It wasn't supposed to be that bad

[Sean Miller Fan]

I picked WVU by 10. This is a much different team with Hugley, no doubt. But I am extremely discouraged with 2 things that I fear are not really fixable.

1. The defense, especially guarding the ball was among the worst I can remember seeing at Pitt. We will play better than this but how much better? We appear to be too slow to stay in front of the guys we are guarding.

2. I have no idea what we are running on offense. I could easily see what WVU was running. Multiple screens, spreading the floor, cross screen for a duck in. They were running some really good stuff. To the naked eye, it didnt appear that we were running an offense.

We scored 15 points in the first 5 minutes and then only 41 the last 35 minutes. Offense was bad. Defense was bad. Turnovers were bad. There's nothing positive to take away from this game

 

[pittizit]

I picked WVU by 10. This is a much different team with Hugley, no doubt. But I am extremely discouraged with 2 things that I fear are not really fixable.

1. The defense, especially guarding the ball was among the worst I can remember seeing at Pitt. We will play better than this but how much better? We appear to be too slow to stay in front of the guys we are guarding.

2. I have no idea what we are running on offense. I could easily see what WVU was running. Multiple screens, spreading the floor, cross screen for a duck in. They were running some really good stuff. To the naked eye, it didnt appear that we were running an offense.

We scored 15 points in the first 5 minutes and then only 41 the last 35 minutes. Offense was bad. Defense was bad. Turnovers were bad. There's nothing positive to take away from this game

Yes there was we are one game closer to Capel being gone

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Yes there was we are one game closer to Capel being gone

He has a good class coming in + Hugley back.

 

[GoldenPather5]

I picked WVU by 10. This is a much different team with Hugley, no doubt. But I am extremely discouraged with 2 things that I fear are not really fixable.

1. The defense, especially guarding the ball was among the worst I can remember seeing at Pitt. We will play better than this but how much better? We appear to be too slow to stay in front of the guys we are guarding.

2. I have no idea what we are running on offense. I could easily see what WVU was running. Multiple screens, spreading the floor, cross screen for a duck in. They were running some really good stuff. To the naked eye, it didnt appear that we were running an offense.

We scored 15 points in the first 5 minutes and then only 41 the last 35 minutes. Offense was bad. Defense was bad. Turnovers were bad. There's nothing positive to take away from this game

Pitt hasn’t run an offense since Stallings got thrown out against Louisville. Since then it has just been iso ball shoot or pass. He’s just waiting for HL to send his ass on an all expense paid vacation

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Nobody on this team can do a whole lot with the ball. Nelly is efficient, I guess, but he's not much of a shot creator who is going to just plain beat someone off the dribble at this level. Seems to be another year of our offense being a lazy, failed, predictable screen at the top of the key and a lot of random movement that leads to a bad shot.

 

[JD1976]

He has a good class coming in + Hugley back.

You are the one who always reminds everyone that everyone transfers anyway so shouldn’t his recruiting class be irrelevant? Frankly, we need to take another step back to move forward and that means a bad season that forces Heather to ditch Capel.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

You are the one who always reminds everyone that everyone transfers anyway so shouldn’t his recruiting class be irrelevant? Frankly, we need to take another step back to move forward and that means a bad season that forces Heather to ditch Capel.

Yea, those frosh will eventually transfer. Everyone does. But maybe you get a good year or 2 out of them.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Bad defense and poor rebounding for Pitt and this is what you get.

Coaching matters. wvu has a coach, we don't. Until we do, get used to this.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Trying to be a bit optimistic--

This is a lot better team with Hugley (a healthy Hugley). With an inside scoring threat and the the better perimeter scoring opportunities that it should create.

Rebounding was close to even (WVA 30 Pitt 27).

ESPN Box Score

West Virginia under Huggins always exerts extreme defensive pressure--no exception tonight--WVA had a 19-11 turnover margin and since they shot 52.6% from the floor and Pitt 42.2.% that turnover margin was mathematically worth roughly a 16 point differential in West Virginia's favor. Hopefully we won't continue to lose the turnover margin that badly going forward.

Federiko proved again that he is much better than many of us anticipated. I am tempted to wish we could play him alongside Hugley to have two bigs inside and cut back to only playing 3 perimeter players at some future point in the season. If we did that my starting lineup would be Hugley, Federiko, Hinson, Elliot and Cummings.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

Pitt was even in Nelly Cummings 22 minutes. They were -25 when he was on the bench. Burton has to ****ing pass the basketball.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Burton has to ****ing pass the basketball.

He's not a point guard. He never has been. It isn't really his fault that he has to play there by default, and it's not his fault when Cummings insists on playing stupidly even when he knows he is in foul trouble and can't afford to pick up another one.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

He's not a point guard. He never has been. It isn't really his fault that he has to play there by default, and it's not his fault when Cummings insists on playing stupidly even when he knows he is in foul trouble and can't afford to pick up another one.

Capel does him no favors for sure. He still can’t turn the ball over 8 times. He’s a 5th year senior.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Capel does him no favors for sure. He still can’t turn the ball over 8 times. He’s a 5th year senior.

No disagreement on that. When he plays the point he tries to do too much, because he knows that's not what he is best at. He needs to play within himself even more then, but that can be a tough thing to do.

 

[BFo8]

He has a good class coming in + Hugley back.

I swear you say something similar to that every year. If it was up to you no coach in any sport would ever be canned because of the promise of the next years recruiting class.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

I swear you say something similar to that every year. If it was up to you no coach in any sport would ever be canned because of the promise of the next years recruiting class.

Recruiting classes outside of like 50 guys (maybe less) don’t matter in P5. You can’t win with freshmen

 

[OhioPanther99]

He has a good class coming in + Hugley back.

Three "Pitt" freshmen are not going to turn this mess around.

Three from Duke or Kentucky is a different story.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Three "Pitt" freshmen are not going to turn this mess around.

Three from Duke or Kentucky is a different story.

Well then whose the coach that Pitt hires that brings in three Duke/Ky level recruits or the cream of the crop portal guys ?

I‘m as tired of this mess as anyone , those idiots that instigated JDs firing have now given us 6 most likely 7 yrs of losing bb . I’m not giving up on this season yet , but we got a preview of Pitt without Hugley and it wasn’t pretty . We can only hope this was a one off of no Hugley and foul trouble , but boy did they look bad . Money aside is this job attractive enough to get a proven winner ? Do you have faith that Heather can find someone better this time ? Let’s not forget how poorly her last search was going before she found JC .

If somehow Dior gets cleared and stays , JC signs his current commitments and the twins develop physically you might as well just bite the bullet and stay the course . Spending millions in buyout money and millions more on hiring god knows who . How f …up is this situation !

 

[PittAU]

I have no idea what we are running on offense. I could easily see what WVU was running. Multiple screens, spreading the floor, cross screen for a duck in. They were running some really good stuff. To the naked eye, it didnt appear that we were running an offense.

We scored 15 points in the first 5 minutes and then only 41 the last 35 minutes. Offense was bad. Defense was bad. Turnovers were bad. There's nothing positive to take away from this game

I concur. So much one v one out there. It was painful.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Three "Pitt" freshmen are not going to turn this mess around.

Three from Duke or Kentucky is a different story.

Its one of the best classes ON PAPER in Pitt history. You cant fire a coach who has that coming in unless this year is another complete disaster and I dont think it will be

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Its one of the best classes ON PAPER in Pitt history. You cant fire a coach who has that coming in unless this year is another complete disaster and I dont think it will be

If Pitt is relying on any of those 3 freshmen to impact next year, they’ll be a bottom 3 team again. Every other team is getting older

Penn State is doing the same thing . Doing things Penn State basketball does is not smart.

 

[Chescat]

I have no idea what we are running on offense. I could easily see what WVU was running. Multiple screens, spreading the floor, cross screen for a duck in. They were running some really good stuff. To the naked eye, it didnt appear that we were running an offense.

I wondered the same thing
about what we were running
or not running offensively.
You have to give WVU
credit for a lot of that.
Their D completely took
us out of any semblance
of offense. When foul
trouble occurred, their
intensity had an even
greater effect on what were
trying to do. Once again,
coaching. It doesn't just
happen by accident.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

Capel has to make the NIT at the very least. If you can’t do that by Year 5, then it’s time to move on.

 

[Chescat]

If Pitt is relying on any of those 3 freshmen to impact next year, they’ll be a bottom 3 team again. Every other team is getting older

Penn State is doing the same thing . Doing things Penn State basketball does is not smart.

Penn State finally realized
what you just posted. I
feel they just might have
a coach that will turn
things around. I watched
them last year, and
they improved as the
season wore on. I expect
them to surprise this yr.