***Pitt-Duke Game Thread***
- Thread starter Protes
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The game-ending 18-0 run probably cost us around 5 NET spots. Down 11, we stay the same with NET but we couldn't muster a single point thereafter. Need to bounce back and beat Louisville.
Sheyer has put together a pretty good team this year. His first two teams were soft. Talented, but a little on the soft side.
Call me crazy but I saw no punch in the sack unless that kid has a really odd anatomical structure?
Dude he shouldn’t have touched him I get it… very stupid
But that was some fake ass shit.
Duke now #1 in kenpom
Pitt dropped to 26
Duke up to 2 in Torvik and Pitt dropped to 33 with Louisville 32
Pitt dropped to 26
Duke up to 2 in Torvik and Pitt dropped to 33 with Louisville 32
Does it really matter? It's frustrating as hell when you think maybe you belong but find out once again that you dont. I mean, I thought we had a set of quality guards that could compete. They played worse than I could have imagined in my worst nightmare. Credit to Duke, but once again my hopes took a good slap in the face , which as a Pitt fan, I should have expected.
Pitt looked totally imtimidated,out of control and flat out sucked
You thought we could win? Duke is an SEC-level team. They are as good as anyone. We are perhaps a 6 seed. You go play a Natty contender at their place, this can happen. Pitt isnt going to win the NC if that's what you are hoping for. Get in. Win the 1st and maybe pull an upset in the 2nd.
I mean that's okay for now, but that's basically what we criticize other teams in this town for doing.
I don't think this team is a 6-seed, though. 8 or 9, I'd say.
That may be a realistic view.....but my hope is to get in, go on a run and get to a FF. Other teams of our talent level have done so.
The Steelers or Pens getting in when half the league gets in is not an accomplishment. Only the top 45ish of 350 teams make the NCAAT.
Okay, but that would be like the NFL merging with the USFL, CFL, XFL, European Fotball League, Women's Football Alliance, etc. just to jack up the numbers. All 350 of those teams are not even close to being on the same playing level.
Here we go. Will you be there Saturday or at any other home games?
Call me crazy, but I thought last year's team--which wasn't even good enough to make the tourney--had talent for that type of run. This year's team strikes me as less talented than last year. But I am hoping this year's team takes care of business early on during the season so we at least make the tournament.
That was what I thought the Capel Era would be. Certainly not as much regular season success as Howland/Dixon, but I thought he would land some big fish that would enable a final four run or two. But that's just not happening with this bunch. Unfortunately, in year seven the bar is still set at simply getting in.
Last year's team had one player who was the type of player to go off for 30 points and shoot 3's all night. We don't have that this year. And the most talented player on the team, Lowe, is getting a dose of reality when he plays against a team of 1st round NBA draft picks.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the ACC sucks this year and we have a chance to win 12 or 13 games in the ACC. Any less than that and we may be sweating it out again.
I never thought we could win. I did think we could show we belonged. Only a moron could have expected a win. We showed we didn't belong. That is all.
That's where we are now. If we get in, we seem to be satisfied. It used to be beating #1 ranked teams, being ranked #1, and high NCAA seeds made us happy. Now we're lucky if we sniff the top 25.
Then Jamie stopped recruiting talent and toughness, he then quit and then we hired Stallings and had the death penalty.
Yeah, I'd never expect to be that again just because I realize those glory years were the perfect storm for us. But it would be nice to have a team you felt could make a run in the tournament.
These Capel teams... it feels like you'd almost need three lottery picks to compensate for how much physicality we lack.
I mean we're a "pretty good" team. Just not one in any way shape or form that would be a legit postseason threat.
I'm beginning to like Capel, just because I think he's a good man and is trying to instill a productive and respectful culture in the program.
But he's not cutting it when it comes to recruiting. We're getting good players, some very good players at times (Lowe, Bub, for example), and some decent transfers (Ish). But the lottery picks have never been there as we need them to compete. I hope a few are on the horizon if we hope to get back to winning 25+ games every year.
I hear what you're sayin' ... but then I watch the NCAA's and see teams like St. Peter's and Fairleigh Ridiculous make runs to the Elite 8. Last year, NC State comes out of nowhere to make a FF. There have been others who have surprised over the years, of course. Get in and anything can happen. That's all I'm saying. We still have a team capable of making noise come March despite tonight's deflating loss.
Yep. NET fell 5 to 20. It would have probably remained at 15 if we maintained that 11 point deficit.
I think Capel is doing fairly well recruiting. Pitt isn't going to suddenly start signing players that are lottery picks. That's not happening.
And you don't really need a bunch of one and dones or lottery picks to compete at a high level in college basketball. I think Harrison Ingram is the only player to get drafted from last year's UNC squad that won the ACC. And he went mid to late second round.
In this day and age of NIL, players are free agents and there are many one-and-transfers. If a player sticks around for more than 2 years, it's a rarity. Usually the ones that do aren't the high impact players needed to compete now. We got lucky with Hinson.
College basketball has devolved since the days that what you say was happening. The key is to develop players that are the solid players like we used to do under Howland/Dixon. That can't happen when they are free agents. And relying on transfers is a hit or miss proposition.
Man, knocking Capel’s recruiting is off base. That’s the one area he’s excelled the last few years. His eye for talent has been on point. We haven’t landed a ton of top tier talent because we lack NIL money.
Capel had great relationships with Bub and Jaland's fathers. These were two damn good recruits. He has also brought in transfers like Zack and Cam who are making good contributions. It isn't easy to recruit here and we only have so much cash to give. I just hope he is networked with more fathers of young hoopers on the east coast. He has done a nice job of rebuilding the culture of this program. It may have taken more time than many would have liked, but, we are in pretty good shape.
It always comes down to NIL and how much money we have to give these recruits. I think Capel has done admirably with what he has to work with. But it's not anywhere close to what he needs in this professional college landscape to compete with the blue bloods like Duke.
NIL has ruined the sport of college athletics. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure I'll get the usual attacks by the usual suspects.
NIL has ruined the sport of college athletics. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure I'll get the usual attacks by the usual suspects.
Just my opinion, but the recruiting is fine... however, it would have to be absolutely elite to do much damage in the tournament with the style we play. Capel needs to adapt and institute a tougher brand of basketball.
Funny I feel just the opposite. I'm all for Capel now because he knows his way around the college/AAU game superbly, hence recruiting some real diamonds off the pile of rocks left over from the blue blood's first choices......all the other stuff you cite is questionable in terms of high standards of conduct and ethics, imo, although no signs of these problems over the past 12 months (Dior Johnson episode being the last.)
He's trying, as I said. Capel is far from perfect. Unless the athletic department is great at hiding the shenanigans going on behind the scenes. I'm sure there's some of that as there is in all big programs.
He’s proven to be one of the best talent evaluators in college basketball. Both between the portal and high school recruiting, there have been very, very few misses - and most of the “misses” have basically been back of the roster lottery tickets that didn’t yield a winner. Which is fine.
He's been very good at evaluating backcourt talent. Frontcourt has largely been a miss either in eval or development.
Definitely more of a mixed bag. I think Hugley was a bad eval and a bad take, and set them back a little bit. But it’s not like he’s done anything anywhere else, so I don’t think that was a development issue. I’m not going to fault anyone for the Max Adamasun lottery ticket not working out, but I don’t think they ever expected him to be more than five fouls.
I think Fede and the twins were both good evals and development wins. Those were kids that a bunch of other high majors passed on, and I think they turned all three of them into viable high major players, which exceeds their projections when they got here. I’m not as sold on Corhen - he’s played well lately and played with the necessary effort last night, but he still gets a little Hugley-ish for my tastes on both ends.
And depending how you want to define frontcourt, I think they’ve been stellar at evaluating and developing wings. Champagnie, Gueye, Hinson, and now Austin grew into excellent players under this staff, and all of them exceeded their projections.
Yeah, I wasn't talking about the wings, just the bigs. I wasn't the biggest fan of Fede. Not very impressed with the twins either.
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