By Dejan Kovacevic | Trib Total Media columnist
Looking ahead to tipoff …
Game: No. 12 Pitt (20-5, 8-4 Big East) vs. Marquette (17-6, 8-3)
Time: 1:02 p.m.
Site: Bradley Center, Milwaukee
TV, radio: CBS Sports, 93.7 The Fan
Here is Pitt’s official page.
And here is the Trib’s Pitt basketball page. Kevin Gorman is having a brat.
On my way to Pirate City later this morning. I usually try to arrive reasonably early. If i arrive too early, I can always hang at the Rt. 41 Kovacevic Memorial Starbucks. (I hear they may have to close it.)
But not today. Too freaking cold. Won’t even cross into the 60s until 9:30 or so. Wouldn’t be surprised if they stay indoors longer than usual and just come outside for the last hour or two.
Nothing like watching practice. (Cue Alan Iverson.)
Have fun Drew!
Thanks. I’m gonna try Dejan’s Winnipeg-water-on-the-sidewalk trick.
hey Drew, saw a photo of Tabata and he looked lean and mean. What’s he looking like in person? I’m hoping he is over his own operation shut down.
I’ll be at th BC today for the game!
Might not get to see Pitt in person again for a long time. Won’t be having a brat, though. Hope it’s a good game.
What????? No brat????
Here…
Here…
HERE
You are so wordy, Geesh.
This is my Winnipeg.
Have fun! Report back. No matter what the thread is.
Pirate talk will prevail.
(are we still allowed to mention that team by name?)
Second the emotion. We are allowed.
Amen!
Once it gets a little warmer, don’t forget to try that experiment putting ice on the parking lot and see how long it takes to melt.
Manny’s here. Of course. Smiling and signing and posing for pictures. I’ll put one up later.
The Columbus Ohio Blue Devils, a youth team, are watching from the sacrosanct area for PBC guests. Every time I visit, another youth team is here.
Sunny but cool. Low 60s. Snow on ground. Locals in jackets or hoodies (me). Tourists in shorts and Ts.
Players outside for 20 minutes now, just warming up.
Robinson lanky. Hernandez built like a fire hydrant. No spin re Tony Sanchez; looks like he could join the WWE. Some guy named Irwin. I hope that’s his last name.
Bunt defense drills on Stargell Field. Guessing AJ will wear a football helmit. Running the drill crisply. With coaching re-do’s and feedback when they “miss”. Not rudely given, but direct and professional.
If it is neing done professionally, i guess that means Kyle Stark is NOT there or if he is they have gagged him!
On Clemente Field, get-the-lead-runner-at-third drills. Catcher plays “QB”. Martin and McKenry are among the 3 man drill rotation here. More of the first and second stringers here. Less coaching but less needed. Not a drill has been missed since I wandered over.
Oops. I just jinxed Leroux. Bad throw to Pedro. Physical, not mental mistake by Leroux so the coaches said nothing. (Smart.)
Anyone say Hoka Hey yet ? Besides you, of course.
No. But I’ll tell you what i WANT to say.
Watching Pedro. He’s wearing a billowy pullover so I can’t get a clear idea of his playing shape.
i WANT to yell, “Pull up that jacket and show me your butt”
Just for reporting purposes. You know that. Right?
Send a picture of Pedro’s butt !
Didn’t get a good one. How bout my wife’s?
We’re still waiting.
Huntington walked thru fans. I’ve seen him close up many times. Comes across as friendly, a little shy, real. That doesn’t make him a good or bad GM. Just observing. When he’s watching players and thinking that no one is watching him, he comes across as intense and interested. Focused.
Frank’s more outgoing with fans, more of a regular at these venues (not today so far). Less shy. But his smile-shake-thanks-for-coming comes across as plastic.
As typical in the Hurdle era, practices are very crisp and very organized. Not tight but people hustle. I’ve seen pre-Hurdle practice and other teams practice, so this is observation is a comparison.
Watching a 3B defensive drill. I’ll share later. Don’t want to miss
Andrew looks great. Wiry. Taut. Not an ounce of anything in the wrong place. All smiles.
Bullpen now. McDonald and Grilli. These guys can throw it. Aside from Grilli’s heat, he has a slider that comes in sharply, but like dead weight. Good luck hitting THAT if it is close to the plate. Off speed breaking balks were an adventure. Hey. It’s February 16.
Cole is up now. More in a bit
Shorter and broader than I remembered. Looks like a young Clemens. Easy power. Threw at less than full effort but still popped the glove pretty well. He has the kind of natural, effortless power that I might have THOUGHT was easing back. Nothing really to tell from this. Looking forward to seeing him in games at McKechnie.
Kyle Stark walked by. More on THAT later
And no, Milo. I didn’t.
Thought crossed my mind.
scaredy cat
Yes I am. He seems kinda mean. Really.
Later is now. We need more
Like
I should be careful what I wish for
Yes. Working on my 4000 word essay.
Buzz cut. As always. Walks briskly from field to field. Talks to coaches, management and staff then moves on. In several years of coming here, I have never never seen him talk to a player.
Ever.
I’m sure he has. I’m sure I’m just picking up on tendency and style, not “rule”.
By comparison, Neal talks to anyone. Not so much fans, but staff, players without names on their jerseys and numbers in the 70s and 80s. Anyone on that side of the rope.
Not related to that stylistic conversation: Frank is out. Watching pitchers throw to live batters (but not hitting) on Clemente Field. Unlike the other chiefs, he’s staying at one drill intently. And chatting with Sanchez. No point, but since I mentioned the other chiefs…
Excellent reporting, Drew. Thanks. Emoticon omitted for your benefit.
I second, thanks Drew
See? You ask (without emoticons) and I deliver.
Grilli intense on mound. Friendly with fans. Walking by fans in the midst of practice, he signed 20 or so autographs and chatted people up. No idea where he’s from but comes across as a scraggly country boy. Plenty of Hope would want to take him for a haircut. Seriously. She would.
Some of Grilli’s comments to fans, out of context.
- I can’t tell jokes. I forget the punch line.
- (Someone said: have a great season) As long as we win.
- as he was about to walk away onto the field, he stopped, said “Come here little girl”. No Milo. Not to me. A girl was there for an autograph but had been too shy to walk up and ask until he called out to her.
There’s your syrupy moment for those in need of it.
Martin worked up a sweat hitting into a net. Now in line for BP. Inge is here. More later on him when I share what I saw re Inge, Pedro and Hurdle with the 3B drills.
I remember Inge coming up with Detroit when I lived near Toledo and saw him with the Tigers and Midhens. Still looks like a teen. Short and thin. A wonder that he has the power that he has. He may be losing his bat but gotta love an overachiever.
Television just walked by with four pounds of chew or gum in his cheek.
Who is television?
Sounds like a pretty good nickname for somebody, huh? Maybe Hurdle. No such luck. It’s what autocorrect did to Tekulve.
Tabata looks fine. He’ll never be confused with Andrew’s body type butt he looks better than last season. No question. He either hits or he doesn’t. His body is no longer the issue. Good for him for getting it to that point this season.
But either he hits or he doesn’t.
Better look at Pedro. Still has that kimono on but for him, he looks just fine. You don’t want him to look like Andrew and he doesn’t. You don’t want him to look like he used to and he doesn’t.
Nobody talked about his weight when balls started flying over the fence. More importantly, are his ears tucked into his hat ? Now that really matters.
Moot point. I think he had his ears taken off.
Leaving now. Never ran into our blog friend.
He must have gone Deep Groat today.
Wore my fish for nothing.
Kids outside the shagging HRs. No need. If they wait another 30 minutes, they’ll hand em out. I picked up four that way. (No idea what to do with them.)
Drew
Who is Television?
That’s Tekulve with autocorrect.
Drew
Did you happen to see / notice Andrew Lambo?
I wonder if he was invited to the big camp
No big league invite. He’s lucky to get invited to dinner at this point.
Didn’t see him. Probably having dinner with Milo.
Here are some observations re the 3B drill before I drive.
- Hurdle watched. Closely.
- Just Pedro and Inge, who looked 12 by comparison
- Pedro looked smooth but so what. Look at the calendar.
- Inge looked occasionally rusty but so what. He probably is.
- one time he picked up a roller and couldn’t get it out of his glove. Hurdle said “needs work”. He was joking. They both laughed and as Inge turned around to jog back in line, he kicked the ground angrily. I know. Who cares? Can he still hit? But fans like to see that stuff.
- Harrison wasn’t drilling with them. Neither were any of the AAA guys we’ve occasionally seen. Just Pedro and Inge. Watched by Hurdle. Telling. Very telling.
Inge will hit 12 ST home runs and this blog and many sports talk hosts will clamor for the Bucs to find playing time for him.
I will ask Drew to remind people to look at the calendar
Speaking of dinner, it’s almost 1:00, and I have a 60 minute drive. Have to get going or I’ll be late.
Good stuff Drew.
Have you been back to Toledo since they built 5th Third Stadium?
I opened it. My company had sponsor level status, advertising, a private box and great seats behind 3rd. Attended a private grand opening gala that was “baseball black tie”. Wore tux shirt, tie , pants but a Mudhens jacket. Got Klinger (Jamie Farr) to sign the jacket. Also attended opening day two days later. Great great park.
Stopping in the Kovacevic Memorial Starbucks. Have to see if there’s a Wanted poster.
Good start in the first four minutes for Panthers on road. I have said all season this is one of the most underrated teams in the nation. Win today and Pitt has one of the easier schedules to finish out league play and will have real shot to win regular season league title.
The good news is Marquette won’t keep shooting like this.
Let’s hope not…Marquette shooting 68.7% from field and have opened up a lead because of it.
Need to finish the half strong, just keep it close.
Ridiculous shooting. Possible blowout. Thanks bye week.
What will the score be when Marquette’s shooting 45% ? I’m guessing Pitt will be ahead at that point.
We get them there, could be in good shape…9-3 run has helped get Panthers back in game.
I really like Taylor and how he has accepted his role on this team but please finish when you are in close.
Very simple JRay, they shoot 59% they win.
Pitt shooting percentage from two feet away is abysmal. Can we dunk the ball?
I blame Oshkosh for this mess.
And for climate change. Freaking cold today.
And when you eat hot pizza and burn the roof of your mouth?
Oshkosh.
So much for the number 16 ranking.
Radio broadcast making much of the rebound disparity. It’s hard to get rebounds when the other team’s not missing.
And when you are missing almost every shot giving the bad guys lots of rebound opportunities!
Does anyone remember why Dante Taylor was a McDonald AllAmerican? He is streaky and such a poor finisher….
Ballgame.
Pitt’s zone defense way too soft, giving Marquette too many wide open looks which they have buried. Blue has absolutely owned the Panthers in the two games this year.
Tough to win on the road, especially against top 20 competition. With this squad it starts on the defensive end of the floor and it was not good enough in the first 20.
Going to be tough to get back into this one.
Losing to Marquette today and ND Monday, will put Pitt back on the NCAA bubble.
Not really.
Pitt is not close to the bubble, most brackets have them as a 4-5 seed today. A loss today does not hurt it is a road game against the # 15 RPI team, a win would help immensely. Notre Dame just lost at Providence to go to 8-5 in league play if they lost at Pitt Monday they are not on the bubble.
Pitt finishes with ND, St Johns, Villanova, DePaul, South Florida and will be favored in all five of those contests and could run the table but will have multiple wins
The worst thing about potentially losing today is that it probably eliminates the chance to win the league title as they will be two game back of a couple teams
Time will tell. Track record against ND is not good lately. A sixth conference loss would put them with the St. John’s and Villanova group tied for 7th or 8th in the conference. Don’t know how many Big East teams are getting in this year, but if Pitt plays D and rebounds like today, it really won’t matter.
Does the Pitt defense realize Vander Blue is killing them from that left corner? He was open for the entire 1st half over there…..
Blue’s only miss was blocked by Adams!
Not much you can do but tip your hat to Marquette and Blue, they are hitting everything.
Sometimes there are teams that are just tough matchups and Marquette appears to be Pitt’s. Syracuse would say Pitt is theirs.
Long layoff for Panthers, could be a good thing they get a quick turnaround with game Monday at the Pete versus Notre Dame to try and get this bad taste out.
The sky is falling!!!!
Thanks Drew! Excellent stuff today. Much appreciated.
You’re welcome. Had a ball. And I figured you guys can kinda live Spring Training through the reports.
Next time send the weather.
U.S. National Curling Championships! NBC Sports Network!
Excellent blog today fun reading great reports from Drew thanks
Alright well let’s not pump his ego too much.
Radio, if you keep that up, Drew’s gonna start going Third Person on you.
I apologize for being the Blog’s “Debby Downer,” but just frustrating when Pitt was finally starting to get national attention and respect as a team that might be able to make a deep run in the tournament, and they lay an egg like today. Losing twice to Marquette, coupled with a possible L to the Irish (who Pitt always struggles with) takes the luster off the great Georgetown and Syracuse wins.
It’s also a possible W with the Irish.
So. How did pitt play?
like
BTW, your thread is up, Drewster.
I know as much about Pitt hoops as I know about brain surgery, but I must say, the pollmeisters are eager to respect the program.
Milo:
I’m listening to Drake-UNI. What the heck has happened in MVC hoops? Creighton choking it away.