.

3. 1 or 2 guys who can get buckets - This is Burton and Hinson. Burton is really becoming a star. Reminds me of Lamar Patterson with his "old man" game. Not really a shooter, not super quick, but understands how to score using every YMCA move in the book. Hinson also is a guy who can go off and get you 20. If these guys are scoring, we're hard to beat

4. A shooter - Need a guy who can stretch the D and get you 3 or 4 3s efficiently. Greg Elliot can do this.

5. Team defense - this is the major concern. We are not good defensively but way better than we were in November when we looked like the worst defensive Pitt team I've ever seen. If we dont make the NCAAT, it will be because of defense.

6. Bench - also a concern. Nike and Jorge can give minutes on the perimeter but after that, Guillermo isnt ready for extended minutes at the 5. And it appears Hugley and Santos are done. Without Hugley, Jeffress, and Dior, we only have 9 scholarship players, which is also why I think its possible Dior's "redshirt" gets taken off if we lose another guy or 2 and have a chance at the NCAAT. I think its essentially a "conditional" one season suspension disguised as a redshirt.

Can someone please give me a rational explanation as to why the Steelers/Ravens game is now flexed to NBC Sunday night?

The Steelers are 7-8 and have(let's be honest here) 1 of the most boring offenses in the league. And the Ravens have clinched a playoff birth and still could be without Lamar Jackson.

Ironically the Steelers were taken off NBC a few games ago because the team was below .500 and isn't good.

Now for me as a fan I don't mind watching a primetime Steelers game but this move makes absolutely no sense.

Reminiscent of a few years back when Pitt defeated Duke and Jeff got his big extension. Hopefully this time w a cadre of cagey Veterans in the fold Pitt can finigh strong and challenge for a Tourney berth - Happy New Year & H2P! 🥂

Our best and most irreplaceable defensive player this year wasn't Kancey.

It was Dennis.

And Brandon George... had a FANTASTIC game today.

** From time to time, I find myself getting into minor quarrels with my fellow posters because of my defense of College Basketball referees.

** A big reason for this defense was a common practice of rewatching most Panther hoops games, and often realizing that critical calls that sometimes looked wrong in the heat of the Pete tended to look a little more right in retrospect.

** In the heat of the Pete today, there were more than a few calls which raised my ire. Still, on this day, I’m looking forward to rewatching the contest to obtain my usual better disposition about the officials.

** But that’s just a side effect actually. The main point is that I’m really just looking forward to just rewatching the game. This was a game that I think most Panther fans should want to watch more than once.

** Sure, had not referees A.J. Desai and Bert Smith rewatched the next to last inbounds play and realized that Tommy Morrisey got it wrong, I might have left the Pete with a totally different disposition about rewatching the game. But they got it right, and UNC didn’t get one last chance.

** Therefore I was able to retain my disposition that the better team won. The Panthers were the better team.

** The Panthers didn’t outshoot the Tar Heels. They just outplayed them. We were the more physical team and were the tougher team too.

** Granted, it took the Panthers a little bit of time to realize they were the better team. In the first few minutes, we looked a little intimidated by UNC’s size and strength.

** Because of that, it’s possible one can site the turning point of the game at the 15:34 mark of the first half when Jamarius took a nice feed from Nike a drove the lane to score among the tall Tar Heel trees.

** It was the first time we were able to see that not only were the Panthers the better team, but Jamarius was the best player on the court.

** This moment marked the first of over a dozen times he took the ball successfully, and actually quite brilliantly, into lane.

** I’m not sure I can remember a game when we have watched a Panther guard who out muscled a bigger opponent like Burton did today. And I’m not sure I can remember a game when we have watched a Panther guard who drove into the lane as fearlessly as Burton did today.

** Because this wasn’t a game when Jamarius was hitting deep bombs, some might not instantly recognize this game among the very few of the best ever (if not even THE best ever) offensive Panther games at the Pete. But it should be.

** This is something I can’t wait to watch several more times starting at the conclusion of Tony’s exhibition.

** Unfortunately, while rewatching Jamarius make magic in the lane, we will have to watch the rest of the Panthers miss a whole bunch of threes for much of the game.

** I’m not sure I thought many, if any, of the threes were bad ones to take. Most were good open shots that have been going down of late.

** Because of this, midway through the second frame, it looked like this might not be the Panthers day despite Jamarius’ magic.

** Then one of Blake’s triples finally fell and we outscored UNC 30-19 the rest of the way.

** Those last 11 minutes were as much fun I’ve had at the Pitt Hoops game since … well it been a while. Maybe since the Panthers beat Virginia in OT in 2017. Not only do I remember that one well, I remember how much I enjoyed rewatching it too.

** Still, with just over a minute to go, the Panthers needed a hero, and Blake was happy to step forward, when most probably thought to look for Burton in the lane. Shooting is confidence, and despite his previous misses, Hinson obviously never lost his.

** The only other single shout out I wanted to add to this game was mention of Nike’s critical 24 minutes. He brought energy, lots of defense, and even some much needed offense too.

** So here it is – one day before the end of 2022, and the Panthers are 3-0 and in second place in the ACC. Like most fans, I’m starting to become pretty optimistic about where this season could go. After all, the Panther prospects look better for this season than I ever thought they would be in September, let alone after our tough trip to Brooklyn.

** But I’ll hold back any predictions or proclamations at this time. We’ve all learned our lessons about that. Instead, I’ll just enjoy another viewing of this wonderful effort today. It’s great to want to do that again!

** Happy New Year to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans!

Curious what the overall consensus is on this. Things have turned around as of late so the optimistic fan in me says 5-3 with 2 losses coming from Duke and either UVA/Miami, and a tough loss from the remaining pool. I like our chances better at home with Clemson, WF, and Miami. Also don’t feel like GT, L’ville, and FSU are guaranteed wins. The more down-to-earth fan in me says they’ll drop 2 of these 6 games and go 4-4

Time for him to go. Way too many missed kicks for how razor-thin our winning margins are.

What a GREAT throw for the TD to put the Steelers ahead!

Happy New Year to all, even the people who don't like me on here.

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Eff your numbers dirt bag. KP8 is a frigging winner!!!

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This isn’t Pitt related (thus the OT) but this may be the best QB in the portal thus far

Joining Liberty with his old HC might happen, but could definitely see him garnering a lot of national interest - including ACC teams

True or false!?

This is the first time I am not very interested in a PITT bowl and outcome. Maybe the pollsters will look at our younger guys who play and determine if we are a top 25 team next year? I am trying to find a silver lining to this. It's a shame because if all the players were playing (for both teams), this would be a classic bowl. The NIL, transfer portal, border issue (in the Sun Bowls case), and players leaving early for the NFL has made bowl season a shell of what it used to be.

Someone asked me this question, and I found it interesting. I‘d love to hear your thoughts.

The Sun Bowl is a low key awesome bowl game. It’s in its 89th edition and all the locals dig the game. The trophy was also really cool.

The fact that it is the only bowl game on CBS and we got Danielson and Nessler made it even more epic! It’s hard to hate on this game as “lower tier.” Historically speaking, it’s right up there with the major bowl games.

He is different

I have only really been watching since the early 90’s, so let’s remove Jackie or majors.. but can we all agree now that Duzz is probably the best coach we have had in the last 30 years?

What Walt did is impressive for sure resurrecting the program and it was fun to watch.

My argument for years had been what wanny did over that 2 year period and how he had the program sustained for success but obviously we know how that went.

Duzz has now won 20 games over 2 years.

We haven’t heard any real off field stuff.

Recruiting may not be “as good” but pa is way worse for recruits than under the other 2 guys, and he gets guys that fit his system and program.

One losing season right?

His coaching staff other than oc has been pretty stable.

Navigating the portal and other than the whole JA thing has done pretty well imo of not losing a ton.

He is just a really solid coach. Maybe not a “sexy” coach, but if he has us living in this 8-11 world I am really happy and I guess can live with the 1 really bad loss a year.

I have been one of his biggest critics but looking back, I don’t think we have or can do any better.

h2p

I can't say I follow them very closely b/c they've stunk for so long.

but this has to be the swan song for lance white, correct? I mean, his teams just aren't even competitive against real competition.

His defense is playing lights out football and keeping the Steelers in the game until Kenny delivers game-winning drives!

If you want to play in the pros, you come to Pitt!
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Our kicker Sauls. Glad we have him! No disappointment on seeing Big 10 lose. Happy New Year everyone!

Tomlin basically just gave Pitt the perfect sound bite post game regarding proximity to Pitt and how they get to know somebody way better from an intangibles standpoint. It should be played at every recruiting visit going forward.

It’s also funny to think that we always talk about it being a benefit to Pitt being with the Steelers but it’s pretty clear it creates a pretty nice scouting advantage for the Steelers as well.

CLUTCH!