It seemed like the cold shooting was contagious. We were thinking too much before we shot the ball. The crowd did not give the team much energy tonight either. I don’t mind if Ramon keeps shooting because eventually they will go down. Young was benched because he came in and turned the ball over at least twice, gave up a three, and was not boxing out. Benjamin should have played more because he was putting the ball in the hole early.

We thought we were going to pull away late in the first half when we had a 12 point lead and eased off. Robert Morris fought back and hit a big three at the buzzer to pull within five.

Comparing the basketball team to the football team is beyond ridiculous. Basketball is a veteran team that doesn’t fold when faced with a little adversity. Pitt football has no heart, other than a few veteran players. The basketball team and players are all heart.

robert morris was really putting the pressure on gray down low- every time he touched the ball there were 3-4 defenders on him. he did a great job moving it around to the right guys, but the shots weren’t falling early.

i was really distraught with our perimeter defense early- rm had many open shots that they just missed. but once they took the lead we clamped down and didn’t let them get many good looks.

kendall looked very rattled. airballed a shot and looked very hesitant.

and i like that the toby keith song is back at the end

digger phelps has been doggin us all night on espn, from the start of the game to the finish. stuff like ‘pitt isnt showing much against robert morris’ early in the game to ‘2-17 from three, they have to do a better job of shot selection’. im not playing the disrespect card yet, but it would be nice to get a little bit of love

Digger Phelps is mad because we kick Notre Dame’s ass every year. Who cares what these idiots think? Shots weren’t falling tonight. It happens. Ramon made a big three when it mattered and Gray was awesome this evening. Robert Morris doesn’t suck and anyone who thought we were going to blow them out is stupid. They played against our players during the summer and were not goint to be intimidated. Georgetown lost again this evening so we should all have some perspective.

From only seeing the box score and the highlights, two things jumped out at me. A.J. Jackson, the Senior forward of Robert Morris who came into the game averaging 24 points and 10 rebounds per game, had only 6 points on 2 of 13 shooting. Good game plan by the coaches and defense by the players.

Only 6 minutes for Sam Young!?! For Pitt to go far this year, he needs to do something.

And the second best thing of the evening (after the Pitt win) is those pretenders at tOSU lost to NC.

Phelps is an idiot. About the only one I respect at ESPN is Bilas. He’s a bit of a Tobacco Road homer, but at least there’s logic in his reasoning. Don’t even get me started on Vitale. I used to love his enthusiasm. But know his broken-record ranting grates on me.
Pitt definitely seems to be flying under the radar. I’ve never seen a top-five team get ignored like the Panthers.
There is an extraordinary amount of hype for Ohio State, UNC, Kansas and UCLA at the moment. They all are excellent teams with some marquee talent and deserve a lot of attention. And they’re getting it with a slew of nationally televised games. But I do think the media is ignoring Pitt to a certain extent. Tonight was the first time I’ve seen Pitt highlights on ESPN.
Personally, I don’t mind the lack of attention. I think Pitt is as good, if not better than those other squads.
For example, there was absolutely no defense played in the OSU-UNC game tonight. It was an exciting game, but if they continue to play D like that I’d be surprised if either team makes it past the Sweet 16.
I was very impressed with the talent those teams have, though. I think the caliber of athlete at OSU and UNC is a bit above what Pitt is recruiting. However, as stated above, Pitt does play quality team defense and shares the ball exceptionally well. That could trump better talent and take them far in the postseason.

about sam’s 6 minutes- benjamin played a very solid game while sam had two early turnovers and i think that’s were sam’s minutes went. this team is so deep that i think sometimes that will happen.

I also think we need Young to play more minutes. My concern is that he might lose his confidence but then again, it should motivate him to try harder.

So it’s all not sweetness and light on this team? Collier tries to Cook up some controversy with some bs:

link to post-gazette.com

After a review of the tape the call on the Clloier article stands: BS! Cook plays defense and plays it hard. He did a good job on Chapelle who got most of his points when Mike was out. A nice block on a drive that for some reason doesn’t show up in the stats.

Plus on offense he looks to pass first.

Get a life Collier.

as for sam young’s minutes, in Dixon’s post game interview, he took the blame and called it a mistake that young didn’t get more minutes. and it will be corrected. dixon was very pleased by the game, acknowledging that pitt’s defense once again kept them in a game where the shooting was cold. he was happy w/ outrebouding rmu and the assists even though the assists would have looked better if all of the kickouts would have fallen.

1) Collier is an idiot – he is definitely trying to make up news

2) Dixon had the right quote in the PG: there were tons of open shots, they just weren’t falling. You can’t pass up those open shots, otherwise we start to fall into the trap of years past when nobody shoots and they never have any offensive rhythm.

3) As good as this team is, there is still the problem from the last 2 years: intensity. They apparently had it against FSU, but too many times last year they would have a team on the ropes, ready to open up a massive lead, and then 2 or 3 dumb turnovers, 2 or 3 bad shots, some lazy D, and bam, it’s a game again.

I know others here don’t make a big deal of the fact that Pitt hasn’t blown out some of its opponents the way Fla. or some others have. But that does concern me because, while this is not and never will be a high-flying offensive team, if they would just keep their intensity on both ends, they would be blowing out these teams by 30+ every game.

Of course, this is nitpicking, but if this team really wants to get to the final 4, that fist-pumping intensity must be there game in and game out.

did collier really say anything in that article?

Give the credit to Robert Morris. They didn’t get fazed when Pitt took the big lead late in the first half and then made some tough shots to cut into it. RMU is not a bad team and they have a lot of character. Pitt is a much better offensive team then what showed last night. Nothing to worry about.

If anything, it doesn’t hurt to play in a closer, more competitive game. It prepares the team mentally for when a game finally does go down to the wire.

last night we looked real slow in the front court and bak court. we will never beat marquette playing like that.

Yes, let’s adapt to Marquette’s game. We should bench Gray and Kendall and go with an all guard line-up to counter what they want to do. RIDICULOUS. Who does Marquette have to guard Gray? Or Kendall? Size is important in basketball. It is not all about quickness. The only way we will have to play a small lineup is if Gray is in foul trouble. Marquette should be worried about Pitt, not the other way around.

we will find out jan 21 and march 3. stay tuned