This is the final 3-2-1 Column of 2024 and there is a lot to recap in the past year in Pitt athletics. Of course, yesterday’s six overtime 48-46 bowl loss to Toledo is fresh on everyone’s minds, and we’ll get into that for sure. Pitt hoops is gearing up for a run in ACC play starting next week as well.
There is a lot to discuss, so let’s get into it.
THREE THINGS WE KNOW
A dreadful day in Detroit \
It was a historic day at Ford Field on Thursday, but for all the wrong reasons for the Pitt football program. Pitt played the longest game in school history and participated in the lengthiest bowl game ever, but all that effort ended with a 48-46 loss to Toledo in six overtimes in the GameAbove Sports Bowl.
That defeat, of course, punctuated a gutting six-game losing streak to end the year, which also etched this team in the record books a second time. The 2024 Pitt squad joined 2018 South Florida as the only teams ever to start 7-0 and finish 7-6, hardly the type of company anyone would like to keep…
It is hard to imagine back to October, as undefeated No. 19 Pitt was trouncing Syracuse on national TV, that the season would turn out like it did. Things got ugly quickly, and once the energy went in the other direction it snowballed into a big 7-6 mess.
Pitt’s season won’t be defined by this singular loss to the Rockets, but at the same time, you had a lot of people laying around the house off work, watching football during the holidays. Because of the wild nature and length of the game, it probably caught more attention than an undercard bowl game typically would. So, not only was it a loss to a MAC team, it was a loss to a MAC team that everyone knows about right now.
The totality of losing six games in a row will stand out more than the Toledo defeat, at least in and around the program. This game was not played in ideal circumstances from a personnel standpoint for Pitt, and nobody is dismissing the injury bug that hit this team, but there were still opportunities to win the game, and that only adds to the sting factor.
Pitt playing for a third overtime rather than trusting the offense to plunge in from one yard away is going to be a decision that looms around the program all offseason, not because this game was highly important or a lot was riding on it, but it just sort of drives home how poorly this campaign finished.
College football is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type of sport and Pitt has not done much but lose games recently.
Early portal returns
Now that the 2024 Pitt football season is officially completed, all the attention can shift to the transfer portal at this point. Pitt has lost 13 players to the transfer portal thus far, which seems like standard practice in today’s climate.
The name of the game is replacing and upgrading the losses as best as possible. The Pitt coaches have been working the portal for the past few weeks, and it has been a bit of a slow start, but at the same time, there have been some good early returns at some important positions which at least builds a foundation.
The way the 2024 season played out, gradation, plus roster attrition from the portal created some obvious needs for Pitt to address this offseason. The coaches have targeted several wide receivers, offensive linemen, and defensive ends. Those appear to be the early areas of emphasis, but there is always room for improvement across the board.
Pitt has landed three portal commitments to date, with two looking like plug and play type players. After a six-game losing streak to close out the 2024 season, the Panthers need quite a few of those seemingly.
James London, a kicker from Murray State, looks poised to step in for the ever-reliable Ben Sauls at kicker. Sauls proved to be one of the best deep ball kickers in college football this season with six makes of 50-or-more yards, and he was a weapon for the Pitt offense, as the team could always feel confident about potentially getting points once they reach opposing territory.
London should provide a similar asset, as he actually made seven field goals from 50+ yards himself and was one of the better kickers available early on in the portal madness. Pitt has plenty of needs, but finding a suitable replacement for Sauls was necessary and it looks like they landed a good one in London.
Pitt also has added Deuce Spann from Florida State, who should provide size and depth to the wide receive room. His 6’4” frame makes him the tallest receiver on the team next season, which should give him some type of role.
Earlier this week, Pitt landed a big one, both physically and also in terms of need. Kendall Stanley is a 6’5” and 290-pound offensive linemen, who started all 12 games for Charlotte this past season. Stanley received multiple offers from the likes of BYU, Miami, Michigan State, and Virginia Tech to name a few, so landing him over some conference mates was a nice win for Pitt. The Charlotte transfer should come in and help immediately up front, and likely won’t be the only linemen Pitt takes during this transfer portal season, either.
London, Spann, and Stanley is a nice start, but there is a long way to go in terms of adding more talent to shape the roster for next season. Now that the season is officially over, the activity should ramp up considerably in these efforts to bring in more transfer to help bolster the 2025 roster.
Things start to get real on Wednesday
Time to switch over to hoops, as the college basketball season enters its second and more important phase beginning next week. The Panthers are done with non-conference play and are now staring down the barrel of 19 ACC games in a row to close out the regular season.
Pitt breezed through its final two non-conference games with blowout wins over Eastern Kentucky and Sam Houston in the past two weeks. The upcoming slate looks a lot different with Cal, Stanford, Duke, and Louisville kicking off the first two weeks in January. That is a stretch of games that will certainly be more challenging than playing the Colonels and Bearkats, with all due respect to Pitt’s two most recent opponents.
Pitt is in a good place at the moment, sitting on a 10-2 record through its first 12 games. Jeff Capel’s team has secured some important wins over the likes of LSU, Ohio State, and West Virginia during non-conference play. Because of that, the Panthers have strong metrics, as they rank No. 11 in the ever-important NET rankings. Pitt is also on the doorstop of the national Top 25 polls, and most bracket experts like the Panthers currently.
All in all, things look really good for Pitt, but it still comes down to results on the court. The metrics on January 1st are all well and good, but it’s also two and a half months before Selection Sunday, meaning a lot can and will change.
From a rankings standpoint, Pitt is being viewed as a top three ACC team. The Panthers almost need to stay near that threshold, unfortunately. There does not appear to be a lot of room for error in the conference, as the perception around the ACC might be at an all-time low. Pitt’s conference schedule almost presents as many opportunities for bad losses than quality wins right now.
For instance, Wednesday’s game against Cal fits that bill. The ACC newbies are No. 127 in the NET rankings, behind the likes of Cornell, Troy, and High Point to name a few, and the Golden Bears are not the only ACC team in that type of position either.
By the end of last season, Pitt looked like a pretty dangerous team but was left out of the NCAA Tournament based on its resume. The Panthers finished with 22 wins and a top four ACC finish, but a slow start doomed their chances. The 2024-25 Panthers wanted to ‘leave no doubt’ this season, and part of that was getting off to a strong start, which they managed to do.
It comes down to maintaining that level of play and stacking wins for the next two months. Last season, it felt Pitt was chasing something or climbing out of a hole, but this year’s team has a chance to control its own destiny because of the start it had. It will be a long two month chase to make the NCAA Tournament, but the Panthers have positioned themselves nicely heading into league play.
TWO QUESTIONS WE HAVE
What were the top five athletes at Pitt in 2024?
Being that this is the final 3-2-1 Column of 2024, I think that’s worthy of using these next two sections to recap the past 12 months in Pitt sports, right? First up, who were the best athletes to don Pitt uniforms this year across all sports?
There are plenty of candidates with all-conference and all-American performers across Pitt’s sports teams, so here are my five standout Pitt performers.
5. Jaland Lowe
This one actually spans two seasons, but I think it makes sense when you see the totality of it from a yearly standpoint. Jaland Lowe was a promising freshman in the first half of last season, but came off the bench. He was also overshadowed a bit by teammate Bub Carrington, another freshman playing the same position.
Lowe went into in early January of 2024 and has been there ever since for Jeff Capel. With Lowe in the starting lineup from the end of last year to the start of this season Pitt is 23-8 as a program, including a 10-2 start to this season. Lowe is averaging 14.4 points per game as a starter and has provided numerous clutch performances at the end of last season, like scoring 17 points in an upset over No. 7 Duke on the road, to this season, where he scored a career-high 28 in a one-point road victory over Ohio State.
Lowe is clutch, talented, and the team has simply won a lot of basketball games in 2024 when he moved into the starting lineup and his outlook for 2025 is about as high as anyone else’s at Pitt.
4. Desmond Reid
Desmond Reid showed up to Pitt as a relative unknown, perhaps even a lottery ticket coming from the FCS ranks. If that’s the case, the Panthers scratched off a big winner with the dynamic Reid. His size raised questions at first, but he erased them almost immediately. In just his second game at Pitt, he had over 100 yards rushing and 100 receiving in a 28-27 win over Cincinnati.
Of course, Reid ran all the way to All-American honors this season and proved to be one of the more valuable players on the roster, and is a building block for the 2025 team. He was brilliant yesterday in the bowl game, even in a losing effort, rushing for a season-high 165 yards and a touchdown.
3. Blake Hinson
In the transfer portal era, it can sometimes be hard to capture the heart of a fan base. College athletes do not always get a chance to plant roots at their schools with the constant roster shuffling.
With that in mind, it’s impressive Blake Hinson became one of the more beloved Pitt basketball stars in recent memory after showing up in Oakland as a relative unknown transfer who was out of college basketball for a year.
Hinson’s engaging personality brought him plenty of attention and fanfare, but his unbelievable range and scoring ability was always the main attraction. He earned first team All-ACC honors in 2024 after collecting second team recognition in 2023. Hinson set Pitt’s single season 3-point record with 110 makes this past year. Pitt and Hinson did not reach the NCAA Tournament last year, but he still proved to be one of the more exciting athletes to suit up in blue and gold this past year.
2. Kyle Louis
There was a lot of buzz about Kyle Louis this offseason, and there was a belief around the program he could be a breakout player for the football team this year. Louis liked up to those expectations and then some.
Louis was a first team All-ACC pick, landed on multiple All-American teams, and proved to be one of the best defensive players in college football. Nobody else in the country put up a stat line like Louis, and truthfully, he should have gotten more postseason honors than he did.
Louis finished with 101 tackles, 15.5 TFLs, seven sacks, and four interceptions. He made his presence known in the bowl game yesterday as well, by blocking an extra point and then returning it himself. It was an uncommon play, made by a unique player.
1. Olivia Babcock
Olivia Babcock is the best college volleyball player in the country, so that made this an easy choice for the best athlete at Pitt in 2024. Babcock won the AVCA National Player of the Year award last week. She was also ACC Player of the Year, and has been a first team All-American in her two seasons at Pitt. Babcock led Pitt volleyball to a 33-2 record, a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament semifinal, and also the school’s sixth ACC title this past season. She has a chance to become one of the more decorated Pitt athletes ever, regardless of sport, with two more years of eligibility and a couple more chances to bing the program its first national championship.
What were the five most memorable games of 2024?
Listen, I know yesterday’s game was historic, but the six-overtime loss to Toledo is not making the cut. What were the best and most memorable wins in 2024?
Here are my five.
5. Pitt 41, Syracuse 13 (Football)
Look, we know what happened after this game, but in the moment this was quite a spectacle. Syracuse actually had a solid team this year, and Pitt jumped them in a manner of which none of us have ever seen. The Panthers’ defense swarmed for five interceptions in this game, and took back three of them for touchdowns.
Pitt was up 31-0 at halftime before Syracuse even knew what hit them. Again, at the time, this was a big deal. It was a Thursday night nationally televised game, the Panthers were ranked, and this propelled them to 7-0, the school’s best start in over 40 years. The vibes were high, and this beatdown over a rival looked pretty good in the moment.
4. Pitt 3, Penn State 0 (Volleyball)
The Panthers’ volleyball team had a memorable start to the 2024 season. Pitt won its first 12 matches of the year all via the sweep, and part of that winning streak was played in front of a record crowd against a big rival.
Pitt took down Penn State in straight sets, who was ranked third at the time, in front of 11,800 at the Petersen Events Center, which broke an attendance record for the program. The Panthers took it to the Nittany Lions, who eventually won the national championship earlier this month. It should set the stage for more big rivalry showdowns with Penn State in the future, with two of the best programs in the country residing in Pennsylvania these days.
3. Pitt 91, Ohio State 90 OT (Men’s basketball)
This was just last month, but it truly was a great college basketball game with a memorable finish. The Panthers are on a mission to make the 2025 NCAA Tournament and they felt playing a tougher non-conference schedule would help accomplish that goal.
Pitt wound up playing Ohio State in Columbus the day after Thanksgiving and it was an absolute battle. The Panthers trailed by nine at halftime, by 12 in the second half, and five points with under two minutes remaining, but made a late push by some brilliant play from Jaland Lowe and forced overtime.
That ultimately set up deep a three-pointer by Zack Austin at the buzzer to pull out a stunning 91-90 overtime win. Currently, that is one of the best marks on Pitt’s tournament resume heading into 2025.
2. Pitt 38, West Virginia 34 (Football)
On September 14, 2024, there was a picture perfect day in Pittsburgh. The Panthers hosted West Virginia in front of a sold-out stadium with a nationally televised audience and handed the Mountaineers a gutting 38-34 loss with an improbable 10-point comeback in the final four minutes.
Pitt found itself down 34-24, but engineered a quick turnaround, highlighted by a 40-yard touchdown bomb from Eli Holstein to Daejon Reynolds. Then Holstein, who was making only his third career start, led Pitt on a go-ahead touchdown drive with under a minute left in the game. Pitt improved to 61-43-3 over the Mountaineers in the process, and 2-1 in the current revival of the series.
1, Pitt 80, Duke 76 (Men’s basketball)
There are times where a team simply has no business winning a game and the top pick of 2024 certainly fits that description. Last January, Pitt was reeling as a basketball team. The Panthers had lost four out of five and had to travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on No. 7 Duke as 13-point underdogs. Just 11 days prior to this matchup, Duke humbled Pitt 75-53 at the Petersen Events Center.
Nobody expected Pitt to win, especially in one of the toughest environments in college basketball, but then Blake Hinson went on an absolute heater. Hinson scored 24 points, on 7/7 from three-point range as the Panthers stunned Duke in front of the Cameron Crazies, as the Pitt star was happy to remind the Blue Devis’ faithful right after the game. There was not a more iconic moment in Pitt sports in 2024 then Hinson standing on the scorer’s table, nor a more memorable win. This felt like an easy pick.
ONE PREDICTION
Pitt will be 12-2 going into the Duke game
Ah yes, speaking of Duke…I am thinking another big showdown in Durham will be in order in a few short weeks. The Pitt basketball team is going to start ACC play strong, even if it does not feel like ACC play.
The Panthers first two opponents in January will be home dates against Cal and Stanford. After being an outsider in the league since joining in 2013, the Panthers must feel like the old guard to the likes of the two new California members.
Cal is 7-5 on the season, while Stanford is 9-3. The Golden Bears are first up, on New Year’s Day, while the Cardinal come to town next weekend. Cal checks in at No. 127 in the NET, and Stanford sits at No. 83, so I guess this isn’t so much a bold prediction, as Pitt should beat both of these teams on paper.
The 12-2 prediction, however, would set the stage for what should be pretty big game against Duke on January 7th, scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. tip on ESPN. As noted previously, the ACC’s perception is down, but the Panthers and the Blue Devils appear to be the two best teams in the league at the moment.
This can be a good measuring stick game, and one that can affect ACC and NCAA Tournament seeding as well. If Pitt takes care of business like it should against Cal and Stanford, then the team will crack the top 25 polls setting the stage for a ranked-on-ranked nationally televised matchup in one of the sports’ great venues.
It’s been a while since Pitt played in that type of game. It was common practice to see Pitt playing big games on national TV in the Big East days, but those moments have been few and far between in the ACC. I think Pitt will hold up its end of the bargain to create that big-game against the Blue Devils, who also should be 12-2 entering that contest.
