Cards vs. Panthers

[Straight Eye Larry]

Pitt fan here. First and foremost, I'm not here to exchange words or start anything. I'm here to see what everyone thinks of L'ville this year. What are your team's strengths? Weaknesses (if you have any)?

Pitt doesn't have much of a chance Friday. Even if Pitt had the better team (we don't), we can never win at the Yum. I just hope we keep it somewhat competitive.

Here's a rundown of Pitt if anyone is interested:

Returning notable players:
Xavier Johnson - sophomore
Trey Mcgowens - sophomore
Terrell Brown - junior
Au'diese Toney - sophomore

New Additions:
Ryan Murphy - Junior (lesser version of Mcmahon)
Eric Hamilton - Senior
Justin Champagnie - freshman
Karim Coulibaly - freshman
Gerald Drumgoole - freshman (injured)

Starters:
Johnson
Mcgowens
Murphy
Champagnie
Hamilton

Reserves:
Brown
Toney

Capel has been running 7-8 deep. I'm a little concerned with how long this will last. Drumgoole would be a nice role player for this team, but unfortunately he's banged up. Obiously Pitt is led by their guards - Johnson and Mcgowens. If they play well, Pitt plays well. If they don't, we get crushed. We've won 3 games in a row vs. P5 teams which is nice, however those teams aren't the greatest in the world by any means. Capel has done a great job coaching this team up. One thing I will say is that this young team plays super hard. They defend hard. They're physical. It's refreshing to see this. For those that remember Jamie Dixon's teams - this is how they played.

That being said, Pitt simply doesn't have the talent to keep up with Louisville. They will play tough, but I expect a convincing win from the Cards.

Good luck to you guys this year. In my opinion, you have the best player in the country. Nwora is special and I expect a really successful year from the team.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

Pitt has good guards and they did beat FSU so UofL will need to show up. Hell Pitt beat UofL last year. So I don't think this game is any gimme.

What's the fan pulse "post" Jaime Dixon? I guess you're happy with Capel. Obviously Stallings was a disaster.

I actually lurked on your board a few years ago there was a lot of posters there that seemed to dislike Dixon just wondering there isn't a little regret with running him off - if.. IF that's how it went down.

Thanks for stopping in, not that it's my house.

 

[SDRMR]

The Cards have plenty of room for improvement. Interior defense (though it has not been challenged a lot). We are great at defensive rebounding, but seem lesser at offensive rebounding. Our A game is best in the business. Our B game is more like 10-15 in the country. Much brighter minds should be along soon.

 

[PHCARD]

That win Tuesday was a super high night.....so I'm concerned about our guys letting their guard down on any night in the ACC. I hope Pitt gets back to those glory days. Just not this Fri night.

 

[PHCARD]

Bucket list item for years and years was a BB game in Madison Square Garden. Finally UofL is in the Big East and OMG I’m going baby.

I believe it was 2006 and our first game is against Pitt in the BE tourney. Pitt beats us and then I was done with the MSG. The next year I watched it from home and UofL wins the BE tournament. Life!

correction it was ‘08 and we won it ‘09

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

Conf games can be tough. Opposing coaches that have been in the league know what every team is doing.

 

[Straight Eye Larry]

Pitt has good guards and they did beat FSU so UofL will need to show up. Hell Pitt beat UofL last year. So I don't think this game is any gimme.

What's the fan pulse "post" Jaime Dixon? I guess you're happy with Capel. Obviously Stallings was a disaster.

I actually lurked on your board a few years ago there was a lot of posters there that seemed to dislike Dixon just wondering there isn't a little regret with running him off - if.. IF that's how it went down.

Thanks for stopping in, not that it's my house.

What's sad is that a lot of people wanted Dixon out. I will never understand why. He struggled a bit when we first came into the ACC.. but struggling for Dixon was still winning 19+ games per year. People were unhappy with the post season success (or lack thereof).

Needless to say, everyone besides a few people disliked Stallings from day 1. I didn't mind him. I thought he got a bad rap from the getgo and was never really given a fair shot by the fans. I was more upset with Scott Barnes (former AD) - that guy is a crook.

Pitt hired AD Heather Lyke, and she's been nothing less than a savior. She hired Capel and a few other homerun hires (Women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball). All great hires. She re branded PItt to the "retro" colors. She developed the new logo. She led the charge with the renovations to the Pete. She's been an A+ hire for us.

That said, Capel has been great. I think he learned from his mistakes at VCU and Oklahoma. People want top 20 classes right off the bat, but that's just not feasible at the moment. I think he can get close to that, but he needs to build a winning tradition again before we can start thinking about blue chip players.

Pitt will never be a team full of 5 star players. I noticed that Capel is almost emulating what Dixon did. Get good players that play HARD. His team doesn't quit. They hustle. They defend. They can be anemic on offense, however the effort is always there. That's what Pitt hoops needs to be built on. Toughness and effort.

Winning ZERO conference game was very difficult to watch - especially since we weren't far removed from a 25+ win team each season. It's something I never thought I'd see as a Panthers fan, but it happened. Rebuilding from that isn't an easy task, however I think everyone believes Capel and Lyke can do it.

Personally, I think it's BS you can't hang the title banner. The NCAA is more shady than all of the head coaches and assistant coaches in the country combined. The organization is a complete joke. I think Pitino is a great coach and I always enjoyed the battles he and Dixon had. Always some really fun games.

 

[LeFors4Ever]

This is a good game to see how our experience holds up. The top ranking early is a good way to handle pressure situations late in the year. Everyone is coming for you when you’re #1.

We do have older guys who have done this before as far as short turnarounds go. But, we don’t have guys who’ve played in big moments yet. I think other than Fresh and McMahon, no one on the roster has won a NCAA tournament game.

 

[Straight Eye Larry]

Cards open up at -13.

I'm a big time optimist when it comes to Pitt hoops. I have them pegged at 9 conference wins this year.. I don't see this one being very close. I just can't imagine a situation where Pitt hangs in vs this team unless Nwora is in foul trouble all game. Even at that, Pitt still doesn't win but maybe keeps it within 8-10.

 

[Morgantown Card]

Capel has been running 7-8 deep.

 

[KerryRhodes]

Bucket list item for years and years was a BB game in Madison Square Garden. Finally UofL is in the Big East and OMG I’m going baby.

I believe it was 2006 and our first game is against Pitt in the BE tourney. Pitt beats us and then I was done with the MSG. The next year I watched it from home and UofL wins the BE tournament. Life!

correction it was ‘08 and we won it ‘09

You know the first 3 Big East tournaments UofL was in Pittsburgh knocked them out !

 

[PHCARD]

You know the first 3 Big East tournaments UofL was in Pittsburgh knocked them out !

Heck no I didn't remember that. I'm sure I did 11 yrs ago. Last night when I went looking at BET results, I was just looking for correction on my years. I was a Jamie Dixon fan and couldn't figure out how they let that one get away.

 

[REDFISTFURY3]

That win Tuesday was a super high night.....so I'm concerned about our guys letting their guard down on any night in the ACC. I hope Pitt gets back to those glory days. Just not this Fri night.

I don't expect to see them zoned in laser focused on defense like against Mich. But i do think we will see a better offensive performance though. Probably more back to the lackadaisical defense.