Tim Benz: Selection Sunday results are an ultimate contrast for Duquesne and Pitt
Duquesne freshman Jakub Necas slipped behind his school’s Atlantic 10 championship backdrop away from the rest of his celebrating team and sat down in a bed of confetti on the Barclays Center floor. The 20-year-old hung up the FaceTime call with his parents back home in the Czech Republic, bowed...
Despite 22 victories, Pitt snubbed by NCAA Tournament, declines NIT invitation
Weeks of speculation, guessing games and bubble talk ended in frustration for Pitt on Sunday night when the Panthers did not receive one of 68 invitations to the NCAA Tournament. So irritated were Pitt officials after receiving the NCAA snub, they immediately declined an invitation to the NIT for “what...
Pitt’s victory in the ACC Tournament gives Ishmael Leggett an opportunity to give back to his dad
WASHINGTON D.C. — Detrick Leggett noticed long ago that his son, Ishmael, loved sports. So, he made a point of accompanying him on a journey that led to two basketball scholarships, first at Rhode Island and last year to Pitt. “Always involved,” Renee Leggett, Ishmael’s mother, said proudly Friday night...
After loss to North Carolina, Bub Carrington says he’s returning to Pitt next season ‘for sure’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After he looked like the second-best guard on the Capital One Arena floor Friday night, Bub Carrington made multiple references to his next season — at Pitt. Although his name was linked to mock 2024 NBA Drafts as early as the beginning of this season, Carrington talked...
Pitt’s ACC run ends with 72-65 loss to North Carolina
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the end, Pitt’s 72-65 loss to North Carolina on Friday night did nothing to throw the team off its intended course. But there is nothing more Pitt’s players can do about their NCAA Tournament chances. The loss to the Tar Heels (27-6) in the ACC Tournament...
Analysis: Pitt appears to be an NCAA Tournament-worthy team, but it may need to beat North Carolina to prove it
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The argument will rage all day, certainly on social media and the talk shows in Pittsburgh. During the telecast Friday night of the ACC Tournament semifinal doubleheader — Pitt vs. North Carolina; N.C. State vs. Virginia — ESPN will flood its cable lines with talk and speculation...
Pitt survives late Wake Forest rally, advances to ACC semifinals
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ishmael Leggett’s 30-point effort Thursday afternoon at Capital One Arena was special for many reasons. The most basic reason is this: Without it, Pitt could not have defeated Wake Forest, 81-69, in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal game. Also, the precise number of points felt right because the...
Pitt Take 5: ACC Tournament carries meaning for Jeff Capel on many levels
Jeff Capel was once a wide-eyed North Carolina school boy, full of eager anticipation while his teacher wheeled a TV into the classroom for the students to watch the ACC Tournament. “For as long as I was in school, when it got to the ACC Tournament, you really didn’t do...
Pitt focused on next opponent, not NCAA Tournament bubble
Ever the pragmatist, Blake Hinson answered with an emphatic “No” when he was asked if he or his Pitt teammates are bubble watchers. “We’re basketball players,” he said. “We don’t spend much time doing that, as far as I know. What we do know is you get in the tournament...
City Game in the NIT? Could happen if Pitt, Duquesne don’t make NCAA Tournament
Remember the City Game? It wasn’t long ago — 2018, to be exact — that Pitt was continuing its dominance over Duquesne in the intracity college basketball series, which is on pause. Neither of the school’s current coaches — Pitt’s Jeff Capel and Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot — has had much...
Pitt’s Blake Hinson, Bub Carrington, Ishmael Leggett earn All-ACC honors
Pitt’s Blake Hinson, Bub Carrington and Ishmael Leggett claimed All-ACC honors in voting conducted by a 75-person panel of 60 media members and all 15 head coaches. The conference released the results Monday afternoon. Hinson was named to the All-ACC first team, making it two years in a row with...
Blake Hinson’s shots, speeches get equal credit for leading Pitt to 2nd season of 20-plus victories
When Pitt ventures into Washington, D.C., on Thursday for its ACC Tournament quarterfinal, the Panthers’ hope of advancing to even greater heights rests in large part with Blake Hinson and how accurately the basketball flies off his fingertips. Pardon us for stating the obvious. Pitt coach Jeff Capel has put...
Metrics aside, Pitt’s Jeff Capel likes makeup of his team as it approaches the postseason
Jeff Capel appears weary of the debate. Pitt’s coach is a busy man, and he has more pressing issues on his mind than metrics, quads and what outsiders think of his team. Most important at the moment is the fact that after 10 previous ACC Tournament appearances, the No. 4-seeded...
Pitt holds off late N.C. State rally, earns double bye in ACC Tournament
Before he left the Petersen Events Center on Saturday night — stepping through piles of confetti to reach the Pitt locker room and, finally, home — Jeff Capel stopped to talk about something more important to him than a single victory. Perhaps more important than even Pitt earning the double...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi says Ryland Gandy has put in solid claim as starting cornerback
With the exception of quarterback, no position on the field will get greater scrutiny during Pitt’s spring drills than cornerback. All three cornerbacks who played the most significant minutes last season — M.J. Devonshire, A.J. Woods and Marquis Williams — are gone. In their place has stepped redshirt sophomore Ryland...
Pitt Take 5: Panthers can finish as high as 3rd, as low as 7th in the ACC
For the moment, let’s set aside talk and speculation about Pitt’s NCAA Tournament hopes and dreams and concentrate on four hours coming up Saturday night. Three ACC games will be contested between 6 and 10 p.m. The results will impact where Pitt lands in the ACC’s final standings and whether...
Pitt’s 3 guards hold key to team’s late-season surge
Basketball is a game of ball control. Maintaining and maximizing possessions are critical to a team’s success, and guards often control the offense’s flow. No wonder that nine of the past 10 players who were named Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four are guards. Miami rode guards Jordan Miller,...
First Call: A team that may be in the lead for Jake Guentzel; Mitch Trubisky signs elsewhere; ex-Pitt Panther released
We begin Thursday’s “First Call” the same way we ended Wednesday night. That’s waiting for the Penguins to trade Jake Guentzel. At least there is an update on that front. We get into some recent struggles for Sidney Crosby. Mitch Trubisky has a new home. A former Pitt Panther is...
Pitt women fall to Georgia Tech in 1st round of ACC Tournament
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tonie Morgan had 24 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season, Kara Dunn added 14 points and nine rebounds and 10th-seeded Georgia Tech knocked off No. 15 seed Pitt, 73-60, on Wednesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Georgia Tech (17-14)...
Pitt football players look to restore program’s 4 pillars this season
Nailed to the wall at the back of the players’ meeting room are four words coaches and players believe are “pillars” of the Pitt football program. Attitude. Effort. Toughness. Knowledge. Two members of the defense said Wednesday those pillars were missing last season, and one of the goals of spring...
Pitt’s ‘controlled freedom’ catches Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton’s eye
Jaland Lowe called it “controlled freedom.” Leonard Hamilton, whose Florida State team was crushed by Pitt’s wave of 3-point shots, was impressed with “the uniqueness” coach Jeff Capel put on display Tuesday night and for the past two months. How impressed? “This team is capable of beating anybody in our...
Recent spotlight on Bill Hillgrove, Chris Shovlin illustrates Pittsburgh’s basketball play-by-play legacies
Bill Hillgrove retired after 30 years as the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. However, he will remain as the play-by-play man of the Pitt football and men’s basketball teams. He has been a part of both of those broadcasts for more than 50 years. The news of Hillgrove’s...
Pitt hits 20-win mark with victory over Florida State
There were four distinct storylines that explained Pitt’s 88-73 victory Tuesday night against Florida State, what the game meant to the program and what coach Jeff Capel and his players are trying to accomplish in the latter stages of the season. • First, Blake Hinson wrote his name into the...
On 1st day of spring drills, Pitt QB Nate Yarnell says ‘there’s no room for complacency anymore’
After the first day of Pitt’s spring practice, no one knows if offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s system will work any better than Frank Cignetti’s did. Sure, players and coaches have ideas and high hopes, but this fast-paced, no-huddle offense is on the other side of anything Pat Narduzzi has implemented...
Pitt players recognize stakes of remaining games, eschew talk of NCAA Tournament
Sustained success has eluded Pitt men’s basketball in the post-Jamie Dixon era. Dixon’s teams were criticized for their inability to make deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, but most Panthers fans no doubt would be thrilled to see the program return to annually being in the March Madness conversation. Jeff...
