Louisville Game & Other Dribbles ...

[DT_PITT]

** I’ll confess. At halftime of this game, I had dreams of writing glorious celebratory dribbles speaking of some sort of dramatic effort that our Panthers were able to ride to a victory.

** And because of this notion, I’m still very disappointed by this loss. Even a little bit angry. I know that I shouldn’t be, but I am.

** In fact, the only thing I should be angry about were my emotions when I first learned that Justin and Au’Diese would not be playing. I can’t say that I was all that disappointed. That’s what I should be angry about. I should be upset that I wasn’t much more upset.

** Maybe being a Pitt sports fan for so many years has pulverized me into ambivalence in the face of such news. Perhaps all of the news of COVID-19 in 2020 has made me immune to a more pronounced reaction.

** And so I was also numb to the first 10 minutes and a 15 point deficit. After all, it wasn’t like this isn’t something we have all experienced many, many times over the past four years.

** Enter Femi Odukale. Thank you for knocking me back to my senses, making me once again an emotionally crazed Pitt Hoops fan.

** Let’s not kid ourselves. Without Femi, this does end up as a loss like we have experienced many, many times over the past four years.

** What was most pleasurable about Femi’s performance was that it really didn’t look like he was playing out of his mind either. Sure, he was playing really well, and expecting too many more just like this one game in near future doesn’t seem quite like a good idea just yet.

** But there was more than enough to think that Femi can be a pretty darn good player in the ACC in the coming years.

** Unfortunately, no other Panther could really join him and there just wasn’t enough firepower for the Panthers to take this one to the wire.

** So I spent most of the second half wonderfully screaming at my television in regret for what many of our Panthers are not able to do, or not able to do just yet. Yes, that’s a wonderful thing. For now, anyway.

** Perhaps at some point sometime soon, Mr. Coulibaly will learn how to play this game without fouling. He’s not there yet of course, and he simply needs to understand that holding his arms at a 45 degree angle over a defender will get him called for a foul.

** Perhaps at some point sometime soon, Mr. Jeffress will begin to show the coaching staff what it takes for them to have confidence in him in a game like this. With Justin and Toney down, he would have been someone I would have expected to get 20+ minutes. But tonight he never really got a chance to stretch his legs.

** Perhaps at some point sometime soon, Mr. Horton will begin to show why the coaching staff has such confidence in him in a game like this. I kept thinking “one time Eithiel, please!” I can’t know if it’s a confidence or an ability issue for him, but it was nonetheless a huge missed opportunity.

** Bit by bit, Big John is making more and more of his opportunities. He wasn’t able to step up far enough to make a difference, but he’s getting closer to that day for sure.

** Even Noah made a big tough play in the second half. Our freshman output was 27 points this day.

** Everyone contributed to what has to be considered a solid defensive effort. But down the stretch when it mattered, the Cards shots got easier and easier.

** With Xavier battling what is becoming all too frequent foul trouble, it was obvious that Panthers lacked a leader down the stretch. Maybe someone like Toney would have been enough to fill that gap. Maybe a senior such Nike could fill such a role too, but we don’t know just yet.

** Hopefully, someone will step up and rebound in Justin’s absence, because even if this effort enthused you about the Panthers’ future, it’s hard to feel good about the upcoming 8 weeks knowing we were outrebounded by 19 tonight. Sometimes that stat is overemphasized. Tonight was not one of those times.

** So writing these thoughts was not nearly as wonderful as I dreamed they would be at halftime. But they were a heck of a lot more fun to write than I expected minutes before that game, when I wondered if there would even be enough to write about at all.

** That’s enough for me to continue my positive thoughts for the future of our program.

** To Au’Diese, Justin and Coach Capel … get well soon!

** To my fellow Pitt Hoops fans … my best wishes to all for a wonderful Holiday!

 

[mo cheeks]

I was disappointed enough for the both of us when I heard about our injured stars. Just really stinks. Unfair. Femi was impressive. Big John is getting better game to game.

 

[pittjas]

I had the complete opposite reaction to Toney and Champ being out. That news put a real damper on my night.

I always care and watch every second of Pitt basketball/football games in normal times, but usually there’s tons going on in between games to keep me busy.

Right now, there’s not much going on. Pitt games are the highlight of my week at this point, so hearing that was a real bummer. Especially because Justin’s going to be out for the majority of conference play.

And watching this game tonight reinforced my belief that Our squad fully healthy could have been a bubble team. Unfortunately, we won’t ever know if I’m right.

 

[DT_PITT]

I had the complete opposite reaction to Toney and Champ being out. That news put a real damper on my night.

I always care and watch every second of Pitt basketball/football games in normal times, but usually there’s tons going on in between games to keep me busy.

Right now, there’s not much going on. Pitt games are the highlight of my week at this point, so hearing that was a real bummer. Especially because Justin’s going to be out for the majority of conference play.

And watching this game tonight reinforced my belief that Our squad fully healthy could have been a bubble team. Unfortunately, we won’t ever know if I’m right.

Coulda woulda shouda ... but generally speaking ... I would share your belief. But who knows.

What we do know for sure ... the overall talent this team has is increasing (as it should).

is it increasing fast enough? ... that's up to every fan for them to decide for themselves.

Can Capel get the increasing talent to win at a significant level ... this we will learn.

 

[pittchagg]

Really encouraging to see each of the freshmen appearing to play better every game. We looked like we were clearly a team missing some guys tonight, but I don’t think we looked uncomfortable. Femi has grown from “cool, he can play point for a few minutes to spell Xavier” to “Femi can legit play in this league.” Can’t overstate how impressive he was. Also thought Hugley and Collier had their best games as Panthers tonight.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Well
This injury news puts this season in-enjoy watching the young guys develop territory

Femi played with swagger - that pretty tremendous for a guy who didn’t look he belong on the court against sfpa

Hughely is coming along and starting to slow down in a good way

Akc - is too important to rack up fouls the way he does -
It’s the only part of his game he doesn’t play with great awareness

Horton - I don’t know what to say - having Ryan Murphy flashbacks of not being able to get space and time against acc teams

Brown- talk about a player who fell out of favor

Collier is a throwback big east glue guy - I think he’ll be good

Jeffress- I’m going to say it - the coaches need to get him to seek his shot and stop deferring .

Nike - is flashing what we hoped he’d be as a slasher - he’s still finding his role and rounding into game shape

Gerald - I’m sure he’s a good kid - but he plays stiff and we’re going to need some minutes from him the next 6-8 weeks - he is auditioning to keep his scholarship at this point

 

[pittjas]

Coulda woulda shouda ... but generally speaking ... I would share your belief. But who knows.

What we do know for sure ... the overall talent this team has is increasing (as it should).

is it increasing fast enough? ... that's up to every fan for them to decide for themselves.

Can Capel get the increasing talent to win at a significant level ... this we will learn.

I think the recruiting is solid in that we’re getting a lot of guys that I think either are or can be winning ACC players (X/Champ/Toney/Jeffress/Collier/Hugley/Coulibaly/Femi), we just need to start winning 1 more battle a year for difference makers.

I’d really like to see us get a guy or 2 who can “get a bucket”. The rebounding difference was of course huge tonight, but what really stood out was how they had 3 or so guys who could get themselves us a bucket... and the only guy who could do that for us tonight was Femi...

 

[DT_PITT]

I think the recruiting is solid in that we’re getting a lot of guys that I think either are or can be winning ACC players (X/Champ/Toney/Jeffress/Collier/Hugley/Coulibaly/Femi), we just need to start winning 1 more battle a year for difference makers.

I’d really like to see us get a guy or 2 who can “get a bucket”. The rebounding difference was of course huge tonight, but what really stood out was how they had 3 or so guys who could get themselves us a bucket... and the only guy who could do that for us tonight was Femi...

I know every team wants this, but it would be nice to have one guy how can "just shoot it."

Justin is like this every 4th or 5th game (hence his 28% or so from three) and in those games we can be touch to beat.

We just needed a guy to hit a three in a game like this, but there wasn't anyone to take one, let alone make once.

Xavier hit a three to cut the lead to 38-35 with 13:52 remaining. We were 0-3 the rest of the way.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Bad news is good news. Youth gets more early opportunity to develop!

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

** I’ll confess. At halftime of this game, I had dreams of writing glorious celebratory dribbles speaking of some sort of dramatic effort that our Panthers were able to ride to a victory.

** And because of this notion, I’m still very disappointed by this loss. Even a little bit angry. I know that I shouldn’t be, but I am.

** In fact, the only thing I should be angry about were my emotions when I first learned that Justin and Au’Diese would not be playing. I can’t say that I was all that disappointed. That’s what I should be angry about. I should be upset that I wasn’t much more upset.

** Maybe being a Pitt sports fan for so many years has pulverized me into ambivalence in the face of such news. Perhaps all of the news of COVID-19 in 2020 has made me immune to a more pronounced reaction.

** And so I was also numb to the first 10 minutes and a 15 point deficit. After all, it wasn’t like this isn’t something we have all experienced many, many times over the past four years.

** Enter Femi Odukale. Thank you for knocking me back to my senses, making me once again an emotionally crazed Pitt Hoops fan.

** Let’s not kid ourselves. Without Femi, this does end up as a loss like we have experienced many, many times over the past four years.

** What was most pleasurable about Femi’s performance was that it really didn’t look like he was playing out of his mind either. Sure, he was playing really well, and expecting too many more just like this one game in near future doesn’t seem quite like a good idea just yet.

** But there was more than enough to think that Femi can be a pretty darn good player in the ACC in the coming years.

** Unfortunately, no other Panther could really join him and there just wasn’t enough firepower for the Panthers to take this one to the wire.

** So I spent most of the second half wonderfully screaming at my television in regret for what many of our Panthers are not able to do, or not able to do just yet. Yes, that’s a wonderful thing. For now, anyway.

** Perhaps at some point sometime soon, Mr. Coulibaly will learn how to play this game without fouling. He’s not there yet of course, and he simply needs to understand that holding his arms at a 45 degree angle over a defender will get him called for a foul.

** Perhaps at some point sometime soon, Mr. Jeffress will begin to show the coaching staff what it takes for them to have confidence in him in a game like this. With Justin and Toney down, he would have been someone I would have expected to get 20+ minutes. But tonight he never really got a chance to stretch his legs.

** Perhaps at some point sometime soon, Mr. Horton will begin to show why the coaching staff has such confidence in him in a game like this. I kept thinking “one time Eithiel, please!” I can’t know if it’s a confidence or an ability issue for him, but it was nonetheless a huge missed opportunity.

** Bit by bit, Big John is making more and more of his opportunities. He wasn’t able to step up far enough to make a difference, but he’s getting closer to that day for sure.

** Even Noah made a big tough play in the second half. Our freshman output was 27 points this day.

** Everyone contributed to what has to be considered a solid defensive effort. But down the stretch when it mattered, the Cards shots got easier and easier.

** With Xavier battling what is becoming all too frequent foul trouble, it was obvious that Panthers lacked a leader down the stretch. Maybe someone like Toney would have been enough to fill that gap. Maybe a senior such Nike could fill such a role too, but we don’t know just yet.

** Hopefully, someone will step up and rebound in Justin’s absence, because even if this effort enthused you about the Panthers’ future, it’s hard to feel good about the upcoming 8 weeks knowing we were outrebounded by 19 tonight. Sometimes that stat is overemphasized. Tonight was not one of those times.

** So these thoughts were not nearly as wonderful I dreamed they would be at halftime. But they were a heck of a lot more fun to write than I expected minutes before that game, when I wondered if there would even be enough to write about at all.

** That’s enough for me to continue my positive thoughts for the future of our program.

** To Au’Diese, Justin and Coach Capel … get well soon!

** To my fellow Pitt Hoops fans … my best wishes to all for a wonderful Holiday!

-Took Pitt +5 1/2 and then the game came on and they said that Toney and Champ wouldn't be playing. I quickly cancelled my bet before the game started.
-I was upset about he Champ news, but after seeing us play today, I think we can still compete and win some games. I think even with Champ and Toney this was at best a borderline NCAA team. Now, maybe some guys get some more experience and we are ready for a nice run in 2021-2022.
-Femi is still somewhat raw and a little lose with the dribble, but we seems to be a leader and one of those 4 year guys that end up being a real pain in the ass for opponents. I think he's going to be one heck of a winning player by his Junior and Senior years.
-Coulibaly does a bunch of really nice things, but right now, he is just a step to quick or a step too late on things. Once he becomes more patient on both O and D, he'll be a nice player.
-Games like this is when we really need Ithiel to make one or two big 3's. If he can't do that, we are better without him on the floor, because either Femi or Jeffress are better, longer defenders.
-Big John is getting better. He did a much better job on the boards today and he really fought to get good position. However, once he got that position, he did seal off or wall off good enough to make the catch and finish. I didn't think that most of our entry passes to him were that bad, I thought he should have had most of them.
-I thought both of X's first 2 charge calls were borderline at best. On the first one, he came to a pretty good jump stop and barely hit the guy at all. If it was the NBA, they may have called a flop. I would like to see more of Femi and X together and I'd love to see X work on a pull up jumper like Femi has.
-I really thought we had the defensive rebounding thing worked out, but this is where we likely miss Champ more than anywhere else. If we can find a way to hang with teams on the boards, I still think we can win some games while Champ is gone.
-Merry Christmas to all. Hope you all have a great holiday!

 

[Cap pitt]

With toney and champ out was the difference, champ would have been good for at least 10 to 15 rebounds, I know that hugley is a freshman but he is a wide body and has to learn how to use his body, and has to improve his jumping, don't know what the rebound totals were but it seemed like Louisville completely dominated there, both offensive and defensive boards, they got many second chance buckets, Pitts front court seemed to be out of position

 

[PittMan2003]

I liked what I saw from collier. Still raw offensively but thought he played good defense and moves his feet well and has good length.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Although there are some on this board that think that this isn’t a very young and inexperienced team , but that’s exactly what they are . Losing two of their three experienced players doomed Pitt from the beginning of this game .

Losing JC for 6-8 weeks is just brutal, the only things separating him from true stardom is consistency and better D.

This was a game that Pitt needed Horton to assert himself . I’m afraid he’s not the true offensive threat that Pitt needs . No doubt he’ll have a game here or there were he gets hot , but he’s not an All ACC level offensive player .

Femi took over the game for a time and that’s what Horton needs to show that he’s capable of . Maybe it’s in there , but he hasn’t shown that he has that in him . How exciting was it to see Femi do it and the potential he has !

With JC out Femi and Jeffress will get their chances . Like to see Jeffress get a little more aggressive with his offense.

Big John and Collier have a lot of upside to their games . This could go down as a great freshman class and after some seasoning the class that turned the program around .

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

horton seems to be a guy that will do nothing 3 out of 4 games and the second we think about moving on, he'll come in and go 5-6 from the three and get us all excited again, only to dissapear for the next 3 games, rinse and repeat.

I've been critical of our post players and their absence of any offensive showing but i too am seeing signs from Hugely. actually trying to get into position and of we get a non-errant pass into him, he doesnt immediately dribble it and get stripped but can score. that is encouraging..

 

[Pitt Pete 1992]

Although there are some on this board that think that this isn’t a very young and inexperienced team , but that’s exactly what they are . Losing two of their three experienced players doomed Pitt from the beginning of this game .

Losing JC for 6-8 weeks is just brutal, the only things separating him from true stardom is consistency and better D.

This was a game that Pitt needed Horton to assert himself . I’m afraid he’s not the true offensive threat that Pitt needs . No doubt he’ll have a game here or there were he gets hot , but he’s not an All ACC level offensive player .

Femi took over the game for a time and that’s what Horton needs to show that he’s capable of . Maybe it’s in there , but he hasn’t shown that he has that in him . How exciting was it to see Femi do it and the potential he has !

With JC out Femi and Jeffress will get their chances . Like to see Jeffress get a little more aggressive with his offense.

Big John and Collier have a lot of upside to their games . This could go down as a great freshman class and after some seasoning the class that turned the program around .

The “ Excuse Maker” is back.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

The “ Excuse Maker” is back.

Reality is not an excuse . You should try living in it !

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

horton seems to be a guy that will do nothing 3 out of 4 games and the second we think about moving on, he'll come in and go 5-6 from the three and get us all excited again, only to dissapear for the next 3 games, rinse and repeat.

I've been critical of our post players and their absence of any offensive showing but i too am seeing signs from Hugely. actually trying to get into position and of we get a non-errant pass into him, he doesnt immediately dribble it and get stripped but can score. that is encouraging..

Ideally, Horton should come off the bench. If he's got his stroke going he plays, if not he sits.

Said it last year watching highlights and still feel the same about Hugely. Reminds me of a young Kerry Blackshear, hopefully he progresses like Blackshear did.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Ideally, Horton should come off the bench. If he's got his stroke going he plays, if not he sits.

Said it last year watching highlights and still feel the same about Hugely. Reminds me of a young Kerry Blackshear, hopefully he progresses like Blackshear did.

yeah, he's that type that you bring in and in a few minutes you can tell if it's gonna be one of those random hot streaks.. with femi looking good and Nike eligible, maybe that's an option now.. would LOVE To see X and Femi get some kind of rhythm playing together..

with Hugely, im at the point where i literally expect NOTHING offensively from any of our bigs and hugely is showing an actual offensive presence. even had his defender blocked out and was open if we could figure out how to throw a lob pass downlow and not 20' into the bleachers..

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I saw a team that is scrappier than in the past years. I saw a team really try and play good defense and for the most part did.

It is funny, ironic don't you think, that I made a positive comparison with Femi Okudale to Ethan Morton, ex Butler star now at Purdue. There is no comparison, Femi is already a much better basketball player with a higher ceiling. It is funny how these things work, but Morton was a dominant a basketball player the local scene has seen in awhile, and it was a disappointment he didn't really even consider us. Now, I wouldn't trade him straight up for Okadale. I also compared Okadale with Brad W and Jaron Brown at this stage of their careers, it is apparent that Okadale is ahead of where they were and a kid that was really underrated.

Oh...I thought of a player comparison for Femi. We can only hope he turns out this good, but Femi has alot of Jerel McNeal's (ex Marquette) game and frame.

A concern was again, Ithiel Horton struggled to seem to get open looks from 3 land. We really needed that last night. I am not sure what to make of him.

Nike Sibande seems to be getting more comfortable to the speed, but he is tentative sometimes and is going to have to be more assertive.

X needs to stop with these wild forays to the paint, people are just standing in his way and getting cheap charge calls. College BB referees, love, love, LOVE themselves some charging fouls!

AKC commits many fouls reaching, either in or not having his arms straight up defending. But I am still impressed with his BB IQ.

John Hugely is a similar player to AKC, but has better hands and finishing ability. Though neither is that elite athlete who can quickly flush an offensive rebound or block a shot.

Noah Collier is getting a bit of a baptism by fire, but that's okay. Same with Will Jeffress who seems to have regressed a bit. But the positive in all of this, is most of this roster will be used extensively and get some valuable experience.

Still really disappointed in '21 recruiting. We need some players, exclusively an athletic big and a shooter. Femi is more of a combo guard but we aren't lost with him running the point so less of an urgency for a PG with X and Femi back.

 

[Pittisit4me]

I would have thought O'Toole would have Big John a little more savvy down in the low post by now. I think he has the body to be good, even tho he lacks quality athleticism. Several times when he was being fronted, he had his man sealed pretty well with the hip, unfortunately, it seemed that he had himself sealed to the floor.

I know he didn't have to work this hard in high school to get position, he was obviously bigger and stronger than the opposition. That is not the case now. He is learning on the fly and needs to be quicker on his feet. I think it will come. I see some good court awareness and he has already made quite a few nice passes. I was impressed that he had the stamina to play the minutes he had to. Even better shape means a bright future for Big John.

 

[pittchagg]

I would have thought O'Toole would have Big John a little more savvy down in the low post by now. I think he has the body to be good, even tho he lacks quality athleticism. Several times when he was being fronted, he had his man sealed pretty well with the hip, unfortunately, it seemed that he had himself sealed to the floor.

I know he didn't have to work this hard in high school to get position, he was obviously bigger and stronger than the opposition. That is not the case now. He is learning on the fly and needs to be quicker on his feet. I think it will come. I see some good court awareness and he has already made quite a few nice passes. I was impressed that he had the stamina to play the minutes he had to. Even better shape means a bright future for Big John.

I see him getting more comfortable every game in terms of the savviness down low, and you can tell he’s trying to put into action the stuff that he’s being coached to do. I think the brain’s still moving a little faster than the body right now. I think he’s gonna make a big jump when he has a full offseason to fully get entrenched in the college strength and conditioning program, and let the coaching in his brain fully sync with an ACC-level body.

 

[CougarClaws]

I saw a team that is scrappier than in the past years. I saw a team really try and play good defense and for the most part did.

It is funny, ironic don't you think, that I made a positive comparison with Femi Okudale to Ethan Morton, ex Butler star now at Purdue. There is no comparison, Femi is already a much better basketball player with a higher ceiling. It is funny how these things work, but Morton was a dominant a basketball player the local scene has seen in awhile, and it was a disappointment he didn't really even consider us. Now, I wouldn't trade him straight up for Okadale. I also compared Okadale with Brad W and Jaron Brown at this stage of their careers, it is apparent that Okadale is ahead of where they were and a kid that was really underrated.

Oh...I thought of a player comparison for Femi. We can only hope he turns out this good, but Femi has alot of Jerel McNeal's (ex Marquette) game and frame.

A concern was again, Ithiel Horton struggled to seem to get open looks from 3 land. We really needed that last night. I am not sure what to make of him.

Nike Sibande seems to be getting more comfortable to the speed, but he is tentative sometimes and is going to have to be more assertive.

X needs to stop with these wild forays to the paint, people are just standing in his way and getting cheap charge calls. College BB referees, love, love, LOVE themselves some charging fouls!

AKC commits many fouls reaching, either in or not having his arms straight up defending. But I am still impressed with his BB IQ.

John Hugely is a similar player to AKC, but has better hands and finishing ability. Though neither is that elite athlete who can quickly flush an offensive rebound or block a shot.

Noah Collier is getting a bit of a baptism by fire, but that's okay. Same with Will Jeffress who seems to have regressed a bit. But the positive in all of this, is most of this roster will be used extensively and get some valuable experience.

Still really disappointed in '21 recruiting. We need some players, exclusively an athletic big and a shooter. Femi is more of a combo guard but we aren't lost with him running the point so less of an urgency for a PG with X and Femi back.

Nice summary of opinions. I'm not really seeing much to be disappointed about right now though. 21 is a covid year, you got to let that one slide IMO, not that we will have to though as Capel tends to hit gold late in the recruiting process.