once in a lifetime talent; not generational. Pitt played him way back when. ville put him in down 28 and he damn near pulled it off

I think the staff adjusts some attitudes during the locker room break, but I think the bench is the driver. So many players who could overachieve on any given night.

I had coached my son for his formative years through Aau. He is a point guard and always pass first. But has always had a shot just too nervous. He is now a junior and I just got back from his varsity game. He scored 24 points with three 3’s and made every shot in the game but one free throw miss.

I am sharing this for two reasons. First I am a proud papa. And I like a lot of you on here and wanted to share. Second, it made me think about how important confidence is and that at any one time things can some times just click. I am hoping that tomorrow is that click game for us that sends us on our way as a team. I think we have the talent. It just needs to click with the right players doing the right things with the right amount of minutes.

** For me, it seems fitting that the remainder of this season begins on New Year's Day, because it's been quite some time since I've gone into a New Year this excited about the status of the Pitt Hoops Team.

** In fact, you have to go all the way back to the 2012-2013 Hoops Season when our team was even ranked once in the AP poll before January 1. That's 12 seasons ago.

** And the number 18 ranking we achieved (then lost) a few weeks ago was the highest ranking the team has at all enjoyed since the 2013-2014 season (when we were also 18th).

** Sure two years ago, on New Year's Eve Eve, we beat the #25 UNC team to go 10-4 at the moment. But it really wasn't until 3 days past the ball dropping when we beat the #11 Cavaliers when things started getting really interesting.

** Anyway, mostly I'm really excited thinking abut where this season goes. We will end up being decent (bubbly once again this year like the last two), good (legit NCAA team), or really good (competing for a protected seed)?

** At the moment, most signs point to good. But there are three real opportunities to move to the latter.

** First, Damian returns. Second, GDG should get better, even if just shooting 30% from three the rest of the way. Third, yes, I still believe that Amsal could join the mix in a meaningful way.

** But in the next few months of 2025, I'm pumped thinking about what's going to happen in those next 19 ACC games, followed by a to-be-determined number of post season games.

** In short, it's the first time in a long time I'll be looking forward to March with our Panthers while sipping Champaign when the ball drops.

** Along those lines, I hope our the Panthers receive a near packed house at 2:00pm on New Year's Day! Roll Call! Who else will be there?

** So once again, Happy New Year to my fellow Pitt Hoops Fans!

** Here's to 2025!

Ped state or wvu? I would have always thought wvu but looking at twitter it looks like the peds are maybe worse?

I love our guards but tonight it was obvious to me they weren’t going to have their way in the lane. Our outside shooting wasn’t clicking either because of their length that challenged ever attempt, so why not try going big with the twins, Corhen or Kante. Again, I love our guards but tonight evidently needed an adjustment of some sort. Kante was a great adjustment in the OSU game that led to a win, but we did nothing against Duke to cause them to adjust. Tonight the 3 guard look was a disaster, so at least try something!

SMU was crushing them in the first half. With 49 points by SMU, I was just hoping that Pitt would keep them under 100 while maybe getting up to 50 from 18. Then Pitt came out of halftime on fire and held SMU to ZERO points in the third period while on a 31-0 run. Pitt took a double digit lead and won 72-59. WOW!

New Thread!

It’s a Christmas movie in the same way “Die Hard” was a Christmas movie. Watched it Saturday night after the football games and it’s pretty good.

Stars Jason Bateman and Taron Egerton (Welsh actor who played Elton John in “Rocketman”). About a TSA officer trying to stop a suitcase full of a deadly nerve agent from blowing up a plane with 250 passengers on board on Christmas Eve.

Multiview on YouTubeTV is amazing. I was able to watch 10 football games (7 college bowl games and three NFL games) on Saturday. But, watching this after the last whistle was blown was a nice change of pace.

Jason Bateman makes a pretty convincing villain. The rest of the cast is pretty average but the plot keeps the movie moving.

If tonight’s game had been scheduled for the Rose Bowl and tomorrow’s in Atlanta, neither could have been played because of the weather.

Pasadena is on fire and the snow forecast for tomorrow in Atlanta already has shut the city down. Schools, offices, buses, stores, even non-emergency treatments at hospitals were cancelled today, 24 hours before the snow begins falling. My brother, who has lived here almost 40 years, says this happens every time it snows here. No one has snow tires; the city doesn’t have snow plows; and drivers don’t know how to drive in the snow.

It is supposed to be dry next week when the final is played in Atlanta.

Need a short memory because this isn’t the same same cardinals team we’ve seen the last few years. At least we aren’t going up against a Steelers game so no reason there shouldn’t be a good crowd. I’ll be driving up from Charlotte to see the game. Looking forward to it.

After a productive junior season at top New Jersey school DePaul Catholic, Logan Nagle is emerging as a top target for Pitt at defensive end in the 2026 recruiting class.

Nagle’s contact with the Panthers started recently, and on Saturday, he made the trip to Pittsburgh for Pitt’s Junior Day and walked away with an offer.

Any tennis fans here? I never liked it all my life. Then I got into gambling a few years ago. Suddenly tennis was a lot of fun.

The 4 majors are the most fun, as the best of 5 matches bring out the best in everyone, and they can have insane momentum swings. The women do still play best of 3 in the majors.

The men are so ridiculously good. I have a lot of respect for them. Had I actually watched them play years ago, I probably would have noticed this, but I thought tennis wasn't for football and basketball fans.

The women are very good too, but there's a giant difference in ground covered and ball speed in men vs women. And women have a lot more trouble holding serve, making them the more difficult side to wager on.

Australian native Nick Kyrgios lost last night. Not unexpected. He was hurt last year. He's one of the most entertaining players out there.

I'm a big fan of Ben Shelton, who won the singles national championship at Florida a few years ago. He's still probably too inexperienced to win this, but he could make a 1/4 final for sure.

Jannik Sinner is the men's favorite at +110. Carlos "the kid" Alcaraz is next at +320, and Joker is +700. Sinner was probably the best player in the world in 2024. If you made me pick, I'd take Sinner or Carlos to win it all, but I could also see Zverev, Medvedev, Rune, and maybe Fritz winning.

Aryna Sabalenka is the women's favorite at +160, followed by "queen" Iga Swiatek of Poland at +430, and then Coco Gauff, an American fan favorite, at +500. I would pick Iga to win, and also throw in there Qinwen Zheng and Elena Rybakina as having a chance.

But in either the men or women, there could be someone coming out of the cut to make noise.

Probably any of the top 20 favorites on either side could win it. There's more parity than in college football.

Tennis basically operates on a calendar year, so this is the first big event of the new season. I do like to wait a few months into the new year to see who has the best form before I really wager on anyone. The unknown of the new year leads to a lot of excitement and upsets.