Here's what I believe our schedule should be. You have 31 games to play with. Twenty ACC games. Three in season tournament games. That leaves 8. Play 2H and 2A each year of WVU, PSU, Duq and ACC Big 10 challenges. The remaining 4 should be 2 cupcakes. One to open the season and one coming off of finals since practice is limited. The remaining two games should be 150 - 200. Teams to give us a challenge but winnable. One coming back from the tournament (unless it's Hawaii or some other distant place then another cupcake) and one going in to ACC play. If ACC is good top to bottom then we should have a top 30 - 40 strength of schedule.
No City Game, Again
- Thread starter maxxwell
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Because those few people who actually do think this is a really big deal feel compelled to keep harping on it.
Plus what else would I be doing right now?
Duquesne has beaten us in basketball once in the last 18 games. We have beaten Penn State in football twice in the last five games. So yeah, pretty much exactly the same thing.
But, once again, I think that we should be playing Duquesne every year. And Robert Morris too.
The one thing that is unknown, and can affect the series going forward is, what is Duquesne's ceiling? It's easy to look at the last 40 years and assume that their improved play is just a blip. Could be true, but I remember the late great Beano Cook saying that he was amazed that Pitt had surpassed Duquesne in basketball, as he never ever thought that would happen. I dug up their history on reference (great site by the way, all sports), and as bad as they've been the last 40 years, they were that good before. I knew they were a winning program, but they had 4 losing seasons in 60 years. I'm sure when they started to stumble, they thought it was temporary, and that they would soon get back to winning. It never happened. The point is, you can never be sure what will happen going forward. Maybe they've finally made the moves that will get them rolling. To figure out what a program's ceiling is, I look at the league. Who are the best teams, how highly do they rate? Are there teams that you just can't hope to surpass (Ohio St. football in the B10). Once you do that, you can figure out what the ceiling might be. RMU has been very good in the NEC, but the ceiling there is low. NEC teams are never ranked, and a 15 seed is about the best they can do in March. Thus, the best you can hope for RMU, is to dominate the league, and do well enough to avoid being a 16. The A10 is different. They've had multiple teams ranked #1, and their best teams appear in the rankings on a fairly regular basis. Therefore, if you're Duquesne, your ceiling should be a regular contender for the top of the A10, and a team that cracks the Top 25 occasionally. This is what Xavier was. There were many on this board who were skeptical of Xavier when they were in the A10, but when we met them in the NCAAs twice, the games were very close, and they sent us home one year. They then went into the NBE, and were competitive from day one, and have been the second best NBE program, behind Villanova. The bottom line is, if Duquesne doesn't fall apart, but becomes something like St. Bonaventure, or Richmond, Pitt will beat them 8 out of 9 times. However, if they would somehow become the new Xavier of the A10, this becomes a much more competitive series, provided Pitt doesn't somehow rise to the Duke/Carolina level, which would make them all but unbeatable by teams outside of the top 10-15. It'll be interesting to see it play out. I'm skeptical that the Dukes can get to that high level, but Dambrot has impressed me with how quickly he's got them rolling. The LeBron connection can't be hurting him. I bet he has pictures of himself with LeBron all over his office to wow recruits when they come in. I know I would. (I've got way too much time on my hands during the Corona era)!
I agree with a lot of this, and Duquesne's ceiling is certainly a lot higher than they have played up to at any time in the last 40 years. But, and this is a big but, college basketball is a lot different now than it was 50 or 60 years ago when Duquesne had a much better program. 50 years ago, in the 1970 season ending AP poll, more than half the poll was smaller, mostly private colleges. St, Bonaventure, Jacksonville, New Mexico State (obviously not private, but smaller), Marquette, Notre Dame, Penn, Drake, Davidson, Utah State (not private), Niagara, Western Kentucky (not private) and Long Beach (not private) were all in the final AP poll (Duquesne was in a couple polls early in the season). That's 12 out of 20, and the only schools on that list that have had any sustained success at a high level since then are Marquette and Notre Dame.
And not coincidentally, those are the two that play in P6 conferences.
All of this is true, which is why I base any potential for success on the current status of their league, not 50 years ago. The only impact from 50 years ago is the fact that they are actually in a decent league at all, and not in a crap league like the NEC. About half the A10 consists of schools that were powers back before everyone got into conferences. Just curious to see how high Dambrot can get them. If you look at every decade, there are always a couple of previous powers that fall off, and a couple of also rans that become consistent factors. Butler, and Wichita St. come to mind as recent examples of this. Some schools rise up, and have an extended run as a power, before dropping off. Pitt football in the 70s and 80s is a great example of this. Sometimes the fallen power gets it back together, like Alabama in football. and sometimes, like DePaul hoops, the program never comes back. It's important, because as I mentioned in the McClung thread, you're recruiting young people who have only been paying attention for a few years. String together a couple of good years, and that becomes who you are in their eyes. Disappear for a decade, and it's like you were never any good. Kids aren't dying to play football at Miami, the way they were in the 80s and 90s, but every kid is willing to listen to Clemson now.
These last five games weren't under Paterno. Of course, we don't have Dixon any more, either.
Perhaps, if that is how you want to characterize it. Until we know for sure that Horton and Hugley (and perhaps Jeffress — or maybe some one of the other freshman) will add more than was lost by the departure of Hamilton and McGowens and Murphy we cannot be sure this team will win more games than last year’s team. That is just being realistic, IMHO. Last year we improved to 16-17 over the previous year’s 14-19 but we also benefited +2 wins from UNC’s unexpected terrible year and catching them without their star freshman guard. Otherwise, it could easily have been a 14-19 deja-vu season.
Now, on the other hand, I am actually personally optimistic that Horton will make us forget McGowens and that Hugley will be providing more than Brown by about mid-season (but not out of the gate). I also would like to believe Jeffress will begin to contribute significantly in mid to late season. So, I am truly hopeful this team will wind up with a winning season—but I am very doubtful that over 20 wins and an NCAA bid is likely. I am hoping for, and would not be disappointed by, an 18-15 or 19-14 season (after the ACC tourney) and an NIT bid if it starts out at least 9-2 OOC once again. I could see 20+ wins possible by the very end with a few NIT wins taking the team across the 20 win line. IMHO an NCAA bid isn’t likely until the 2021-2022 season.
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We've not yet seen the schedule.....but I'm guessing the OOC games at the Pete will consist of no P6 opponents. We need to rebuild the fan base. Playing Cuyahoga Dance School doesn't help.
Cuyahoga Dance School, Nativity Elementary School, The Little Sisters of the Poor, and Duquesne have all won the same number of NCAA tournament games over the last 50 years.
And we've won one tournament win in the last nine years equally UMBC. So I guess we're equivalent to UMBC.
A spoiled Pitt fan base has complained for the past 15+ years about not having an OOC schedule loaded with competitive vs easily win-able "cupcake" games so that, in their opinion, they will be better entertained. They might not be better entertained because their wish might be incompatible with overall season, including post-season success. IMHO--They need to get over it.
When you have a 20 game ACC slate and you need to develop young players (who aren't Duke, UNC, Kentucky type one-and-dones) and develop team chemistry and player confidence during the OOC you don't play an OOC schedule full of competitive opponents---which, incidentally, would also result in fewer home games which would also work against early team development and very possible result in negative consequences for later in the ACC season. An analytically rational fan (most of us aren't or we wouldn't be "fan--atics") would be willing to trust the coach's judgment on this issue. But many of us don't because what fans do is critique coaches and players--its part of the fun of being a fan.
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You forgot Nicholls State. We lost 7 straight to UNC in FB, does that count?
Change your first name to Ordinary.
Yes - NINE years is the same as FIFTY years.
Robert Morris has made the NCAA tournament 8 times over the last 40 years, while Duquesne has made it 0 times. RMU - 8 ...... Dukes - 0.
Robert Morris is also 8-4 vs Duquesne head to head in their last 12 matchups. If you want to insist on playing another team from Pittsburgh, then at least insist on playing the most productive team.
Why does anyone care what Duquesne did in the last 50 years? They were better than us LAST SEASON. The only one that matters. By every advanced metric at least. We have no idea since we won’t play each other.
Pitt would have beaten them last year just like we’ve done almost every other time over the last 40 years. I could care less if we play them or not. Let’s just hold Duquesne to the same standard. They should be playing RMU every year with no excuses.
Maybe they would’ve. Will never know. I would’ve thought Pitt would beat Nichols state, also.
Nice try....shift the blame. Those games at the Paint Can were fun. Pitt fans complained about Dixon's engineered OOC schedules, but love it when Capel does it now. How many directional schools will we play??
I didn’t complain about Dixon’s non conference schedule. He did a very good job with the schedule. I attended many of the games like Arkansas Pine Bluff or some other directional school with 2-3k other fans. I think football should do the same thing, and rack up non conference wins. Get the backups some PT.
I think I am one of those very few fans who may enjoy blowout wins over cupcakes at least as much as nail-biters vs competitive opponents--at least I do during OOC play--easier on the nerves.
Well, a bit delayed, but Starkey took care of it.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports...ll-city-game-joe-starkey/stories/202005200084
I like Pitt scheduling Philly teams. That is a good non-conference get. Doesn't change the fact they should be playing Duquesne annually.
They've had some decent squads. But if you want to be seen in Philly, you need one of the Big5....ANY of them
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