If I had to lay odds, I would have had Ron Cook as the prohibitive favorite among Pittsburgh newspaper columnists penning the “Pitt’s weak schedule is the reason for the loss” column this morning. But, no. Dejan Kovacevic grabs the superficial brass ring. Oh, he’s not coming and saying it’s the reason. He’s just saying the question is still out there.

You’d better believe the topic came up again, as it’ll continue to do for as long as it goes unaddressed. In this context, the question was whether or not Pitt might have been better prepared for Cincinnati with an out-of-conference schedule ranked better than 167th in the country.

You may remember Kovacevic’s previous “question” of whether this Pitt team is better without Steven Adams.

Time for a personal aside. I hate. HATE the “I’m just asking questions” pieces. Regardless of the medium. At the end of the day, it is nothing but pot-stirring crap that someone doesn’t have the actual courage to stand behind. They aren’t saying they believe it (wink, wink). They are just acknowledging the question is out there and opening it up to others to discuss. That way they don’t have to back up what they are saying. They don’t have to take one side.

They can just toss it out there. Repeat it. Let others pick it up, and see what happens. Skew the debate without having to get your hands dirty.

Skip Bayless may be a gasbag troll best ignored, but at least you know what side he is taking on something (usually the side that gets the most controversy and attention). When a media person can’t even reach that level, it should be a concern.

/end rant

(more…)

(At least I hope so.)

Like most people, every now and then I dream of work. And it is miserable and soul-sapping for the next day. Last night I managed to combine the work dream with that replays of that game. I’ve locked up all the knives in the house.

The number that reflects the ugliness is the way that killed the adjusted tempo. Coming into the game, per KenPom.com, Pitt’s AdjT was at 66.3 while Cinci was at 66.7. Nationally that was 271st and 255th respectively. That one game of misery dropped both teams’ averages by 1.7 to 64.6 and 65.0. One game (admittedly over only 11 games) did that.

There’s no way to pretend it didn’t happen. I want to, but too many are going to treat this like some indictment of Pitt’s schedule. Or as evidence Pitt is not that good. That may all be true, but that game is not the proof. That game was  a complete outlier. A freak game. They happen. They happen to really good teams at strange times.

(more…)

The wife and one of the kids have been sick for the past week. It’s been nicely staggered so that just as one started improving the next goes down. Spare time has been minimal.

Guess who said this?

“It’s an area we love to recruit. Playing in New York City is something we try to do every year. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue to do it on an annual basis one way or another.”

Nope. Not Jamie Dixon. That’s Cinci Coach Mick Cronin. With Rutgers off to the Big 10, and not even Seton Hall to kick around there is no NY area team in the American Conference. Cinci has four NY area kids on their squad, so there will be families from both sides.

(more…)

I’ll understand if you were wringing your hands over Pitt’s non-con schedule again after this past weekend. The non-con has not gotten better looking. Not after Cinci went down big to Xavier. Penn State showed why it doesn’t get basketball respect after losing to Princeton at home — by blowing an 18 point lead with 6:34 left. Duquesne lost to Robert Morris. Heck, Fresno State and Albany lost over the weekend.

So no matter what computer metric you use (KenPom, RPI, Sagarin…), Pitt’s non-con strength of schedule is down near the bottom.

It’s the reason why Pitt is still unranked despite piling up a 10-0 record. Stanford is presently the best win, and while nice, provides no boost. And thanks to getting blown out by Xavier, the same can be said for today’s game with Cinci as far as potential impact — assuming a win.

(more…)

That was what they did.

“They manhandled us,” [YSU Coach Jerry] Slocum said, which is a great way to describe what the bigger, more physical Panthers did to the Penguins in the paint, and it also was the biggest reason the Panthers won the game.

What does “manhandling” look like in terms of one basketball team to another?

Start with the fact that the Panthers outrebounded the Penguins, 47-21, the largest rebounding margin they have posted in a game this season.

Pitt had 20 offensive rebounds, one fewer than the Penguins had total, and Pitt center Talib Zanna had almost as many defensive rebounds (11) as the Penguins had as a team (14).

The rebounding edge led to the Panthers rolling up impressive numbers of points in the paint (48) and second-chance points (20).

Offensively Pitt didn’t show much rust from a week off for finals.

(more…)

Pitt football got a verbal today.

Pitt landed its 20th verbal commitment of the 2014 high school class Saturday night when Cocoa, Fla., linebacker James Folston, Jr., gave his pledge to coach Paul Chryst and the Panthers, according to multiple reports.

Folston is rated as a two-star prospect on Rivals.com and chose Pitt over offers from Minnesota and South Florida.

Rivals.com and 247 and says 2-star. Scout.com and ESPN don’t have him ranked.

His father was also an underrated recruit. James Folston, Sr. played in the NFL after becoming a standout at Louisiana-Monroe.

God bless, Aaron Donald. Not only did he sweep the awards this week. He did it during finals week at Pitt when there was no real news or games. (Let’s try not to think too much about the student part of the student-athlete, I’m sure the athletic department worked something out with Donald’s professors on the finals.)

Not sure what kind of crowd will be at the game. The weather looks like it will be kind of nasty. A wintry mix of snow and ice. Up here in the Cleveland area, it’s just snow. A noon start. But, hey, it is on-campus so you know that’s all people need as motivation to show up for games.

Okay, so about the game and other stuff.

(more…)

Amazing.

(more…)

Among some other things.

The Lombardi Award — for best offensive or defensive lineman — went to Aaron Donald as expected. He also had a chance to speak to Pitt’s other Lombardi Award winner, Hugh Green.

Yesterday he was also named to the All-ACC squad (1st team) and named ACC Defensive Player of the Year by the ACC Coaches. The only shock is that at least a couple coaches did not vote him #1 at DT.

Additionally he was named to the USA Today All-American 1st team.

(more…)

Running late on this, I know.

On Monday Aaron Donald picked up the first of what has an excellent chance at being several more awards for everything he did this past season.

The Pittsburgh senior defensive tackle won the Bronko Nagurski award given to the nation’s top college defensive player.

The 6-foot, 285-pound Donald was presented the award at a ceremony Monday night in Charlotte.

The ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Donald averaged 2.2 tackles for loss per game while ranking 10th in forced fumbles and 13th in sacks per game.

He had 28½ sacks for his career with one game left to play.

“I’m just so excited,” Donald said. “I think it is a great way for my father to celebrate his birthday. And I think it’s huge for the University of Pittsburgh. There were so many people wishing me well.”

Tonight is the presentation for the Lombardi Award — best lineman or linebacker. On Thursday night, it’s the ESPN-centric extravaganza of college sports awards where Donald is up for the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) and the Outland Trophy (best offensive or defensive interior lineman).

(more…)

Welp, Pitt didn’t get Dravon Henry. The 4-star defensive back opted for West Virginia.

Everyone knows it was down to those two for Henry. He was quite torn on the decision. Tears and all when he announced.

As noted, this doesn’t help defensive coordinator Matt House’s status with Pitt fans when he can’t reel in the best defensive player in the state. Losing him to WVU and a defense that will give up a ton of points and yardage simply because the offense leaves it all on them.

(more…)

As expected, Pitt is headed to Detroit, Michigan for the Little Caesars Bowl. Their opponent? MAC Champion Bowling Green.

Pitt to Little Caesars Bowl to play Bowling Green, source said. Birmingham streak is finally over!

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) December 8, 2013

While obviously this isn’t the most exciting bowl game, it’s a bowl game nonetheless.  (more…)

Okay, Loyola Marymount isn’t a bad team. They aren’t great, but they aren’t bottom feeders. They have a dynamo-type point guard, in Anthony Ireland, to give Pitt some problems. They are getting some good help inside from their freshman forward, Gabe Levin.

As Coach Jamie Dixon notes, they press a bit and go up-tempo. But they will definitely struggle to get Pitt to push the tempo beyond any comfort zone.

I’m going to have to watch it later tonight. The kids’ school is doing one of those fundraisers where they will do a mass babysitting of kids for the evening on the cheap. You just don’t pass up those opportunities to get a night out with your spouse. Doubly so, when you don’t have to spend a ton on babysitting costs.

The game starts at 7:00 on ESPN3.com.

Yes, even if that means Detroit.

As an economic model, the college bowl system is up there with the Shoe Event Horizon (only less logical).

It now seems like a secondary cottage industry for pundits and commenters now exists  to complain about the volume of bowls. More noise that eventually sounds like so much static.

I’ve long since stopped being bothered by the whole issue of bowls and the overwhelming volume. People show up to them. We watch them. The beat goes on.

Even when it comes to Pitt, given their 6-6 record — again. I’m at a point where I can’t get worked up over where they Panthers go for their bowl. At least they are going. At least they get the extra practices.

(more…)

I thought it would be a good game. I did not expect Pitt to shoot 28% in the first half. Thank goodness Pitt was hitting free throws (yeah, that’s still taking some getting used to).

Before the game, I said that Penn State was essentially a two-man team in Tim Frazier and D.J. Newbill. Boy, were they ever. The two were a combined 15-30 shooting along with 13-16 on free throws for 45 of the Nits 69 points. The rest of PSU’s squad: 8-23 shooting, 6-7 on free throws. That’s 65% of their made baskets and total scoring. 55% of their total shot attempts. They came into the game averaging over 40% of the FGA and just over 50% of the FGM. Those numbers look tame by comparison. Frazier really had it going.

Now, Pat Chambers learned from Jay Wright about turning loose dynamo guards, but that Penn State has to rely so heavily on just two players to have a chance to come up short against a good team has to be a concern for him when their B1G season starts.

(more…)