7pm.

ESPNU

When the hope is that Pitt might have a chance because FSU had a quick turnaround from Saturday with a heartbreaking loss to Duke and then a road trip. That’s not much to peg the hopes upon.

Now if you just wanted to say, it’s a Leonard Hamilton team and history has shown they can lose to anyone. Then we’re talking.

FSU is a very talented team — which is something frequently said about Leonard Hamilton teams, but rarely much else. And they are big. They are one of the bigger teams nationally. They have a 7-4 player coming off the bench. Their leading scorer, Mfiondu Kabengele, is 6-10 and averages under 20 minutes a game to get there. They have big men who kind of have to be drooling a little bit after seeing what Funderburk for NC State did. To say nothing of Enoch for Louisville.

I’m not trying to be negative, but Pitt is going against a team built to dominate them at the present.

FSU has a frontcourt that is big. That rebounds. That scores. Pitt’s biggest weakness is that they don’t have a frontcourt to speak of. They have one guy with size that is playing inside. It’s essentially a 4-guard line-up.

I am thrilled with the progress Terrell Brown has shown to this point. He has improved in terms of energy, defense and rebounding. He’s got flaws as would be expected. He was a project as a freshman. He needs to get stronger. He needs to get more upper-body strength to control the rebounds. But the progress he has shown, his will to improve, and the coaching that he is getting.

That said, he’s out there on his own and still has a way to go.

The guards can crash the boards with abandon — and they do. But size still matters inside.

I expect, like we have seen for the last two games that Pitt will play FSU tough. I expect that Pitt might even have a chance. But realistically, FSU should be expected to win this game.