although unlike last week, it doesn’t look like free throws will be a factor in this game.

!#@^&$%@%@^% Nova!

After watching yesterdays games,I think we ended up right were we should be. 5-8th place. Great yr. Panthers.

Would have liked to see how the UNC game would have ended up. Doubt Pitt would have won, but you never know. If Pitt played the way they did in the two Uconn games, they would have had a shot.

I was impressed in the defensive effort NC showed. It’s what had been missing in their game all year and when they put that kind of effort in they’re unstoppable.

face it, UNC has more individual talent than any other college team, and once they decided to start playing defense, they are almost impossible to beat.

Having said that, Pitt is the type of team that usually doesn’t win pretty but is always competitive (unlke, for instance, Duke that beat Md by 40 and lost to WFU by 27.) It would be very unlikely that Pitt would beat UNC the way the Heels are playing, but I would bet that it would be a pretty close game.

Msu is very disciplined in its half-court offense. I will be very surprised if MSU, which has more depth than Pitt and a great and NCAA experienced coach, doesn’t give UNC all it can handle.

It would have been very difficult to beat UNC the way they shot the three yesterday.

I almost broke my TV when Villanova missed their first three free throws. That was an insult.

MSU is going to give UNC more of a game than they did the first time, but I will be very surprised if they win. Pitt was the only team that had a decent chance to beat UNC in Detroit and they couldn’t get there. Nova blew yesterday.

I’m sorry, but Pitt would beat MSU at least 7 out of 10 times. I’m not at all convinced that the two Big East teams that they beat in the tournament were better than us.

Villanova played their best game of the year to beat us, then came out and looked like shit against Carolina. That was tough to see. And ‘nova’s just a bad matchup for us. I actually think we’d be a bad matchup for Carolina.

It all just sounds like sour grapes now I guess.

For some reason, this championship game has upset written all over it.

The fact that Mrs. Maz is going to finish in the top 11 in the Pitt Blather tourney challenge, while I will finish in the top 15 has led me to declare us the most savvy hoops couple in the PB community. The numbers don’t lie. 😉

maz, did the Mrs. pick by mascot name or team colors?

What people aren’t acknowledging is how badly UNC played last night……sure, they shot the three well, but they really gave an underwhelming effort in most other phases of the game and still won going away.

Lawson, who has been absolutely dominating games, came back to earth and Hansbrough, Thompson and Davis had a tough night finishing around the hoop. A sub-par effort considering how they’ve been playing….

Pitt played a pretty good game against Nova and lost. UNC played an average to below avg game against Nova and still crushed them.

Agree with alcofan — Pitt was probably somewhere between the 5th and 8th best team in the country this year, which is absolutely terrific. Great year.

It will be interesting to see if Izzo can keep the game close tomorrow night. Love watching how his teams get better as the year progresses; he is a truly tremendous coach.

Has anyone else heard the rumors about Dixon out looking for juco point guards to fill the ballhandling hole next year?

Pitt would’ve matched up with UNC much better than Nova. They would slow them down, make them play in the half court, and be able to attack inside more. Much better matchup. Although b/c of the results its hard to say Pitt was better than 5th (although 8th? please). I truly believe they were one of the 2 best teams in the country this year. Are you all putting UCONN, who Pitt handled twice in that 4 ahead of Pitt?

Sometimes matchups do matter and Pitt matched up well with UConn because UConn just didn’t have a matchup for Sam Young. UConn was missing that wing player this year; they either had to put a guard or Robinson/Adrien on Young and neither of those things was going to work.

UConn made the Final 4 and beat a VERY underrated Mizzou team to get there. Making the Final 4 matters; it’s what programs like UConn do.

Pitt just didn’t get it done away from the Pete this year. Beating UConn and Xavier just doesn’t make a team the 2nd best squad in the country, except in its fans’ minds.

Nova was a tougher defensive team than Pitt this year and they weren’t able to slow UNC down. Not sure why Pitt could, considering Dixon and Brown were the only above average defenders on this team. MSU, much deeper, much more athletic and better coached, has a far better chance to hang with UNC than anyone else.

Have to say I’m glad this final game matchup effectively ends all the Big East hype we had to hear all year. The Big East was deep, with 4 or 5 really good teams and it was fun to watch them play each other, but the conference had no nat’l championship type teams and the Big 10 winner wiped the floor with two of the best the Big East had to offer……….and chances are that was before an ACC team wipes the floor with them tomorrow night. The Big East had a fun year, with lots of great competition, but there was absolutely nothing historic about it. The history part is reserved for the teams that make the final.

Every f’n nova story includes comments like this one:

“Scottie Reynolds will always have that indelible end-to-end game-winning layup against Pittsburgh last weekend that got Villanova to its Final Four since ’85.”

Indelible, inshnelible. And does anybody know if Scottie is Scotish?

Tonight I’m gonna toast Scottie with a glass of Passport scotch (aged in my liquor cabinet for 2 months since receiving it as an Xmas present from a cruel jokester) and be done with it. Really.

I wouldn’t say they had no nat’l championship type teams. It is concievable that Louisville, UCONN, Pitt and Nova were nat’l championship type teams. Only 2 can make it, but there can be more than 2 nat’l champion caliber teams. Nova was a tougher defensive team, but they are a completely different style defensive team. Pitt plays a completely different style than Nova. UNC is stacked with talented athletes, pressuring the ball and making thet game an up-tempo affair plays right into their hands. This is why Nova struggled. Pitt slows the game down more, has a far stronger inside presence, and plays a style very different from both Nova and UNC. This is why I say they would be a better matchup. Depth could be an issue, but I think they matchup far better than Nova would.

Here’s a twist if it turns out true:
Sean Miller is visiting Arizona

link to sports.espn.go.com

w bill:

She was subjected to enough hours of basketball in our house that she actually knew what she was talking about, to some extent. But she certainly let things like “Kyle Singler is ugly” and “I hate hearing Dick Vitale say Tyler Hansbrough’s name” impact her.

Ontario: I guess I just don’t feel like Pitt would have been able to stop UNC much, even in the halfcourt. Too many average defenders on Pitt’s team this year. I shudder to imagine how quickly Lawson would get Dixon in foul trouble and I can’t figure out who Fields would cover……..Ellington? Ouch.

Agree that Pitt would have slowed the game down on offense, and they would have gotten some Blair post-up points inside, but I don’t think that would be enough.

Green would be on Sam Young and Sam would still get his, but they’d be some of the toughest buckets he got all year. Just don’t feel like Dixon, Wanamaker, Biggs, Brown and Gibbs were ready to pick up the slack. They just weren’t the type of role players who were ready to step up in prime time.

Not to say I wouldn’t have liked to see that game…….love to see Pitt give it a shot, but I’d rather wait a couple yrs until JD has a little better squad and I’m hoping these Top 10 teams are going to be the rule rather than the exception.

dixon, wannamaker and biggs would’ve been woefully out of the their league vs. UNC.

I have been in denial all week. Today, I finally just let it out. I’m done. Moving on! BTW- went to the Cavs/Spurs game today and –not to sound like a selfish homer– but Dejuan is not ready to play with these guys in this league….

Trying to figure out who Fields would guard was a nightmare in any matchup. Do you think he matched up particularly well w/ Kemba Walker, who is much quicker than Ellington? Even bigger ouch. Pitt’s defense this year didn’t rely on one on one stoppers. They had to play team defense and the same would happen against Carolina. I think Biggs matching up against anyone on Nova was a worse matchup than him actually gettting to play an inside player on UNC. Woefully out of their league? This is a team that won 31 games with guys like Dixon, Wannamaker, and Biggs in the lineup. They wouldn’t be woefully out of their league in any game and it seems silly to suggest so. Yes, those guys aren’t going to go out and score 15-20 vs. UNC, but they would be fine playing the same role they played the entire season. I just don’t see how people can think this team with 2 NBA first round picks, that won 31 games in a heck of a tough conference, beat UCONN twice, would be so over-matched by the all powerful North Carolina Tar Heels. I’m not saying they would necessarily beat UNC but I would love to see that matchup. It would be a heck of a game and I’m not sure how you could think otherwise. The separation between an elite 8 team and a national champion is such a small margin, a turnover here of there, a couple more made foul shots, or a bad call. No team in this years tournament was so far head and shoulders above the rest and there is easily 8 teams who could have won it all. Blair and Young went off on a team like UCONN that sports a front line of Thabeet (a better inside defender than anyone on UCONN), Adrienne, and Robinson. I don’t think Hansborough, Green, Thompson, and Zellar would have Blair or Young shaking in their boots.

sorry I meant a better defender than anyone on UNC.

Ontario:

Don’t bother with hugh. He has his agenda and will stick to it. Pitt isn’t that good and can’t play with elite teams in the final 4. The big east sucks and the fact that they aren’t going to have a team win the national championship in a one and done tournament proves it. The fact that UCONN had to play MSU in Detroit is meaningless.

In fact, the big east isn’t going to win the championship is a direct result of their best team not making it to the final 4 (Pitt). I’m sorry, but there are no NBA All-stars in UNC’s starting 5. Maybe Lawson gets to a few, but not for a long time. Ellington will be a late first round pick if at all and Hansbrough should be as well. Green is a decent player, but Sam Young is better. Blair is a better player than anybody UNC has. Ed Davis is the best pro prospect on that team and he plays 10 minutes a game. Pitt could have played with UNC, but it is meaningless to discuss because they blew versus Nova.

blew it vs. nova, i meant to say.

If our role players had only played their roles…Boy did they tank.

first of all , Louisville did not merit overall 1st seed. They had easier BE schedule and had a free ride in BET playing chapionship game against a team who played 4 stright nights and a 6 OT game.

2nd, Nova reminded me a bit of Marquette with Wade in 2nd week. Nova dismantled a 2nd seed by 20+ points (a team with 6 McDonald AAa and HOF coach), and the went 22-23 FT against us.

Having said that, both UNC and Mich St are peaking and playing their best ball where the 3 BE teams seemed to have already peaked.

Lastly, although Mich St was the better team yesterday, theu got away with a handful of BLATANT push-offs tha contributed to their 18 offesnive rebounds. We’ll see if they get away with them tomorrow night.

What I couldn’t understand was how many walks weren’t called in both games. So many two steps then another two. It was a joke, and where were BE refs?

w bill

Thank you! Finally someone pointed out the preposterous home-cooking MSU got from the refs while the game was still in doubt. I was appalled.

Also, congrats to the ‘Ville women on their impressive comeback against Oklahoma — that was a great game. Good chance for a Big East Tourney rematch in the final, if UConn doesn’t stumble against Stanford. (And in a turn of events that has me questioning my priorities, I’m in 458th (99.77%) in the ESPN Women’s Tourney challenge. Oy.)

ontario, read my post again. dixon, wannamaker and biggs haven’t done shit the last 3 weeks. that’s my point. the role players didn’t step up and contribute when it counted the most. it’s not ‘silly’ at all to think they wouldn’t perform well vs. unc. fields, brown, young, blair and even gibbs would be just fine vs. unc. personally, i think blair would’ve destroyed psycho t.

Off topic, that ESPN article said that Arizona was already turned down by Dixon.

I know we all figured that, but I hadn’t read any concrete evidence of it before the article Matthew posted.

Omar: If believing the things you mentioned means I have agenda, then I certainly do. Wrong to have an opinion?

Pitt didn’t “blow” vs Nova. In fact, they played the best game they’d played in the tournament and still lost to that team……..for the second time.

They weren’t in Detroit when MSU wiped the floor with L-ville.

I absolutely hate UNC. Not too many teams/programs I actually take the energy to despise in sports, but UNC is one of them. Deputy Dawg Williams is an annoying coach and he and Dean Smith have managed to do less than any other two coaches could have with the players they’ve had in Chapel Hill.

That being said, it should tell you something that Ed Davis can only get 10 mins on that team. They’re stacked……maybe not with NBA all-stars, but with really good players.

Contrary to the media’s ridiculous stance this year, it was not a wide open several-team race for the crown this year. That’s just the BS they shovel out to you all season and the amazing thing is how many people buy into it.