Pitt women’s BB - ouch…

[MajorMajors]

Pitt women lost big to Duke today. No surprise but here’s Pitt’s scoring line by quarter: 9-6-6-10. That’s kind of embarrassing.
Faye scored 17 of Pitt’s 31 points. Johnson shot 1 for 14.
Pitt is 0-3 in the ACC. The bad news is there are 15 games remaining. Can they win one?

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Duke made a three with 3:46 left in the 2nd quarter to go ahead 32-12. If they didn't score another point over the last 23:46 of the game they still would have won.

They'll probably win one or two. The best chances are the home games against BC and Virginia. And they'll have a chance to win the home games against SMU, Virginia Tech and Clemson and the road game with Wake Forest. I mean don't get me wrong, any one particular game would be an upset, but none of those would be a huge upset like say, beating North Carolina would be.

FWIW, Torvik has women's basketball ratings just like his men's ratings, and right now he is predicting that we will go 2-16 in conference.

 

[Chescat1]

I was disaointed in yesterday's performance. Of course I didn't
expect a win and playing a ranked Duke team and losing by 38,
shows the enormous difference in talent. The other ranked teams
we played, WVU and GT resulted in losses of 28 and 38 pts. We
knew what the ACC would be like this year. However when you
have an A/TO ratio of 6/29, it's downright scary. I probably annoy
some posters with citing this stat game after game, but it's
revealing. The talent differential is obvious, but some things
should/could be improved. Faye got her 17 pts, but 4 rebounds??
And 5 TO's?? Those #'rs repeat game after game, Marley is starting
to show (finally) some shotmaking improvement lately but still
5TO's. Physicality keeps her on the floor, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
Malcolm 21 minutes and 0 pts....That simply cannot happen.

The last few games, I saw some better overall bball out of them. I
even posted that they at least showed they had a clue as to what
they were coached to do. Not so yesterday. I realize Duke's D was
overwhelming, but except for this game, I still believe there's been
some improvement. A win somehow in our remaing ACC games
with our talent level? I think it's remotely possible and would love
to see it. These young women do work hard and appear to be
good team mates.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

They are not worth watching in ACC play until they recruit a drastically better group of players. Pitt is a middle of the road mid-level squad playing in an extremely tough and talent rich P5 conference.

 

[Seneca_Valley]

They are not worth watching in ACC play until they recruit a drastically better group of players. Pitt is a middle of the road mid-level squad playing in an extremely tough and talent rich P5 conference.

I'm sorry, but if you watched them yesterday, inept comes to mind. I will not bash any individual players and hate using that word; but when it takes more than thirty minutes for the score to exceed turnovers, many missed layups, so many more bricks or wild shots that have no chance of going in, what else can you conclude? Duke is good, but for God's sake, they are not a juggernaut.

I've said it before; if Suzie could not resurrect the program, I don't know who can. Not the last guy and certainly not this one. God bless the three or four on the forum who regularly follow the lady panthers.

 

[Chescat1]

I'm sorry, but if you watched them yesterday, inept comes to mind. I will not bash any individual players and hate using that word; but when it takes more than thirty minutes for the score to exceed turnovers, many missed layups, so many more bricks or wild shots that have no chance of going in, what else can you conclude? Duke is good, but for God's sake, they are not a juggernaut.

I've said it before; if Suzie could not resurrect the program, I don't know who can. Not the last guy and certainly not this one. God bless the three or four on the forum who regularly follow the lady panthers.

I certainly can't argue with anything you said. I can see why you'd say "inept."
As for "resurrecting" the program, I believe it can be done. First and foremost,
the level of recruits must improve drastically if we're going to compete in the
ACC. Nothing new here, a number of us having been posting that for years.
As for this coach, I do think he had a few semi decent recruits coming this year.
A last minute change of mind, a key injury to their best player and it's back to
square one again. I've been saying for several years we're A-10 talent level, and
mid level of that conference at best. What is upsetting is yesterday was a step
back IMO. Duke is very good, but so are a number of teams in this confence.
Not being able to compete any better than what we saw yesterday is bad...REAL bad.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Can they let the volleyball girls play?

 

[Seneca_Valley]

I certainly can't argue with anything you said. I can see why you'd say "inept."
As for "resurrecting" the program, I believe it can be done. First and foremost,
the level of recruits must improve drastically if we're going to compete in the
ACC. Nothing new here, a number of us having been posting that for years.
As for this coach, I do think he had a few semi decent recruits coming this year.
A last minute change of mind, a key injury to their best player and it's back to
square one again. I've been saying for several years we're A-10 talent level, and
mid level of that conference at best. What is upsetting is yesterday was a step
back IMO. Duke is very good, but so are a number of teams in this confence.
Not being able to compete any better than what we saw yesterday is bad...REAL bad.

Do you honestly think Verdi can turn things around before he runs out of rope? I don't. Knowing our AD dept, one more year before he gets the hook is my guess. I hate to be negative, but it is hard for me to believe he can perform a miracle anytime soon.

 

[MajorMajors]

I certainly can't argue with anything you said. I can see why you'd say "inept."
As for "resurrecting" the program, I believe it can be done. First and foremost,
the level of recruits must improve drastically if we're going to compete in the
ACC. Nothing new here, a number of us having been posting that for years.
As for this coach, I do think he had a few semi decent recruits coming this year.
A last minute change of mind, a key injury to their best player and it's back to
square one again. I've been saying for several years we're A-10 talent level, and
mid level of that conference at best. What is upsetting is yesterday was a step
back IMO. Duke is very good, but so are a number of teams in this confence.
Not being able to compete any better than what we saw yesterday is bad...REAL bad.

I was also a bit encouraged by the recruits we have coming in - I hope they stick with the program. I was not encouraged by the transfers we got, but Faye has been good.

I guess you have to wonder why anyone would transfer to this program given the results of the last 10 years…. Though if we could have teamed Liatu King with Faye, this team would be much better.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Last three times Pitt women were good:

Agnus Berenato's two Sweet 16 trips (1, 2) and the team (3) with Monica Wignot (may she rest in peace) playing the post and the All American point guard, Brianna Kiesel, -- a team good at the two most important positions (1 & 5).

So, it has been done. Why not again? Much better recruiting is clearly the key. NIL money?

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I've said it before; if Suzie could not resurrect the program, I don't know who can.

Well not Suzie, but maybe a good coach?

 

[Chescat1]

Do you honestly think Verdi can turn things around before he runs out of rope? I don't. Knowing our AD dept, one more year before he gets the hook is my guess. I hate to be negative, but it is hard for me to believe he can perform a miracle anytime soon.

Honestly? It's hard to tell at this point. I give him a pass last year given
what he inherited, all those who left before he arrived, and his little to
no time to recruit since he was hired so late. As for this year he had a
few tramsfers who would have played but either injuy or not showing
up on campus, that hurt us. Losing Jenkins, IMO their best player made a
bad situation even worse.

I. I'd like to see what he could do with better talent.
2. I'll give him the opportunity to try and bring in some ACC level talent. The
question is....Can he do it? And how long should he be given?
3. As for what the team is actually doing on the floor, they IMO showed some
improvement the last few games EXCEPT for yesterday. That performance
was a reflection on him as much as his players.
4. Despite the losses, I've seen a little improvement in some players. Marley for
instance is physically all over the floor, and has minimally improved her shot.
5. Malcolm...just the opposite here. She's regressed, and isn't effectively used IMO.
This definitely an indictment of his coaching abilities IMO.

 

[MajorMajors]

Suzie certainly had the credentials - but something was wrong internally when Pitt’s best players would transfer out. My impression was that Susie wasn’t so good at team-building…

 

[pierre93]

We should've hired Carolyn McCombs. She was on staff here with Agnus on the sweet 16 team. I think Verdi gets another year to right the ship. There is no doubt Pitt womens basketball can be successful.
Suzie and her sister shouldn't of argued with parents during games. SMH H2P

 

[Seneca_Valley]

Well not Suzie, but maybe a good coach?

Let me know when we secure one.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Let me know when we secure one.

Will do, and if the day ever comes that Suzie becomes a good coach you let me know as well.

 

[Seneca_Valley]

Will do, and if the day ever comes that Suzie becomes a good coach you let me know as well.

Wow, did this thread turn stupid. Only in your bizarro world would anyone think Suzie is not a good coach.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Wow, did this thread turn stupid. Only in your bizarro world would anyone think Suzie is not a good coach.

Only someone who didn't sit there for years watching her teams make the same stupid fundamental errors over and over and over again could think that she's a good coach.

But hey, I could be wrong. Obviously she got hired by some other college after Pitt and is probably doing a bang up job there. Remind us all again, which college did she go to after Pitt? And which other schools offered her a job but she turned them down because they didn't meet her high standards?