Last night he was. But that's what Pitt does to opponents. They make their mediocre players look great.
F it. Let them play out the rest of the year and get this over with. I'm not wasting more time on them.
Virginia Game & Other Dribbles ...
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Last night he was. But that's what Pitt does to opponents. They make their mediocre players look great.
F it. Let them play out the rest of the year and get this over with. I'm not wasting more time on them.
Correct. We have three guys whose minds are made up, regarding whether or not they'll be shooting on a particular possession, before they even embark upon their journey to the rim. I do believe Capel encourages it, so I don't know if it's selfish, stupid, or both. But driving into traffic like they do is very X and McGowens-esque, and it's basically a turnover that just doesn't show up as such on the stats sheet.
We were kind of fighting for our tournament lives down the stretch in Stallings 1, also... it's just that we ended up losing enough games that you couldn't really point to any one in particular as being the biggest disappointment. That may also end up being the case this season.
Come to think of it, that penultimate Dixon team also lost four in a row down the stretch when it probably could have gotten in the tournament by winning just two of those games. Then they carried that over to the NIT, in what was the poorest effort I have probably ever seen a team give.
Capels going nowhere , so everyone needs to get over it .
This collection of talent has a few major flaws that good coaches have exposed.
I don’t see any lack of effort in rebounding or defense, I just see guys who just aren’t good enough .
I’m not sure there are any easy solutions for this years team , if the current trend continues at some point JC needs to see what his younger bench players can do and get them some game experience .
In the current NIL world of college athletics unless they can bag a couple of whales I’m not sure anything above mediocrity can be expected.
This collection of talent has a few major flaws that good coaches have exposed.
I don’t see any lack of effort in rebounding or defense, I just see guys who just aren’t good enough .
I’m not sure there are any easy solutions for this years team , if the current trend continues at some point JC needs to see what his younger bench players can do and get them some game experience .
In the current NIL world of college athletics unless they can bag a couple of whales I’m not sure anything above mediocrity can be expected.
That's what I was thinking. We couldn't get an easy shot in the 1st Half. But they are 215th in defensive efficiency.
No. After beating UVa on January 4, we were probably in some "Next 4 Outs" but then we lost 9 in a row directly after so we were done quick.
So we were fighting for our tournament lives, then.
And what do you think this team is going to be after Saturday? Done quick.
Well, it's February 4 and we are in First 4 Out/Next 4 Out so we are still on the bubble. That's a month longer than Stallings Year 1.
Okay, then Dixon's next to last season has it beat, because that team was probably pretty close to last 4 in, or thereabouts, with 3 regular season games left. This team won't get that close.
Yeah, but is that partially because of playing a slow pace? In other words, scoring spurts could skew that because of fewer possessions. They looked pretty stout. They score and give up around 65 a game,
Right. I remember a weeknight game in late Feb/early March at home vs NC State. I felt we needed to win it to stay in contention for a bid. But Lennard Freeman, one of 84 players who Dixon lost to NC State, went off on us. That was a pretty crushing loss because it's at home, we needed the W and we couldn't beat a pedestrian NC St team.
No. Its efficiency. It's per possession. They are up to 205 in defensive efficiency after last night. One of the worst defensive teams in the ACC and we had 7 points in the 1st 15 minutes. Also, the worst rebounding team in the ACC.
Bingo. I remember watching the interview w/ Sam Clancy, I think it was before the Clemson loss and something about Capel's body language gave me pause. Something wasn't right. And then last night postgame - it was suicide watch look from him. For such a complete and utter meltdown like this team has experienced, there has to be some high drama behind the scenes.
We all know how good coaches handle this. They remove the problem and move on, knowing there is no individual who can really make a difference (outside of players above Pitt's pay grade). It is quite literally a team game. Plus he has years on a contract to work things out. The chumps (like Williard/Stallings) wait until the AD steps in. And the next time he steps in its removal for cause.
kinda random but maybe what this Pitt BB team deserves:
I said it when it happened that Dunn fouled out of the OSU game prior to his injury, his reaction looked bad as he smirked and laughed it off while it was at a critical point and game in the balance(excusable foul but his reaction just looked odd)
I don't know if he alone is poison or just one portion of it but this team is no team and Capel frankly is half of the reason for that
last year Capel had Blake in addition to a very hard working Bub along with role players,
this year he has no mature leader and the combination of the pretend leader that Lowe is and his roommate with inconsistent and low effort Corhen(maybe Capel f'd up bringing in) is Pitt's downfall
all that along with Dunn who appears to be the other big dose of bad chemistry
twins are nice kids and could be great role players if used properly with GDG at the 5 instead of Corhen and Jorge a legit spot shooter, Amsal was nothing and frankly had no chance mixed in with the above
Pitt has no other legit good ball handler than Lowe so while Zack and Ish/Cummings could work at the #3 and #2, that isn't a lineup we've seen much of
Capel and his assistants own this and at this point Capel needs to be gone......he won't be fired for at least 2 years but he's done
I said it when it happened that Dunn fouled out of the OSU game prior to his injury, his reaction looked bad as he smirked and laughed it off while it was at a critical point and game in the balance(excusable foul but his reaction just looked odd)
I don't know if he alone is poison or just one portion of it but this team is no team and Capel frankly is half of the reason for that
last year Capel had Blake in addition to a very hard working Bub along with role players,
this year he has no mature leader and the combination of the pretend leader that Lowe is and his roommate with inconsistent and low effort Corhen(maybe Capel f'd up bringing in) is Pitt's downfall
all that along with Dunn who appears to be the other big dose of bad chemistry
twins are nice kids and could be great role players if used properly with GDG at the 5 instead of Corhen and Jorge a legit spot shooter, Amsal was nothing and frankly had no chance mixed in with the above
Pitt has no other legit good ball handler than Lowe so while Zack and Ish/Cummings could work at the #3 and #2, that isn't a lineup we've seen much of
Capel and his assistants own this and at this point Capel needs to be gone......he won't be fired for at least 2 years but he's done
That OSU game was really fools gold. If they make even a reasonable amount of the FTs down the stretch or Austin clanks that shot, this season's expectations never even exist and we probably realize what this team is even sooner. We saw the defensive and rebounding lapses, and propensity for me-ball offense, when blowing the big lead to Wisconsin.
This year, other than Duke and possibly 'Ville, the ACC is very weak. You can't compare this year's results with what happened in Stallings Year 1.
Some may say we're still on the bubble, but those of us who are at the games and are watching this team play, know that we're not on the bubble at all. And that's not a good thing.
“Capel is going nowhere so just get over it” - what sucks to me about that is that people will “get over it” by simply tuning Pitt hoops out.
And as far as money/mediocrity - it isn’t like the Dixon years where people were mad that we can’t make the final 4. All we want is to be is in contention for the field of 68 most years. Admin/fan support is strong enough where that is too much to ask.
I had high hopes this year - it is going to be very hard to get invested again next year if we just run back the same plan that never works next year
I think you can look for your shot without having it be the only option.
it’s frustrating to see our guys get that look in their eyes where you know they will either shoot or lose the ball. Easier to defined when it’s predictable.
Seven years with one tournament appearance, a coach who’s a hair above .500 over that time akd well below it in ACC play, and you want us to blame the players for that?
No. I said this team definitely has coaching issues too.
I meant when people assess coaching in general in sports. It’s usually overblown because it’s an easier way to envision their team getting better quicker. But usually those teams need a lot of better players.
There were two very obvious times to call timeout.
One was at he 13:46 mark after UVA had hit a 3 to go up 11-4. One could contest that 7 point lead doesn't need a timeout just yet. But up to that point, we nothing going on offensively and turned it over 3 times.
But if one isn't going to concede a TO isn't need there, then one should have absolutely been called after Ames jumper at 12:11 (following another Lowe turnover) to make it 13-4.
Instead, we came back down (and turned it over AGAIN) and UVA scored with and-one to take the game into the under 12 TO. After completing the three point play, it went to 16-4 and the horse was out of the barn.
It wasn't so much the score that necessitated the TO however, but the fact that it was really obvious that team was all messed up from the early going. Jeff's belief is to let his team play through it, and while I get that, I think he lets it go too long sometimes.
Against Cal, he didn't call TO until the team went down 13 too. Eventually, the went down 16 before turning it around.
Howland, then Dixon, used to call TO's right away if the team went down 8-0 in the early going.
I remember once when Dixon called 2 TO's within a minute relatively early in the second half of a close game (against WVU I believe). I remember the board FREAKIN out because he was wasting TO's. But the second one got his team back on track and he never needed to call a timeout the rest of the way.
On one of the first few possessions, Corhen gave up an offensive rebound and score to Buchanan. I ran it back and it was bad. Capel and the assistants were livid on the sideline. I would have called a TO right there and been like we arent starting this crap. If you aren't going to rebound or give max effort, you can't play
This team has craved structure at both ends of the floor for years.
For the most part people have already tuned Pitt hoops out .
For a school like Pitt to have had so much success under JD and then pull the plug shows you the mentality of those in charge of Pitt athletics. What we’re seeing now is how difficult it is to replicate that success . What further complicates the issue now is any school with a serious booster can instantly turn a program around . Pitt Bb doesn’t have that booster .
Success in college athletics is a year to year thing now with the NIL , last year was surprising this year it’s disappointing next year who knows !
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One of our crew said that if Pitt really wanted to make some money they should charge people to leave games early.
You're kidding I'm sure.
There are various reasons why people leave games early. Last night it was because Pitt sucked big time and we couldn't stomach it any longer.
You either leave calmly, or get escorted out by security due to the obscenities you were yelling at the team.
Fortunately for DT, he was sitting far enough away from the bench last night that they couldn't hear his comments!
Ok here’s one incident in the game that raised my eyebrow but haven’t seen anyone mention it. Can’t remember who had the ball standstill dribbling at the top of the arc, Lowe, Ish or Dunn, but one of the twins was on the right side of the arc and Beebah was further down in the right corner. The twin pretty animatedly flailed his arms motioning Beebah to move across court. Beebah just looked at him and defiantly just stayed in the right corner. It was pretty comical. I don’t recall but I think it’s a good bet a turnover or bad shot followed shortly after.
Lunardi still has us in today in the first four. The Athletic did a bracket today and had us as the last team getting a bye. We are squarely on the bubble right now. And yet he's saying things like we need to win all the rest of our games just to have a chance to get on the bubble.
Think about that for a second. Most people think we are on the bubble now, one way or the other. He thinks we are so far off that if we go 9-0 down the stretch, which would include beating bubble North Carolina at North Carolina and bubble SMU at SMU, and a team that right now is easily in Louisville at Louisville, and if we do all that there is a chance, not a guarantee mind you, but just a chance, that that would get us to the bubble.
I mean look, we are simply not going to go 9-0 in these last nine. Heck, did anyone think we would go 9-0 in these last nine back when we were playing well, let alone now that the bottom has fallen out? But if we do somehow manage to go 9-0 in these last nine games, the reason why we won't be on the bubble is because we would be in.
These two posts are last night in a nutshell.
One of the reasons Tony Bennett was big on redshirting guys is that he says it takes a year and a half to learn how to play the pack-line defense instinctively. A lot of young guys have been thrown to the fire this year for Virginia. While the DNA is still there, there's constantly been breakdowns that lead to easy baskets. Rebounding is really starting to improve of late. Virginia has been atrocious on the boards this year. Several times this year, they have played really well defensively for almost the entire duration of the shot clock, only to give up easy baskets because they can't come up with a rebound. And obviously UVA doesn't have any elite on ball defenders like Beekman & Dunn. But watching UVA since November, they have really improved in a lot of areas and it's nice to see the lights starting to come on for some of the young guys. I think Virginia has put up 70+ points in 4 of their last 5 games. They couldn't even do that against American, Holy Cross, Bethune-Cookman, Coppin State, or Campbell.
So, giving the Wahoos their props and not wanting to take anything away from their effort, last night was a lot more about Pitt than UVA. The constant dribble drive into the teeth of the defense played right into UVA's hands. Most disappointing from a Pitt perspective was the defense. I thought it was a half-hearted effort that allowed UVA to dictate pace. Pitt has the personnel to pressure the shit out of Virginia's guards and speed the game up. Tbh, even at half, I thought Pitt would adjust and eventually take control of the game.
Really like 44's point about coaching. It's spot on and every loss autopsy doesn't have to become a referendum on the coach.
BTW, did anyone notice how Virginia came out and uncharacteristically switched on almost every pick and roll? There were several times Pitt had a mismatch with a big down low defended by a guard. Rarely took advantage of it though.
I dont think our guards are relatively good passers on a consistent level and our bigs don't attack the rim strong enough. Both of the twins cannot post defend nor score in the post. Cam is okay if the pass hits him directly in the hands or they run a lob pass to him but it seems like it has been years since we had a post presence so teams are comfortable switching knowing our guys rarely identify the mismatch and take advantage of it
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