Don’t get me wrong. This is going to be a bit of an up-and-down season (and that’s not a tempo joke, I swear). There are going to be some frustrating losses. And probably a blowout loss or two. But that shouldn’t take away from a very good and satisfying win last night.

Pitt went on the road to a top-25 team in a power conference and won. They didn’t just scrape by. They blew the Terrapins off the court late in the first half and could get away with coasting most of the second half. For god’s sake, Ryan Luther and Sheldon Jeter were playing at the same time in the second half. That’s how big the lead was.

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7pm ESPN2.

Small sample size and all, but after six games, Pitt’s tempo is ranked 256th nationally per, KenPom. Maybe — and I’m just spitballing ideas here — the players have as much to do with the pace as the coaching style. The players always say they want to get up-and-down the court. But they also want to score and win.

Pitt can score. The offense is still one of the most efficient nationally. The defense, though, is something else.

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On the heels of breaking into the AP Top 25 at #24, Pitt players and a coach picked up some nice accolades.

In something that has become a regular occurrence, Quadree Henderson picked up his 5th ACC Specialist of the Week honor (yes, it is really called “specialist”).

He earned his latest award by compiling a career-high 257 all-purpose yards against the Orange, averaging an incredible 21.4 yards per touch.

Henderson averaged 18.7 yards on three punt returns (56 yards), 24.5 on four kickoffs (98 yards) and an incredible 20.6 on five rushes (103 yards). He had a 66-yard touchdown burst off a jet sweep to give Pitt a 49-21 lead in the third quarter.

Henderson’s (Wilmington, Del./Alexis I. du Pont) performance helped the Panthers achieve their highest single-game point total since 1977. His five Specialist of the Week awards are the most by an ACC player this season. He was previously honored for his performances in the Penn State, Virginia, Miami and Duke contests.

A highly viable All-America candidate, Henderson has four returns for touchdowns this season, including a nation-leading three on kickoffs. He ranks second in the country in combined kick return yards (1,121), fifth in kickoff return average (31.1) and 11th in all-purpose yards per game (159.75).

I’m assuming the ACC has a Specialist of the Year honor, which Henderson is a shoe-in to get. Along with 1st Team All-ACC recognition.

Speaking of which…

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… Or…

I took my son to Pitt and a Big 12 game happened.

Thanks again, to Wally for the tickets. My boy had a great time. Good to see you again and to talk.

Where to begin — or end — with that game?

Tons of points. Even more yards. Volume, volume, volume of explosive plays. Too many mistakes by the defenses to count. And at times, it felt like the game was never going to end.

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12:30 pm. ACC Nework syndication.

Thanks to everyone who offered tickets so that my son and I can attend the game (as fans) today. Much bigger response than I expected. He’s excited about going, even if it is going to be cold and had to get up very early.

Pitt is the heavy favorite. The Syracuse offense does not look to be in good shape with QB Eric Dungey doubtful for the game. That leaves Zack Mahoney as the starter. Additionally, players not listed on the injury report are question marks.

Junior wide receiver Steve Ishmael, redshirt freshman center Colin Byrne and redshirt senior guard Omari Palmer are not included. It’s unclear if and how much each will play against the Panthers.

The Syracuse defense is not exactly its strong suit. It averages giving up 35+ points a game.

Time to send the seniors off with one more home win, and finish with an 8-4 record.

I have to believe nearly every blogger who has seen their school getting this team on the schedule has at least considered the James Bond/Austin Powers-esque jokes about this school’s name. “We’re getting Morehead? … Wonderful.”

I may have started drinking before starting this post.

Morehead wasn’t expected to be a big challenge coming into the season. It seems less likely with their head coach suspended.

Morehead State basketball coach Sean Woods has been suspended with pay, effective immediately, while the school investigates complaints it has received.

“Resulting from complaints received, the institution has begun an investigation involving the head basketball coach. While we continue through the formal process, we believe it is prudent to suspend the coach until the investigation is finished,” Morehead State athletic director Brian Hutchinson said.

…

In his first season, Woods was suspended for a game for shoving a player. Woods was 75-63 in his first four seasons and received a contract extension this past offseason through the 2019-20 campaign.

Seems like we are looking at a David Rice or Mike Lonergan situation. Those always end well. That they suspended him and are having a formal investigation after the season is underway does not bode well for his future.

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you are enjoying it with friends, family and those who make you happy. I have been doing little things in preparation for the full-blown day of cooking (and maybe a bit to drink). The way things work out this time of year, we can’t travel to be with the entire family, so it is just the wife and kids. Which is much more peaceful, but we do miss out on the fun (usually) chaos of a house full of family.

There’s a game on Saturday, and I’m taking my son to it. He went with me to the spring game and had a great time. It just hasn’t worked out most of the season, but I promised him his first game this year so it is do or die time. On that note, does anyone have a couple extra tickets they aren’t using? Dragging him to the pressbox doesn’t seem like a good idea. I don’t think I can sell him as my intern. That means I have to pick a couple up. I know it won’t be hard to get a couple, but I might as well ask here first.

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7pm, ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.

Mike Young picked up his second consecutive ACC Player of the Week honors.

The cynical part of me is going to watch with an eye towards whether Pitt can put forth a decent and consistent defensive effort this game, or do they revert to type.

As much as Coach Kevin Stallings emphasized up-tempo and offense in the offseason, once the season started he’s like most coaches: time to play some dang defense.

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The line on this game started at Pit -23.5. It has since risen to -24.5. I wonder how much of it is confidence in Pitt versus a lack of confidence in Syracuse.

Normally the Syracuse-Pitt “rivalry” game is a time for us to make fun of the ACC for declaring this the rivalry game. Point out how neither side really views the other with deep hate in football. That the series tends to shift one-sidedly for quite a while — and right now it is on Pitt’s side.

That’s still all true. But, at least the ACC went and moved it to the end of the season when there is a chance the game could means something in terms of wins and losses.

With that in mind, it isn’t a game that should produce the usual apathy and “meh” commentary. This is a game that could get Pitt to 8 regular season wins. Another nice step in year two under Pat Narduzzi, considering the strength of schedule took a noticeable jump compared to last year (and, yes, the frustrating closeness of some losses (and wins)).

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The points didn’t come in one wild quarter or half. There wasn’t a defense that completely overwhelmed and demoralized Duke. Instead, they were steady consistent blows on both sides of the ball. It didn’t even feel like a blowout until you looked up at the score in 4th quarter.

Duke never quite seemed out of it in the first half. In part, because, Pitt fans have been conditioned this year to understand that no lead is truly safe. But primarily because while Pitt was dominating, they weren’t destroying.

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Ah, the joys of a 60-hour work week, and family commitments. I still have the Marquette-Pitt basketball game on the DVR to watch on Sunday. No spoilers, please.

For those of you not going to the game:

3pm, Root Sports Pittsburgh and various other RSNs and ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.

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4:30 pm, ESPN2. Hope you finish work early today.

It wasn’t close to a debacle, but it wasn’t great either. Losing to this SMU team was not a surprise, but the second half performance by Pitt was disappointing.

As we have seen in all three games, Pitt is still a team that will go on extended scoring droughts and its commitment to defense ranges from indifferent to inconsistent.

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(Treat this as the open thread, as well. I am short on time and on DVR delay the next two nights due to my daughter’s school musical.)

It’s hard to believe that in all the years Kevin Stallings coached at Vandy, the Commodores never made it to Madison Square Garden. Just by virtue of the years and number of events had at MSG, you would think there would have been one game.

Pitt plays a good SMU team tonight. As usual Larry Brown cut corners and ran afoul of the NCAA on recruiting — again. Also, as usual, Larry Brown went Larry Brown over not being “appreciated” (read: more years and money — despite the NCAA sanctions and his suspension) and quit over the summer.

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I hope no one is assuming Duke is a gimmee at this point. Duke is a good team that has noticeably improved from the start of this season to this point. It was expected to be a rebuilding year for Duke, and it has. But there have been improvements in this team as the season progressed

Duke is sitting at 4-6, but it is not the same team that lost to Virginia and barely eked out a win over Army. They upset UNC the week before. They lost by only 3 to Virginia Tech the week before that. And last month they held Louisville and presumptive Heisman winner Lamar Jackson to by far their lowest offensive production of the season in a loss. (Plus, they beat ND which even if ND sucks, is worthy of giving them some props.)

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Two games into the basketball season and Pitt is 2-0. A not completely surprising, but still disappointing tough win over Eastern Michigan and a relatively easy win over Gardner-Webb

In terms of the raw numbers, Pitt is as expected. KenPom ranks them at 52d nationally based on their Adjusted Efficiency Margin (Offensive efficiency – Defensive efficiency). On the offensive side, they are 23d nationally and defensively down at 81st. Their tempo at this point is 181st nationally — right around average.

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