Pilchard
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The ACC moved up the start of the ACC Tournament to Tuesday in 2014 when the conference expanded to 15 teams.
The Deacs hold the distinction of being the only conference program to participate in every conference "play-in" Tuesday since that change. Over the most recent 6 "expanded" conference tournaments, the Deacs stand at 2-4 in the opening round, and have yet to advance past Wednesday. In total since the move to a 5 day event, the Deacs stand at 2-6 with wins over a wretched 2017 BC team (2-17 in the ACC) and a disinterested 2014 ND team (6-13 in the ACC). Makes one proud to be a Deac!
Tomorrow, the Deacs open the ACC tournament against the lowly Pitt Panthers. Here is a link to the previous KP Report on Pitt: https://www.ogboards.com/forums/showthread.php/32011-KP-Report-the-Pitt-Panthers-Noon-Saturday-RSN and here is an update on Jeff Capel's club:
The recent series: More than any other team in the conference, Danny Manning's Deacs have owned Pitt in recent seasons. The Deacs have won 4 straight over the Panthers, including a 69-65 win at the Petersen Events Center this past January 4 (the game where Chaundee went down in the final seconds; WF went 1-6 when he was out). Want to guess WF's two leading scorers that day? Doubt anyone had Ismael Massoud with 14 (in 16 minutes!) and Torry Johnson with 12. Ryan Murphy led all scorers with 18 and Trey McGowens had 12 for Pitt. Pitt's last win over WF was more than 4 years ago: February 2016 101-96 in double OT. Deacs look to run the streak to 5 tomorrow.
Season Update: 2020 hasn't been kind to Pitt: since the start of this year, Pitt is 5-13 (two of those wins over a banged up no-talent UNC team), and the Panthers have not won a game in more than a month (losers of 7 straight). Pitt has been particularly bad away from home (8 straight losses - 2-9 on the season; the wins: at UNC and at Robert Morris). Heading into the season, a lot was expected of sophomore Trey McGowens, and he played well initially, scoring in double figures 18 times in Pitt's first 24 games. The last 4 weeks have been a different story, as McGowens hasn't scored double figures in any of the last 7 games, and he is shooting 29.8% from the field during that stretch. Similarly, Ryan Murphy, the Charlotte transfer who led Pitt in scoring the last time WF played at Pitt, has apparently fallen out of favor with Coach Capel as he has a total of 11 points in limited minutes over Pitt's last seven games. Pitt's problems start with their offense as the Panthers can't shoot: DFL in the ACC in 2 PT%, effective FG% and second to last in 3 point %. Like WF, Pitt hopes to score from the line (only WF gets a higher % of points from the FT line among ACC teams). Pitt is little better defensively (#10 in the ACC), they lead the conference in forcing TOs, and the Panthers are second in the ACC in steals. OTOH, teams that avoid TOs against Pitt, have their way inside against the Panthers as they are last preventing offensive rebounds and second to last in 2 PT FG% defense. Opponents that avoid TOs, get easy shots against the Pitt defense.
Bottom line: KP projects a 70-69 WF win. The Deacs win (maybe easily) if they can avoid TOs (which have been a problem) as Pitt has no answer inside for Sarr. Pitt wants an ugly low-scoring game (in the Panther's ACC wins the opponents scored: 61, 65, 52, 72, 57, 64). Until the klunker against the Pack, WF had scored 73 or more in 6 of its last 7 games as the Deacs' offense has been solid lately. Think the Deacs win this one, but that is as far as WF gets, and the streak of not playing in ACC tourney quarter final reaches an unthinkable 10. BTW, WF's record of craptastic ACC tournament performances stretches back to even when WF was "good". WF has not played in an ACC semi-final since 2006, and an ACC final since 1996 - 24 years. Deflating to think about.
The Deacs hold the distinction of being the only conference program to participate in every conference "play-in" Tuesday since that change. Over the most recent 6 "expanded" conference tournaments, the Deacs stand at 2-4 in the opening round, and have yet to advance past Wednesday. In total since the move to a 5 day event, the Deacs stand at 2-6 with wins over a wretched 2017 BC team (2-17 in the ACC) and a disinterested 2014 ND team (6-13 in the ACC). Makes one proud to be a Deac!
Tomorrow, the Deacs open the ACC tournament against the lowly Pitt Panthers. Here is a link to the previous KP Report on Pitt: https://www.ogboards.com/forums/showthread.php/32011-KP-Report-the-Pitt-Panthers-Noon-Saturday-RSN and here is an update on Jeff Capel's club:
The recent series: More than any other team in the conference, Danny Manning's Deacs have owned Pitt in recent seasons. The Deacs have won 4 straight over the Panthers, including a 69-65 win at the Petersen Events Center this past January 4 (the game where Chaundee went down in the final seconds; WF went 1-6 when he was out). Want to guess WF's two leading scorers that day? Doubt anyone had Ismael Massoud with 14 (in 16 minutes!) and Torry Johnson with 12. Ryan Murphy led all scorers with 18 and Trey McGowens had 12 for Pitt. Pitt's last win over WF was more than 4 years ago: February 2016 101-96 in double OT. Deacs look to run the streak to 5 tomorrow.
Season Update: 2020 hasn't been kind to Pitt: since the start of this year, Pitt is 5-13 (two of those wins over a banged up no-talent UNC team), and the Panthers have not won a game in more than a month (losers of 7 straight). Pitt has been particularly bad away from home (8 straight losses - 2-9 on the season; the wins: at UNC and at Robert Morris). Heading into the season, a lot was expected of sophomore Trey McGowens, and he played well initially, scoring in double figures 18 times in Pitt's first 24 games. The last 4 weeks have been a different story, as McGowens hasn't scored double figures in any of the last 7 games, and he is shooting 29.8% from the field during that stretch. Similarly, Ryan Murphy, the Charlotte transfer who led Pitt in scoring the last time WF played at Pitt, has apparently fallen out of favor with Coach Capel as he has a total of 11 points in limited minutes over Pitt's last seven games. Pitt's problems start with their offense as the Panthers can't shoot: DFL in the ACC in 2 PT%, effective FG% and second to last in 3 point %. Like WF, Pitt hopes to score from the line (only WF gets a higher % of points from the FT line among ACC teams). Pitt is little better defensively (#10 in the ACC), they lead the conference in forcing TOs, and the Panthers are second in the ACC in steals. OTOH, teams that avoid TOs against Pitt, have their way inside against the Panthers as they are last preventing offensive rebounds and second to last in 2 PT FG% defense. Opponents that avoid TOs, get easy shots against the Pitt defense.
Bottom line: KP projects a 70-69 WF win. The Deacs win (maybe easily) if they can avoid TOs (which have been a problem) as Pitt has no answer inside for Sarr. Pitt wants an ugly low-scoring game (in the Panther's ACC wins the opponents scored: 61, 65, 52, 72, 57, 64). Until the klunker against the Pack, WF had scored 73 or more in 6 of its last 7 games as the Deacs' offense has been solid lately. Think the Deacs win this one, but that is as far as WF gets, and the streak of not playing in ACC tourney quarter final reaches an unthinkable 10. BTW, WF's record of craptastic ACC tournament performances stretches back to even when WF was "good". WF has not played in an ACC semi-final since 2006, and an ACC final since 1996 - 24 years. Deflating to think about.
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