4pm.
Regional TV broadcasts if lucky, or ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.
It’s this or hate watch the Fiesta Bowl (Go Huskies!).
A belated Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas. And an early, Happy New Year.
Sorry to have been away, yet again. Been more then a little crazy. Including few days of squirrel madness. A squirrel getting into the attic the day after Christmas, eventually finding it’s way to the basement before going back up to the attic. Culminating in trapping it last night.
So many conflicting emotions over this game. Towson is a good team this year. They were a top-100 KenPom.com team. A top contender in the Colonial — one of the better mid-major conferences. They were the legitimate favorites in the game. This was Pitt’s first win over what could be considered a quality opponent.
On the other hand…
It’s still playing Towson. And pardon the elitism or snobbery, but that’s a hard mental block no matter how young, inexperienced and not particularly good Pitt is this year. Pitt had to comeback multiple times. The fact that Pitt was a home dog against them is more then a little troubling even with Ryan Luther on the shelf.
The race to get those faxes in first is amusing. They started rolling in right away at the 7 am Eastern starting time. A little more then an hour later and over half the verbals have made it official.
Pitt has a page on the website to see videos and pics of all players who have gone beyond verbal.
Hey, it beats thinking about how Pitt almost blew the game against Delaware State last night.
For all the things Ryan Luther was bringing to each game — the only senior, scoring, fouls, etc. The one thing he did that no one else on the team has been doing is rebounding. And it isn’t even close.
Among Panthers averaging more than six minutes per game, he had the best defensive rebounding percentage. On a team that struggles to rebound on offense and and prevent opposing teams from doing the same, he had the highest offensive rebounding percentage, collecting 14.2 percent of Pitt’s misses while he was on the court, the 50th-best mark among Division I players. The Panthers’ next-closest qualifying player in that category — freshman Terrell Brown — is at 9.2 percent.
Luther was also collecting about 20% of the defensive rebounds. Pitt has been an abysmal team with rebounding. Now with Luther out for at least two weeks, the rebounding issue is going to be significant.
It’s been a while, I know.
The first early signing period in college football is only a couple days away. December 20 is the day Pitt and most other programs (that haven’t been through a major spin on the coaching carousel) look to have 90% or so of their recruiting class complete.
The last couple weeks have brought a bit of shake-up to the expected 2018 roster. Some expected. Some not.
8pm ESPN2
I should be looking forward to this game more then I am.
I love games between Pitt and WVU. The natural, good hate that bubbles around the teams and the fans. This should be the kind of game where you hear the cliche, “You can throw out the records when these two…”
Except you really can’t. Not tonight. These teams haven’t played in five years. The overwhelming majority of players have no real connection to the Backyard Brawl. Pitt has a coach that has no familiarity with it.
Extensions. Contract lengths. Those are all vague concepts when it comes to contracts for college coaches. The buyout is the thing, and a new contract/extension for 7 years (or a 2 year extension if you prefer) certainly will up the buyout.
Sorry, burying the lead. During the basketball game last night, there were tweets coming out of an extension in the works for Coach Pat Narduzzi. Along with increasing the salary pool for assistants.
Sure enough.
Clearly, I underestimated the ability of this young Pitt basketball team to play down to the level of its competition.
Pitt may have won four in a row, but there is an inconsistency even in these wins, as this one and making it past High Point illustrated. Whether it is effort, coaching, youth and/or talent.
Mount St. Mary’s was as close to assuming a gimmee even for Pitt this year. The Mountaineers are the worst team on Pitt’s schedule to this point. Yet, Pitt gave them a huge opportunity to get the win.
7pm, ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN
Have to admit, I like Pitt’s chances tonight. The — Google’s “Mount St. Mary’s mascot,” double-takes, clicks a few links to verify, well, okay then — Mountaineers of Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Oh, my. Their mascot is one, “Emmit S. Burg.” Oh, and let’s not get started on drowning bunnies.
Sorry, definitely went down a rabbit hole.
I swear, if Pitt basketball ruins 13-9 Day for me… Well, I’ll rant and complain so uselessly…
It’s been a while since I got around to — well, much on this site. But especially basketball. In that time, Pitt has gone 2-2.
After bottoming out against Penn State (I recognize the words, but not the arrangement), Pitt played better against Oklahoma State — but still lost. They seemed to be showing improvement by handling Lehigh relatively close to how they should. Then fell back a step, struggling to close out High Point.
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