Pitt Basketball: Tray Woodall Still Not Practicing

In case you were hoping for a quick return by Pitt starting point guard Tray Woodall, don't hold your breath.

Pitt writer Ray Fittipaldo of the Post-Gazette says he's still not practicing. While that might not be unexpected, it's really bad news. The Panthers' offense is already at rock bottom and the longer they're missing Woodall, the worse things are going to be.

Fittipaldo also has a nugget about the last practice being pretty rough. And that's probably a good thing.

What Pitt needs right now is to get out of the funk they're in. Playing a bit smarter and not turning the ball over at the drop of a hat will help, too, but Pitt really needs to get back to punching people in the mouth and striking some fear into teams.

Sure, I know a big huge part of the problem is that Pitt isn't shooting all that well. But another problem that's going to arise (if it hasn't already) is that teams are simply going to be less intimidated by playing in the Pete. Pitt gets a huge advantage just by the Zoo and the atmosphere at home games, but the more often they lose in the Pete, the less opposing teams are going to be intimidated.

Tough, physical practices are what Pitt needs and that hopefully can carry over to the actual games.