Geez, Georgetown suddenly looks scary good. I want Pitt to win — badly — but it also feels like Pitt gets to play with house money at this point. Still, can’t have the newbies from C-USA feel that comfortable yet.
9:25: Just as Pitt gets off to a solid start and 5-0 lead, Blair commits a dumb foul way out on the perimeter. Marquette immediately scored after that.
9:30: Pitt up 14-4 with 15:44 to the half. Hot shooting start. Levance Fields feeling it early going to the basket. Shots that hadn’t fallen since his return are dropping right now. Sam Young is really, really active on the D. Marquette sloppy with the ball helps, too.
9:38: Marquette briefly stopped turning the ball over and closed. Then they got sloppy again and Pitt converts. Now 24-15 with the “and 1″ for Brown coming after the commercial. Jerel McNeal has been carrying the Golden Eagles. That ran out for WVU with Alexander today. I’m just sayin’.
9:44: Damn. Blair with his second at about the 10 minute mark. Let’s see if Biggs can give Pitt some more minutes.
Marquette with now within 6.
9:55: Wow. McNeal with 2 fouls and over 6 minutes until halftime. Pitt is still attacking offensively and it is beautiful. Defense is tight to this point. Shots that Marquette is making are not exactly a lay-up line.
9:57: Things not heard very often. Size mismatch in favor of Benjamin.
9:58: With 4:17 left, McNeal commits 3d foul (2nd offensive) as Benjamin draws it. Huge.
10:02: Things all going Pitt’s way right now. It’s Marquette with foul issues — despite better depth. Pitt is just attacking, attacking, attacking.
35-21 with under 4, Benjamin heading to the line. Marquette is even bringing back in Hayward with his two fouls because he provides marginally better inside defense.
10:10: Well, unfortunately Pitt failed to score in the final minutes. Of course Marquette only had 2 points over 9:28.
The Golden Eagles are 0-16 on shooting right now. Eerily like a role-reversal from the first meeting. Pitt should be up more, but then in the first game, so should have Marquette at the end of the 1st half.
Not thrilled with the way Pitt rushed shots in the final few minutes, but I’ll let it slide.
Biggs has been solid in his minutes. This will be somewhat backhanded, but Marquette is precisely the kind of team that Biggs should be able to do well on both ends.
35-22 Pitt at the half.
10:27: Matthews commits 2 fouls in a few seconds. Ramon shooting 3 FTs. Goes 1-3. Huh?
10:30: Blair with his 3d foul just a minute and a half into the second half. Damn.
10:32: Ramon and Young are just getting after things for Pitt. Yippee (I know, trenchant observations here).
10:39: McNeal with foul #4 with 15:43 left in the game. Pitt up “only” 11.
10:46: Just as Marquette gets to 10, Pitt answers. Ramon for a corner 3, then Young steal and lay-in.
13:19 left, Pitt up 49-34.
10:51: Crean’s whining/bitching/complaining in a media TO, gets him a technical. Ramon only 1-2. What is up with his FT shooting tonight?
Biggs now shooting his FTs — and makes them both. 52-39, 11:50 left.
10:57: The Marquette 3s have been falling more. Now Blair gets his 4th foul with 9:01 left. Pitt’s lead down to 8.
11:01: Okay, I don’t know what has happened in this game to Pitt’s FT shooting. Between that and Marquette really getting a ton of second chances (even though they have missed a lot of them) that is really starting to offset good early shooting and Pitt forcing turnovers.
And Biggs off the feed from Young gives Pitt a needed basket with the “and 1″ (not counting on it) after the commercial break. Pitt still up by 8, with under 8 to go.
11:06: If Young won’t even warn Ramon, they are going to keep running that screen to free James.
11:30: Marquette and their fans can take, um, solace in the moral victory. That their team didn’t quit. That they rallied and fought and clawed back into the game. All good things.
I’ll take the real thing. Plus the fact that even as Marquette made a comeback, Pitt never lost it. They did what was needed. They regained their composure.
Pitt doesn’t surrender the lead or the game. 68-61 for the win. Points scored in the first half, still counted in the second half.
We just can’t let up….hope we don’t think we got this in the bag, ever. Its only a few minutes gone by….
I think MUs guards are great at drawing that foul on the hedge…he was standing there for a minute, they just take a dive…awful.
…looks like another one of those confusing foul games…they’re calling it much tigher when guys are ball handling then they are when they’re shooting…
…AND THEN THEY FIX IT AROUND AND HAVE SOME OF THE BEST I’VE SEEN….GET THE LAYUP AND ONE!
Why didn’t they just do it right the first time?
Brown is a fucking machine right now.
That was one of the big factors in the last game - fields missed shots allowed them 6-10 points from what i saw….
MU going with the small lineup while Blair is out, but Sam Young is ready to take over the game.
I’m just praying our shooting percentage stays up, and we never, ever, let off the gas on the offensive or defensive end.
Please please please.
But boy, Benji totally crazed putting up shots from NBA range…not smart BBall.
Marquette can look awful small and confused when their shots are not falling.
Focus and concentration in the second half for Pitt. Let’s not let em back in the game.
Go Pitt!!!
Pitt is more than capable of going to sleep on offense as we saw late in the first half.
And one last thing…..for God’s sake make the foul shots!!!
We’re only up 13 at the break. Rutgers anyone? How bout what we did to SU?
Finally, we’re going to have to weather a BARRAGE of 3s at some points…pray that white kid doesn’t kill us…
We scored one bucket in the last six and a half minutes (on a tip in)…not good….and 50% on FTs? Are we saving them for the end again? C’mon guys…
HTP!!
Biggs needs to convert these two FTs to cut their momentum….that last 3 they made was AWFUL…can’t play much better D than we did…hand RIGHT in his face….
Now Crean is ejected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crybaby once too often!
How open do we have to be to make a 3? No one within 10 feet and we’re bricking em…
Its a miracle with our poor shooting we’re winning this. And we’re wearing down on D a little, refs are letting people get away with a little more. Need some strength down the stretch to avoid embarassment.
Glad fields is calmer than all of us.
We’re going ultra small to prevent 3s…how the hell are we gonna rebound?
“BACK TO THE FUCKIGN CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!”
Palko approves.
“Bleeping champs…”
Thank You Panthers, JD & coaches!!!!!!!!!
HTP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sam Young was cramping up and was dead on his feet. He couldn’t physically move his feet to switch on those screens…
Do NOT care about tomorrow…let’s celebrate today!
Great comments from all tonight…
Its unreal how well we do in this tourney, but fizzle in the
I love the Pittsburgh Invitational Tournament. I love getting revenge on all those teams from earlier in the year. Their awful fans talk all that shit…can you hear me now? Go ahead and tell us how its “good you lost” - tell that to your players. Blame the refs - whatever you want. Have fun losing the first round of the NCAAs, AGAIN.
I love that this team is not even ranked.
Point of concern: Fields continued Krauseresque drive and flings. Those have to stop. Although that lob to Brown was sick.
In the end, a win’s a win. And we’re back in the BET final. I missed Fields’ Palko impersonation. F@#$!!
In honor of Pitt’s play in NYC, drinking a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout. 10.6% alcohol. Perfect night cap.
C’mon, Panthers. One more in NYC!!!!
God Bless Pitt and the Panther Team. You can not buy this kind of joy. It has been a great ride. Now if they can just get up one more head of steam again tomorrow night… JD says the Panthers are playing their best ball right now, and the COY should know best! New RPI and Bracket forecast should be interesting…
If we win tomorrow night, we may be looking at a 6 or possibly a 5 seed. I wonder what everyone else thinks?
IMO we were very fortunate Marquette played so attrociously in the first half. 0-16 shooting to end the half?!!? Like Bob Knight said at halftime, if we hit our FT’s and had more patience on the offensive end, we would of been up by 20+.
Can you believe we won shooting so badly in the second half?
What guts. Hail to Pitt!
The Sam Young coming out party and emergence of Gilbert Brown with 3 or so head turning plays per game are my favorite subplots of this team.
Hopefully Blair will be nice and rested for Hibbert and Benji has some fresh legs and aggressive defense in store for tomorrow.
But forget all that, let’s just take care of business and beat a very good Georgetown team that is on top of its game at the moment! Let’s go Pitt!
Do we have some believers in the house now????
Wow that felt good tonight!!! Reporting from uptown back at my place a spectacular win at the Garden (this is when I’m SO happy I live in manhattan!) loved, loved, LOVED our defense first half. it was freaking amazing!!! everyone was rebounding, just really staying with their man- hello James didn’t even score until there was 7 minutes left in the game!? that’s crazy!!! some things, or mainly ONE thing, i did not like…. our free throw shooting. WTF?!?! at one point at MSG there was stat up (around the 2 min. 2nd quarter mark) that we were at 44% for the night. SERIOUSLY. those are gimme points. especially our guards!!!!
ok, enough for now.. bringin’ one more win back tomorrow!!!!!!
ps) got invited to the Pitt athletics pre-game celebration at 5.30 at Stout’s in the private room (i’m pretty sure they’d let you in if you show up in your Pitt gear..haha!)
pps) if you want to scalp tickets.. don’t get them from the guys outside (they will charge the shit out of them) go inside near the ticket booth and they let fans sell off their tix there– it’s your best bet!
oh and…. LET’S GO PITT!!!!!!!!!!!!
So my wife and I got to Wichita just in time for tip off and decided to hit up a sports bar to try to see it. I know I am in Big 12 country (Big 12 basketball is even more boring when you live here), but you would think that 1 of the 50 televisions, all lined up side by side, could have or be switched to the BE tournament. After going to several restaurants, we finally found an empty one and got them to put the game on. It was worth the trouble to say the least.
I want Pitt to beat Georgetown in the worst way. But if they lose tomorrow night (and I WILL be home for it, even if I have to go 90 to get there on time) I will still be so proud if this team. They have shown that they have far more heart and game in them than many gave them credit for. They hit a rough patch a few weeks ago, but you can’t discount the teams they are beating right now. I love this team and hope they can wiggle into a 6 seed so they can get a solid shot at the Sweet 16. A 5 seed would be even better, but I am not going to be greedy. I will be more than satisfied with a Sweet 16 after this team was written off because of injuries. I will be happy even with 1 tourney win, as long as they don’t have to play Kansas in round 2.
11:30: Marquette and their fans can take, um, solace in the moral victory. That their team didn’t quit. That they rallied and fought and clawed back into the game. All good things.
————————————————————————-True…
Marquette did all of these things. They wanted it as bad as Pitt, they hustled equally as well, too. But they handled their self like their coach. Like Crean, they whined, cried, and petitioned officials for real but mostly perceived or imagined slights to their fate. They cried louder and harder whenever thereafter faced by something unfavorable.
So for any MU fan reading this blog, it wasn’t so much your players as it was (and still is) your coach; like-father-like-son, all of them a collective bunch of unfortuante bitches.
So before you go entirely nuts in response, it’d be sharp to acknowledg that few dispute your recent ownership of Pitt. The problem of course is that, when it counts (BET & otherwise), you fold and hand back over the title.
Or in other words — particularly for slow-minded golden-eagle students & alum — how about losing your coach (for starters) before getting all hot and bothered about the University of Pittsburgh and their fanhoods. Also wouldn’t hurt to contemplate how for FSake you traded being “warriors” to become “golden” birds; this trade-in (even in 2008) goes well the fck* beyond protecting the integrity of american indians.
just plain gay, and I even jogged my brain a full moment to “avoid” the whole gay reference thing.
So it it is what is, like your coach.
gtown by 2, our favorite and obsessed panther stuart will then really lose it and blame the ref’s; threaten to jump from the 30th floor of the cathedral of learning and then stalk tim higgins for the rest of his life.
its been a great week in nyc!!!
Props to Stuart, you said something a few weeks back (when Pitt was on that three game losing streak) about “revenge tour 08″ once the BE tourny starts, just like we had our “revenge tour 07.”
GO PITT!
HTP!
P.S. - their food is amazing so eat dinner there before going to the Garden for overpriced hotdogs.
Let’s Go Pitt!
Is the third year a row in the Championship game the charm? It was in 2003! Another similarilty with 2003 - we faced UConn in 2002 and lost; last year we faced Georgetown and lost… this year, it’s our year!
P i t t
P i t t
Let’s go Pitt!
The PG article totally ignored Biggs’ performance last night. What’s up with that?
Pitt has an affiliation with Sirius radio but the Big East conference is affiliated with XM radio. That is why XM has the rights to the BE tourney.
Any thoughts or inside info about Young going to the NBA? Only thing I’ve heard is that he’d be a late 1st round pick. Tough to pass up that money, but I think he’d easily be a lottery pick if he stays one more year.
If he goes and succeeds in the NBA, hopefully that will be that extra something we need in terms of recruiting the superstars.
People nowadays are always bringing “facts” into arguments, and since I’m a sucker for fads (anyone wanna compare pogs later?), I’ll go ahead and share a few for you all to wrap your heads around (literally).
Three of the four national semifinalists a year ago were conference tournament champions. UCLA - which lost to California in the Pac-10 quarterfinals - was the lone exception.
There were 12 conferences that sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Of those 12, only three (WAC, A-10, Pac-10) had a team that didn’t advance to its conference tournament championship game advance further in the NCAA Tournament than a team that did. Of those three teams, only UCLA won more than one game.
All six BCS conference tournament champions advanced to the Elite Eight last season. The other two quarterfinalists were Memphis - which won the Conference USA Tournament - and UCLA.
The combined NCAA Tournament record of the six BCS conference tournament champions in 2007 was 24-5. Of those five losses, only one (Kansas’ Elite Eight loss to UCLA) came against a non-fellow BCS conference tournament champion.
Seven of the last ten national champions have won their conference tournament. North Carolina in ‘05, Syracuse in ‘03 and Maryland in ‘02 are the exceptions.
Ten of the last 16 Final Four teams have been conference tournament champions, and three of those six teams that didn’t win their league title played in the same conference as the fellow semifinalist which did.
Now I’m not saying that you should write this team off if it stumbles on Thursday or Friday, I’m just saying that there should be no small part of your brain quietly wondering if winning this thing is going to have a detrimental affect in the succeeding weeks. Don’t give it a second thought; we want to win the Big East Tournament.
Screw the Hoyas and their preppy, cocky, overly priced georgetown (i just visited DC I know)
Blair and Young… be the beast of the big east tonight
Fields and Ramon… dominate the perimeter game
Brown…. light it up with the defense.. a few blocks go a long way
HAIL TO PITT!!!!!!!!!
You are correct my man…Dan.
All the money went on MU, line went from 1.5 to 2.5 or 3…thats more what i expected…