As posted earlier, Pitt, once more, had problems getting to their Tournament location. Not a lot to do in the Sioux Falls Airport. Bendel in passing floats the idea of the travel delays affecting Pitt‘s performance in the Big East Tournament. Not a good thought, because it suggests how soft Pitt must be, considering WVU had an even more difficult time getting to the BET and they played a game the day before Pitt did.
There is a very bizarre (to be kind) piece from Smizik about Pitt players being bitter.
So why are some of the Pitt players so unhappy? Why are they walking around with what amounts to not just a chip but an entire lumberyard on their shoulder? Instead of rejoicing in their success and fame, they come across as bitter young men who believe they have been dealt a bad hand.
The comments made by two team leaders, Carl Krauser and Chevon Troutman, after Pitt’s selection Sunday, were stunning in their level of bitterness.
Concerning the team’s No. 9 seeding, Krauser said, “That’s OK. Since I’ve been here, I realize no one in college basketball gives us any respect. We’re used to that. That’s why we’re used to being an underdog.”
Concerning the site of the team’s game, Boise, Idaho, Troutman said, “We never get a cool place to play close to home. It’s not anything to us. We just have to go to Boise and take care of business.”
Forget for a moment how blatantly incorrect those statements are and consider the spirit in which they were made.
Let me get this straight. After everyone had been telling them, they had read and seen things saying that Pitt would be a 6 or 7 seed, they find out they are a 9 seed. Their immediate response, much like the fans is WTF? Did Smizik do any real reporting? Or did he just cherry-pick some quotes from the stories published? I wonder, because there was more than one interpretation of how the players responded. Including another quote from Troutman.
“Everybody’s asking about West Virginia, but they deserve it because they swept us and went to the championship game,” Troutman said. “We played our way into a No. 9 seed, so we’ve got to work from there.”
How bitter does that sound?
As for Pitt, some don’t think they will be playing too much longer.
Yes, the Pitt basketball season has been a bit of a disappointment to players, coaches and fans who had hoped for another 30-win season and Big East championship.
It’s just not very surprising.
The questions that the Panthers had at the beginning of the season still linger as they prepare to meet Pacific in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday.
Pitt has not exactly been a predictable team this year.
Looking for an NCAA Tournament bracket spoiler?
It could be the Pittsburgh Panthers.
The ninth-seeded Panthers, who open the tournament Thursday morning at Taco Bell Arena against eight-seeded Pacific, have Final Four potential.
They also could be packing their bags by lunchtime.
The Panthers have reached the Sweet 16 three straight years and fell out of the Top 25 this week for the first time in more than three years. They are 4-2 against Top 25 teams, but they have lost four of their past six games.
Right now, Pitt is a 3.5 point favorite.
Pitt has been preparing for the Tournament as if the games will be called tightly.
One thing Dixon emphasized this week and will continue to emphasize is overcoming a tight whistle. The Panthers are a physical team and have struggled to adjust their game, especially this year, when officials are quick with the whistle.
“It is imperative that we get through screens, play good help defense and rebound the basketball because they can hurt you if they get a lot of looks and if you don’t guard them tight.”
Pitt guard Carl Krauser, who, at times this year, has complained about officiating, said he believes the Panthers are capable of maintaining their tough, aggressive defense while avoiding foul trouble as long as they don’t take cheap fouls or make bad decisions.
“Coach made sure our practices were called really tight this week because you never know. We’re going out west and we’ll probably have officials we haven’t seen before and don’t know how we play,” Krauser said.
There’s also speculation about Krauser and Taft going pro after the season.
As for Pacific, they apparently haven’t been steamrolling quite as smoothly as people seem to be saying.
Pacific has been inconsistent and uneven in the four games prior to the Utah State loss, and for the Tigers to rebound from their loss to the Aggies, one would think playing in the spectacle of March Madness would be motivation enough.
But the Tigers haven’t been themselves lately, and Thomason will attempt to get his team re-organized in short order against a physical team like Pittsburgh, which boasts players like 6-10, 260-pound forward Chris Taft, 6-7, 240-pound forward Chevon Troutman, 7-0, 275-pound center Aaron Gray, and Levon Kendall and Mark McCarroll, both 6-10 and 225 pounds.
“The way we had been playing lately caught up with us. Hopefully, this is a big-time wake-up call that can get us back on track. It’s been that way all year,” Pacific assistant coach Adam Jacobsen said after the Big West championship game loss. “We kind of fell into a rut the last four games, so, hopefully this will help us relax and get back to playing Pacific basketball.”
The Tigers should be happy to get a second chance after having one of their worst games of the year against the Aggies.
Pacific has a lot of foreign and JUCO players. The one Pitt might have the biggest problem could be Christian Maraker.
As for Maraker, he also shoots 47 percent from the field, 37 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent from the free-throw line.
And, he plays well in big games. Maraker scored 22 in Pacific’s 11-point loss at Kansas in December and 19 earlier this season in an overtime win vs. NCAA qualifier Utah State.
Asked to describe his style, Maraker said he has a distinct European flare, in that he can step out and shoot from long range or slip by a defender for easy buckets. He could present a matchup problem for Pitt. The Panthers have had difficulty keeping up with inside-outside wing players (i.e. Curtis Sumpter of Villanova).
This is the kind of player that Pitt will need McCarroll, DeGroat and/or Kendall covering, with Troutman available to be there if he goes inside. I really don’t want to see Troutman getting the assignment on an inside-outside guy. It completely disrupts Troutman at both ends.
