Emotions will surface when Pitt honors its seniors, but big game vs. Syracuse awaits
There will be smiles and tears, back slaps and hugs and flowers for the ladies Saturday when Pitt honors its five seniors in front of a sold-out crowd at Petersen Events Center. Those extracurricular activities will occur before the ball is tipped to start the game, but unlike many past...
U mad, bro?: Frustration around Mike Tomlin’s ‘standard,’ slumping Penguins, Pitt being unranked, Gerrit Cole’s quip
One thing that is wonderful about Pittsburgh sports fans is that they do not discriminate when it comes to their angst. The Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, Pitt, college basketball … even the XFL! This week’s “U mad, bro?” illustrates how all-encompassing of a community we truly have in this great city....
While games grow in intensity, Pitt’s Jeff Capel seeks more of the same on defense
Pitt’s victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday padded the Panthers’ NCAA Tournament resume and relieved some pressure and perhaps some doubt among the fan base after the loss at Virginia Tech. More importantly, it fortified one important thought in coach Jeff Capel’s mind: It’s time to get tough in practice....
Pitt freshmen sacrifice last days of high school to prepare for life as college football player
No one can predict how many or to what extent Pitt’s freshman football players will impact the team next season. So much time, so much to learn and so many moving parts stand in the way before the opener Sept. 2 against Wofford. After winter conditioning, spring practice begins next...
Pitt avoids upset, pulls away from Georgia Tech for 20th victory
By a strict mathematical standard, Pitt’s 76-68 victory Tuesday night against Georgia Tech didn’t qualify as a game the Panthers absolutely needed to win. If Pitt had lost in front of 9,482 at raucous Petersen Events Center, there would have been time to recover. There are three games left in...
Tim Benz: For Pitt basketball — seize upcoming chances to win and play ‘blame game’ later
For fans of the Pitt Panthers basketball team, complaining about the poll voters has proven fruitless. Blaming flawed computer-ranking models — or at least flawed interpretations of them — is doing no good. Jeff Capel’s attempt to take a jab at the ACC Network for weak promotion on Monday was...
Down year for ACC? Pitt’s Jeff Capel doesn’t understand perception
After shepherding Pitt through practice, watching video of his opponents and talking with players, recruits and staff pretty much all day, Jeff Capel still can’t get enough basketball. When the day’s work is done, he may tune into the ACC Network and Big Ten Network to keep up on what’s...
Plum native Emily Coughlin growing into key player for young Pitt women’s lacrosse teamVideo
Emily Coughlin always will have a place in Pitt women’s lacrosse history. Three years ago, when coach Emily Boissonneault started to build the program from scratch, she made the Plum native her first WPIAL recruit. But Coughlin wants to be more than a footnote in the team media guide. She...
Tim Benz: Questions remain around Kenny Pickett — and many other quarterbacks
At this time a year ago, pretty much any Pittsburgh Steelers conversation was focused on the quarterback position. Would Aaron Rodgers really retire or leave Green Bay? What’s happening with Russell Wilson and Derek Carr? Do the Steelers have any faith in Mason Rudolph? How serious is the team about...
Analysis: After loss to Virginia Tech and with tournaments approaching, Pitt needs to get better in a hurry
Three weeks ago — when Pitt was winning regularly and fans were dreaming of lofty tournament seedings and an ACC championship — the Georgia Tech game appeared to be a mere nuisance on the schedule. One of those games put under the victory column long before it’s played, an insignificant...
Pitt’s 6-game winning streak ends in loss to Virginia Tech
After Pitt won six games in a row, no one expected the Panthers to maintain such a pace for the rest of the season. Bad stuff can happen, and Pitt’s 79-72 loss Saturday to Virginia Tech before a crowd of 8,925 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va., should not have...
Pitt defeats Duke, shares ACC dual wrestling championship
Pitt’s wrestling team nailed down a share of the ACC dual championship with a 43-3 victory Saturday against Duke at Fitzgerald Field House. The Panthers (10-4, 4-1) won nine of 10 bouts against Duke (3-12, 0-5) to tie N.C. State and Virginia Tech atop the ACC standings. It’s the second...
Pitt Take 5: Underdog role seems to fit 1st-place Panthers
Pitt fans don’t need another reason to feel disrespected, but KenPom, a ranking service that projects outcomes and ranks teams and conferences, has found one more. Virginia Tech 75, Pitt 72, Saturday in Blacksburg, Va. But why worry? DraftKings says Pitt is a 5-point underdog, but the Panthers are 19-6-1...
Tim Benz: Atop ACC — yet unranked — perception of Pitt raises questions about NCAA hoops evaluations
It’s the week of Valentine’s Day in Pittsburgh. It’s been well above 60 degrees the last few days. And the Pitt men’s basketball team is tied for the ACC lead. What’s next? Snow on the Fourth of July and the Pirates leading the National League Central? Honestly, back in early...
Jeff Capel, Pitt players try to ignore outside talk, but ACC preseason poll remains motivation
There’s a specific reason why Jeff Capel doesn’t concern himself with the noise outside his office, unless it’s coming from basketballs bouncing on the floor below — where his team practices. And the reason is rooted in Capel’s personal history. The story goes back to his four seasons at Duke...
Atlantic 10 commissioner, many coaches embrace NCAA Tournament expansion
It’s almost time for March Madness. So get your field-of-96 bracket ready to go! OK. Maybe not this year. But start warming up to the idea of an expanded NCAA Tournament field for the men and the women. Because it certainly feels like momentum is building within NCAA basketball circles...
Federiko Federiko fills big void in Pitt’s lineup
Pitt’s itemized list of things you never would have predicted in preseason defines the Panthers’ run to first place in the ACC. • The proliferation — and success — of the transfers and freshmen, who comprise the top six players in terms of points, rebounds and minutes played. Four are...
Oakland Zoo member wins free rent for a year with long shots at Pitt men’s basketball gameVideo
Pitt’s scholarship basketball players hit 11 3-point shots Tuesday night during the 77-58 victory against Boston College at Petersen Events Center. But these days, the long-range action at the Pete flows into the halftime festivities, and even gets considered to be on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” Richard Ferris, a member of the...
Pitt rolls over Boston College, bolsters NCAA Tournament resume with 19th win
Perhaps Pitt’s half-game lead in the ACC won’t last beyond Virginia’s next outing, but the Panthers’ 77-58 victory against Boston College on Tuesday night stands as another brick in their NCAA Tournament resume. That was the big picture for Pitt (19-7, 12-3) while recording its most ACC victories during a...
Unranked still, Pitt’s climb toward 1st place in the ACC started in August
Back in late August, Jeff Capel first realized, “OK, we have something,” when the last of the new players finished checking into Petersen Events Center. “As I started watching us as we started workouts,” he said Monday on the ACC coaches conference call, “we started seeing the camaraderie, just how...
Pitt coach Mike Bell seeks to prove climate doesn’t matter in college baseball
Mike Bell has heard the annual commentary on college baseball teams in the north — you know, they can’t win because of the climate — and he’ll argue the point if you care to engage him. “Some guys like to use it as a crutch,” he said. But Pitt’s baseball...
Incorrect call in Virginia-Duke game forces Pitt to share ACC lead with Cavaliers
Given the evolution of Pitt’s basketball season, it makes sense that the only negative development of the weekend happened hundreds of miles away and was one coaches and players could not prevent. And, by the way, it was wrong. Six games from the regular-season finish line, Pitt (18-7, 11-3) is...
Pitt beats Florida State for its 18th overall victory, 11th in the ACC
Before the start of the season, a suggestion that Pitt might win 18 games — 11 of them in the ACC — would have been met with ridicule. The Panthers hadn’t won 18 overall since 2016 when they finished 21-12, perhaps the most recent time anyone took the program seriously....
Eventful recruitments by Pitt brought true freshmen Israel Polk, Ty Dieffenbach from California
For any high school athlete preparing to make the jump to college, December of their senior year can be a stressful period, as many turn a non-binding verbal commitment into a concrete national letter of intent. Some prospects have a straightforward recruiting experience, while others’ can be subject to change(s)....
Pitt Take 5: Rematch with Florida State no easy pickings for the Panthers
You’ve heard the axiom about the difficulty of defeating a team twice in the same season. Let’s try another one in a related sense: The team that won the first game must know something about its victim, which could make reversing the outcome in the rematch difficult. That’s the situation...
