That’s the question for the Pitt basketball team. Memphis was supposed to be Pitt’s first test. One of the few on the non-con (no, I’m not going to get started on that again). Instead, Pitt blew them out of the game so quickly, that you can’t be sure. Especially considering how badly Memphis fared against Syracuse and Maryland. Pitt played sloppy in the second half, but at it’s hard not to excuse it as easing off after building a 24 point lead after halftime. So the next test is?
Of those five opponents, South Carolina looks to be the best of the bunch, but the Gamecocks (4-1) must play at the Petersen Events Center, where Pitt is 40-1 since the facility opened in 2002-03.
Pitt might have to wait another six weeks to play a ranked team. So circle this one: Jan. 22 at Connecticut.
Pitt could be 15-0 entering that game, given that the first four opponents in the Big East Conference schedule are Georgetown, at Rutgers, Seton Hall and at St. John’s, hardly a murderer’s row. Last year, the Panthers were 18-0 entering the Connecticut game and lost a heartbreaker in Hartford.
Back to the original point: Pitt’s performance against Memphis. It was not a masterpiece. If the Panthers are going to get through the next month and a half unscathed, they’ll have to play better than they did in the second half against the Tigers.
When Carl Krauser wasn’t on the floor, the Panthers looked lost. On several occasions they couldn’t manage to get the ball past half court without turning it over. Pitt had 19 turnovers, 14 in the second half when the game became a bit ragged and disjointed for both teams. Freshman Ronald Ramon and sophomore Antonio Graves struggled handling the ball against Memphis’ press.
Free-throw shooting was a problem, too. The Panthers made just 29 of their 42 attempts (59.5 percent). They are shooting 65.3 percent from the free-throw line for the season.
The Richmond game on December 23 (on ESPN2) should be something of a challenge. The Spiders are one of the consistently upper-mid-majors. The point, being the same one I made last year before the start of the season, is that no one will know for sure about this team until the conference schedule gets underway in January. That’s a shame.
The very improved play of Antonio Graves has been an early season surprise. But there seems to be some revisionism about how Pitt got interested and recruited him:
Antonio Graves sparked the interest of Pitt coach Jamie Dixon a couple years back during an AAU basketball game.
The Panthers sophomore guard wasn’t hitting long-range 3-pointers or throwing down poster-style dunks in Dixon’s presence. He was at the end of the bench — cheering.
That’s right, Graves caught Dixon’s fancy simply by cheering.
“You could see he was a team guy, and that’s the type of player we want in our program,” Dixon said.
But what about those recruiting gurus who didn’t rank Graves very highly? Wasn’t that a concern?
Not in the least for Dixon.
“We felt like Antonio was going to fit in,” said Dixon, whose team is 6-0 and ranked No. 11 by The Associated Press.
Graves was a late signing after another recruit asked out of his scholarship. Pitt had the extra scholarship and needed a point guard to help back-up Krauser. Graves was signed in late August:
They have signed, Antonio Graves of Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ohio. Graves was first-team all-Ohio last year. He’s 6-3. He was a late qualifier. Not a blue-chip recruit — his main offers were from Rutgers, Charlotte and Bowling Green (though Ohio St. and Cincinnati started showing some late interest). Still, he fills a big need for Pitt.
There was growing interest once he became academically qualified. It wasn’t so much his talent as whether he would have to go to prep school for a year.
I’m very happy about Graves. He has clearly bought into the defensive philosophy. Of course he will struggle at times playing the point when Krauser is out. Just as Krauser struggled at times when he spelled Brandin Knight.
