Vader's Towson Post Game

[Vader_Storm]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate.

I think the issue there was that he didn't think that Gibson (iirc) could guard him at all, so when he was playing him Burton tried to take advantage of him. And usually Burton did get the space to get a shot off, but sometimes he just made it too hard on himself.

 

[gary2]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

Thanks for the analysis.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

This team hasn’t scored more than 63 points in each of its 4 games. They won’t be capable of wining many games with such an anemic ability to score.

 

[gary2]

This team hasn’t scored more than 63 points in each of its 4 games. They won’t be capable of wining many games with such an anemic ability to score.

Agree

 

[PANTHERAN]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

Nice comments/notes and not just because I agreed on all of them. This season will be no more than a 10-11 win season most likely but as long as these players especially the younger ones develope, there is a little bit of hope for the future. I am of the belief that barring an 0-20 in the ACC schedule, Capel gets until the end of next season.

My biggest concern with Capel is he never recruits enough offensive talent and shooters. So we end up with a team that struggles to score points. After the decomittment, who do we have a chance of getting to commit to us? I hear no names and the next class needs to produce at least one immediate impact player because the returning players are simply not talented enough to compete with the top half of the ACC.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I don't know what you watch. I really don't.

 

[Drew1208]

Usually Burton's inefficiency may be something to point out.
But being at the game. You could tell at that point he had to do whatever he felt was right to take over..
There wasnt anyone else out there yet that was being aggressive enough for him not to do what he did.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Nice comments/notes and not just because I agreed on all of them. This season will be no more than a 10-11 win season most likely but as long as these players especially the younger ones develope, there is a little bit of hope for the future. I am of the belief that barring an 0-20 in the ACC schedule, Capel gets until the end of next season.

My biggest concern with Capel is he never recruits enough offensive talent and shooters. So we end up with a team that struggles to score points. After the decomittment, who do we have a chance of getting to commit to us? I hear no names and the next class needs to produce at least one immediate impact player because the returning players are simply not talented enough to compete with the top half of the ACC.

The 4 players to continue to watch are Mintz, Buchanan, Yann Farell, and Desmond Claude among others. Buchanan did not sign with anyone including GW, which is a good thing. He is waiting it out with Mintz to see what happens.


The last player, Claude, almost makes me angry. We should have been on this kid hard and offered him in July when I started hyping him and he is playing in the Nepsac, a league that has given us great players in the past (Odukale and Santos are from the Nepsac too). Claude gave Mintz more problems on the defensive end in the EYBL than anybody and our staff was there to watch it. Why it took so long to offer Claude actually makes me upset.

Well, the entire staff is at the National Prep Showcase watching Claude right now playing catch up to all the other schools prioritizing him. He is one of the most underrated players in the country.

 

[VincePITT]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

About Will Jeffress. He's the glue player that Pitt had back in the day! We'll see it more so in his Jr & Sr years! Like Ricardo Greer or Jaron Brown!

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

Do you think this team can make the NCAAT?

 

[joeydavid]

Nice comments/notes and not just because I agreed on all of them. This season will be no more than a 10-11 win season most likely but as long as these players especially the younger ones develope, there is a little bit of hope for the future. I am of the belief that barring an 0-20 in the ACC schedule, Capel gets until the end of next season.

My biggest concern with Capel is he never recruits enough offensive talent and shooters. So we end up with a team that struggles to score points. After the decomittment, who do we have a chance of getting to commit to us? I hear no names and the next class needs to produce at least one immediate impact player because the returning players are simply not talented enough to compete with the top half of the ACC.

Without the missing players, this team would have been a .500 team that improved as the season moved along.

After the Burton and Nike injuries and Horton being dumb- the staff basically needed to start over from everything they had planned to do with their scheme. Losing all three to start the season is a worst case scenario.

 

[PittPoker]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

Jeffress game ball? I stopped reading after that.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Without a missing players, this team would have been a .500 team that improved as the season moved along.

After the Burton and Nike injuries and Horton being dumb- the staff basically needed to start over from everything they had planned to do with their scheme. Losing all three to start the season is a worst case scenario.

The spot Capel was put in was extremely difficult. Not having guards was one thing. But all these new players, not knowing who would actually step up when the game was going on takes it to a new level of difficulty.


I get it, people are frustrated with the scores. The trio of X, Mcgowens, and Toney, won 3 ACC level games their first year. Brandin Knight won 5 Big East games his first year. These guys are basically freshmen, Big John hardly played last year for example. Jeffress was 17 last year. Santos is a freshmen, etc..



Im going to watch as many games as I can and look for individual and team improvement. Do the players improve as the year goes on and do we have a look of a team that can win a good number of games down the road is the question. We play 2 power 6 games in the next 3 games. If this team happens to win its next 3 games, more people will take a wait and see approach with the rest of the year.

 

[PittPoker]

The spot Capel was put in was extremely difficult. Not having guards was one thing. But all these new players, not knowing who would actually step up when the game was going on takes it to a new level of difficulty.


I get it, people are frustrated with the scores. The trio of X, Mcgowens, and Toney, won 3 ACC level games their first year. Brandin Knight won 5 Big East games his first year. These guys are basically freshmen, Big John hardly played last year for example. Jeffress was 17 last year. Santos is a freshmen, etc..



Im going to watch as many games as I can and look for individual and team improvement. Do the players improve as the year goes on and do we have a look of a team that can win a good number of games down the road is the question. We play 2 power 6 games in the next 3 games. If this team happens to win its next 3 games, more people will take a wait and see approach with the rest of the year.

Yes we all know. They're a great up and coming team.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

The spot Capel was put in was extremely difficult. Not having guards was one thing. But all these new players, not knowing who would actually step up when the game was going on takes it to a new level of difficulty.


I get it, people are frustrated with the scores. The trio of X, Mcgowens, and Toney, won 3 ACC level games their first year. Brandin Knight won 5 Big East games his first year. These guys are basically freshmen, Big John hardly played last year for example. Jeffress was 17 last year. Santos is a freshmen, etc..



Im going to watch as many games as I can and look for individual and team improvement. Do the players improve as the year goes on and do we have a look of a team that can win a good number of games down the road is the question. We play 2 power 6 games in the next 3 games. If this team happens to win its next 3 games, more people will take a wait and see approach with the rest of the year.

Min was picked last in the B10. Vandy 2nd to last. I'm not sure beating them means much.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

The spot Capel was put in was extremely difficult. Not having guards was one thing. But all these new players, not knowing who would actually step up when the game was going on takes it to a new level of difficulty.


I get it, people are frustrated with the scores. The trio of X, Mcgowens, and Toney, won 3 ACC level games their first year. Brandin Knight won 5 Big East games his first year. These guys are basically freshmen, Big John hardly played last year for example. Jeffress was 17 last year. Santos is a freshmen, etc..



Im going to watch as many games as I can and look for individual and team improvement. Do the players improve as the year goes on and do we have a look of a team that can win a good number of games down the road is the question. We play 2 power 6 games in the next 3 games. If this team happens to win its next 3 games, more people will take a wait and see approach with the rest of the year.

Please stop with using Brandin in any way. There’s nobody that could come close to even sniffing his shorts. He was as tenacious as anyone. It would be nice to see anyone have any doggedness. Instead our 2 best players were benched for long periods because of sulking and god knows what else.

 

[PANTHERAN]

Are any of these guys good shooters/scorers? Any C/PF

The 4 players to continue to watch are Mintz, Buchanan, Yann Farell, and Desmond Claude among others. Buchanan did not sign with anyone including GW, which is a good thing. He is waiting it out with Mintz to see what happens.


The last player, Claude, almost makes me angry. We should have been on this kid hard and offered him in July when I started hyping him and he is playing in the Nepsac, a league that has given us great players in the past (Odukale and Santos are from the Nepsac too). Claude gave Mintz more problems on the defensive end in the EYBL than anybody and our staff was there to watch it. Why it took so long to offer Claude actually makes me upset.

Well, the entire staff is at the National Prep Showcase watching Claude right now playing catch up to all the other schools prioritizing him. He is one of the most underrated players in the country.

Min was picked last in the B10. Vandy 2nd to last. I'm not sure beating them means much.

Beating them is better than losing to them even if they are no good. This program needs every win it can get fans more excited about next year.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Are any of these guys good shooters/scorers? Any C/PF


Beating them is better than losing to them even if they are no good. This program needs every win it can get fans more excited about next year.

Yes. Mintz and Claude were 2 of the best scorers and most efficient players in the entire EYBL / Peach Jam the entire summer. Farrel is good from the midrage in and a good scorer, but is starting to showcase 3 point range more consistently. 3 point shooting is Farell's biggest weakness.


Buchanan's shot is in development and is inconsistent. Farell and Buchanan are 3 / 4s. Farell could be a 2 in time.


Claude shot 59% this summer and 36% from 3.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Min was picked last in the B10. Vandy 2nd to last. I'm not sure beating them means much.

I doubt they win either of those games. We’re scraping by bottom of the barrel CAA teams. These wrap ups sure are putting lipstick on a pig. We’d probably finish 3rd or 4th in the CAA which is quite the sobering thought. Hugley is possibly the only ACC player that is a top 8 dude at his position and I’m not nearly sold on him being that. Femi is worse than X as I said.

 

[BPKY]

Maybe part of the turnover problem is due to the inability, or unwillingness, of teammates to move to a spot to create a passing lane/angle. They just stand there and watch the dribble drive.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

I don't know what you watch. I really don't.

It makes no sense.

 

[balboa10]

Game Ball

Will Jeffress- This is the 3rd game in a row that Jeffress continues to show some life and improve. Defensively, on the glass, assists, and zero turnovers today. 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, with an offensive efficiency rating of 142 which is the best of his Pitt career in games he played over 15 minutes. His decision making was good, he was finally looking to pass to his teammates instead of dribble drive and turn the ball over, his shot selection was good, his defense was quite good, and he is consistently attacking the glass for rebounds. He is communicating, bringing energy, and starting to look like a player on the floor.



Game Ball Assist

Nate Santos- 14 points on 4-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 big free throws at the end to help win the game. Like Jeffress, Nate continues to hit the glass and take good shots. He’s active on the glass and helping in a number of areas. He also is proving to be coachable and listening to the Coach. His offensive efficiency rating for the season is at 107 which is very strong for a true freshman. He has played better than preseason expectations through 4 games and needs to be shooting more. His 3 point shooting potential can help open things up and his teammates need to do a much better job getting him the ball. Nate is shooting 35.5% from 3 so far this season.



Game Ball 2nd Assist

Jamarius Burton- Burton was a big difference in this team winning or losing this game. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He didn’t have the best shooting percentage today, but he was pretty solid every where else including ball control and on defense. My biggest issue with him was his shot selection. He took some very poor shots where a much better shot could have been taken by another teammate. He needs to play smarter and should be playing smarter for an upperclassman. Still, he provided enough to help the team win.





Biggest Coaching adjustment

Taking the ball out of Hugley and Odukale’s hands and lowering their usage rates. We have had this discussion many times before with X and other players with turnover problems. Hugley and Odukale should not have a usage rate anywhere near 30. Not this season. Femi has had to shoulder a heavy load without Burton, but that shouldn’t be nearly the case with Burton back.

Hugley needs to look to pass more as he is getting doubled in the post and the defense is keying on him. Femi needs to drive more and look to pass off the dribble drive. He did that finally and got his teammate a dunk. He needs to be doing that a lot more. If Nate starts knocking down shots, these 2 both need to utilize Nate and get him the ball to shoot. I don’t have an opinion on either of their body language today and Femi was clearly hurt in the first half as he left the bench and went to the locker room. Both need to regroup for next game.



A few other thoughts



Respectable game for Noah Collier. Liked his offensive finishing, liked his defense, liked his energy. Major shoutout to Noah for having 0 turnovers in his first 4 games which is quite a feat. Somehow, someway, the coaching staff has to get Noah active on the glass. He just cannot be this bad on the glass moving forward. Outside of that, he showed some life today.



Dan Oladapo needs to do 2 things moving forward. Rebound better on the defensive glass which he is certainly capable of much better than what he has shown through 4 games. His Defensive Efficiency rebound rate should be twice as high as what it is now. Effort needs to be better on the glass. Shoot more, pass less. Oladapo is shooting 86% this season. Start shooting already! Oladapo also is a very bad decision maker with his passing, and he loves gives the opposing team easy transition layups because of poor passing which results in turnovers and free points for the other team. He needs to look to score more and stop passing.



Team Notes



Pitt was a +0 on the glass today. That is the result of taking out Hugley for Collier.



Pitt was -3 in turnovers today and Pitt had 11 turnovers as a team. Better job today. The backup point guard had been a complete disaster with turnovers before this game. The backup point guard played 1 minute today.



The last 2 games went about how I expected. The next 3 game lines are going to look close to this.



Vanderbilt- +4

UMBC -5

Minnesota- +2



If this team wants to start to turn the corner, it needs to win 2 out of 3 or win all 3. I expect all 3 games to be dog fights and be just as close as the last 2 games. Our defense needs to win these games. Good win tonight and happy to get the W

I don’t think those lines are right

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Please stop with using Brandin in any way. There’s nobody that could come close to even sniffing his shorts. He was as tenacious as anyone. It would be nice to see anyone have any doggedness. Instead our 2 best players were benched for long periods because of sulking and god knows what else.

I agree. However, BK wasn't very good his first 2 years and was benched several times and didn't have the best body language. Nobody remembers that because we sucked and nobody was at the games or watched them on tv

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I doubt they win either of those games. We’re scraping by bottom of the barrel CAA teams. These wrap ups sure are putting lipstick on a pig. We’d probably finish 3rd or 4th in the CAA which is quite the sobering thought. Hugley is possibly the only ACC player that is a top 8 dude at his position and I’m not nearly sold on him being that. Femi is worse than X as I said.

I don't think we win them either. I think 1-1 is possible. 3rd or 4th in a good mid-major league is generous. We spent a week in the CAA and barely beat their 8th and 9th place teams. I would say, more like we'd finish 6th-8th. We only have 2 players higher than CAA level right now.

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

I don't think we win them either. I think 1-1 is possible. 3rd or 4th in a good mid-major league is generous. We spent a week in the CAA and barely beat their 8th and 9th place teams. I would say, more like we'd finish 6th-8th. We only have 2 players higher than CAA level right now.

The CAA isn’t a good mid major league. And neither one of those players dominated vs CAA teams. They’d maybe be 2nd team all conference CAA

 

[New York Panther]

The 4 players to continue to watch are Mintz, Buchanan, Yann Farell, and Desmond Claude among others. Buchanan did not sign with anyone including GW, which is a good thing. He is waiting it out with Mintz to see what happens.


The last player, Claude, almost makes me angry. We should have been on this kid hard and offered him in July when I started hyping him and he is playing in the Nepsac, a league that has given us great players in the past (Odukale and Santos are from the Nepsac too). Claude gave Mintz more problems on the defensive end in the EYBL than anybody and our staff was there to watch it. Why it took so long to offer Claude actually makes me upset.

Well, the entire staff is at the National Prep Showcase watching Claude right now playing catch up to all the other schools prioritizing him. He is one of the most underrated players in the country.

Do we still have a realistic chance with Mintz?

 

[BballinsiderfromPitt]

Do we still have a realistic chance with Mintz?

Ha

 

[New York Panther]

Ha

That's what I thought.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Capel needs to generate a miracle on the court for anything good to happen in recruiting this season.

 

[sonofabit]

I don't know what you watch. I really don't.

For the umpteenth time…here you reside…in the middle of Vader’s posts as usual. Can’t get enough, huh?

 

[Jeffburgh]

Usually Burton's inefficiency may be something to point out.
But being at the game. You could tell at that point he had to do whatever he felt was right to take over..
There wasnt anyone else out there yet that was being aggressive enough for him not to do what he did.

It also was his first action in a long time.

He played his game that I saw from watching video of him, just took a while to shake the rust off.

He attacks the basket, and pulls up a lot doing it. He likes to score short and mid range. His handle is OK, he can do what he did setting people up, and isn't a bad defender.

I think it is important to get him and Femi playing together, to take some of the pressure off of Femi and get them both used to playing together. That isn't optimal because neither is a strong three point shooter. But, they literally are the only two ACC level guards on the roster.

Get Nate more time as the third guard/SF, split time with Will there with Will getting some time with Oladapo at PF, Hugs and Collier and Payton at C.

That looks to be the rotation ..

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

IMHO, Santos has to take serious minutes at SF away from Jeffress at this point. He is Pitt' only reliable 3-point and FT shooter so he needs to be on the court for more minutes at SF than Jeffress if Pitt is to be going to ever score more than 59-63 points per game. Can't win many games with so little scoring. Jeffress needs to be relief at guard and relief at SF and not get starters minutes at either spot. It would be different if he could shoot the 3-ball and FTs well. He is young so maybe those areas of his game will eventually improve--we can hope?

Needless to say, getting Horton back eventually (so Jeffress could have even more limited guard minutes and split his time at both forward spots) would be incredibly beneficial for this team's upside scoring potential (two 3-ball shooters).

 

[Drew1208]

It also was his first action in a long time.

He played his game that I saw from watching video of him, just took a while to shake the rust off.

He attacks the basket, and pulls up a lot doing it. He likes to score short and mid range. His handle is OK, he can do what he did setting people up, and isn't a bad defender.

I think it is important to get him and Femi playing together, to take some of the pressure off of Femi and get them both used to playing together. That isn't optimal because neither is a strong three point shooter. But, they literally are the only two ACC level guards on the roster.

Get Nate more time as the third guard/SF, split time with Will there with Will getting some time with Oladapo at PF, Hugs and Collier and Payton at C.

That looks to be the rotation ..

Yeah i agree. I also think Femi is a good 3 point shooter. But something is up with him. I think that WVU game really messed with his confidence. Burton is really going to help him.
When he came in it was instantly recognizable that he was a mature calming force.
He actually would've been a great addition on last year's team. Sadface

 

[TWPitt]

It also was his first action in a long time.

He played his game that I saw from watching video of him, just took a while to shake the rust off.

He attacks the basket, and pulls up a lot doing it. He likes to score short and mid range. His handle is OK, he can do what he did setting people up, and isn't a bad defender.

I think it is important to get him and Femi playing together, to take some of the pressure off of Femi and get them both used to playing together. That isn't optimal because neither is a strong three point shooter. But, they literally are the only two ACC level guards on the roster.

Get Nate more time as the third guard/SF, split time with Will there with Will getting some time with Oladapo at PF, Hugs and Collier and Payton at C.

That looks to be the rotation ..

Yup

30 minutes each for Femi/Santos/Burton/Jeffress/Hugley then mix and match the other 50 minutes between those 5 guys and Oladapo, Collier, Gueye, Payton depending on who is hot and who is not and what game flow dictates.

 

[gary2]

Yup

30 minutes each for Femi/Santos/Burton/Jeffress/Hugley then mix and match the other 50 minutes between those 5 guys and Oladapo, Collier, Gueye, Payton depending on who is hot and who is not and what game flow dictates.

Jeffress and Santos should not be getting minutes each game at this point. Probably Burton isn’t ready for that yet either.

 

[TWPitt]

Jeffress and Santos should not be getting minutes each game at this point. Probably Burton isn’t ready for that yet either.

so what would your minute distribution be?

 

[gary2]

so what would your minute distribution be?

Odukale 35
Burton 25
Santos. 25
Jefreess 20
Payton 15
Oladapo 25
Gueye 15
Collier 10
Hugley. 30

Burton would get more as he works into game condition

Hugley would get more if he was in better shape.

The other minutes distribution is to keep everybody interested And have a chance at having a hot hand.