Most of the conversation you’re going to hear when if Pitt loses is “Was it enough?” A lot of people will tell you it’s not enough unless they finally make it past the Sweet Sixteen. This year is a different situation though. The Mike Cook and Levance Fields injuries took this team from Final Four potential to just another average group. We were supposed to be lucky to finish .500 in the conference and nobody could have ever imagined the amazing run at the Big East Tournament. We avoided getting upset by Oral Roberts and now we play a traditional power in the 4-5 match-up of the second round. As the guys on ESPN Radio put it, there won’t be any shame in losing to a good Michigan State led by Tom Izzo, a coach that has had plenty of NCAA Tourney success.
However… this is a different team. Sure they have flashes of Pitt teams from the past eight years, but they also play a faster, quicker, and more athletic brand of basketball. At this point, Fields is looking better than ever, even with the hair flowing a little longer. They are physical enough to match up with Michigan State and yet fast enough to possibly hang with run-and-gun Memphis. Izzo says he would give Jamie Dixon a Coach of the Year vote:
“If I had a vote for national coach of the year, he’d have to be right up there, for surviving what he went through this year in a tough conference,” Izzo said. “With the injuries he’s had … he’s battled that. He’s had 25-point losses and turned it around. I think that’s the mark of a great coach, getting knocked down a few times, yet getting his team back.”
Maybe I’m writing this so I can look at it later and read this instead of saying something stupid with the thoughts of the game fresh in my head: even if we lose tonight, it has been plenty enough to call this a successful season. I’m getting a little worried though.
Also, has this been the most exciting Pitt basketball season in recent memory? Washington’s overturned buzzer-beater, Fields’ trey to beat Duke at MSG, Ramon’s buzzer-beater over West Virginia, the crazy comeback at Syracuse, and then four wins at the Big East Tournament.
That said, it’s been a really interesting season and it would be a shame for it to come to an end this evening. Let’s go Pitt!
Damn, this season has been crazy!
WVU is up 7 on Duke with 10 min left in the game…should be a good finish.
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You might be in the minority with this one here, Chas. But I concur wholeheartedly.
The buzzer-beaters and comebacks vs. Washington and Duke (as I’ve previously commented) were truly awe inspiring. The WVU win was a thriller. But given that each team played a pivotal role in undermining the others’ confidence at some point during conference play, the hands-down, outright season-changing game of ’07-08 (perhaps the decade) came in that beyond belief game against Syracuse. The confidence of the team was rapidly restored, and the momentum seized ultimately lending itself to the improbable 4-in-4 that would, conclusively, return the program to BE prominence. IMO, the Orange implosion was so demoralizing a blow that whatever their resolve to avenge the lost next year, the repercussions of that contest will remain longstanding indeed.
So yeah, if we happen to go down to the Spartans tonight, I’ll be the last to think it a failure.
DO NOT GET ME WRONG PANTHER FAITHFUL; I want to win this and win it all as bad as the next man.
WVU is taking it to Duke right now — only a few minuted left and they look so much better than the Blue Devils.
Now’s our turn to hold serve tonight against Mich State.
