12 pm

ESPN

The wife and daughter are on a camping excursion. My son has his own thing that has him away for the weekend. That left me with a Friday night free and clear. To which I nursed a single bourbon, watched a few innings of the World Series, and called it an early night.

The excuse being I had to get up early to drive into Pittsburgh today. The reality being I’m old and was just tired. The only wisdom that has been gleaned from age is not ignoring being tired, and forcing myself to go out and do something simply because I could have.

Anyways…

(more…)

It’s a time to leave it all out there after last week.

Literally got to the press box just before kickoff. A 3:30 kickoff and a chance to be with friends for some real time. It was all the reasons why I have been coming to Pitt games for the last 20+ years. And I’ll be damned if I was going to cut it short.

Do I have unreasonable/irrational optimism? Yeah. Is it substance enhanced? I don’t think so, but I’m not voluntarily submitting to any tests.

12 pm.

Raycom affiliate syndication.

If you haven’t read the piece on Jared Wilson-Frame, by Craig Meyer, then skip this post and just read that. JWF’s story is a something and sets out some of why and how he to bounce around a bit before getting to Pitt.

Wilson-Frame had the unfortunate timing to be forced to be a focal point on a bad team. In an ideal world, he would be a major rotation player that stretches the floor with his shooting and takes some of the pressure off the primaries.

Instead, on teams that lacked depth, maturity and talent; Wilson-Frame had to shoulder a much larger role. He embraced the leadership aspects in his two years at Pitt; and has done as much as possible on the court.

Jared Wilson-Frame won’t be listed as one of the greats for Pitt basketball; but he should be considered one of the best representatives we could want to have of the University of Pittsburgh.

(more…)

8pm.

Slight Raycom syndication or ACC NE/WatchESPN.

Hey, at least Virginia didn’t do to Pitt what it did to Syracuse last night. Yeesh, that second half bordered on obscene.

I dunno, should I just talk about spring football practice instead?

(more…)

2pm.

Raycom syndication (almost over. Almost. Over.) or ACC NE/WatchESPN.

There’s always a chance. That’s part of the appeal of sports. And of course, this is UVa. The team that kind-of-sort-of is the object lesson in that with their achievement in being the first #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament to lose to a #16 seed. Something that will likely never die (because the rest of the ACC will never, ever let them forget it.).

Still…

(more…)

7pm.

Some RSNs.

Been a day. Let’s stick to sports for a couple hours.

Luck in sports statistics is essentially the deviation of wins and losses from the numbers. So a team that wins a lot of close games is considered lucky and a team that loses a lot of close games is unlucky.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. We like to ascribe characteristics to the teams. The ones that constantly win close games aren’t simply lucky (unless we hate them). No, they are veterans, gritty or just “know how to win.” Teams that are constantly on the other side of the coin are too young, or soft, or have a culture of losing.

Well, your cliche may vary.

Needless to say, Pitt has been in a lot of close games and ended up on the losing end of a lot of them. To the point where Pitt is close to the very bottom of all D-1 teams in terms of “luck.”

(more…)

9 pm.

RSNs and ACC NE/WatchESPN.

GT isn’t good. Their head coach has regrets about ghosting Xavier Johnson. But, Pitt is on the road, where; beyond not winning a game in a couple years, has looked really bad to boot. So, who knows tonight.

I’ve seen and read some talk about how this season is more frustrating then last season because Pitt has had more shoulda/coulda/woulda games that were losses rather then wins.

Bullshit.

Absolute and utter bullshit.

(more…)

4:30 pm

Various RSNs (including YES, NESN AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh) or ACC NE/WatchESPN.

Even though Pitt has lost three straight to VT. Even though Buzz Williams has done a solid job of building the Hokies out of wreckage into a top-25 team. A team built to sustain success with solid recruiting and development. It is still weird to think of VT as a good basketball team.

Basically they are what Pitt once was.

(more…)

2 pm.

Raycom affiliates (if lucky). Otherwise ACC NE/WatchESPN.

This is a “blackout” game so cue up the outrage over the variant unis.

(more…)

9pm

ESPNU.

Pitt has yet to win a conference road game and it now stretches back to February 8, 2017 at Boston College. That’s 15 straight conference road losses. 1-21 over the last 2+ seasons.

No pressure.

(more…)

9pm.

ESPN.

Big night at the Pete. There may be some subplots that will get cliched into the ground during the broadcast.

I want to say that Pitt will win, but that isn’t realistic. I would like to say that Pitt can win, and while true, is not something I really believe.

Does that mean I won’t hope? That I won’t let irrational excitement overwhelm if Pitt keeps it close? If they come out hot? I’ll be as delusional as I want to be. Hell, I’ll probably have a dark period where I’ll start “what if/if only”-ing the game.

That’s the joy of being a fan. Of what this team has done this year. They have so far to go, but they have moved so far beyond what we saw last year; that I can sort of believe. That there is hope.

Let’s have some fun tonight.

2pm.

Some RSNs, especially on the East Coast. Otherwise, ACC NE/WatchESPN.

Even if Pitt wasn’t 2-2 in the ACC. And instead was 1-3 or even 0-4, I would be thrilled with what I’m seeing from the team and the direction they are heading. The actually winning ACC games makes it easy to love this team and this coaching staff; but what stands out for me is the visible improvements, the adjustments and growth, from game-to-game.

Pitt started ACC play with a complete and utter beatdown at the hands of UNC. The Tarheels forced Pitt outside and the defense — zone, a bit of packline and soft man-to-man that kept the Pitt guards from getting directly to the rim. Knowing Pitt is not a consistently good outside shooting team.

So, what happened the next game? Against Louisville, Pitt was relentless about attacking the basket. There was not nearly so much settling for outside shots. The Panthers kept attacking and it forced the officials to make foul calls. Pitt set the tone the entire way for that game.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

12 pm.

Raycom Network affiliates or ACC DN/WatchESPN.

A little annoyed that the actual Raycom owned station in the Cleveland is opting for Virginia-Clemson for reasons that escape me.

This NC State team is actually good? It seems so strange to type that. I mean we’ve seen bad NC State teams. We’ve seen very talented NC State teams. But a very good NC State team? One that is well-coached, talented and focused? That escapes my memory.

(more…)

8pm.

Raycom affiliates or ACC NE/WatchESPN.

It’s been quite a while since Pitt beat Louisville. Pitt hasn’t beaten Louisville since the Cards joined the ACC. The Panthers have lost 12 straight to Louisville. The last win came in March 2008. Almost 11 years. Yikes.

Rick Pitino isn’t running things anymore. Louisville is in the midst of a transition of their own. Albeit with Chris Mack, late of Xavier, now running things.

(more…)