I think the ND game is the single most pivotal game for us this year. Not a “must” win but lookout if we don’t!

Chas. I agree that Blair is the entire key to Pitt and is by far more valuable than Gray ever was. My spies tell me he is really hurt though and has been babying if not limping on that leg all week.

If he cannot go, McPhee will have to play the game of his life. Normally we beat ND by dominating inside. Lately, Brown, Young et al have been running away from the post area like there is a plague in it!

Still think this team is special, but now they need to prove it. Another blow out by ND and this team is NIT bound.

I just looked at the link you posted to the side-by-side stat comparison… and I think one of the most telling stats is that Harangody has made more free throws than Blair has attempted. This is partially because he shoots a better percentage. But he has 60 more attempts than Blair. For his size and strength, Blair needs to find a way to get fouled more often. The fact that he has so few free throw attempts is a sign of just how timid he has been lately. He has played like he is afraid to go straight at the defender.

Great point on Blair’s lack of attacking the defender straight on. I’m sure some of that has to do with the fact he is still just a freshman — like his need to stop pointless fouls, those skills will come as he gets more experience.

the whole point about Blair being a better defender because he has more blocks/steals is a total joke. defense isn’t about personal stats. blair hasn’t learned to play good position defense at all…..which is why he gets in foul trouble all the time, and all of this is part of what you want to see from Dixon’s coaching staff. Please teach a player to learn the game — don’t keep playing the way you played in high school and keep getting by on your long arms and quick feet. there’s no doubt blair is gifted in those ways and his steals and blocks are great….but he also flops all the time and and rarely plays great position D on his man and help D on others. guys like harangody are examples of what can be done by knowing how to play the game……..blair has a much better upside but I wouldn’t be surprised if Harangody has a comparable college career with half the talent. Blair is crying out for COACHING!!!!!!!!!

remember gb, on this site, JD walks on water, don’t criticize his recruits or coaching, or you’ll be in the same boat as me. seems blair did well first few games, but as more game film became available, opponents figured him out. almost like a pitcher called up from the minors who has initial sucess first couple times thru the line up than gets beat up late in the game.

Dennis, I like Blair, his upside is tremendous, certainly much higher than Gray’s was as a college player. However, if Gray was still on our team today, he would be the starting center hands down. Have you not noticed how many easy inside baskets we now give up? The main reason that is happening is because the big fella now calls the NBA his home.

The kid’s a freshman.

He’s afraid of attacking because the last game EVERYTHING was an offensive foul. The ONLY time he tried backing someone down, they flopped and he got called for a charge. He does that one more time, he has to sit for a half. What is so hard to understand? When the refs are blowing the game, he has to adapt. When he’s allowed to play, he takes it to the hoop. How many dunks has he had so far, and how many did Gray have in all 4 years?

His post defense isn’t that bad. He has some work to do away from the post – either he hedges too far on screens and gets hammered with a foul, or he doesn’t hedge hard enough and takes a bad angle back to his man, allowing a pass. The guards were also killing him, letting man after man blow by, causing him to have to come help and leave his man – and then got no help or rotation from the weak side. Do any of you actually watch the games? Do you understand its not a game of 5 one on one matchups, its TEAM DEFENSE?

HE’S A FRESHMAN PEOPLE. You expect him to have the game mastered already…unreal. He’ll get there. I don’t know how anyone can QUESTION for a second the development of Pitt players. Aaron Gray was going to lead a long life as a tall goofy kid working in an office before 4 years at Pitt – and was one bad game from being a first round selection. Now he’s making bank on the Bulls – and anyone who saw him his soph year said “there is NO WAY IN HELL that kid will ever SNIFF the NBA” – he was that awful.

There’s no point in dogging one of the best coaches in the nation with baseless garbage. Bring some facts with that crap next time.

And you do realize in the MU game, NOT ONE TIME did anyone score over him in the post? That kid that was 8-8 (Barro, or whatever) scored over McGhee once, the rest of the time it was created by either our poor D from the guards, or it was because of some bad D of his away from the post. He’s a freshman, we can live with the fact he’s not awesome around the 3 point line (even though he does get a few steals out there). Hell, there are many centers that will NEVER be good out there and make a fortune in the NBA. For the record, once again, all of the defensive breakdowns the last game:

Brown misses 3, runs himself out of play, leaves 4 on 2 break.

Blair weak hedge, actually screens Ramon, but they miss shot.

Benji’s man had him beat down on the post, Blair had to help, left barro wide open for dunk.

Zone, Ramon/McGhee left barro wide open on baseline for dunk.

Benji lef this man, went under a screen, someone shot over top for 3.

– Barro hook over McGhee – not bad D, just pointing out the only shot Barro created for himself the entire game.

Ramon/Biggs switched, James took Biggs to hoop for layup.

Zone, Ramon gets caught standing around on the wrong side of the floor, wide open 3.

Fields gets lost on a screen, his man cuts to basket for layup.

Benji and Wannamaker not sure whether to switch or not on inbounds, benjis guy goes free, refs blow call on Wannamaker block and award 2 foul shots.

Biggs leaves low post to try to pressure shooter instead of boxing out, allows easy putback.

Zone, Ramon standing around again, 3.

Fields goes under screen, his man pops back out but misses wide open 3.

Benjis man beats him, and all 4 others collapse, leaving wide open 3, but missed.

Ramon/Benji leave someone wide open in zone, 3.

Fields cheats down, leaves his man wide open for 3.

In transition, Benji and Ramon let one of the guards split for a layup.

Young not paying attention in transition, Blair comes to help, leaves his man open, Brown has to foul.

Young gets beat off dribble in zone for pull up 2.

Ramon gets beat in transition for a layup – while ball is on cylinder, another marq player goes over the bank of benji, leveling him to the ground, and hits the rim which is an offensive goaltend. Of course, refs see nothing, score the bucket for MU.

Weak hedge by blair on screen, screens ramon again, heads wrong angle to prevent pass, his man gets layup off of the pick n roll.

Poor box out by blair on FT miss, allows 2 putbacks.

James beat Benji off dribble in Zone, benji and blair collapse, layup for barro.

Backscreen from Blairs man picks brown, he rolls to basket for layup.

Transition, wide open 3. Blair and Brown jogging, Fields knocked to floor.

Biggs man backscreen on Fields, Fields man layup at basket, no help from Brown.

The point isn’t that you CAN’T criticize people, its more that you’re doing it in an incoherent manner.

I agree with GB’s assessment of Blair and even Kurt’s statement on regression once people “figured him out.” I think that its at least in part a confidence issue. There are times when Blair catches the ball and goes up softly, or too quickly, maybe having shades of Hibbert/other shot blockers that have given him trouble? The problem is, he sometimes does this even when no one is around to block his shots. I haven’t seen Harangody play enough, but I think a big part of Blair’s trouble is with big guys that show quickness. If he feels like he’s quicker than Harangody, I look for Blair to have a nice game on the offensive end. If not, forget it, look for another 3-10. On d, frankly, I’m quite worried. We keep hearing about Blair’s 8’5″ wingspan, but he doesn’t seem to use it to his full advantage on defense. This is where, I thought, Antigua was supposed to be useful. Its amazing to me to watch UConn in any of the last six years. Sure, they’ve had natural shot blockers like Okafor and Hilton Armstrong, but guys like Boone and Thabeet, and even their other random front line guys have shown an exceptional knack for altering shots. They’re clearly extremely well schooled in positioning, and KEEPING THEIR HANDS UP. I don’t know if its Jamie’s responsibility, Orlando’s, or someone else’s, but that’s something that’s lacking from all of our interior defenders. Hopefully not for long, but we’ll see.

I was reading the dribble-drive-motion offense article in SI (the issue with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the cover…maybe last week?) and something about it really resonated with me: one of the keys to success of DDM is eliminating mid-range jumpers on the theory that threes are a similar percentage and worth more, and athletic guys going to the hoop are better off creating than pulling up. Now I know we don’t have the guys to run a straight DDM, and that’s fine, but it really bothered me when I thought about the lulls we often go through on offense….the midrange J is often the culprit. I know Sam in particular has established that 15-footer from the wing pretty strongly, but when those shots aren’t falling….and the foul-line runners and two-seconds-on-the-shot-clock-19ft-fadeaways too…its really frustrating that no one takes it to the hole. I understood this problem when Aaron Gray was clogging the middle (and of course, missing bunnies) but now with a more athletic front line, there’s no excuse. Setting Blair up on the left block while Benji or Gil Brown comes down the other side of the lane to attack just seems like an obvious solution to the six minutes, 1 FG problems we occasionally have for three clear reasons: 1) higher percentage shots closer to the bucket; 2) draw fouls and potentially continue to put points on the board while the offense sputters; 3) set up your big man for potential offensive rebounds, which are often the best salve for scoring woes. Hopefully tonight we just won’t have any such woes….

Kurt,
you’re an asshole!

Also, if I had seen Stuart was already taking care of this, I probably wouldn’t have posted at all. 😉

Short of the above: that’s 3 or 4 defensive errors by Blair, most of them around the 3 point line.

And i don’t see anyone dogging Coach K when he didn’t have his team prepared/composed to have to inbound the ball under the other basket with 5 seconds left, needing a real shot to win the game (unlike Calhoun who had his team prepared – they got the win at USF in the SAME situation – and i’ll bet Dixon has our kids prepared too, considering we’ve won half a dozen games in that manner). Dixon isn’t perfect (see above, no coach is), but complain about something he really does wrong, not this garbage. Or be prepared to defend the shitstorm you start.

Maz, there can never be enough people insisting that common sense is heard. Keep up the good work.

I just want to point out that we’re forced into jumpers by the refs sometimes – like last game at MU – I think we had 3 offensive fouls called in a row on dribble penetration, that in 90% of games, would have been blocking fouls. That happened in another game this year too. In the games where its being called normaly, i think we drive a little more than people think – although the pass is preferred over the dribble by Dixon and this team. A lot of times, its easier to strip a dribbler than it is to steal a pass, and we hate turnovers more than anything. Low posesssion, high efficency…DDM works better in high posession games where you can bury a few extra TOs.

Yeah, I definitely agree with the comments about the refs and the general nature of the DDM system with pace and such. I’m not advocating we implement it, just understand that in times of offensive stagnation, the notion that midrange jumpers should be avoided like the plague is a valuable piece of advice to borrow.

That said, I’ll take half-court shots if it means we don’t have to suffer through the ignominy of a six or seven minute long 9-1 “run” by an opponent. I thought that point was missed by the announcers, particularly in the mid- to late-second half of the MU game. They said three times in three minutes that Pitt needed a stop on defense to get going on an MU possession that was itself IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING an empty MU possession. Stops weren’t the problem. They scored 72 total points in the game, won by 18, and hit 5 more threes than us….along with one more FT. That’s 16 points right there. 15 turnovers by Pitt, and four MU blocked shots means, theoretically, 19 empty possessions WITHOUT THE BALL EVEN ARCING TOWARD THE BASKET. Compare to 11 such times for MU. OFFENSE, not defense, was the problem in that game. Of course, I guess I shouldn’t expect competancy from announcers, but bizarrely I continue to do so.

Blair has not been putting the ball in the basket lately. This is an unfortunate fact. He’s been getting good shots, but he has been trying to finesse them in rather than be aggressive. The officiating has been a minor culprit. More importantly, he has been thinking too much instead of just playing. He is taking his eyes off the rim and looking for a shot blocker or official. The coaches need to tell him to simply play and not worry about a blocked shot or a bad call. Those things are going to happen. He just has to avoid commiting stupid fouls on the perimeter or getting called for a block by trying to flop. He should be thinking about those things, but not a foot from the hoop while attempting a layup or jump hook.

His team defense has been poor in many games, but Friday night was not one of them. The worst defensive game he played was against Rutgers. This particular Pitt team makes so many defensive mistakes, as a team, that it seems like it’s Blair’s fault at the end because he is the one being scored on or whose man is left for a layup. All of those things happen because 2 players made a mistake or got beat, not just Blair. He certainly needs to improve, but he has the physical skills to do so.

A lot of the players in the past had physical limitations that prevented them from improving. This is not the case with this particular group of 1st and 2nd year players. I am confident that Blair is going to get better and better defensively each game.

I agree that one of the most frustrating things to watch is the famous Pitt 10 minute scoring drought. It has been all too common in recent years, whether we have a team with good shooters or not. In some cases, Pitt didn’t have the ‘equipment’ to take care of the problem. But this year with Blair and Young, and even Biggs off the bench, they are more than equipped to stop the droughts. They need to play a little more inside out. I do understand that Blair is a freshman and that he is going to get a lot better. But I think his progress would be sped up if they were running the offense through him a little more to where he was actually the first option, and then kick back out if nothing is there. Too many possessions go by where the ball is passed around the 3 point arc for 25+ seconds before they even look inside.

Young needs to take the ball to the hole a little more as well. I think he got spoiled early in the season by making a lot of jumpers, so he has settled into that, even when he is having an off shooting night.

I made this point before, but in regards to Blair, remember that when he got to Pitt, they were using more of a full court running/transition offense. The full-time half court slow down game started after the injuries, and I believe that has something to do with it. Blair has a lot of growing to do, but he is a hell of a player and is going to do nothing but get better. I can easily see him as 3 time All Big East if he stays 4 years.

Omar makes a good point about Blair’s aggressiveness. He has had to sit so many times because of fouls that it has affected his intensity. He needs to learn (maybe he needs to be told by the coaches) that getting a stupid foul at the 3 point line is bad, but getting called for a charge because he was trying to dunk the ball down some assholes throat is acceptable. In fact, it is encouraged.

Definitely encouraged!

One thing to think of regarding Young taking the ball to the hole – lately, he seems to get stripped a couple times a game doing that. Is this also a case of people recognizing his tendencies or is he getting careless? Watching the Marquette game I could yell at the TV 2 seconds in advance of him losing the ball because he was going into the thick of the defense.

Young seems to be very frustrated when he doesn’t get touches. He went one on three several times in the MU game. Often, he will try to make his own move to the basket (or short jumper) and never look at another player. He needs to grow up with his attitude. We sure need him tonight.

i agree with every post but of course adam’s, still, i often wonder why we are struggling to recruit, especially when we have such a nice supporting cast for a 1 and done to come in and have a great shot at a national championship. still mystifies me that we are out recruited by the k-states of the world.