The Pitt News • 23rd April 2021

Bobeck reflects on the highs, lows and in between of his TPN career

For a milestone end of an era, there’s a lack of finality in graduation. It’s the close of a large chapter in student’s lives, sure — but it serves more as a bookend to what comes next than a slamming shut of this period in our lives.

For someone who never reveled in the rigor of classroom academics such as myself, it is almost a welcome one.

The Pitt News • 18th April 2021

No. 1 Pitt men’s soccer foiled again by No. 4 Clemson in chance for NCAA tournament bid

The No. 1 Pitt men’s soccer program (13-3, 9-2) waited 54 years between its last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1965 and its return trip in 2019. The current wait to book the Panthers’ official bid — stretched by the COVID-caused postponement from fall to spring — will be extended by a few more days after the Panthers (13-3, 9-2) fell to No. 4 Clemson (13-3-2, 8-3-2) 2-0, the team’s second loss of the season to the Tigers. The ACC’s automatic qualifier play-in game Saturday night took place at Clemson’s Historic Riggs Field.

The Pitt News • 10th March 2021

In four rocky years with sweeping changes, Terrell Brown embraces role in Pitt’s rebuild

Senior center Terrell Brown stepped onto a court as a Pittsburgh Panther for 117 games. Nearly 60% of the time, the team he played for lost.

Yet through 72 defeats, a revolving door of 27 different teammates, two coaches and two Pitt color schemes, Brown is still here.

Among it all, Brown has stood as a soft-spoken 6-foot-10 figure among the Pitt men’s basketball program, working quietly to serve as a brick in the foundation laid by the coach who did not recruit him.

The Pitt News • 1st March 2021

Strong pitching leads Pitt baseball to three-game sweep of ranked Florida State

One letter can sum up Pitt baseball’s (6-1, 3-0) opening ACC series in Tallahassee: K.

Rather, 27 copies of that same letter. The Panthers’ two starting pitchers rung up Florida State batters that many times combined Friday and Saturday night, leading the team to consecutive wins by scores of 1-0 and 7-2, respectively, over Florida State (2-4, 0-3).

The Pitt News • 12th February 2021

Bobeck: After decades of football mediocrity, Pitt has become basketball school

Pitt hasn’t been a football school since 1999. When the concrete walls of Pitt Stadium came down, opening up space for the Petersen Events Center to take its place, basketball officially replaced football as the University’s sport of focus. And for the next decade and a half, the results followed.

The Pitt News • 29th January 2021

Bobeck: Time for Pitt men’s basketball to prove it can get off the mat — and stay up

Pitt men’s basketball missed the services of second-leading scorer Au’Diese Toney in the Louisville loss and had two games postponed for COVID-19 protocols. Heading into its first game of the New Year on Jan. 6 at Syracuse, Pitt men’s basketball faced an uphill stretch. In the two weeks leading up to that game — not originally scheduled for the Panthers — they had dropped their first home conference game to Louisville, lost leading scorer and rebounder Justin Champagnie to a knee injury that would — supposedly — keep him off the court for six to eight weeks.

The Pitt News • 30th October 2020

What are the Odds: Bouncing back with bets on the gridiron and the pitch

Have you thanked your patron Saint today? I offer my gratitude to dear old Sean Payton and Drew Brees as New Orlean’s six-point victory over Detroit saved me from an otherwise dreadful slate of picks last time around. College football went especially awry, as the Pitt defense slept through their game against NC State — a sign of worse days to come — Texas Tech collapsed late and Georgia disproved all of my misgivings in a rout of Auburn.

The Pitt News • 14th October 2020

Equipped to adapt: Pitt Athletics hones in on finer details of equipment care

Pitt football’s equipment team has had to adjust sanitation and cleaning practices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Derek Moos was used to dealing with a certain type of face mask — the one attached to the front of a football or softball helmet or the one strapped across a catcher’s head.

The Pitt News • 8th October 2020

Pitt soccer parts ways with leading scorer Edward Kizza

Pitt soccer announced last week that Edward Kizza, the second highest goal scorer in program history, is no longer on the team.

The No. 2 Pitt men’s soccer program (2-0-0, 1-0-0 in ACC) will go through the rest of what has started as their most promising season in recent memory without the services of last year’s leading scorer senior forward Edward Kizza.

The Pitt News • 2nd October 2020

What are the Odds: Full football slate awaits

Welcome back to a new season of What Are The Odds. Last time I offered my wisdom, we had hit the lowest point in our search for winning wagers, looking to events such as the Belarusian Premier League, Marble Racing and — sadly — even the weather.

But a new fall is upon us, with new hopes and a full slate of football — or maybe not.

The Pitt News • 23rd September 2020

Narduzzi talks future opponents, stars

For Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi, the main priority week in and week out is emerging 1-0 against each week’s opponent. But after pausing to appreciate his team’s 21-10 victory over Syracuse on Saturday at a Monday press conference, Narduzzi lamented the lopsided score that could have been.

The Pitt News • 26th August 2020

Pitt’s marquee pair of head soccer coaches aim for new heights

What has followed is a remarkable turnaround for both programs, once mired in competitive disadvantages since the competitive leap from the Big East to the ACC. In his fourth season at the helm of the men’s program, Vidovich steered the Panthers to their first NCAA tournament appearance and tournament win since 1965 with a 2-0 victory over Lehigh in fall 2019......
Meanwhile, on the women’s side of Ambrose Urbanic Field, the home pitch for both programs, Waldrum orchestrated a roster turnover that saw 21 new arrivals on campus this past season, including 17 first-years. Inexperience be damned, Waldrum and his Panthers broke the program’s three-year conference-win drought, while showing marked competitive improvement down the stretch of conference play.

The Pitt News • 19th August 2020

Uncertainty hangs over season of promise for Pitt football

The Panthers hope to take another step toward the ultimate goal set by head coach Pat Narduzzi to add a 10th national title to a trophy case barren of recent additions.

The Pitt News • 10th April 2020

In the shadow of The Mecca: Reflecting on the Pitt-NY basketball pipeline

During the heyday of Pitt men’s basketball in the Big East conference — the period in which former head coach Jamie Dixon’s teams appeared in eight straight NCAA Tournaments between 2004 and 2011 — nearly every borough of New York City was represented on the Panthers’ roster.

The Pitt News • 6th April 2020

10 sports video games to keep you sane in self-quarantine

With nothing but time on your hands and zero motivation for anything school-related, now is the time to unearth that ancient, dust-covered collection of sports video games buried somewhere in your basement. Left behind since you upgraded to that last new console or replaced them with slightly newer but also slightly worse versions, these are some of the best from both today and yesteryear.

The Pitt News • 3rd April 2020

What are the Odds: Scouring a barren gambling landscape

There’s no time like the insular present to kick that betting “habit” — which seems impossible to rid yourself of when there’s normally something to wager on at any time of the day. If you’re allowed, take a nice walk outside, find something interesting to watch online or maybe try to recreate some of your all-time bad beats in your sports video game of choice.

But if you find yourself desperately looking to scratch the itch, here are a few options that might satisfy your gambling urges.

The Pitt News • 20th March 2020

Boissonneault adds three new players to Pitt lacrosse

As the world of sports grinds to a near total shutdown at Pitt and around the world, Panthers’ head lacrosse coach Emily Boissonneault continues to construct the foundation of the University’s newest varsity program. Despite the cancellation of all ACC spring sports, Boissonneault has powered through, announcing the addition of three new players from the Pitt club women’s lacros

The Pitt News • 12th February 2020

Manfred’s proposal makes a mockery of the MLB

Perhaps Rob Manfred would like Vince MacMahon’s job. The latter’s position as the head of entertainment giant WWE — emphasis on entertainment, as opposed to sport — is surely secure. But the current Major League Baseball commissioner has demonstrated such a flair for seeking out unnecessary dramatic elements to add to America’s pastime that perhaps he could give ol’ Vince a run for his money as America’s greatest showman.

The latest ploy from Manfred in his ongoing efforts to increase television revenue for baseball among declining attendance and decreasing TV numbers is to introduce an expanded playoff format whose centerpiece would be a live selection show in which each league’s second- and third-seeded division winners choose their first-round opponent live on TV for the whole world to see, per the New York Post.

The Pitt News • 24th November 2019

No. 3 Hoyas end Pitt’s Tournament run, 5-0

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pitt men’s soccer (10-8-2 overall, 5-3-1 ACC) found itself frozen in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday, falling in a lopsided 5-0 match to the No. 3 seeded Georgetown Hoyas (16-1-3 overall, 7-0-2 Big East) at Shaw Field in Northwest Washington.

After disposing of the Patriot League Champion Lehigh Mountain Hawks 2-0 at home in the program’s first tournament game since 1965, the Panthers couldn’t muster any opposition to the onslaught put up by the Big East Champion Hoyas on a frigid afternoon, getting outshot in the contest 20-4.

The Pitt News • 22nd November 2019

What are the Odds: Giving thanks to the Gophers, Rainbow Warriors

Simply put, you can’t win them all. Another even week, but this one stings a little bit. Minnesota was a three-point underdog at Iowa and that game ended with a brutal beat as the Gophers lost their first game of the season by four points. The Gophers trailed 23-13 before scoring a touchdown with 3:27 left in the game, needing only the extra point to make the matchup a push. Instead, they missed it and threw an interception on their final possesion to prevent a cover.

The Pitt News • 20th November 2019

Pitt teaches Fairleigh Dickinson a lesson on School Day, 69-60

Class was in session for Pitt women’s basketball Tuesday morning in front of a School Day crowd of 6,730 at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers didn’t let those in attendance down, beating the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights 69-60.

The unusually raucous crowd was bolstered by school children from 58 local schools, who made up the majority of the fans in attendance for the 11 a.m. tip off.

Speaking postgame, second-year Panther head coach Lance White expressed his appreciation of the annual event and its organizers.

The Pitt News • 19th November 2019

Narduzzi discusses lions, tigers and Hokies — oh my

With Pitt football set to play its 11th game of the season this Saturday, head football coach Pat Narduzzi knows it’s the time of the year when players are nursing various degrees of soreness and injury. When asked at his weekly press conference how he keeps his team fresh, Narduzzi gave an unorthodox answer.

“You go to the zoo,” he said. “We were at the zoo yesterday. Went to go check out the animals — the giraffes and the lions and the tigers. The kids had a good time.”

Narduzzi might be hoping that the sight of lions — often considered one of nature’s notable apex predators — will motivate his team in its own quest to become king of the ACC Coastal. Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech (7-3 overall, 4-2 ACC) has serious title implications, with the winner gaining an inside track on the Coastal crown should current leader Virginia drop off.

The Pitt News • 26th September 2019

Boissonneault, Pitt lacrosse prepare for 2021 debut

Since being introduced as the first head coach of Pitt’s inaugural varsity women’s lacrosse team in late June, Emily Boissonneault has been a coach without a team, without a staff and without more than one jersey to show off to visiting recruits.

The Pitt News • 16th September 2019

Football Takeaways: Twyman and the defense prove true to hype, while the offense continues to disappoint

So close and yet so far — Pitt football was within a yard of closing its rivalry with Penn State out with a colossal upset Saturday at Beaver Stadium, but came up short in a 17-10 loss.

Even with a disappointing loss, there is still plenty to take away as the Panthers close out their non-conference slate against No. 15 UCF and Delaware before heading into the home stretch of ACC conference play.