Again, not a lot of Pitt stuff. One article on Carl Krauser. He apparently has an injured shoulder, though the nature or severity of the injury isn’t explained. He’s also dealing with being the focus of defenses on the perimeter.
As a first-year starter last season, Carl Krauser was flanked by two established and talented players in Julius Page and Jaron Brown. Opponents did not spend a lot of time worrying about stopping Pitt’s neophyte point guard.
Krauser surprised them all by leading Pitt in scoring and becoming the driving force that led the Panthers to the third round of the NCAA tournament.
This season, Krauser does not have the luxury of having experienced players beside him. He is playing with an inexperienced senior, a sophomore and a freshman in the backcourt. The opponents aren’t worried about Yuri Demetris, Antonio Graves or Ronald Ramon. They’re worried about and determined to limit Krauser’s effectiveness.
In the past five games, teams have done a good job of that.
As I mentioned after the Rutgers game, the Rutgers radio guys said that the Scarlet Knights had specifically practiced taking charges in the lane to deal with Krauser’s driving. It worked perfectly when he picked up 2 quick charging fouls.
Krauser and the team’s offense are now making the adjustment (or at least trying to). It may be another factor in why Pitt will need to get away from the 3 guard line-up they have been using. They need someone (a forward) else who is a threat to drive inside with the ball. Especially if Ramon keeps up his fine perimeter and jump shooting and/or Graves gets his shooting touch back.
To some degree, the fact that Pitt is only now making the adjustment is frustrating and points up the fallacy of the weak non-con (never miss an opportunity to bash the non-con). Against bad teams that didn’t have the talent and same coaching there was nothing indicating that teams were changing their approach to Pitt. Most of the early foes were more concerned with trying to find away to match the inside muscle and size of Taft and Troutman. It was only as the talent and coaching increased that we saw teams making an effort to limit Krauser. So, only then, did Krauser and the Pitt coaches have to start adjusting. They may have even anticipated this coming, but there was no game experience to fall back upon the team was still unprepared.
I’m probably oversimplifying, but Pitt fans seem to be falling into 2 camps regarding Krauser. Those that love his game. And those that think he is a ball hog. Right up front, I admit I’m more of the former than the latter.
Those that see him as a ball hog, see a player not getting the team involved enough on offense. Who is just looking for his shot and not trying to get the ball inside enough for the high percentage shots for Troutman and Taft. He takes too many 3-point shots, plays out of control at times (especially as he drives the lane) and can be careless with the ball.
I won’t really argue taking too many 3s. In general, I cringe when ever I look at the box score and see Pitt has taken over 15 3 pointers. That means too many players are taking too many deep shots. I’m much happier seeing the attempts in the 10-14 realm. Teams that rely too much on/fall in love with the 3s are going to be inconsistent, living and dying each game by how the shots are falling.
The playing out of control doesn’t happen as much as people seem to believe. Krauser is still the only perimeter player for Pitt who takes the ball inside. He has a great first step and looks to initiate contact. It as much to draw the foul and cause the other team to play off him more — to open up passing lanes and cause more hesitation later in the game for fear of picking up another foul. It is part of the game strategy.
I don’t think Krauser is looking for his shot first, so much as he is confident in his game and expects his shots to fall. Krauser is still the leading assist man on the team. He seems to be the only perimeter player who gets the ball inside. Graves and Demetris are much too willing just to keep passing the ball on the perimeter. Either their passes aren’t sharp enough, or they lack the confidence to get the ball to Troutman and Taft inside. How many times this season have you seen Demetris and Graves just look inside, then hesitate to pass, giving the defense time to adjust. Forcing them to keep passing along the perimeter. That leaves it to Krauser to get it inside, and while his passes are much crisper than the other 2, teams are more aware and defend against the inside pass more when he has the ball.
Don’t get me wrong, Graves has really started to improve on the passing inside, but he still hesitates. That’s part of the difference from last year, when Brown and Page were not only threats to shoot and drive, but to make good quick passes inside.
I still think the best hope for Pitt is that one of the forwards (DeGroat, Milligan or even Kendall) finally starts to get what they need to do on defense and start getting more minutes. I just think it would help Pitt a bit more.
