Wow first the Pirates and now the Steelers. Pitt basketball should be next lol.

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What do you guys think of him at this point? Cheap ass Pirates signed the dude to a $70 million dollar + contract and let's be real, he can't hit at all and has little to no power at all. 2 straight seasons of below avg hitting. In 2021 he hit .257 with 38 RBI'S and in 2022 he hit .244 with 41 RBI's. Both seasons very few HR's. And in 6 games so far in 2023 he is hitting a very impressive. 100!!! 2 for 20 with an RBI.

Look I get it he is a damn good defensive 3rd baseman(even though he led the NL in errors by a 3rd basemen last season) but I am sure a lot more was expected of him at the plate. Especially after his great 6 weeks in 2020 during the covid season. Unfortunately he has been a big dud. He can't hit. Shelton now has him batting 6th and 7th so far this season with 1 game at leadoff against a lefty.

For me the contract is looking like another bad decision like the Polanco one. Except this is a much bigger one than that. Hayes has been a major disappointment and I can't help to think he will end up being remembered here in Pittsburgh as another overhyped prospect that didn't work out and was a bust.

Here's what SMU coach Andy Enfield had to say about Pitt on the ACC men's basketball coaches teleconference today.


“Pitt’s an outstanding basketball team; they just had a couple close losses. They play very hard, they’re very tough and they have a lot of guys that can score the ball. They lost a heartbreaker on the road - the last shot of the game didn’t go in - so they could very easily have more wins; just the ball hasn’t bounced their way a few times. But we certainly have a lot of respect for them. They’re a very good team.”

“Their guards are very dynamic. Lowe and Leggett. They can score the ball at a very high level, they can create, so you have to guard the guards. Damian Dunn, I’m sorry to see an injury with him. We played against him at Temple for two years when I was at USC. He’s a terrific player; I’m really sorry that he’s out with his injury. Their big guys are impressive. Corhen can score it well around the rim and he’s made midrange jump shots. The two brothers present a different dynamic with the three-point shooting and Austin can kind of get it going from the three as well. So, they’re hard to guard. It will be a fun basketball game, I think, on both sides, but they present some issues guarding because they have different skill sets at different positions."

0-18 teams can become Top 15 teams overnight while Pitt is slogging and slogging to perhaps BARELY make the NCAA Tournament 7 seasons in with Jeff Capel.

Oh and we've only been selected to a play-in game in 6 seasons, that's it.

This current Pitt team shouldn't be this bad - totally underachieving.

The common denominator of all of this is Jeff Capel

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Well there's an interesting line. Can Miami possibly be that bad compared to our current play, and probably no Lowe?

They only lost to Louisville by 10 at Louis last Saturday.

Looks like Pitt is currently +4.5. What do we think? Admittedly I'm about out on these guys and basically think this season is over.

I think SMU wins, probably somewhat easily. Pitt just isn't playing well, now Dunn is out and also, Capel just isn't helping this team at all either. Also, it doesn't help that this is our 2nd straight road game and they haven't even been home since Friday.

I say SMU 78 Pitt 67

I do think if they would win tonight though, it could set up for them to get on a little bit of a roll, and potentially get back into the tournament. However, with that said, I just don't think this team has that in them.

I have been saying this for several years and it's finally happening. The Power 4 will police NIL outside of the NCAA. NIL deals affiliated with a booster or booster group have to be reported to Deloitte to determine fair market value. And the fair market value for the marketability of these players, and not their on-field performance, is pretty close to 0. Legitimate NIL deals from real businesses don't have to be reported. If Nike or Verizon or the local restaurant (which doesn't have an booster-owner) want to do an NIL deals then it doesn't have to be reported. I am sure the thought is that real companies are only going to pay fair market value (except maybe FedEx???). The ones paying far more than that are the Booster NIL funds.

Arsenal Wenger, who works for FIFA now, is proposing that the offside rule be changed so that you can only be offside if you are a full body ahead of the last defender. No more goals called off due to an eyelash being in front of the last defender. This would be great news if it becomes official.

In his Florida Rumor Mill column, Rivals analyst John Garcia mentions three notable Sunshine State prospects who are looking at taking official visits to Pitt.


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** After Monday’s loss, I guess I just about ran out of anger about this team and this season.

** And like most of you, more or less I ran out of hope after Monday’s loss too. But also much like most of you, I still dared to hope for a win today to keep the NCAA Tournament Dream alive.

** After all, it’s hard for me to understand why if you aren’t going to hold out all hope, why be a fan at all?

** Because of this, I suppose I enjoyed watching this game today. A close basketball game is always a pleasure.

** When Ish’s shot to win fell short, I voiced a sound of displeasure. But that was about it. And at this moment, I probably don’t feel any worse about the team than I felt around 3:59 pm.

** This seems kind of sad actually.

** Just over two months ago, there seemed to be so much promise. There seemed to be an even more promising, if not even exciting spring on the way.

** Not anymore.

** It’s not really worth the bother of digging into this loss, thinking about what we did well, and the longer, mostly typical list of the things we didn’t.

** We also have months to dive into the state of the program, the capabilities of the coaching staff, the players we’ll need to improve our standing, and whether or not we’ll have the NIL dollars needed to make it happen.

** Previously I had thought that most of that time would instead be spent talking about the NCAA tournament, much like we did two years ago. But no.

** And unlike the last two years, we move into our last 8 games with not much to play for. For me, that’s the saddest part of all.

** So sure, I’ll still watch on Tuesday too, hoping a QUAD 1 win in University Park, Texas sparks the 8-0 run that we’ll need to get into the tournament. It’s what fans do.

** But I know that it’s not going to happen.