St. Francis Game & Other Dribbles ...

[DT_PITT]

** First, I’ll ask for some forgiveness for a lack of inspiration within these season opening musings. After all, even up until a few days ago, we didn’t even know for sure if there would be a Pitt Basketball game tonight.

** And just four hours ago, as we were all thrilled that the season had indeed started, we were all still haunted by the specter of how long it might last.

** It’s hard to recall a season like this with barely an ounce of build-up. And I have to hark back all of the way to 1996 when I didn’t see a home opener in person, although it was better to have missed that miserable loss to Illinois State.

** There’s no doubt that this one was much, much worse. Glad I wasn’t there.

** Actually, the only joy I think I received was seeing our Panthers playing maskless placing a damper the victory lap @Sean Miller Fan was taking a few days ago.

** But I never dreamed for a second that we wouldn’t see our Panthers take a victory lap tonight when it was all said and done. Even after that much more than miserable first half.

** I’d be lying if I said I saw this kind of game coming. Truth be told, with so little preseason hype, or even news for that matter, I had not much of an idea what to expect from our Panthers this year. But what we watched this night played to the worst of any less-than-positive thoughts I had coming into the season.

** Before diving into the wreckage, I feel compelled to state that one game does not a season make. We were all pretty high after beating Florida State in last year’s season opener, and that turned out to be our high water mark.

** And this is undoubtedly our low water mark for this campaign because I just don’t know how it can get worse than being manhandled by an NEC team.

** Nonetheless, here are some of the things that bothered me the most. First, second and third on the list was just the completely inept defense, save for a five-minute stretch in the second half. The Red Flash found open man after open man quite easily for the other 35 minutes. There were so many trips when there were Panthers who were not really guarding anyone.

** Next, since last season we’ve made no progress executing against zone defense. We don’t know how to screen it (nor does this look to be the gameplan) and we certainly don’t move the ball well enough to beat it.

** And of course, we can’t shoot over it. Players not named Toney were 2-18 from three.

** But 70 points with 23 turnovers should still be enough to beat an NEC team with any kind of defense at all.

** Singling out any one player for a poor performance isn’t really fair, but my quick take is that I was more disappointed with Eithel Horton than anyone else. I’ll confess that I did not have any particularly high hopes for him, nor did I necessarily believe he’d be all that close to an equal replacement for McGowens. But he was consistently beaten off the dribble, and didn’t demonstrate an offense complimentary of anything Xavier was doing. Nor am I sure he can put the ball on the floor.

** I suspect that we will see more of Au’Diese and or Jeffress at the 2-3 spots like we saw today.

** Anyone can decide for themselves how badly they thought Xavier played, but at the very least it didn’t look like any part of his game has grown at all from last year.

** As for our post play, John Hughey acquitted himself satisfactorily enough. He was OK on the offensive end, and got the rebounds he should. I expect him to get better as the year goes on. But I don’t expect that he’ll end up being a difference maker this year.

** As for Terrell and OKC, I saw the same players I watched last year.

** Justin had a tough night, and he’ll have better ones. But I was never really one to expect him to take another leap forward from his surprising good freshman campaign. I’m more concerned now this will end up being the case.

** Overall, what troubled me most about this game wasn’t just that we weren’t playing as hard or as executing as well at St. Francis. In this game, it just didn’t look like we were more talented than St. Francis. I’ll reserve the right to take this statement back Coach Capel can find out how to get more out these guys.

** Maybe that’s my biggest worry of all. I really like Coach Capel. I like how he handles himself, and the values and attitude that he brings to the program. But he’s yet to show us that he can get his team to execute. Often, his Panther teams have demonstrated much more effort than we saw today. But we’ve yet to see them play any kind of a system that looks like five guys working together on the court. In other words, he’s needs to show that he can get his team to look like a team.

** If you are one who will take from this game that we are headed for a really, really rough season, I’m not trying to offer anything at this point to change your mind. But after one game, I’m not ready to go there just yet.

** Beyond that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think we don’t have much more talent than the 3-15 ACC season two years ago, not to mention the historically bad 0-18 season.

** But even if we are headed for a season that bad, perhaps the only silver lining is that most of us won’t be able to go to the Pete to watch it, like I did for every game of the 8-24 campaign.

** Or maybe the season will never really take flight and postponements and cancelations will be the norm.

** I certainly hope this won’t be the case because I’m thankful to have College Basketball to watch once again, even a display as bad as we watched tonight.

** Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

** First, I’ll ask for some forgiveness for a lack of inspiration within these season opening musings. After all, even up until a few days ago, we didn’t even know for sure if there would be a Pitt Basketball game tonight.

** And just four hours ago, as we were all thrilled that the season had indeed started, we were all still haunted by the specter of how long it might last.

** It’s hard to recall a season like this with barely an ounce of build-up. And I have to hark back all of the way to 1996 when I didn’t see a home opener in person, although it was better to have missed that miserable loss to Illinois State.

** There’s no doubt that this one was much, much worse. Glad I wasn’t there.

** Actually, the only joy I think I received was seeing our Panthers playing maskless placing a damper the victory lap @Sean Miller Fan was taking a few days ago.

** But I never dreamed for a second that we wouldn’t see our Panthers take a victory lap tonight when it was all said and done. Even after that much more than miserable first half.

** I’d be lying if I said I saw this kind of game coming. Truth be told, with so little preseason hype, or even news for that matter, I had not much of an idea what to expect from our Panthers this year. But what we watched this night played to the worst of any less-than-positive thoughts I had coming into the season.

** Before diving into the wreckage, I feel compelled to state that one game does not a season make. We were all pretty high after beating Florida State in last year’s season opener, and that turned out to be our high water mark.

** And this is undoubtedly our low water mark for this campaign because I just don’t know how it can get worse than being manhandled by an NEC team.

** Nonetheless, here are some of the things that bothered me the most. First, second and third on the list was just the completely inept defense, save for a five-minute stretch in the second half. The Red Flash found open man after open man quite easily for the other 35 minutes. There were so many trips when there were Panthers who were not really guarding anyone.

** Next, since last season we’ve made no progress executing against zone defense. We don’t know how to screen it (nor does this look to be the gameplan) and we certainly don’t move the ball well enough to beat it.

** And of course, we can’t shoot over it. Players not named Toney were 2-18 from three.

** But 70 points with 23 turnovers should still be enough to beat an NEC team with any kind of defense at all.

** Singling out any one player for a poor performance isn’t really fair, but my quick take is that I was more disappointed with Eithel Horton than anyone else. I’ll confess that I did not have any particularly high hopes for him, nor did I necessarily believe he’d be all that close to an equal replacement for McGowens. But he was consistently beaten off the dribble, and didn’t demonstrate an offense complimentary of anything Xavier was doing. Nor am I sure he can put the ball on the floor.

** I suspect that we will see more of Au’Diese and or Jeffress at the 2-3 spots like we saw today.

** Anyone can decide for themselves how badly they thought Xavier played, but at the very least it didn’t look like any part of his game has grown at all from last year.

** As for our post play, John Hughey acquitted himself satisfactorily enough. He was OK on the offensive end, and got the rebounds he should. I expect him to get better as the year goes on. But I don’t expect that he’ll end up being a difference maker this year.

** As for Terrell and OKC, I saw the same players I watched last year.

** Justin had a tough night, and he’ll have better ones. But I was never really one to expect him to take another leap forward from his surprising good freshman campaign. I’m more concerned now this will end up being the case.

** Overall, what troubled me most about this game wasn’t just that we weren’t playing as hard or as executing as well at St. Francis. In this game, it just didn’t look like we were more talented than St. Francis. I’ll reserve the right to take this statement back Coach Capel can find out how to get more out these guys.

** Maybe that’s my biggest worry of all. I really like Coach Capel. I like how he handles himself, and the values and attitude that he brings to the program. But he’s yet to show us that he can get his team to execute. Often, his Panther teams have demonstrated much more effort than we saw today. But we’ve yet to see them play any kind of a system that looks like five guys working together on the court. In other words, he’s needs to show that he can get his team to look like a team.

** If you are one who will take from this game that we are headed for a really, really rough season, I’m not trying to offer anything at this point to change your mind. But after one game, I’m not ready to go there just yet.

** Beyond that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think we don’t have much more talent than the 3-15 ACC season two years ago, not to mention the historically bad 0-18 season.

** But even if we are headed for a season that bad, perhaps the only silver lining is that most of us won’t be able to go to the Pete to watch it, like I did for every game of the 8-24 campaign.

** Or maybe the season will never really take flight and postponements and cancelations will be the norm.

** I certainly hope this won’t be the case because I’m thankful to have College Basketball to watch once again, even a display as bad as we watched tonight.

** Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving everyone!

Re: getting his team to execute. I sometimes disappear from the board and re-appear but the #1 thing I’ve said for 3 years is this staff just isn’t good enough. Between the 3 assistants, they’re making just shy of a million dollars. That’s top 6-7 ACC money. There’s not one of them that is known as a recruiter. They’re all failed head coaches who don’t seem to have any value in adding to the game plan.

 

[DT_PITT]

Re: getting his team to execute. I sometimes disappear from the board and re-appear but the #1 thing I’ve said for 3 years is this staff just isn’t good enough. Between the 3 assistants, they’re making just shy of a million dollars. That’s top 6-7 ACC money. There’s not one of them that is known as a recruiter. They’re all failed head coaches who don’t seem to have any value in adding to the game plan.

I'm not ready just yet to agree (or disagree) with you on the "staff just isn't good enough." But they better start showing some evidence they are because we haven't seen it just yet. The bottom line is that we look "poorly coached."

Here's a troubling thought. With all the zone St Francis played, we almost never worked the foul line. We couldn't get it there often, and when we did, we turned it over about 10 times (perhaps not an exaggeration). But when we played zone, St. Francis went straight to the foul line, and we had no idea how to guard it. We sagged off the foul line, let the ball handler dribble closer for an 8 footer, or left the player deep in the post to guard it, leading to a pass under the basket.

As bad as our offensive execution was, the defensive execution was worse.

 

[pittjas]

I'm not ready just yet to agree (or disagree) with you on the "staff just isn't good enough." But they better start showing some evidence they are because we haven't seen it just yet. The bottom line is that we look "poorly coached."

Here's a troubling thought. With all the zone St Francis played, we almost never worked the foul line. We couldn't get it there often, and when we did, we turned it over about 10 times (perhaps not an exaggeration). But when we played zone, St. Francis went straight to the foul line, and we had no idea how to guard it. We sagged off the foul line, let the ball handler dribble closer for an 8 footer, or left the player deep in the post to guard it, leading to a pass under the basket.

As bad as our offensive execution was, the defensive execution was worse.

We can break it down as much as we want but the one thing that stands out is... it’s soooo hard for us to put the ball in the hoop.

Like our defense sucked, but there were still a decent amount of plays where we played good defense and you just had to tip your cap to SFU on a good individual play. We have like none of those. We miss wide open 3s (and don’t even hit the rim), don’t even come close to hitting the FT jumper... and we missed at least 5-6 open layups...

It’s just... maddening. We can talk zone offense all you want but you can run any play in the world, you’re still going to have to hit some type of shot even if it’s just a “dead zone” jumper... it’s just such a struggle for us.

I was hoping Horton would be a guy who could get a bucket, maybe not all the time in the ACC but certainly tonight... and wow was I disappointed.

Hugley will be okay but it’ll take time for him to figure out how to be crafty and use his body.

encouraging offensive signs from Jeffress too...

Other than that... woof. I mean, it’s just so so ugly offensively and I don’t know what offense is going to fix that unless we come up with an offense to get open layups every play.

 

[goalieman]

I'm not ready just yet to agree (or disagree) with you on the "staff just isn't good enough." But they better start showing some evidence they are because we haven't seen it just yet. The bottom line is that we look "poorly coached."

Here's a troubling thought. With all the zone St Francis played, we almost never worked the foul line. We couldn't get it there often, and when we did, we turned it over about 10 times (perhaps not an exaggeration). But when we played zone, St. Francis went straight to the foul line, and we had no idea how to guard it. We sagged off the foul line, let the ball handler dribble closer for an 8 footer, or left the player deep in the post to guard it, leading to a pass under the basket.

As bad as our offensive execution was, the defensive execution was worse.

Defensively, I thought our players did an excellent job of social distancing from the Saint Francis players !

 

[PittPoker]

I'm not ready just yet to agree (or disagree) with you on the "staff just isn't good enough." But they better start showing some evidence they are because we haven't seen it just yet. The bottom line is that we look "poorly coached."

Here's a troubling thought. With all the zone St Francis played, we almost never worked the foul line. We couldn't get it there often, and when we did, we turned it over about 10 times (perhaps not an exaggeration). But when we played zone, St. Francis went straight to the foul line, and we had no idea how to guard it. We sagged off the foul line, let the ball handler dribble closer for an 8 footer, or left the player deep in the post to guard it, leading to a pass under the basket.

As bad as our offensive execution was, the defensive execution was worse.

I don't know why you aren't ready yet to agree that the staff isn't good enough. It's year 3, we played a bad NEC team or middling NEC team and we were trailing by 20 friggin points in the second half!! We can't box out, no offensive gameplan hell no defensive gameplan, the turnovers, etc... I mean it's pretty obvious at this point the whole coaching staff don't know what the hell they are doing. Or they are pretty awful at their jobs here because there is no improvement at all.

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

I'm not ready just yet to agree (or disagree) with you on the "staff just isn't good enough." But they better start showing some evidence they are because we haven't seen it just yet. The bottom line is that we look "poorly coached."

Here's a troubling thought. With all the zone St Francis played, we almost never worked the foul line. We couldn't get it there often, and when we did, we turned it over about 10 times (perhaps not an exaggeration). But when we played zone, St. Francis went straight to the foul line, and we had no idea how to guard it. We sagged off the foul line, let the ball handler dribble closer for an 8 footer, or left the player deep in the post to guard it, leading to a pass under the basket.

As bad as our offensive execution was, the defensive execution was worse.

It took St Francis one possession to work the foul line. We rarely did and even when we did get it in there, nobody wants to take that 10 footer or dump it down. Instead , we force a penetration move and charge.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Defensively, I thought our players did an excellent job of social distancing from the Saint Francis players !

It was responsible of how they would vacate the area to give them room to shoot

 

[DT_PITT]

Defensively, I thought our players did an excellent job of social distancing from the Saint Francis players !

I can't decide if this is very funny or in poor taste LOL!

But that doesn't make it any less true, I'm sorry to say.

 

[NTOP]

Maybe we can sell Heinz Chapel to fund 3 buyouts.?. Duzz, Capel and Heather.
Gallagher doesn't care. Sad,I like all three. Might just cancel YTTV.

 

[DT_PITT]

I don't know why you aren't ready yet to agree that the staff isn't good enough. It's year 3, we played a bad NEC team or middling NEC team and we were trailing by 20 friggin points in the second half!! We can't box out, no offensive gameplan hell no defensive gameplan, the turnovers, etc... I mean it's pretty obvious at this point the whole coaching staff don't know what the hell they are doing. Or they are pretty awful at their jobs here because there is no improvement at all.

Calm down my friend. I said nothing to oppose the concept of how badly we played against an NEC team. This game was never close. This is VERY concerning to say the least. But one game does not a season make no matter how bad it is. For tonight, I will stick to that thought even though I don't have all that much hope that it's going to get much better.

But I've been wrong about things like this before. During the 14-15 season, we lost to a bad Hawaii team (about the same level as this St. Francis team -- although that game was on the road after Pitt flew out to Hawaii) and I proclaimed later this particular team had NO chance of making the NCAA tournament. We ended squarely on the bubble until sinking into the NIT.

Anyway, this staff isn't going anywhere for a while, so I'd rather just use the time to take in all of the evidence.

The staff may very well not be good enough and that's what much of the evidence is pointing to. But I would take no pride in proclaiming this to be true sooner than others (even if they end up being proven completely correct).

 

[DT_PITT]

Maybe we can sell Heinz Chapel to fund 3 buyouts.?. Duzz, Capel and Heather.
Gallagher doesn't care. Sad,I like all three. Might just cancel YTTV.

Funny and true quote (well paraphrase anyway). After Gallagher was hired, he told someone "I'm not sure why people have the impression that I'm all in on athletics."

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

** Overall, what troubled me most about this game wasn’t just that we weren’t playing as hard or as executing as well at St. Francis. In this game, it just didn’t look like we were more talented than St. Francis. I’ll reserve the right to take this statement back Coach Capel can find out how to get more out these guys.

This.

Reminded me of Nicholls State. I said it then and I maintain they had better players than we did. Turns out I was right as they went 21-10 and finished 2nd in a decent mid-major league behind only SFA, who won at Duke.

But here's my problem: I thought Nicholls was a pretty good team. I dont think SF is so them having better players than we do is a major, major problem. Now, yes, even though they were picked 6th, they'll win the NEC but that is no reason to get blown out. We were down 20!

This team looks considerably worse than last year and I am afraid we are looking at a season in which we win only a handful of ACC games.

 

[DT_PITT]

We can break it down as much as we want but the one thing that stands out is... it’s soooo hard for us to put the ball in the hoop.

Like our defense sucked, but there were still a decent amount of plays where we played good defense and you just had to tip your cap to SFU on a good individual play. We have like none of those. We miss wide open 3s (and don’t even hit the rim), don’t even come close to hitting the FT jumper... and we missed at least 5-6 open layups...

It’s just... maddening. We can talk zone offense all you want but you can run any play in the world, you’re still going to have to hit some type of shot even if it’s just a “dead zone” jumper... it’s just such a struggle for us.

I was hoping Horton would be a guy who could get a bucket, maybe not all the time in the ACC but certainly tonight... and wow was I disappointed.

Hugley will be okay but it’ll take time for him to figure out how to be crafty and use his body.

encouraging offensive signs from Jeffress too...

Other than that... woof. I mean, it’s just so so ugly offensively and I don’t know what offense is going to fix that unless we come up with an offense to get open layups every play.

Maybe we just need to throw Jeffress out there any let him play a bunch through all the mistakes he will make.

 

[pittjas]

Maybe we just need to throw Jeffress out there any let him play a bunch through all the mistakes he will make.

I agree. And recruit more players like him with that level of talent

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Maybe we just need to throw Jeffress out there any let him play a bunch through all the mistakes he will make.

Yep. I'd also have Johnson on a short leash. He's a net negative

 

[DT_PITT]

Yep. I'd also have Johnson on a short leash. He's a net negative

Don't know if Femi is ready for that kind of time or if Horton can slide over. Don't disagree with X being a net negative tonight but no one other than AD was positive and everyone was terrible on defense.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Don't know if Femi is ready for that kind of time or if Horton can slide over. Don't disagree with X being a net negative tonight but no one other than AD was positive and everyone was terrible on defense.

I'm sure he's not ready but if Johnson is going to be this bad, you have to bench him and hope encourage him to explore other options at the end of the season. He's not a winning player. I picked him over Trey. I may end up being wrong on that.

 

[bwh05]

Don't know if Femi is ready for that kind of time or if Horton can slide over. Don't disagree with X being a net negative tonight but no one other than AD was positive and everyone was terrible on defense.

X’s shot mechanics are so awkward it doesn’t seem like he’ll ever be a consistent perimeter shooter. He can get to the rim, but when we struggle he tries to “take over”. Then he forces things and takes bad shots or turns it over. We were all hoping with time he’d improve on this stuff but it seems like the opposite is true.

it’s only one game so hopefully this was just a one off for us.

 

[DT_PITT]

I'm sure he's not ready but if Johnson is going to be this bad, you have to bench him and hope encourage him to explore other options at the end of the season. He's not a winning player. I picked him over Trey. I may end up being wrong on that.

I might state things differently and I'm nowhere near ready to pull the plug on Xavier. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting quite concerned. And while I hate the phrase "not a winning player" at some point you have to wonder if the shoe fits ...

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

I might state things differently and I'm nowhere near ready to pull the plug on Xavier. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting quite concerned. And while I hate the phrase "not a winning player" at some point you have to wonder if the shoe fits ...

In another thread I made a Tino Sunseri comparison
There is just a fatal flaw
I mean he got benched a lot last year

 

[DnTanna07]

** First, I’ll ask for some forgiveness for a lack of inspiration within these season opening musings. After all, even up until a few days ago, we didn’t even know for sure if there would be a Pitt Basketball game tonight.

** And just four hours ago, as we were all thrilled that the season had indeed started, we were all still haunted by the specter of how long it might last.

** It’s hard to recall a season like this with barely an ounce of build-up. And I have to hark back all of the way to 1996 when I didn’t see a home opener in person, although it was better to have missed that miserable loss to Illinois State.

** There’s no doubt that this one was much, much worse. Glad I wasn’t there.

** Actually, the only joy I think I received was seeing our Panthers playing maskless placing a damper the victory lap @Sean Miller Fan was taking a few days ago.

** But I never dreamed for a second that we wouldn’t see our Panthers take a victory lap tonight when it was all said and done. Even after that much more than miserable first half.

** I’d be lying if I said I saw this kind of game coming. Truth be told, with so little preseason hype, or even news for that matter, I had not much of an idea what to expect from our Panthers this year. But what we watched this night played to the worst of any less-than-positive thoughts I had coming into the season.

** Before diving into the wreckage, I feel compelled to state that one game does not a season make. We were all pretty high after beating Florida State in last year’s season opener, and that turned out to be our high water mark.

** And this is undoubtedly our low water mark for this campaign because I just don’t know how it can get worse than being manhandled by an NEC team.

** Nonetheless, here are some of the things that bothered me the most. First, second and third on the list was just the completely inept defense, save for a five-minute stretch in the second half. The Red Flash found open man after open man quite easily for the other 35 minutes. There were so many trips when there were Panthers who were not really guarding anyone.

** Next, since last season we’ve made no progress executing against zone defense. We don’t know how to screen it (nor does this look to be the gameplan) and we certainly don’t move the ball well enough to beat it.

** And of course, we can’t shoot over it. Players not named Toney were 2-18 from three.

** But 70 points with 23 turnovers should still be enough to beat an NEC team with any kind of defense at all.

** Singling out any one player for a poor performance isn’t really fair, but my quick take is that I was more disappointed with Eithel Horton than anyone else. I’ll confess that I did not have any particularly high hopes for him, nor did I necessarily believe he’d be all that close to an equal replacement for McGowens. But he was consistently beaten off the dribble, and didn’t demonstrate an offense complimentary of anything Xavier was doing. Nor am I sure he can put the ball on the floor.

** I suspect that we will see more of Au’Diese and or Jeffress at the 2-3 spots like we saw today.

** Anyone can decide for themselves how badly they thought Xavier played, but at the very least it didn’t look like any part of his game has grown at all from last year.

** As for our post play, John Hughey acquitted himself satisfactorily enough. He was OK on the offensive end, and got the rebounds he should. I expect him to get better as the year goes on. But I don’t expect that he’ll end up being a difference maker this year.

** As for Terrell and OKC, I saw the same players I watched last year.

** Justin had a tough night, and he’ll have better ones. But I was never really one to expect him to take another leap forward from his surprising good freshman campaign. I’m more concerned now this will end up being the case.

** Overall, what troubled me most about this game wasn’t just that we weren’t playing as hard or as executing as well at St. Francis. In this game, it just didn’t look like we were more talented than St. Francis. I’ll reserve the right to take this statement back Coach Capel can find out how to get more out these guys.

** Maybe that’s my biggest worry of all. I really like Coach Capel. I like how he handles himself, and the values and attitude that he brings to the program. But he’s yet to show us that he can get his team to execute. Often, his Panther teams have demonstrated much more effort than we saw today. But we’ve yet to see them play any kind of a system that looks like five guys working together on the court. In other words, he’s needs to show that he can get his team to look like a team.

** If you are one who will take from this game that we are headed for a really, really rough season, I’m not trying to offer anything at this point to change your mind. But after one game, I’m not ready to go there just yet.

** Beyond that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think we don’t have much more talent than the 3-15 ACC season two years ago, not to mention the historically bad 0-18 season.

** But even if we are headed for a season that bad, perhaps the only silver lining is that most of us won’t be able to go to the Pete to watch it, like I did for every game of the 8-24 campaign.

** Or maybe the season will never really take flight and postponements and cancelations will be the norm.

** I certainly hope this won’t be the case because I’m thankful to have College Basketball to watch once again, even a display as bad as we watched tonight.

** Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[Fsgolfdr]

I think as time goes on this season I think we’ll see this team has been upgraded considerably in the level of individual talent . Molding them into a team will test the competency of this staff .

X just might have peaked as a freshman , when his wild gyrating drives go in he’s a joy to watch , but when they clank off the rim he’s a liability .

Not everyone has the ability to make all the players around them better and if there’s one attribute a pg / team leader must have it’s this .

Its just not this team , but it seems like the skill of setting screens has been a lost art for Pitt bb .

Tough start , but this is going to be a long trying season with Covid let’s just hope we see the evidence that Pitts best days are in front of them . It might be the third yr , but this freshman class is really the class JC will build the foundation of his program on .

 

[Parkview57]

the values and attitude that he brings to the program.

You mean like the values and attitude that one's shortcomings are everyone's fault but your own?

 

[mo cheeks]

I try to find silver linings in life. Hard to do it yesterday. I was most disappointed in our defense and our shooting.

just horrible besides toney. The teamwork was also bad. Horton was underwhelming. Air balls all over the place. Their guys wide open most of the first half

we were spoiled by great teamwork for a lot of years. Now we can’t jell.

Only positives to me were toney and Jeffrees. I think okc can have a good year and Hughley has a chance to be very good but probably not this year.
It is one game in a COVID year. Hopefully it was the low.
Have a great Thanksgiving !

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

In another thread I made a Tino Sunseri comparison
There is just a fatal flaw
I mean he got benched a lot last year

James Robinson was Tino. Fantastic stats because he didn't take any chances.

Xavier Johnson is more like Trey Anderson, just not good enough to play major college ball.

I wasn't a fan of Robinson but if Johnson has a Year 3 like Year 2 then its pretty clear Robinson is better. Johnson has more athleticism but has low basketball IQ which for a PG is a fatal quality

 

[Ski11585]

James Robinson was Tino. Fantastic stats because he didn't take any chances.

Xavier Johnson is more like Trey Anderson, just not good enough to play major college ball.

I wasn't a fan of Robinson but if Johnson has a Year 3 like Year 2 then its pretty clear Robinson is better. Johnson has more athleticism but has low basketball IQ which for a PG is a fatal quality

So X made the all-ACC freshmen team by accident? Pretty impressive for someone not good enough to play P5 hoops..

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

So X made the all-ACC freshmen team by accident? Pretty impressive for someone not good enough to play P5 hoops..

I don’t think he made it by accident. He took 12 shots per game and shot 40 percent overall. He simply wasn’t that good. But because he put up 16 a game coaches voted for him.

I sang to the heavens that McGowens was better than him from day 1 but was playing out of position not being able to ever handle the ball.

 

[whirlybird optio]

James Robinson was Tino. Fantastic stats because he didn't take any chances.

Xavier Johnson is more like Trey Anderson, just not good enough to play major college ball.

I wasn't a fan of Robinson but if Johnson has a Year 3 like Year 2 then its pretty clear Robinson is better. Johnson has more athleticism but has low basketball IQ which for a PG is a fatal quality

I can buy a lot of what you are saying, but comparing X to Trey Anderson...come on.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

So X made the all-ACC freshmen team by accident? Pretty impressive for someone not good enough to play P5 hoops..

I am at a loss to describe it. He has gone from a good player as a FR to the worst PG in the ACC.

 

[ThePanthers]

** First, I’ll ask for some forgiveness for a lack of inspiration within these season opening musings. After all, even up until a few days ago, we didn’t even know for sure if there would be a Pitt Basketball game tonight.

** And just four hours ago, as we were all thrilled that the season had indeed started, we were all still haunted by the specter of how long it might last.

** It’s hard to recall a season like this with barely an ounce of build-up. And I have to hark back all of the way to 1996 when I didn’t see a home opener in person, although it was better to have missed that miserable loss to Illinois State.

** There’s no doubt that this one was much, much worse. Glad I wasn’t there.

** Actually, the only joy I think I received was seeing our Panthers playing maskless placing a damper the victory lap @Sean Miller Fan was taking a few days ago.

** But I never dreamed for a second that we wouldn’t see our Panthers take a victory lap tonight when it was all said and done. Even after that much more than miserable first half.

** I’d be lying if I said I saw this kind of game coming. Truth be told, with so little preseason hype, or even news for that matter, I had not much of an idea what to expect from our Panthers this year. But what we watched this night played to the worst of any less-than-positive thoughts I had coming into the season.

** Before diving into the wreckage, I feel compelled to state that one game does not a season make. We were all pretty high after beating Florida State in last year’s season opener, and that turned out to be our high water mark.

** And this is undoubtedly our low water mark for this campaign because I just don’t know how it can get worse than being manhandled by an NEC team.

** Nonetheless, here are some of the things that bothered me the most. First, second and third on the list was just the completely inept defense, save for a five-minute stretch in the second half. The Red Flash found open man after open man quite easily for the other 35 minutes. There were so many trips when there were Panthers who were not really guarding anyone.

** Next, since last season we’ve made no progress executing against zone defense. We don’t know how to screen it (nor does this look to be the gameplan) and we certainly don’t move the ball well enough to beat it.

** And of course, we can’t shoot over it. Players not named Toney were 2-18 from three.

** But 70 points with 23 turnovers should still be enough to beat an NEC team with any kind of defense at all.

** Singling out any one player for a poor performance isn’t really fair, but my quick take is that I was more disappointed with Eithel Horton than anyone else. I’ll confess that I did not have any particularly high hopes for him, nor did I necessarily believe he’d be all that close to an equal replacement for McGowens. But he was consistently beaten off the dribble, and didn’t demonstrate an offense complimentary of anything Xavier was doing. Nor am I sure he can put the ball on the floor.

** I suspect that we will see more of Au’Diese and or Jeffress at the 2-3 spots like we saw today.

** Anyone can decide for themselves how badly they thought Xavier played, but at the very least it didn’t look like any part of his game has grown at all from last year.

** As for our post play, John Hughey acquitted himself satisfactorily enough. He was OK on the offensive end, and got the rebounds he should. I expect him to get better as the year goes on. But I don’t expect that he’ll end up being a difference maker this year.

** As for Terrell and OKC, I saw the same players I watched last year.

** Justin had a tough night, and he’ll have better ones. But I was never really one to expect him to take another leap forward from his surprising good freshman campaign. I’m more concerned now this will end up being the case.

** Overall, what troubled me most about this game wasn’t just that we weren’t playing as hard or as executing as well at St. Francis. In this game, it just didn’t look like we were more talented than St. Francis. I’ll reserve the right to take this statement back Coach Capel can find out how to get more out these guys.

** Maybe that’s my biggest worry of all. I really like Coach Capel. I like how he handles himself, and the values and attitude that he brings to the program. But he’s yet to show us that he can get his team to execute. Often, his Panther teams have demonstrated much more effort than we saw today. But we’ve yet to see them play any kind of a system that looks like five guys working together on the court. In other words, he’s needs to show that he can get his team to look like a team.

** If you are one who will take from this game that we are headed for a really, really rough season, I’m not trying to offer anything at this point to change your mind. But after one game, I’m not ready to go there just yet.

** Beyond that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think we don’t have much more talent than the 3-15 ACC season two years ago, not to mention the historically bad 0-18 season.

** But even if we are headed for a season that bad, perhaps the only silver lining is that most of us won’t be able to go to the Pete to watch it, like I did for every game of the 8-24 campaign.

** Or maybe the season will never really take flight and postponements and cancelations will be the norm.

** I certainly hope this won’t be the case because I’m thankful to have College Basketball to watch once again, even a display as bad as we watched tonight.

** Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving everyone!

Great summary from a very well reasoned poster.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

James Robinson was Tino. Fantastic stats because he didn't take any chances.

Xavier Johnson is more like Trey Anderson, just not good enough to play major college ball.

I wasn't a fan of Robinson but if Johnson has a Year 3 like Year 2 then its pretty clear Robinson is better. Johnson has more athleticism but has low basketball IQ which for a PG is a fatal quality

You are continually loud wrong on this

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

I am at a loss to describe it. He has gone from a good player as a FR to the worst PG in the ACC.

Why are you at a loss to describe it? It screams bad player development within the program.

 

[Seneca_Valley]

So X made the all-ACC freshmen team by accident? Pretty impressive for someone not good enough to play P5 hoops..

He is good enough, just not at the point. Get ready for a lot more Carr comparisons.

 

[PittMBA]

James Robinson was Tino. Fantastic stats because he didn't take any chances.

Xavier Johnson is more like Trey Anderson, just not good enough to play major college ball.

I wasn't a fan of Robinson but if Johnson has a Year 3 like Year 2 then its pretty clear Robinson is better. Johnson has more athleticism but has low basketball IQ which for a PG is a fatal quality

If we’re making weird football QB comparisons - I’ll go with Matt Lytle. Trey Anderson— that’s some over the top B track PItt logic .

 

[Seneca_Valley]

** First, I’ll ask for some forgiveness for a lack of inspiration within these season opening musings. After all, even up until a few days ago, we didn’t even know for sure if there would be a Pitt Basketball game tonight.

** And just four hours ago, as we were all thrilled that the season had indeed started, we were all still haunted by the specter of how long it might last.

** It’s hard to recall a season like this with barely an ounce of build-up. And I have to hark back all of the way to 1996 when I didn’t see a home opener in person, although it was better to have missed that miserable loss to Illinois State.

** There’s no doubt that this one was much, much worse. Glad I wasn’t there.

** Actually, the only joy I think I received was seeing our Panthers playing maskless placing a damper the victory lap @Sean Miller Fan was taking a few days ago.

** But I never dreamed for a second that we wouldn’t see our Panthers take a victory lap tonight when it was all said and done. Even after that much more than miserable first half.

** I’d be lying if I said I saw this kind of game coming. Truth be told, with so little preseason hype, or even news for that matter, I had not much of an idea what to expect from our Panthers this year. But what we watched this night played to the worst of any less-than-positive thoughts I had coming into the season.

** Before diving into the wreckage, I feel compelled to state that one game does not a season make. We were all pretty high after beating Florida State in last year’s season opener, and that turned out to be our high water mark.

** And this is undoubtedly our low water mark for this campaign because I just don’t know how it can get worse than being manhandled by an NEC team.

** Nonetheless, here are some of the things that bothered me the most. First, second and third on the list was just the completely inept defense, save for a five-minute stretch in the second half. The Red Flash found open man after open man quite easily for the other 35 minutes. There were so many trips when there were Panthers who were not really guarding anyone.

** Next, since last season we’ve made no progress executing against zone defense. We don’t know how to screen it (nor does this look to be the gameplan) and we certainly don’t move the ball well enough to beat it.

** And of course, we can’t shoot over it. Players not named Toney were 2-18 from three.

** But 70 points with 23 turnovers should still be enough to beat an NEC team with any kind of defense at all.

** Singling out any one player for a poor performance isn’t really fair, but my quick take is that I was more disappointed with Eithel Horton than anyone else. I’ll confess that I did not have any particularly high hopes for him, nor did I necessarily believe he’d be all that close to an equal replacement for McGowens. But he was consistently beaten off the dribble, and didn’t demonstrate an offense complimentary of anything Xavier was doing. Nor am I sure he can put the ball on the floor.

** I suspect that we will see more of Au’Diese and or Jeffress at the 2-3 spots like we saw today.

** Anyone can decide for themselves how badly they thought Xavier played, but at the very least it didn’t look like any part of his game has grown at all from last year.

** As for our post play, John Hughey acquitted himself satisfactorily enough. He was OK on the offensive end, and got the rebounds he should. I expect him to get better as the year goes on. But I don’t expect that he’ll end up being a difference maker this year.

** As for Terrell and OKC, I saw the same players I watched last year.

** Justin had a tough night, and he’ll have better ones. But I was never really one to expect him to take another leap forward from his surprising good freshman campaign. I’m more concerned now this will end up being the case.

** Overall, what troubled me most about this game wasn’t just that we weren’t playing as hard or as executing as well at St. Francis. In this game, it just didn’t look like we were more talented than St. Francis. I’ll reserve the right to take this statement back Coach Capel can find out how to get more out these guys.

** Maybe that’s my biggest worry of all. I really like Coach Capel. I like how he handles himself, and the values and attitude that he brings to the program. But he’s yet to show us that he can get his team to execute. Often, his Panther teams have demonstrated much more effort than we saw today. But we’ve yet to see them play any kind of a system that looks like five guys working together on the court. In other words, he’s needs to show that he can get his team to look like a team.

** If you are one who will take from this game that we are headed for a really, really rough season, I’m not trying to offer anything at this point to change your mind. But after one game, I’m not ready to go there just yet.

** Beyond that, it’s almost incomprehensible to think we don’t have much more talent than the 3-15 ACC season two years ago, not to mention the historically bad 0-18 season.

** But even if we are headed for a season that bad, perhaps the only silver lining is that most of us won’t be able to go to the Pete to watch it, like I did for every game of the 8-24 campaign.

** Or maybe the season will never really take flight and postponements and cancelations will be the norm.

** I certainly hope this won’t be the case because I’m thankful to have College Basketball to watch once again, even a display as bad as we watched tonight.

** Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving everyone!

The voice of reason. Agree with your player assessment.

 

[Chescat]

Next, since last season we’ve made no progress executing against zone defense. We don’t know how to screen it (nor does this look to be the gameplan) and we certainly don’t move the ball well enough to beat it.

** And of course, we can’t shoot over it. Players not named Toney were 2-18 from three.

Zones??...you are SO right!
Aside from little energy, and being totally disjointed on both
ends of the floor..... the way we attack zone defenses is terrible.
This is exactly what many of us were posting about the past
two seasons. Once again, when we went zone the opposition
carved it up and showed clearly how to successfully attack
it. The staff could learn by filming the opposition attacking
our zone.
This is jr. high stuff; move and rotate the ball, send a cutter
through, get the ball to the post, collapse the zone, screen,
learn how to utilize the weak side and the strong side, etc. etc.
As I watch us, my sense is we don't even try to do these things.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

And, especially now that we have the tools to attack zones (except maybe the 3-ball shooters), we need to start using those tools effectively.

 

[BFo8]

James Robinson was Tino. Fantastic stats because he didn't take any chances.

Xavier Johnson is more like Trey Anderson, just not good enough to play major college ball.

I wasn't a fan of Robinson but if Johnson has a Year 3 like Year 2 then its pretty clear Robinson is better. Johnson has more athleticism but has low basketball IQ which for a PG is a fatal quality

Really bad comparison between Johnson and Trey Anderson. Not only was Anderson not good enough to play major college ball, but he wouldn’t have been good enough for the Sun Belt or FCS either. DiNucci and MacVittie were both on a different planet than Trey Anderson, and that’s saying something.