ACC Roundup - Pitt Gets Embarrassed At Home
As Virginia perks up
In Monday’s ACC Action, Virginia surprised us by not just beating Pitt but dominating the Panthers - and at Pitt, too.
Didn’t see that coming.
Dai Dai Ames just blew up, lighting Pitt up for 27 and hitting 11-16/3-6 from the floor. Blake Buchanan had a nice game too with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Toss in two assists and two steals and that’s a solid game.
Pitt coach Jeff Capel was seriously disappointed, telling Pittsburgh Sports Now this: “Really disappointed in our performance. This is probably as bad of a performance of any team I’ve ever coached. It was embarrassing. I’m sorry to the crowd, the students, the fans. It’s my responsibility. I have to do a better job of making sure we’re ready to go. Thought we were, obviously we weren’t. We were bad in every aspect of the game of basketball: turnovers, rebounding, defense, offense, everything.”
That’s not good.
TJ Power is not listed in the box score though we thought we saw him in the game at one point.
It’s Pitt’s sixth loss in the last eight games which is also not good.
With the loss, Pitt falls behind UNC, and coincidentally, those two play again after playing just a few days ago.
Obviously people are still talking about Leonard Hamilton’s decision to retire. With his departure, look who the ACC has lost in the last several seasons:
- Mike Krzyzewski
- Roy Williams
- Rick Pitino
- Jim Boeheim
- Tony Bennett
- Mike Brey
- Buzz Williams
- Jim Larranaga
- Leonard Hamilton
That list has two basic themes: one, almost all of them were great coaches and two, almost all of them are drawing social security now
Bennett and Williams are still relatively young but the others are getting up there.
In a way, it could be a positive development. The game is changing in ways that Boeheim, Krzyzewski and Hamilton could never have imagined when they broke in and having younger coaches, overall, could be a great thing. We’ll have to see how it works out obviously.
The concern in Chapel Hill after being leveled by Duke on Saturday is palpable. Hubert Davis has announced that changes will be made. Previously he has stuck to the tradition passed down by Dean Smith and Roy Williams, but with discontent rising, he’s accepted that things must change.
“The old model for Carolina basketball just doesn’t work. It’s not sustainable. It has to build out because there’s so many things in play with NIL, the transfer portal, agents [and] international players. You just need a bigger staff to be able to maintain things. And you need a bigger staff so I can do what I’m supposed to be doing — coaching basketball.”
“I never would have thought four years ago that I took the job that 100% what is needed is a general manager. There’s just so much stuff out there, and I mention owner, GM, fund-raiser, basketball coach. It’s so much on the plate...”
We’re not sure exactly what he means by owner, but there must be something going on there. We do know that several venture capital types, and Jason Williams too, have talked about buying stakes in college basketball teams, but we’re not quite there.
However, the comments about hiring a GM are striking. One of the first things that Jon Scheyer did when he was hired at Duke was to find a GM in Rachel Baker. He was the first college basketball coach to do it; now almost everyone does it and soon, apparently, UNC will be doing it as well.
Davis’s rethink is almost certainly due to the fan pressure that he’s under but it may also be coming from above as well. We have no idea what Bubba Cunningham is thinking but he can’t be thrilled. However, as an outsider, even after being at UNC for 22 years, we wouldn’t relish being the one to fire someone from Dean Smith’s family. That’s really a no-win situation for him, even if Hubert is tanking. Smith will always have his loyalists.
We were listening to a Field of 68 podcast and the hosts were talking about who should take the Indiana job (at this point, no one seems to expect Mike Woodson back). Then Terrence Oglesby, who had plugged Brad Brownell for the Indiana job, said something that made a huge amount of sense: “Ben McCollum is perfect for Virginia.”
You know, he couldn’t be more right. McCollum would be absolutely ideal for Virginia.
As you probably also know, we’ve wondered for several years why no one made a run at him while he was coaching D-II ball, because, let’s face it, he was the John Wooden of D-II.
This year at Drake, he’s 20-2 so far and has proven he can do it at the D-I level. He’s done it without recruiting elite players so far too, which would help at UVA at least until he is up and running. And his offense, unlike that of Tony Bennett, is fun to watch.
Tuesday’s ACC Action
- Notre Dame @ Florida St || 7:00 || ACCN
- Georgia Tech @ Clemson || 9:00 || ACCN
- Pitt humiliated at home in tough loss to Virginia
- Jeff Capel Rips Pitt Basketball After Embarrassing Virginia Loss
- Ames’ career night paces Wahoos in blowout win at Pitt
- Pitt falls flat against Virginia, loses 6th game in past 8
- Pitt Suffers Embarrassing Loss to Virginia
- Longtime FSU coach Leonard Hamilton to step down amid program turbulence
- Former Florida State alum, Sacramento Kings assistant, rumored to play key role in replacing Leonard Hamilton
- Former Florida State alum, Sacramento Kings assistant, rumored to play key role in replacing Leonard Hamilton
- Sacramento Kings Assistant, former FSU standout expected to get long look to succeed Leonard Hamilton
- Chansky’s Notebook: Not The Time
- UNC’s Deteriorating Form Not a Problem for National Reporter as He Agrees With HC Hubert Davis’s Opinion
- Hubert Davis says North Carolina needs a break after loss to Duke
- “Everybody but Hubert Davis knew better”: College hoops fans react to UNC’s unsuccessful plan to stop Cooper Flagg
- Hubert Davis Makes Major Announcement After UNC’s Deflating Loss to Duke
- Hubert Davis says he’ll hire a general manager, expand UNC Basketball staff