** 1342 Days!
** It’s been that long since our Panthers have sported a record above the .500 mark in conference play. That’s far too long in my mind!
** We are a long way from knowing whether our Panthers can end this campaign above .500 in the ACC. But the curiosity of opening this season with a conference game offered this unique chance to end this particular notorious streak.
** There are other streaks that the Panthers must end. It’s been almost as long since we’ve won an ACC road game, for example. But ending that one comes later.
** Speaking for myself, I can’t say how long it’s been since I’ve had so much fun watching a game at the Pete. This one was such an absolute blast to watch.
** Last year’s wins against the Noles and the Cards were great too. But there was a certain tension to those games that somehow didn’t exist tonight.
** This wasn’t at all stressful. It was just a blast.
** Perhaps it’s been over 2,000 days or so since the Panther Hoopers have won a rock fight. We used to always win rock fights. We won a rock fight tonight. What a blast it was.
** If HC Jeff Capel truly wants a pack of junkyard dogs to take the court at the Pete, that’s what he got tonight. They were never fluid like greyhounds, but they fought and scraped for everything they could get.
** The Panthers won this game tonight, not because they were the more talented team. They won because they were the tougher team.
** They were the tougher team, both mentally and physically.
** Perhaps at some point during this season, we will call our Panthers the better team because they can run a more fluid offense, hit more shots, or take better care of the ball.
** Tonight the Panthers were the better team because they simply seemed to want this game more than the Noles.
** And when the Noles wanted to run away, the Panthers stood tall, punched them in the face, and yelled “I don’t think so!”
** Feel free to select your own MVP (most valuable Panther) from this game. But I have no problem selecting mine. None other than Coach Capel.
** It wasn’t too difficult to see that Au’Diese and Gerald were struggling, not to mention that Terell was having more success than Eric.
** However, I didn’t necessarily expect Capel to stick with Justin, Terrell, and Ryan all the way to the end. But he did. And all three paid him off.
** Justin’s 2 threes and eight points in the final 10 minutes made all the difference.
** Terrell’s 9 points in the final 12 minutes made all the more difference.
** And Ryan’s points and play the entire game may have made the most difference.
** I don’t know if Ryan can do everything he did tonight on a regular basis. But he certainly trotted out his entire YMCA League All-Star repertoire for all to see this night.
** Just seven days ago, I would not have thought for a moment that Ryan, Justin and Terrell would have ever combine for 34 points to lead the Panthers to any win, let alone a tough ACC win. But they did.
** Perhaps the even better news lies in the knowledge that Au’Diese and Gerald, not to mention Eric will certainly have more productive nights than they offered this evening.
** The best news is that no matter who Coach Capel put on the court this night, they all defended as if their life depended upon it.
** This wasn’t a perfect defensive performance by our Panthers. But it was an extraordinarily tough one. The Panthers were quicker to the ball than the Noles, they were stronger, and were simply more determined.
** This all makes one wonder how good our Panthers will be in they can manage to shoot the ball only about 10 percentage points or so better than they did tonight.
** And the Panthers will shoot it better. Whether they shoot it a little better, or a fair amount more than that will tell us more about whether we can take a serious run at ending the number of days it’s been since we’ve been in an NCAA tournament.
** For now, Congrats to our 1-0, ACC Leading Pittsburgh Panthers.
** It’s been that long since our Panthers have sported a record above the .500 mark in conference play. That’s far too long in my mind!
** We are a long way from knowing whether our Panthers can end this campaign above .500 in the ACC. But the curiosity of opening this season with a conference game offered this unique chance to end this particular notorious streak.
** There are other streaks that the Panthers must end. It’s been almost as long since we’ve won an ACC road game, for example. But ending that one comes later.
** Speaking for myself, I can’t say how long it’s been since I’ve had so much fun watching a game at the Pete. This one was such an absolute blast to watch.
** Last year’s wins against the Noles and the Cards were great too. But there was a certain tension to those games that somehow didn’t exist tonight.
** This wasn’t at all stressful. It was just a blast.
** Perhaps it’s been over 2,000 days or so since the Panther Hoopers have won a rock fight. We used to always win rock fights. We won a rock fight tonight. What a blast it was.
** If HC Jeff Capel truly wants a pack of junkyard dogs to take the court at the Pete, that’s what he got tonight. They were never fluid like greyhounds, but they fought and scraped for everything they could get.
** The Panthers won this game tonight, not because they were the more talented team. They won because they were the tougher team.
** They were the tougher team, both mentally and physically.
** Perhaps at some point during this season, we will call our Panthers the better team because they can run a more fluid offense, hit more shots, or take better care of the ball.
** Tonight the Panthers were the better team because they simply seemed to want this game more than the Noles.
** And when the Noles wanted to run away, the Panthers stood tall, punched them in the face, and yelled “I don’t think so!”
** Feel free to select your own MVP (most valuable Panther) from this game. But I have no problem selecting mine. None other than Coach Capel.
** It wasn’t too difficult to see that Au’Diese and Gerald were struggling, not to mention that Terell was having more success than Eric.
** However, I didn’t necessarily expect Capel to stick with Justin, Terrell, and Ryan all the way to the end. But he did. And all three paid him off.
** Justin’s 2 threes and eight points in the final 10 minutes made all the difference.
** Terrell’s 9 points in the final 12 minutes made all the more difference.
** And Ryan’s points and play the entire game may have made the most difference.
** I don’t know if Ryan can do everything he did tonight on a regular basis. But he certainly trotted out his entire YMCA League All-Star repertoire for all to see this night.
** Just seven days ago, I would not have thought for a moment that Ryan, Justin and Terrell would have ever combine for 34 points to lead the Panthers to any win, let alone a tough ACC win. But they did.
** Perhaps the even better news lies in the knowledge that Au’Diese and Gerald, not to mention Eric will certainly have more productive nights than they offered this evening.
** The best news is that no matter who Coach Capel put on the court this night, they all defended as if their life depended upon it.
** This wasn’t a perfect defensive performance by our Panthers. But it was an extraordinarily tough one. The Panthers were quicker to the ball than the Noles, they were stronger, and were simply more determined.
** This all makes one wonder how good our Panthers will be in they can manage to shoot the ball only about 10 percentage points or so better than they did tonight.
** And the Panthers will shoot it better. Whether they shoot it a little better, or a fair amount more than that will tell us more about whether we can take a serious run at ending the number of days it’s been since we’ve been in an NCAA tournament.
** For now, Congrats to our 1-0, ACC Leading Pittsburgh Panthers.