Reality

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Pitt just doesn’t have good enough players and that’s not changing anytime soon.

You can get away with playing 2 of the follow:
Austin,
GDG,
Fede
JDG
Jeffress
Lowe

Maybe you can get away with 3 because 3 are bigs. MAYBE. You can’t have 6/9 guys incapable of scoring 10 points against a P5 team. You just can’t. Can’t win a ton of games this year. Something doesn’t change and quickly with one and hopefully more of those guys, could turn ugly quickly once we hit ACC

 

[PittPharm2002]

Honestly , it was our defense and defensive rebounding which was the primary problem
Mizzou shot 46% from the field and 36% from 3.
They got whatever they wanted - and our guards just couldn’t answer the bell offensively

 

[PittPanther44]

Except most of those guys still have plenty of upside and ball to be played in college careers. They will continue to get better and have a nice culture to do so. These aren’t guys we’ve been watching for 5 years and are what they are.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Except most of those guys still have plenty of upside and ball to be played in college careers. They will continue to get better and have a nice culture to do so. These aren’t guys we’ve been watching for 5 years and are what they are.

That’s great. How does that help this years’ team, which of course with the portal is the only thing that matters

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

Plus we’re not going to outcoach anyone.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I still have hope for Lowe, and I think him emerging as a slice and dicer is the only hope for this season. But yeah - the talent just isn't there, it seems.

Leadership also appears to be severely lacking this season. It was four guys standing around searching for Hinson like you get points for getting it to him when the game was on the line.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Honestly , it was our defense and defensive rebounding which was the primary problem
Mizzou shot 46% from the field and 36% from 3.
They got whatever they wanted - and our guards just couldn’t answer the bell offensively

That is not the way Capel plays or we played last year. We outscore teams. We don’t grind out defensive possessions. So it’s naive to think all of sudden that would change. They need more shot makers to play the way he wants to play. Unfortunately, not gonna be enough on this team

 

[Protes]

Pitt just doesn’t have good enough players and that’s not changing anytime soon.

You can get away with playing 2 of the follow:
Austin,
GDG,
Fede
JDG
Jeffress
Lowe

Maybe you can get away with 3 because 3 are bigs. MAYBE. You can’t have 6/9 guys incapable of scoring 10 points against a P5 team. You just can’t. Can’t win a ton of games this year. Something doesn’t change and quickly with one and hopefully more of those guys, could turn ugly quickly once we hit ACC

At this point, I'm wondering if we're not better off with the twins in the starting lineup over Fede and Austin.

 

[PittPharm2002]

That is not the way Capel plays or we played last year. We outscore teams. We don’t grind out defensive possessions. So it’s naive to think all of sudden that would change. They need more shot makers to play the way he wants to play. Unfortunately, not gonna be enough on this team

And we will outscore teams
You think Ish is going to go 1-8 and 0-5 often ?
Bub 4-14and 1-7
That’s your ball game

Meanwhile our defense stunk so Missouri got whatever they wanted on offense

These thing aren’t mutually exclusive .
When we score a bunch mostly it’s because of fast breaks off defense and secondary breaks

We are not nor wil ever be a highly efficient half court offense

 

[Pittisit4me]

Lowe has the best chance to develop into a really good player by year's end. He should start eating into others minutes wherever possible. I think he might be one of our better defenders as well. Without some miracle healing of Papa Kante tho, I don't see how we become competent inside at either end.

 

[Pitt8189]

Front court/big men are the obvious huge weakness. Just don’t have the size or talent to compete on the inside.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

It doesn’t help that we’ve basically lost our home court advantage. There was little to no energy in the building. The Zoo is lame and the rest of the crowd is worse. I thought we’d see more energy after last season, but I was wrong.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Our starting backcourt of Bub Carrington and Ish Leggett had more turnovers than assists in this game. 9 turnovers on offense vs 6 assists.


This is a team loss.

Blake Hinson is about the only player that played a pretty decent game. No one else on the team showed up today.

 

[gary2]

Pitt just doesn’t have good enough players and that’s not changing anytime soon.

You can get away with playing 2 of the follow:
Austin,
GDG,
Fede
JDG
Jeffress
Lowe

Maybe you can get away with 3 because 3 are bigs. MAYBE. You can’t have 6/9 guys incapable of scoring 10 points against a P5 team. You just can’t. Can’t win a ton of games this year. Something doesn’t change and quickly with one and hopefully more of those guys, could turn ugly quickly once we hit ACC

I don't expect that to happen

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Pitt just doesn’t have good enough players and that’s not changing anytime soon.

You can get away with playing 2 of the follow:
Austin,
GDG,
Fede
JDG
Jeffress
Lowe

Maybe you can get away with 3 because 3 are bigs. MAYBE. You can’t have 6/9 guys incapable of scoring 10 points against a P5 team. You just can’t. Can’t win a ton of games this year. Something doesn’t change and quickly with one and hopefully more of those guys, could turn ugly quickly once we hit ACC

I am to the point where I would play Jeffress over Austin and let him D up the best perimeter player. East was the difference to me. Jeffress is our best defender but he has a D2 offensive game. But its not like Austin is much better. We got beat by Clayton and East. Need to do a better job with perimeter D. I also wonder if Jeffress could give us some garbage, scrappy buckets if he played more and gained confidence. We need him on defense.

Fede has regressed badly. And the twins have improved only very slightly.

This team needs Hinson, Carrington, and Leggett all to be on at the same time to beat decent teams. We really miss Greg Elliot. Last year we had 4 guys who could score with Hinson, Burton, Elliot, Nelly. This year, its just 3.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

30 minutes into the game Pitt's starting center had one point, the first point of the game, and two rebounds, both offensive. And Pitt's backup center did have five points, but two of those came on his one and only rebound of the game at that point.

30 minutes into the game and your two centers had a grand total of zero defensive rebounds. Against a team that has not been a good rebounding team so far this season. You do that and you shoot like crap and you don't win against anyone with a pulse.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

30 minutes into the game Pitt's starting center had one point, the first point of the game, and two rebounds, both offensive. And Pitt's backup center did have five points, but two of those came on his one and only rebound of the game at that point.

30 minutes into the game and your two centers had a grand total of zero defensive rebounds. Against a team that has not been a good rebounding team so far this season. You do that and you shoot like crap and you don't win against anyone with a pulse.

Fede has been almost Dixon 2 Big Man bad. I wonder if spending the summer with the Finnish National Team set him back. I dont know why it would so it probably didnt but I dont know what it is. But he's gotten worse.

 

[DT_PITT]

Honestly , it was our defense and defensive rebounding which was the primary problem
Mizzou shot 46% from the field and 36% from 3.
They got whatever they wanted - and our guards just couldn’t answer the bell offensively

Often I would agree with you about defense, but we held them down fairly well for long stretches in the second half but we couldn't score.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Often I would agree with you about defense, but we held them down fairly well for long stretches in the second half but we couldn't score.

Zack Austin made a 3 to put us up 29-23 with 5:25 left in the 1st Half and I thought, "this is where we stretch it." Over the next 20 minutes, we were outscored 39-23. 23 points in 20 minutes is about as bad as it gets.

 

[NCanton Panther]

And we will outscore teams
You think Ish is going to go 1-8 and 0-5 often ?
Bub 4-14and 1-7
That’s your ball game

Meanwhile our defense stunk so Missouri got whatever they wanted on offense

These thing aren’t mutually exclusive .
When we score a bunch mostly it’s because of fast breaks off defense and secondary breaks

We are not nor wil ever be a highly efficient half court offense

You’re contradicting your prior post. First you say we lost because of bad defense. Now you’re mentioning Ish and Bub’s shooting %’s for the game. At least now you’re mentioning the real reason why we lost.

Mizzou got their shots and so did we. They just did a way better job knocking down their shots. It’s a given they were going to get more points in the paint, we just have no one in the front court you can rely on to score. But it was still just poor overall shooting % that lost the game.

FT shooting kept us in the game the 1st half but we had at least 4 misses down the stretch in the 2nd half that made it harder to cut into the lead. Add in 4 more turnovers than Mizzou, none of them forced, and it’s easy to see how we lost. Defense wasn’t the biggest culprit.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

You’re contradicting your prior post. First you say we lost because of bad defense. Now you’re mentioning Ish and Bub’s shooting %’s for the game. At least now you’re mentioning the real reason why we lost.

Mizzou got their shots and so did we. They just did a way better job knocking down their shots. It’s a given they were going to get more points in the paint, we just have no one in the front court you can rely on to score. But it was still just poor overall shooting % that lost the game.

FT shooting kept us in the game the 1st half but we had at least 4 misses down the stretch in the 2nd half that made it harder to cut into the lead. Add in 4 more turnovers than Mizzou, none of them forced, and it’s easy to see how we lost. Defense wasn’t the biggest culprit.

We only made 16 FG's. I'd like to know how many games have been lower than that the past few years.

 

[NCanton Panther]

We only made 16 FG's. I'd like to know how many games have been lower than that the past few years.

Mizzou made 27 FGs on 60 shot attempts and we only made 16 on 47 attempts. Poor shooting % by us and low attempts. But the biggest reason for the low # of attempts wasn’t because of Mizzou beating us on the boards. It was because of the disparity in fouls. We shot 31 FTs to Mizzou’s 14.

We lost because of what you would normally expect us to lose. Since we’re primarily a perimeter shooting team with no inside game, bad shooting and turnovers are going to be the primary things to take us down in any given game.

 

[PittPoker]

Mizzou made 27 FGs on 60 shot attempts and we only made 16 on 47 attempts. Poor shooting % by us and low attempts. But the biggest reason for the low # of attempts wasn’t because of Mizzou beating us on the boards. It was because of the disparity in fouls. We shot 31 FTs to Mizzou’s 14.

We lost because of what you would normally expect us to lose. Since we’re primarily a perimeter shooting team with no inside game, bad shooting and turnovers are going to be the primary things to take us down in any given game.

We shouldn't be a perimeter team with no inside game. All 3 bigs who made pretty decent contributions last season are all back. The crazy thing is they all look terrible. I don't get how all 3 bigs on our team have regressed this badly. It makes no sense, and because of that it puts so much extra pressure on our perimeter game.

 

[Sam Young 23]

I thought the biggest problem in this game is we were physically overwhelmed. At guard and center. Our young guards weren't ready for Missouri physicality.

Leggett also played a very bad game. If he hits either one of those late 3s Pitt could of won.

Lastly when mizzou had the 7'5 guy in why not pit him in a ball screen let one of our guards go to work? Didn't understand that at all.

 

[PittPoker]

Lastly when mizzou had the 7'5 guy in why not pit him in a ball screen let one of our guards go to work? Didn't understand that at all.

Because Capel is a poor in-game coach. Let's keep it real. He just literally lets his 5 players go out and do whatever the hell they want.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

It doesn’t help that we’ve basically lost our home court advantage. There was little to no energy in the building. The Zoo is lame and the rest of the crowd is worse. I thought we’d see more energy after last season, but I was wrong.

Yeah, I was venting after the loss. Just sucks watching so many players struggle to score when we don’t play tough enough defenses. I had mentioned before about starting GDG over Fede just for another offensive threat.

But your point is a great one. People don’t fear coming to the Pete. And we haven’t carried on last year’s momentum as fans.

Are the students back? How were they so good for that dreadful football team but won’t come up the hill for a good hoops team? Can’t get drunk on Tuesdays? Their college experience must suck

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

We shouldn't be a perimeter team with no inside game. All 3 bigs who made pretty decent contributions last season are all back. The crazy thing is they all look terrible. I don't get how all 3 bigs on our team have regressed this badly. It makes no sense, and because of that it puts so much extra pressure on our perimeter game.

I think Fede played above his head last year because he played with such an experienced group of guards that would always score and he could just focus on defense. He’s been the same player offensively the entire time in the states. I don’t know, just seem to have dual identities on this team right now.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

And we will outscore teams
You think Ish is going to go 1-8 and 0-5 often ?
Bub 4-14and 1-7
That’s your ball game

Meanwhile our defense stunk so Missouri got whatever they wanted on offense

These thing aren’t mutually exclusive .
When we score a bunch mostly it’s because of fast breaks off defense and secondary breaks

We are not nor wil ever be a highly efficient half court offense

I agree with your points. My general point is that we have 1 elite player, 1 very good freshmen and a good 3rd scorer. The way we’re gonna play there’s gonna be some clunkers because we don’t have that 4th or 5th option to step up and I’m not sure there’s guys on the roster to fill those voids.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Our starting backcourt of Bub Carrington and Ish Leggett had more turnovers than assists in this game. 9 turnovers on offense vs 6 assists.


This is a team loss.

Blake Hinson is about the only player that played a pretty decent game. No one else on the team showed up today.

I followed box score while watching the game and couldn’t believe the TO/assist ratio.

But someone has to be capable of knocking down the passes they send too.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

This team needs Hinson, Carrington, and Leggett all to be on at the same time to beat decent teams. We really miss Greg Elliot. Last year we had 4 guys who could score with Hinson, Burton, Elliot, Nelly. This year, its just 3.

We need Austin to be something that he just isn't. He might as well be Shamiel Stevenson. I might honestly rather have Ryan Murphy out there at this point.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

We need Austin to be something that he just isn't. He might as well be Shamiel Stevenson. I might honestly rather have Ryan Murphy out there at this point.

Which is why I say they may need to play Jeffress instead of him and try to shut down the best perimeter player. If he isn't going to score and he's really not a shooter/scorer, I dont think he can be out there. We needed Jeffress guarding East and Clayton....and Hunter/Girard on Sunday.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Which is why I say they may need to play Jeffress instead of him and try to shut down the best perimeter player. If he isn't going to score and he's really not a shooter/scorer, I dont think he can be out there. We needed Jeffress guarding East and Clayton....and Hunter/Girard on Sunday.

Maybe. I'd rather go small with Lowe. Especially against a freaking 35-minute pressing team... why weren't we trying to get more points in transition? We break the press and then we pull back and run a flustered version of our half court offense, except with less time on the shot clock.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Which is why I say they may need to play Jeffress instead of him and try to shut down the best perimeter player. If he isn't going to score and he's really not a shooter/scorer, I dont think he can be out there. We needed Jeffress guarding East and Clayton....and Hunter/Girard on Sunday.

Definitely not your worst idea. Playing 3 on 5 on offense all year is gonna be a killer. You have to hope Jeffress starts punting the ball or something for it to go in

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Definitely not your worst idea. Playing 3 on 5 on offense all year is gonna be a killer. You have to hope Jeffress starts punting the ball or something for it to go in

Its ashame that 4 years in, he has to be so bad offensively. But I don't think we can just hope Austin has a good scoring night and continue to trot him out there. We lost the game because we couldn't stop East in my opinion. We lost to Florida because we refused to guard Clayton. Play 3 on 5 and hope Jeffress can shut down their top perimeter guy and maybe he develops some confidence to score a little bit

 

[PittPharm2002]

You’re contradicting your prior post. First you say we lost because of bad defense. Now you’re mentioning Ish and Bub’s shooting %’s for the game. At least now you’re mentioning the real reason why we lost.

Mizzou got their shots and so did we. They just did a way better job knocking down their shots. It’s a given they were going to get more points in the paint, we just have no one in the front court you can rely on to score. But it was still just poor overall shooting % that lost the game.

FT shooting kept us in the game the 1st half but we had at least 4 misses down the stretch in the 2nd half that made it harder to cut into the lead. Add in 4 more turnovers than Mizzou, none of them forced, and it’s easy to see how we lost. Defense wasn’t the biggest culprit.

What contraction ?
I said our guards couldn’t answer the bell - right in my first post

As you said mizzou got whatever shot they wanted . Yet you don’t think defense was a culprit ?

 

[PittPharm2002]

I followed box score while watching the game and couldn’t believe the TO/assist ratio.

But someone has to be capable of knocking down the passes they send too.

They also got a bit selfish /
It was some flashbacks to the X and Trey hero ball days for long stretches

 

[PittMan2003]

Really wish we had been able to cut ties with Dior earlier and get a 4th guard with experience. We are missing that.

College basketball just seems to be an older man’s game and we are pretty young. And a 4th guard with experience who could shoot would be huge.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

That is not the way Capel plays or we played last year. We outscore teams. We don’t grind out defensive possessions. So it’s naive to think all of sudden that would change. They need more shot makers to play the way he wants to play. Unfortunately, not gonna be enough on this team

Yeah, Capel was never known as a coach that focuses on defense. Even though defense and rebounding win games, he wants to outscore everyone. It would be nice if he would use a change of pace occasionally, but always stress defense and rebounding. We just don't have the players to either score or play that stifling defense.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Really wish we had been able to cut ties with Dior earlier and get a 4th guard with experience. We are missing that.

College basketball just seems to be an older man’s game and we are pretty young. And a 4th guard with experience who could shoot would be huge.

Yeah, the timing of that might go down as one of the all time self-inflicted wounds if we slip back into the abyss after last season. We are desperately undermanned. We need another scorer, another shooter, another ballhandler, and another on-ball defender. That position could have checked all the boxes.

Inevitably, one of the three people who can put the ball in the basket is going to get dinged up and miss some time. I can't even imagine what this team will look like then. We have less depth than a Limp Bizkit song.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Really wish we had been able to cut ties with Dior earlier and get a 4th guard with experience. We are missing that.

College basketball just seems to be an older man’s game and we are pretty young. And a 4th guard with experience who could shoot would be huge.

The inability to replace Elliot sunk this team. We upgraded at PG. Leggett for Burton was ok. But getting a 0 on offense for Elliot is the reason we arent going to the NCAAT.