Pitt football began their 2024-25 season 7-0 before losing five-consecutive regular season games and their bowl game to finish 7-6. The Steelers began their 2024-25 season 10-3 before losing their remaining four regular season games and exiting in the first round of the postseason. The Pirates were 55-52 in 2024 before finishing the season ten games below .500, a second-straight year of 76-86 baseball. 

Pitt’s basketball team entered the season with reasonably high expectations. They made the NCAA tournament two years ago as one of the last four teams in, beating Mississippi State in a play-in game and then upsetting six-seed Iowa State in the first round before ultimately falling to three-seed Xavier in the round of 32. Last year, they were controversially (and, in my opinion, wrongly) excluded from the tournament, as their résumé was better than that of some of the teams that went dancing instead. 

A backcourt of Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett, the former of whom would now be a sophomore with more experience, was to be the driving force offensively. Three-and-D man Zack Austin would have a larger impact with the departure of Blake Hinson. Florida State transfer Cameron Corhen would be a physical presence inside, and Houston transfer Damian Dunn would add both defense and shot-making. The outlook was positive. 

The season started very well, too. Pitt raced out to a 12-2 start, including wins over LSU, West Virginia, and Ohio State. Their only losses came against Mississippi State and Wisconsin, both of whom are in the AP Top 25 at the time of writing. They were also 3-0 in ACC play, with wins over Cal, Stanford, and a road triumph against Virginia Tech. 

That is when shit hit the fan. The Panthers lost four-straight games. They were blown out in Durham by Duke, only scoring 47 points while being held scoreless for the last nine minutes of the game. They then lost a close game to a good Louisville team at home. Following that, they were dominated by a pathetic Florida State team in Tallahassee. The skid was capped off by an overtime loss at home against a Clemson squad who are currently ranked. 

Duke (3), Louisville (25), and Clemson (18) are all currently ranked in the AP poll. The Florida State loss was, by far, the most embarrassing of the four. 

After consecutive wins at Syracuse and home against UNC, Pitt would go on another four game skid, losing by two at Wake Forest, 16 at home to the worst Virginia team in recent memory, one point in Chapel Hill against UNC, and then by 20 at SMU. Their tournament hopes were now all but dead. 

Wins against Miami and Syracuse were nice, but a loss Saturday at Notre Dame was the nail in the coffin. 

Pitt is 7-9 in the ACC, one of the weaker conferences in the country. The biggest reason for that poor record, one could argue, is their slow starts. They do not perform well early in games. Here is a list of their point totals before the first media timeout in their nine ACC losses:

• Duke: 5 points in 4:07
• Louisville: 5 points in 4:16
• Florida State: 4 points in 4:11
• Clemson: 8 points in 4:02
• Wake Forest: 7 points in 4:30
• Virginia: 4 points in 5:05
• UNC: 12 points in 6:46
• SMU: 8 points in 4:48
• Notre Dame: 7 points in 5:20

If you are consistently starting behind the eight-ball, it is increasingly difficult to win ballgames. The Pitt offense has such a difficult time generating offense, and when you watch an offensive possession of theirs, it becomes obvious that they are not extremely well-coached. No one is moving to get open. It becomes an “iso” offense, where the player with the ball is essentially left alone to go one-on-one against his primary defender. That is not sustainable long-term. 

In Jeff Capel’s time as Pitt’s head coach, he is 54-76 in conference play, a conference that, as I mentioned earlier, is one of the weaker major conferences in the country. To his credit, he has taken this team from being winless in conference play to contending. However, it has gotten to the point where one tournament appearance (although it should be two) in seven seasons is not a good return on investment. It is either time for Capel’s staff to go, or for he, himself, to go. Pitt’s basketball program has hit its ceiling under his tutelage, and them losing nine of their last 13 is the result of both poor coaching and being a team from the 412.