Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 24
Pitt’s up-tempo offense creates opportunity to increase volume of snaps in practice
The NCAA allows its football teams 15 practice days in the spring to use as a springboard into the season. Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi and offensive coordinator Kade Bell have found a way to build one extra period into every day — without running afoul of NCAA regulations. It has led...
Pitt’s Federiko Federiko, William Jeffress enter transfer portal
If Pitt coach Jeff Capel had intentions of finding a big man in the transfer portal this offseason, he now may have even more reason to do so. Pitt’s 6-foot-11 sophomore Federiko Federiko, who started 53 games the past two seasons and was an important player in the Panthers’ run...
Oakland brings March Madness to Pittsburgh with upset of 3rd-seeded Kentucky
During Jack Gohlke’s previous trip into Pittsburgh in late February, he scored nine points against Robert Morris. It took less than a month, but his return to the city with the 14th-seeded Oakland Golden Grizzlies put him on the brink of celebrity status. Gohlke, a senior who started his college...
NCAA notebook: Crowd watching Creighton/Akron game at PPG Paints Arena distracted by Duquesne’s victory in Omaha
For several moments Thursday afternoon, the crowd at PPG Paints Arena divided its attention between the Creighton/Akron game and what was happening 839 miles away in Omaha, Neb. Greg McDermott laughs answering a question from @KevinGormanPGH about the crowd watching Duquesne during their game: "It was a little odd to...
Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates hopes work in winter, spring leads to more ‘big plays’
The numbers paint a clear picture of how Pitt won 20 games in 2021 and 2022 but fell to an embarrassing 3-9 last season. And we’re just not talking about the offense. Pitt’s defense — coach Pat Narduzzi’s baby — was not nearly as productive or disruptive in 2023, and...
Hampton’s Liam Mignogna plans to join Pitt basketball as a walk-on
After spending the recent high school season competing against Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings, Hampton’s Liam Mignogna will join him in 2024-25. Mignogna, a 6-foot-9 center, will enter the Pitt program as a preferred walk-on after he concludes his senior year this spring. Pitt’s recruiting class includes signed recruits Cummings, a...
PPG Paints Arena crowd may lean toward Kentucky, former WPIAL stars Tre Mitchell, Adou Thiero
After graduating from Elizabeth Forward High School and perhaps a time or two through the years, Kentucky’s Tre Mitchell heard from the coaches at Pitt. After all, he has attended four institutions of higher learning and basketball through the years, and it seems some school or another always was recruiting...
Moon’s John Calipari chases NCAA Tournament victory for Kentucky without losing sight of his roots
Five years ago, John Calipari signed a 10-year, $86 million contract extension to remain Kentucky’s coach for the remainder of this decade. He sat inside PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday — not far from the brightly lit floor where Kentucky (23-9) will play Oakland (23-11) on Thursday in an NCAA...
Pitt football notebook: In rare exceptions, transfer portal can go in reverse
Pat Narduzzi has been a football coach for 34 years. By nature, men of his stature and durability are reluctant to embrace change. But 3-9 changes everything, and Pitt’s football coach is making some unaccustomed moves this offseason. The first and most obvious was scrapping the offense that didn’t work...
NCAA Tournament practice sessions for all 8 teams open to public at PPG Paints Arena
Practice sessions at PPG Paints Arena for all eight teams competing in the NCAA Tournament first-round games will be open to the public Wednesday. Akron gets the day started at 11 a.m. followed by Creighton at 11:45 a.m., Oregon at 12:30 p.m., South Carolina at 1:15 p.m. and Oakland at...
Duquesne finally reaches NCAA Tournament, but there’s plenty of work to do at home, too
For years, Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper expressed to anyone willing to listen how desperately he wanted to see his men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament. “I said, ‘I’m not going to rest until our name is on a (bracket) line on Sunday on that selection show,’ ” he...
Duquesne’s Dambrot announces his retirement after 7 years
Keith Dambrot announced his retirement as basketball coach at Duquesne on Monday, one day after the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth in 47 years. ”Dambrot led the Dukes into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, defeating VCU, 57-51, in the championship of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Duquesne won four games in...
Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot to retire after 7 seasons of sharing AD Dave Harper’s vision for programVideo
In March 2017, Dave Harper set out on a solo journey, seeking to hire a coach for the struggling men’s basketball program at Duquesne. “A man on an island,” he said. “I was trying to sell a job where the perception was coaches go to die.” Yet, after 17 months...
West Virginia women will meet Princeton in 8/9 NCAA Tournament game
The West Virginia women’s basketball team will make its 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament when it meets Princeton (25-4) of the Ivy League at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the Albany 2 region in Iowa City, Iowa. The winner could meet Iowa and college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, Caitlin Clark,...
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...
When the NCAA Tournament comes to town, even politics takes a back seat
Joe Biden was well aware of what awaited him in the election year of 2012. For sure, there was the daily grind of being vice president of the United States. Plus, upcoming whistle-stops all over the country for the next eight months while running for another term with President Barack...
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...
Josh Eilert out as West Virginia’s interim basketball coach
When West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker hired Josh Eilert as interim basketball coach in June, he made it clear: Eilert had a season to audition for the top job. The season ended Tuesday with West Virginia’s sixth consecutive loss — 90-85 to Cincinnati in the Big 12 Tournament —...
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...
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...
