An 82-53 decimation of Miami. Pitt never trailed in the game. After starting strong, Miami chipped away and hung within a handful of points of Pitt for most of the 1st half. Blair had some foul issues and Pitt was not doing a good job of boxing out and giving the RedHawks second chances inside. Poor free throw shooting (4-8) helped keep the game closer.

The second half saw Pitt turn up the intensity on defense and keep it up. On offense, Sam Young found his groove as well as Jermaine Dixon getting room outside out of fear of him attacking the rim. Fields was shooting well. Blair was much cleaner in the second half and was his beastly self inside.

I really like what I saw from Nasir Robinson. He’s young, raw and definitely can be out of position. But he passed a lot better than I expected. He really seemed to see the court well and plays with some intensity.

Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs both look promising. They are already playing within the team framework.

McGhee is coming along. He will be a decent back-up this year as he gets more confidence and learns where to be on the court. You can see that he has plenty of room still to develop.

Wanamaker at moments seemed like he is trying too hard. Like he wants to hit a homerun every time he touches the ball. A bit of Keith Benjamin in the early days is the best comparison. Right down to running around too much even without the ball. He needs to realize that he’ll have a better shot at getting more PT if he plays defense and stays within the offense for his opportunities. He’s a solid defender.

9 players getting 14 to 28 minutes of action. 5 players in double digits. 21of 32 baskets came with an assist. Pitt shot 59% (32-54) overall. 41% on 3s and an eFG of 65.7%. The only downside on the offense was shooting only 11-17 on free throws though the team shot 7-9 on FTs in the second half.

On defense, Pitt held Miami to 31% shooting. They held Miami to 0-9 on 3s in the second half. I mean, the second half was a complete shutdown of the RedHawks. Pitt was moving faster and simply overwhelmed them.

I’ll be watching, but probably pausing a lot throughout to deal with kids. So, no liveblog for this game. Just feel free to comment on what you are seeing.

There aren’t 25-top teams. There really aren’t. Way too many 3-loss teams on this list. But that’s because there aren’t that many 1-, 2-loss teams.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	—
2	Alabama	—
3	Florida	—
4	Texas	—
5	Oklahoma	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	—
8	Penn State	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	Oklahoma State	—
12	Ball State	—
13	Missouri	1
14	Georgia	1
15	Brigham Young	—
16	Cincinnati	2
17	Michigan State	—
18	Oregon State	3
19	TCU	—
20	West Virginia	4
21	LSU	1
22	Oregon	4
23	Maryland	3
24	Miami (Florida)	2
25	Connecticut	1

No, not a lot of movement this week. Just not a lot of shake-out in the top half.

Yes, especially this week am I not taking any chances.

So, this will be the first game people can watch Pitt without being at the Pete. A boon for those of us who don’t live in Pittsburgh. Plus it is not just on FoxSports Pittsburgh.

ESPN Regional/FSN Pittsburgh (Michael Reghi, Dave Kaplan; Producer: Bill Shissler). Broadcast live on other affiliates including Denver, Colo. (Altitude) and New Orleans, La. (Cox-New Orleans). Tape delay: Washington, D.C./Baltimore/Maryland (MASN) at 10:30 p.m. ET Monday night and New York City (SportsnetNY) on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.

And for those with ESPN FullCourt Package, the game is being aired on that way (Ch. 722 on DirecTV) for a 7pm start.

Seems to be some surprise over Pitt being 2-10 all-time against Miami (OH). Well, here’s the record (PDF).

Date —– H/A — W/L — Pitt-UMn
12/13/53 — H —- L —- 64 – 65
3/11/58 —N# —- L —– 77- 82
12/20/58 — A —– L —- 75 – 88
2/17/60 — H —– W — 83 – 79
1/28/61 — A —– L —- 48 – 62
2/14/62 — H —– L —- 72 – 75
3/2/63 —- A —– W — 74 – 64
12/20/63 — H —– L —- 63 – 77
1964-65 — A —– L —- 66 – 89
12/10/65 — CA# — L —- 60 – 65
3/4/67 —– H —- L —- 68 – 82
1/30/68 —- A —- L —- 42 – 66

Obviously Pitt has been ducking the RedHawks for a few, uh, decades.

The RedHawks play a style that the Pitt players may not like, but Coach Dixon will likely be comfortable.

“For us, when we recruit, we promise the kids we’ll play before enthusiastic crowds and talented players,” Coles said. “You have to have selling points. We’re going to play a tough schedule. If you come here you’ll get a chance to play some quality opponents. Every now and then we’ll look bad. But sometimes we’ll play well. When you play well in these games there’s a reward.”

Coles had the Redhawks play a slow-paced game against UCLA and could implement a similar strategy against Pitt. By limiting turnovers and running down the shot clock, the Redhawks can force the Panthers to execute on offense to earn their points.

When asked which of Pitt’s three stars — Blair, Sam Young or Levance Fields — he had to control, Coles said: “Fields is the floor general. Should we do something to him? Then you have Blair inside. Sam Young was first-team all-Big East. And you know he can shoot 3-pointers now, so he’s even more dangerous. I don’t know what to do with them.

“What you have to do is try to make them earn their points and keep them out of the paint. But they have players that can hurt you.”

The opportunity to play before enthusiastic crowds as well as talented players must have helped land a 3-star center for next year that chose the RedHawks over Penn State.

Miami Coach Coles expects a very physical game.

“They’re similar to UCLA,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said of the No. 5 Panthers. “I don’t know if they’re better than UCLA, but they’re more physical than UCLA. We’re really going to have to compete (today).”

…

But the RedHawks showed they were no pushovers against UCLA. They led the Bruins 44-42 with 12:24 left and came within inches of tying it when senior point guard Kenny Hayes missed a 3-point shot with 10 seconds left.

Miami also has headline players in Hayes, Michael Bramos and Tyler Dierkers, but Coles said he was particularly encouraged by his supporting players. Nick Winbush, Antonio Ballard, Eric Pollitz, Eric Soderholm, Julian Mavunga and Adam Fletcher all made key contributions last week.

Miami has been predicted in the multitude of preseason mags to finish 1st or 2nd in the MAC East. They and Kent St. seem to be the picks. This is Coach Charlie Coles 13th and likely last year. Forward Michael Bramos is 1st team all-MAC.

Obviously Coach Dixon has been warning the players all weekend how dangerous the Redhawks are. I figure the players are listening, just by the nature of how close Miami came to beating UCLA.