Pitt came out running, as promised. Sam Young is excited.
“In the past, we’ve been known for our defense,” Young said. “We always had the opportunity to get fastbreak points, but we were always a halfcourt team, so we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. But now that we’re more mobile and more agile, we’re going to take advantage of our opportunities. We’re going to blow teams out and get them out of the way early instead of holding the ball and wasting time.”
The new style seems to fit Young perfectly. He had three highlight-reel dunks in the opening minutes, including one windmill and two off alley-oop passes, one of which came from Blair.
“I’ve played this way all my life,” Young said. “Then I get here and I’m supposed to slow it down a little bit. I feel they weren’t taking advantage of my strengths. This is definitely more my style. I feel more of a need to make things happen.”
It is no shock that Young likes it at a faster pace. At times in his freshman and sophomore years, it seemed like he was trying to out run the Pitt offense. The big concern with Young, though will be his commitment to play defense and his health.
Q: After watching the two exhibition games, Sam Young looks healthier and more aggressive than last year. He is also playing a position where he is more comfortable. Is he ready for a break-out year?
FITTIPALDO: All signs point to Young having a good season, Marc. He led Pitt in scoring in the two exhibition games and has been Pitt’s first option in a lot of the offensive sets. I can see Young averaging 14 points and seven rebounds a game if his knees hold up. That will be the big question. He is taking better care of the knees this season, but we’ll have to see how he holds up over the long haul.
After pasting Houston Baptist, next up is North Carolina A&T (PDF). Presumably Pitt won’t be looking past that game to Sunday, but I know I am and so are others.
Game worth driving to see in person: Rick Majerus’ official return to coaching is Friday night, but it is Sunday that he can make national headlines. His Saint Louis Billikens are in Pittsburgh for the Hispanic College Fund Classic, and they’ll get a shot at Jamie Dixon’s Pitt Panthers in the event’s closing contest.
I’ll just be thrilled to watch on regular TV. The online video feed gives me a bit of a headache.
I’ve been listening via internet audio streams from local radio stations. You can find a list of stations here:
From there it’s simply a matter of using a search engine to find a station’s web site/live feed.
I wish Groat and Hargrove would stop calling them North Carolina A&T AT&T. Ma Bell is turning over in her grave…
BTW – Benjamin needs to play a little more intelligently. Two consecutive fouls on a three-point shooter.
Just nitpicking here, but can’t we just play two whole halves of defense, like UCLA did the other night? I know we’re killing em, but i’d like to kill em by 50 or 60.
And how’s it working out for OJ and Herb Pope? Have fun guys…
Hopefully Kevin Jones is paying attention here and makes a sound decision…OSU can’t beat Findlay…and WVU, well, that’s just disgusting. I wouldn’t even step foot on that shithole…
– NC A&T coach Jerry Eaves
Possibly true, but bulletin board material nonetheless. Strange that he’d say that after we canned 12 three-pointers against his team and shot at a 44-percent clip from beyond the arc. Not to mention that he lost by 27…
On the other hand, our lineup last year was kinda similar to our football team’s offense … playing in another era. It was more effective than our football team of course (who isn’t). But ultimately not in step with college basketball of the current era. We still can’t shoot 3’s reliably though. However, don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful for the consistent quality of the basketball team.
One last gripe, why did we consent to allow the women’s team to play at Penn State? F them in everything.
Plus with Diggs and McGhee having 10 fouls to give, we’ll be alright.
Last year UCLA was able to beat us employing the same defense we use, with no one over 6-8 on their team, yet held Gray to 10 points. We even have 2 6-10 backups. There is no reason we can’t do as well as they did against taller guys.
And no i’m not saying losing Gray was either good or bad – i’m just saying I’m not listening to excuses about height this year. We have more skill and talent on this team than we’ve ever had in the past – two guards that can dunk? A center than makes FTs? Sam Young? If we can play consistent defense and the young players mature fast enough, we should be able to do as well as usual, and maybe even better. Our biggest problem is our inconsistent shooting (3’s and FT’s) and several young players that will have to play D.
What happened to Fields? Not only is his release ugly, but his shot is ugly now.
