It got exciting again with about 7 minutes left. Full court press was fun to watch and yielded a couple of baskets. But we just turned the ball over too much on the offensive end- especially in crucial situations down the stretch.

Looking to go 3-0 on at the Prudential Center (The Rock?) this season on Saturday night. I’m not schleping out to Jersey just for corned beef and another unranked loss…I’ll try to post live updates from my Windows mobile device provided Mrs. Wannamaker doesn’t smack me for yelling at her son…

Roll Pitt, roll.

Uconn plays at Marquette tonight, and Pitt plays both of them at home next week. If Pitt wins, it will ensure a double-bye for BE Tourney and likely No. 1 NCAA seed. If not, there are a few scenarios out of the team’s control

This loss may be good in that it shows the team that it is not invincible. They must learn from the game and realize that spin moves and 75 foot bounce passes and olay defense will NOT get it done against anybody but Depaul.

I liked that “Olay” defense line. Very appropriate description.

The loss only causes panic because it is pretty much like every head scratcher NCAA tournament loss Pitt has had where you just don’t recognize the team that is out there. It brings back bad memories.

I’m going to say that for purposes of securing a double bye in the Big East tourney, next week Pitt HAS to beat the loser of the Marquette/UConn game tonight. Pitt can then lose to tonight’s winner and still finish in the top 4, regardless of what Villanova does.

This all assumes they beat Seton Hall.

thing that separated this Pitt team from others was offensive efficiency–this team does not have the lock down defenders that previous teams have had
(Julius Page,Jaron Brown), etc. and is not a top 20 team defensively (per kenpom) based upon # of possessions. This is a good wakeup call–have to play at both ends of court if Pitt is going to have the success we all want. This is the first bad game Pitt has played–hopefully, it is the last.

Pitt May Not Win the National Championship

by John Gasaway

But even if they don’t, I simply can’t emphasize this enough: a close February road loss is meaningless. Yes, the Panthers lost last night at Providence. Fans storm the court, pundits fret, rankings shift. But the truth is all national champions go through this, often during the last week of February. It’s practically a rite of passage.

On February 26, 2006, Florida lost on the road to Alabama, a team that barely made the NCAA tournament as a 10-seed.

On February 24, 2007, Florida lost on the road to LSU, a team that didn’t even make the NCAA tournament.

On February 23, 2008, Kansas lost on the road to Oklahoma State, a team that didn’t even make the NCAA tournament.

Don’t fret too much about Pitt just yet.

Silver lining: we gave Providence their signature win!

Still in shock over the win!…you guys just ran into a determined team last night.

Good luck rest of the year (unless we somehow meet in the BET :P)…I always pull for the BIG EAST in the NCAA’s, but Pitt is definitely the one I pull for the most…they are hard not to like

I’d like to be as optimistic as everyone else, but we’re only one and one-half games up on fifth-place Villanova and the Wildcats have the tie-breaker. Villanova “should” win their final four games (Depaul, Georgetown, ND and Providence). We have a chance to catch those in front of us, but we’ll need some help to secure the regular-season title. Louisville has the “easiest” road (Marquette, Seton Hall, West Virginia) and the tie-breaker over us.
Realistically, we’ll have to win every game from here on out to win that title. I don’t think we get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament if we’re not BE regular season champs.
The only scenario I see where that might happen is if everyone but us and UConn tanks, we both win every game heading into the regular season finale and we lose a close one. Then maybe.
I’m not sure how a game like last night’s happens. An absolute meltdown like that shouldn’t occur this late in the season. Very disappointing and troubling. Not making your shots is one thing. Failing to show up is disgraceful and an indication that this team may not be as mentally tough and intelligent as I had hoped.
Thankfully, a single game does not make a season and the number one ranking/seed isn’t the Holy Grail. However, what I saw last night was worrisome.

I’ll probably regret asking but what the heck is “olay” defense??

I am not a steelers fan, but i remember them getting smacked by the titans, which created panic, then went on to win the super bowl, im just saying…

Don’t you get the sense that we’re so afraid of getting fouls, we just play flat out timid during first halves? This seemed to be the case the last 4 or 5 games, win or lose, with the sole exception being the Blair – Thabeet matchup challenge.

Dr Pitt, an olay or ole defense is a bullfighter avoiding contact with the bull which is how Blair played for much of the night with players passing him by.

Orlando Dave, we do not have to be regular season champs for a No. 1 seed; in fact, it is a real possibility that UL wins the league but UConn and Pitt are No. 1 seeds, especially if we meet agai in BE title game.

Anyone …. I just missed Jamie on Fox Sportsbeat …. anything interesting?

it was a loss you could see coming, just like the 3 losses before.

all you can do is hope they learn from this. there’s lots of season left, lots of basketball. the marquette, uconn string will be the truest glimpse of this squad yet. then it’s on to the tournament. not getting a #1 seed won’t be the end of the world. we’ve proven we can beat anyone on any given night. we just have to play our game against the schedule we’re given.

it is frustrating though that we are so susceptible to succumbing to the officiating. it seems like the refs have gotten the better of us in this game and the louisville game. i guess the best solace we can take is that our coach doesn’t bitch and moan about like some coaches do.

Look, in order to preserve the double bye, our best bet is for Marquette to beat UConn tonight.

I believe (maybe someone here said it?) that we need to beat Seton Hall, then beat the winner of tonight’s game to secure the double bye.

I think we can beat UConn at the Pete, but I’m much more confident that we could take care of Marquette in the ‘burgh next week.

Dominique James with a broken bone in his foot. Out indefinitely. And they’re up on UConn.

James broke his foot tonight for Marquette. That stinks for him. Reminds me of Cook. That’s a shame.

Jinx 🙂

W Bill – perhaps, but I think the regular season will likely take precedence.

Don’t look now – DePaul up 8 on Nova at the half.

Worst ref work I’ve seen in a while. If the homers wanted DeJuan out of the game,they should have just pointed at him and counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 you’re out. Their two no foul fouls right in a row pretty much had the same effect. Game reminded me of Pitt-Villanova game at Fitz back in 1985. Villanova was going to be the champ but Pitt dominated them that night. Better play from Pitt and the refs and we would have seen a replay of Rutgers-Pitt.