Supporters of the refs in this game say Hardy was “standing on his toes,” but to believe that seems to defy the laws of physics. How did he get into that position–even to get up on his toes–without stepping on the line? Certainly his left foot appears to be back far enough to call Hardy OB, even if he was on his toes.

If you have to lose a game with a cheap call however, better it be a game like this one, during the regular season. Can you imagine being knocked out of the NCAAs on such a call?

Finally, Pitt had opportunities to never allow themselves to be put in such a position. There were ample occasions to keep SJU from scoring late, and Pitt could’ve made one or two more FTs. I’d relish the opportunity to play the Johnnies again.

I did not care for the timeout called by Pitt that allowed SJ to set up their last play. I would rather have had that one in my pocket in case they scored. Also while watching the team celebrate Woodall’s shot I couldn’t help worrying that the game was not yet over and the kids didn’t realize that fact. On the last play, the hook on Brown was quite obvious from ground level and should have been called. That being said, we had plenty of chances to win the game and did not. It’s one loss to a hot team and perhaps we get the home cookin’ next time around.

well said. link to sports.espn.go.com
I wonder if Pitt is sometimes hurt by the fact that they have the reputation of being very physical and because of that refs are influenced by the reputation. It seems that teams that play more guards and less bigs can get away with more on the ball handchecks and reaches and riding the side of players. It seems pressing teams who play smaller benefit by the refs bias at times because they are smaller and not seen as physically tough as the other team. In some games bigger teams are getting called for fouls for boxing out because a big guy is sticking his butt into a small guy who goes flying. That isn’t a foul, it is a box out. It is legal. Then smaller guys are allowed to jump over bigger guys backs and that doesn’t seem to be called nearly as much as it happens. Further adding to the problem this year is now you can’t chin the ball after a rebound because your elbows will pop out and that could lead to a monitor review for an intentional foul

this was a good loss for Pitt. We need to take better care of the ball, and make our ft’s. But sometimes you only appreciate how good this team is with a loss. We have 1 loss on the road by a total of 1 pt!!!and we could easily have won that game. Andy Katz is the only one of the several experts who even mentioned Pitt last nite as the top team in the country–despite having the best road record, and beating more of the elite teams, than anyone in the country. Hopefully, this loss can light a little bit of a fire under this team–which when playing on all cylinders, is a really good team. Hope to get a more balanced effort with Brown, wannamaker, and Gibbs all contributing–right now, Ashton is the only one who has an outside shot.But there is plenty of basketball to be played, and we have time to deal with some issues. I really am surprised that more teams don’t press Pitt–I don’t think that we handle it that well. I would focus on handling pressure defense, and making FT’s, in the coming weeks.

I’d rather lose to St. John’s in the Garden now, then lose in March. But these rankings are ridiculous!

1) Duke–blow out losses to FSU, St. John’s. Who have they beaten? Maryland, UNC, Michigan State. A win against an 11-15 GT is enough to catipult them to #1? Spare me
2)Kansas- blow out loss to K. State, drops one place?
3)Ohio State–13 pt blow out loss to Purdue, since when does 2 losses in 8 days drop you 2 spots
4)SDSU– wins over M-OH, Air Force, Cal, lost to BYU
5)Texas– at least they didn’t get blown out at Nebraska, still lost to Pitt and has one more loss than the Panthers
6)Pittsburgh- lost by 1 to St. John’s on a play where Hardy was clearly out of bounds. wins against UCONN, Gtown, Nova, Texas, Cuse, WVU

I get it, rankings dont matter now and I am fine with just getting the #1 seed come tournament time. But it is infuriating to watch the love affair the national media has for everyone who is not Pitt. Duke #1? Seriously?

Agreed that the rankings this week are a real head scratcher. It can also be a real motivation factor by playing the no respect card with the players.

Thankfully, the polls really don’t matter. Every bracket projection I’ve seen today still has Pitt as a #1, with at least one (cnn/si) keeping them as the projected overall #1 for the tournament. Yet the voters have them at #6. Since it doesn’t matter, I actually find it more humorous than anything.

As for the officiating, I think the bigger question is not how they missed Hardy stepping out of bounds, but how was there such a discrepancy in fouls?

Still, if Pitt plays anywhere near their capabilities, they overcome all of that and win. They were up 5 with about 3 minutes to play…

Re the rankings — as long as it doesn’t compromise our 1 seed, then i’d almost rather us be under-ranked toi keep the chip on our shoulders and under the radar a little bit.

Re the refs: atrocious. we always complain about refs, its what fans do. but sometimes a bad call, or series of calls, really can be awful and affected the game. whats that Nirvana line “just because your paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not after you”.

Going forward — Brad and Gil, while doing a lot of good things, seem to be in an offensive funk. These guys need to be making more plays. We really shouldn’t be leaning on Nas’ scoring at all. I love his hustle but he’s a little too out of control — he’s probably had more shots blocked than anyone else on our team by a mile. With him taking his interior shots he’s also at the line way more often than he should be — would much rather see the guards, even Gary, at the line than Nas who is our worst FT shooter (sorry, just a little Nas backlash).

I was hoping to see a newly, more finely tuned offense after the other guys bearing more scoring wieght then getting Ashton back for a boost. Maybe SJU was too soon and we’ll see that for WVU. But something seems up with Gil & Brad. Better to slump now than later, but mn i’d like to see some consistent offensive power from those two to close out reg season and into the tournys.

…OK i still can’t get over this missed call. Both Hardy’s feet look out. Maybe, MAYBE, the right foot heel is up, but that’s unlikely given that he’s crouching to jump (or jump-stop) and the way his weight would have had to be balanced would make it nearly impossible to have that right heel up. But the LEFT foot, even the balls of his feet are out, so even if the heel is up, he’s out of bounds. Its like the ref was so focused on trying to see if Gil would foul Hard that he forgot to actually look at the rest of the action…Motherf***er….Sigh. ..Let it be a chip on our shoulders.

PantherP – I think the whole idea that his heel didn’t hit is just an excuse to avoid anyone of consequence having to admit that the ref just missed the call. Refs are generally whistle-happy to make that kind of out of bounds call, so my guess is that the ref never saw it because, as you say, he wasn’t looking in the right place.

As for how Pitt played that last drive, I thought Brown actually did a pretty good job, but it looked like he expected help when Hardy turned back towards the inside. I think it was Woodall who was standing just inside the foul line. If he darts down to double, Hardy probably has to pass out to the elbow and they might not even get a shot off.

I’d like to reserve judgement on that call until after seeing a series of stills that show his position over the previous second. It’s hard to have a strong opinion on just one photo. The conclusive frames have to exist somewhere … I don’t think that someone just took one photo from that angle.

PP, I wouldn’t call Wanny as being in an offensive “funk,” though you could say that about Gilbert. I can’t remember the last time Brown had a good game. Between WVU and Nova, Wanny went 13-28, while Brown went 4-15.

It just seemed to me that during the SJU game, many Panthers hesitated before driving to the basket, perhaps wondering if they should be kicking the ball out. I know Gibbs was only out two weeks, but it seems their playing thoughts need to be re-integrated–Gibbs is AN option if the lane isn’t clear, but Gibbs is not the ONLY option.

BE wants 15 million NY TV sets watching BET, stirring the buzz and driving up MSQ ticket prices. Am I saying refs influenced the outcome? Absolutely. Happens all the time, Saturday was just more obvious and disgraceful than most. The key now is get that foul taste removed, beat WV Thursday.

agree Kel,

These rankings are totally ludicrous. Duke, like you said has very few ‘quality’ victories, the guy who wrote the story for Rivals/Yahoo listed Marquette as a quality victory for Duke yet doesn’t list Marquette as a quality victory for the boys in Blue & Gold. Check it out:

link to rivals.yahoo.com

Oversite, perhaps but I sincerely doubt it.
Duke’s ‘quality’ wins have exactly one (1) ranked team among that glowing list. No comparison to Pitt’s quality wins.

And who are the dipshits at ESPN/USA today who keep ranking Texas ahead of Pitt, does not beating Texas count for Pitt or something, They got beat by Uconn as well who we beat pretty easily. Last week the justification for Texas being ahead of Pitt, was that they were way better now since we beat them. Oh yeah, well Nebraska(not exactly a basketball powerhouse) exposed that myth.

And the RPI ratings are even more ludicrous as I’ve posted here before several times.

I fear even if we win the BigEast regular season, they’re going to find some justification in not giving us a #1 seed. And yes it is important to the program and yes you do have an easier route to the Elite 8 and beyond. I don’t want to even hear, well we can prove it on the court. Please.

Lou, you’re right i think. I’m still thinking about Brad’s play back against Rutgers and Cincy where he seemed afraid to shoot. He’s snapped out of that by scoring other ways, esp some drives to the basket and crafty finishes. Against SJU he seemed to take a step back.
But Gil, yes, much more worried about his funk, which is deeper and longer. I think our offense could be a bit more effective taking some of Nas’ attempts away and giving them to Gil. Gil’s less likely to get blocked and more likely to convert on FT shots that inevitably come with dribble-drives.
Of course, Nas is converting on over 50% of his FGs and Gil is on less than 50%. So, it makes sense that Nas is getting more attempts. But I just think that is a short-coming that could, if fixed be a huge difference. But it is what it is.

i hate to say it but i believe in the big east conspiracy theories….make the conference look better at the expense of teams at the top…both in football and basketball there has been eveidence of this…at this point the big east is begging for 11 teams to make tourney….look for more big east bubble teams to pull out some big wins these closing weeks and even in the BET.

On Hardy’s shot, his feet look out of bounds. But remember how he got into that position — look at the replay. He drove AROUND Brown, who was on the baseline, and the pic shows him squaring up to shoot. There’s no way he goes around Brown, then contorts to shoot, all in the air, all in bounds.

Check out this blatant example of Home Cooking.

Syracuse eked out an Overtime win over Rutgers at the Carrier Dump 84-80 where Rutgers hasn’t won in like 20 years or something. When you check the stats you can see why.

Syracuse shot 47 FT’s to only 14 FT’s for Rutgers.
That’s a difference of(let me get my calculator)
33 (THIRTY THREE) FT’s. That is pretty much criminal. Rutgers had 3 starters foul out, naturally, while the Knights scored 9 more baskets than Cuse and 3 more 3’s and still lost.
I know Cuse is desperate for wins, but that borders on criminal.

Here’s what Rutgers coach Mike Rice had to say:

“You just have to believe that those were the calls,” Rice said. “When I look at the film, I’m sure that I’ll see a lot of blockouts and a lot of calls I’ll scratch my head at. We have to do a better job. Any time they seemed to get the ball underneath, it was a foul.”

I like the comment by a Cuse player:

We got them in the bonus early in both halves,” said Joseph, who made 10 of 12 free throws. “I feel like we went to the basket stronger and the refs were making the right calls.”

They certainly were. Home cookin is at it’s finest when you play NY teams.

You make a good point, PantherP. I think Gilbert is one of our guys who can, and should be playing above the rim. Feeding him with alley-oops and other inside feeds should do wonders for his confidence.

Also, another thing I notice about Brown is that he is hesitant when he shoots from the perimeter. He doesn’t have confidence in his shot, and often you’ll see him bounce it off the front of the rim.

Hot off the press, AP Rankings have PITT at No. 4 rightfully ahead of Texas.

link to espn.go.com

Yeah we even got 12 1rst place votes on the AP more than the 2nd & 3rd ranked teams.

ESPN?USA has us at #6 with just 4 1rst place votes, but that is the most 1rst place voted for anybody other than #1 Duke. That might be a first, this late in the season, the #6 ranked team is receiving 1rst place votes.

The writers/pundits are all over the place with these rankings. Confusion and chaos rules.
Sports is always a reflection of society, where world & national events abound with confusion and chaos as well these days.

HTP !

Somebody loves Pitt in Kansas

link to campuscorner.kansascity.com

Chas – Just like you, I was ready to put the loss to SJ away…but then I looked at the final play 4 times and again on another angle shown on ESPN after 6PM Saturday. Now c’mon…both feet were out, maybe for a short period but they were out, but most important…HE TRAVELED! Took 3 steps.You only get 1.5!

Very very worried about WVU Thursday evening. Watching with Pitt Alums in Baltimore. They are hot, we are not. Any more tentative play, bad FT shooting and stupid mistakes and we can lose that game…and it would be a huge setback. We are not, and have not for a while, been playing well.

Rankings tend to be popularity contests. Villanova-two years ago, Notre Dame this year and now St.Johns all had late drives to the hoop to beat Pitt. The big men have to become shot blockers, better individual defense or discussions about Pitt in the Elite Eight and Final Four will be just that. As far as home court advantage is concerned it used to be considered a 10 point advantage. This means that if you beat a team by less than 10 points at home, there’s a good chance you’ll lose to them at a neutral court. And some referees do get intimidated by a large crowd.

Back to the non-call for a sec: If you watch the whole video sequence of Hardy’s move you will see he did a Johnny Cash, he “walked the line.”

Utter BS.

Jamie Dixon needs to do a better job defending last second shots. There was no attempt to deny Hardy the ball. This may have taken a few seconds off the clock and rushed Hardy into a worse shot.

Late game execution and foul shooting wasn’t there on Saturday. Better to have a late game collapse in February. The team will, hopefully, be ready in a similar situation going forward.

Woodall has some onions. Big shot. No hesitation. I like it. He has come through at the end of the game in several contests. It isn’t just luck. The kid doesn’t get nervous and wants to take the big shot. He needs to do a better job protecting the ball, but I like the way he is playing right now.

Great shooting by Gibbs. Wannamaker came on late and had the assist on the big three. I would have rather seen Wannamaker on Hardy at the end, but what can you do.

Big game on Thursday. WVU really needs the game and Pitt is coming off a sloppy loss. We will see if the Panthers show up. Final 4 teams don’t usually lose 2 games in a row. Especially late in the year.

Agree Joe with most of your post, however for some unexplained reason after calling a timeout after the Woodall 3 (don’t like timeouts for the defensive team in that situation, why give the opponent a chance to construct a play and also it gives the opposing coach a chance to calm his team down) Dixon didn’t send his best(only) shot blocker, Big G into the game. So you can’t block a shot from the bench.

Interesting to note, Pitt has pretty much built their program to top tier status while St.John’s went off a cliff with their last Big Dance trip in 2002. With Lavin there, our NYC pipeline (or what’s left of it) will be drops instead of a stream. So while some like to St. John’s resurrect itself from oblivion, it will make things tougher for Dixon and staff.

Mel. Not so sure about that. I was born and rasied in NYC, played/coached streetball, school & league. NYC kids want out of the city. They need to get out, even their status rises if they can get out. You would have thought that NYU wouyld have been a powerhouse, but Lou Rossini couldn’t keep the top kids in town, the program folded.

Pitt recruiting will be fine. One good season doesn’t make St. John’s relevant. They have 7 seniors on the roster. The recruiting class might be good, but it isn’t the fab 5.

ESPN’s Joey Brackets still has Pitt playing in Cleveland as the Southeast’s #1 seed. (the regionals for this region are in New Orleans)

link to espn.go.com

You’d think Duke would be in the Southeast. He has them in the Southwest.

We just have to keep winning now, with the Hoopies first up on the menu come Thursday.
With Pitt being the ONLY BigEast team with a shot at a #1 seed, that should play to our favor, you’d think.

Somebody commented that they were sick of the love-fest between hugh and me. I had a few issues with his post after the game on Saturday.

I’m not sure what hugh sees that makes him believe that Dante Taylor can play anything other than center. The kid has very few perimeter skills offensively and would be a complete disaster defensively. The only thing he would do well is offensive rebound. I do not think the coaching staff is misusing him at all.

I think Taylor needs to take the weight lifting program more seriously. I am sick of watching him get bull-dozed by opposing big men. If he can’t hold his ground after the contact, then try to take a charge once in a while to keep the opposing player guessing. However, this is a Taylor issue. Not a coaching staff issue.

Woodall is 3-1 as a starter with 3 of those games on the road. I’m not sure how hugh can say he isn’t a big east level starter when he played almost 90% of the minutes when Ashton was out. 2 of those games were at extremely hostile venues (WVU and Nova). Woodall made big shots in each of those games and stayed out of foul trouble. He isn’t Deron Williams or Chris Paul, but the kid can play basketball.

Gilbert Brown- I agree with hugh here. Terrible game. He needs to make quicker decisions. A senior can’t let St. John’s get that offensive rebound off of the free throw. Get that board and Pitt wins the game.

McGhee- Struggling with one-on-one defense in the post since WVU. Not sure why, but I don’t think this is a long-term issue. Maybe he is a little tired.

Patterson- Horrible game. Why Dixon didn’t even give JJ Moore a shot is strange. I guess he decided to go small, but Moore may have been able to help defensively in the second half.

Wannamaker- Okay game. Quiet, but he made big plays down the stretch. Would have liked to see him on Hardy, but the game is over.

Jamie Dixon- Should have played more zone in the second half. It worked well in the first half and we didn’t really see it at all in the second half. Also he should have had the players pick up St. John’s 3/4th court to waste some time.

On to the Mountaineers.

Right Omar & Old School,

Jamie has started to diversify away from NYC anyway, but a good St. John’s team will make it tougher. But I remember Pitt got George Allen out of NYC during St. John’s heyday in the mid 1980’s and he was considered the best PG in NYC at the time. Also Clyde Vaughn was from Mt Vernon, NY and he became our all time leading scorer(now 2nd all time to Charles Smith). Plus you’re right some kids want out.

One trip to the Final Four and that could set us up for more Nationwide recruiting, especially with TCU’s entry into the BE and Texas exposure, which is why I would love to see Houston & SMU in the BigEast along with UCF and to hell with those d-bags at Nova.

hearing comments about pitt picking up 3/4th and full court to pick up st johns and take off time. pitt tried that approach in elite 8 when nova beat pitt. all the guards were blown by leaving only the big men defending the basket and the floater sailed over their heads and into the basket for the game winner. if anything pitt should have used one man to pressure and dropped into a 2-3 zone or some sort of zone or use a soft zone press. that would have made st johns hit a jumper to win.

I was more upset with the overall officiating than the last call … and was more upset with not executing on the offensive end in crnch time (last 2 games) as well as not getting 2 key offensive reboubds late in the game.

If we only lose at Louisville and win the BE regular season, we will be in great shape come seeding time

Parrish at CBS is showing us some love to….

link to gary-parrish.blogs.cbssports.com

Anyone who has played the game at any level, knows that from the replay that he jumped stopped with both feet on over the line, then he went up putting spin on the ball, because he was too far behind the bankboard. The ref was there and he didn’t make the call. We all saw the replay. It stinks and there’s nothing we can do about it. On to the next game.

Bigger concern than officials is lack of ball handlers. When you only have 3 guards one needs to be a superior ball handler and unfortunately, none of ours are the all have their strong points, but controlling the ball is not it. Throw in the way Gilbert has been playing, I think the least of our problems is seeding.

what are the odds pitt plays in cleveland for the tourney?

If we win the BE regular season and at least one in the BE tourney, looks good ‘he steeped on the damn line’. See my link above, Joey Brackets of ESPN fame has us in the mistake by the lake for Rounds 1 & 2. Subject to change of course.

Love the name btw.

This game reminded me of the Villanova game in the NCAA tourney. It would be nice to see the defense force the ball out of the hands of the other team’s best player (double team). Make someone else other than Hardy shoot the final shot.

thanks melvin

How about the blatant and obvious traveling call on the missed St. John’s free throw with a minute left when they got the offensive rebound. The guy caught the ball, moved BOTH feet, and then proceeded to either take a dribble or pass (I forget). It was another call that I have no clue how they missed, but that’s another one you can add to the list of ones that could have changed the game.

In the end, maybe this will be a blessing as it will allow the team to refocus a bit and get a chip on their shoulder. Jamie certainly has some video evidence to get on them about, particularly their interior defense. A 3-1 finish and at least one win in the BET and I still think they are a 1 seed.

Hey Hardy…Johnny Cash called–he wants his line back!

Last “walk the line” comment, I promise.

ESPN Around the Horn crew upon watching the Hardy move all agreed that, just like a 3 point shot review, there should be out-of-bounds reviews.

It really stung losing like that. What was worse was that I actually had to root and then sulk at work during this. But, this was an honorable death. We still control our own destiny to a regular season title. Take care of business against West Virginia, get back on track and learn from Saturday.

Time to watch tape and prepare for teams like Villanova and Louisville who love to trap and suffocate people with it. Brown needs to pay extra attention. Nova singled him out quickly after he made a mistake. Winning those games and the one Thursday against the Mountaineers will motivate them into the BET.

My key player right now is Woodall. If he can consistently run the point then we can rest either Gibbs and Wanamaker. Rest and interchangeable parts is a good thing when you’re trying to fight a war.

All those bitchin about Gil’s bad game should take a look at his season stats. He’s had maybe 6 “good” games all year. He’s only shot the ball better than 50% 5 times in 27 games. He absolutely should not be getting more shots, but for whatever reason, Jamie generally doesn’t get the ball into the post to McGee or Taylor this year. I’m sure Gil works as hard as anyone, his defense has been mostly very good this year, but he just does not have the basketball sense (whatever that is) to raise his game. If Ash had Gil’s body, we might be watching Jordan this year (okay so maybe that’s overstating it a little.)

I’ve also been a proponent of getting the ball inside more, but mcghee more often than not gets his shots blocked or, as he did late in Saturday’s game, he fumbles a ball that would have been an easy layup. Somebody also mentioned Taylor’s strength regimen. Definitely needs serious improvement there. He gets shoved around way too easily.

That’s more like it, Omar. Too much Kumbaya isn’t good for anybody.

We disagree on Taylor. You just can’t make him into something he’s not, and he’s not a center. He’s more comfortable facing the basket and there are plenty of 6’7″ to 6’9″ forwards in the BE that he could do a nice job covering. (Kids like Keita, Pena, Evans……) The more I watch him play, the more I think he’s a finesse player. When I watched him in HS all star games, I wondered how Pitt would use him because he didn’t fit the “banger” mold.

Ditto on Woodall. He has made some clutch shots — there’s no doubt about that and I respect that. There’s also no doubt he singlehandedly grinds the gears of the Pitt halfcourt offense, especially against zones. It’s partly the handle, it’s partly the lack of shake and bake and it’s partly the lack of vision. You would expect a 5’9″, 5’10” point guard to use his quickness to get in the lane and create shots for teammates, but that just doesn’t happen often. I’ll give you a comparison — that Napier kid is no all star, but he’s been in college 2 less yrs than Woodall and he’s already better and he’s going to improve!

To your point about Woodall covering the minutes in hostile venues while Gibbs was out — just remember, he was able to do that because Wanamaker handles the lion’s share of the ball-handling, which takes all the pressure off the PG.

Next year will be interesting in the backcourt…..

I don’t see how getting the ball into the post more often is a good idea. To put it nicely, Gary McGhee does not have the best hands on the team. And Dante Taylor has never been a traditional bang in the post center. Pitt has been pretty successful being guard/forward oriented all year.

In regards to Gil Brown, Brandin Knight was subbing in for Jamie Dixon on the Jamie Dixon Show and made a couple good points. First, he said that they don’t ask Gil to score 20 in a game. Second, he said that Gil is much better when he gets touches early and gets confidence in his game. Third, he said how great Gil’s D has been lately and that he stepped up on D. So really, I think Gil needs to be viewed more as a guy who has the potential to score but is counted on for his D.

Taylor should have redshirted last year. I’m sure one of the stipulations with him coming to Pitt was that he play right away. It has slowed his development. He’ll be fine by the end of his career just like most who go through Dixon’s program. I actually like his fire and he does have a nastiness to him that will be an asset down the line. I’m not worried, especially with some of the bigs coming in to help out. Patterson is another one I think too many people are worried about. Year three is the year most bust out in this program and he reminds me a lot of Wanamaker two years ago…meaning you cringe every time he touches the ball. Trust the program. Jaime knows what he is doing. Patterson would not be playing if Dixon didn’t see something. I’m sure he is hitting shots in practice and now it just has to translate to game day.

The teams ability to break the press does worry me. Every time Brown touches the ball in a pressure situation I get nervous…is it going to be a travel, an errant pass or lousy ball handling. He has been pretty clutch on the free throw line but scares the bejesus out of me with the ball in his hands and the pressure to move the rock forward.

hugh:

It’s fine that we disagree on Dante. I just don’t see how he would contribute on either end at the 4. The rebounding would be strong, but everything else will not work. He might be a finesse player, but that isn’t what he should be. There is no reason why he should get completely over-powered by Burrell. He needs to get stronger to take advantage of his athleticism.

Woodall has some ball-handling issues (no left hand), but he is a pretty solid point guard. Not a star, but he is decent on both ends. I’m not a huge fan of Napier. I’ll leave it at that.

Next year will be different. You can’t lose Brad Wannamaker and not expect an adjustment. I think Woodall can handle the duties. Also, Gibbs has a very solid handle. He isn’t getting anybody shots, but he can help with ball handling in the backcourt. I think Woodall will have a nice year in 2012.

I think Dante would contribute at the 4 because he would be bigger than most 4s. Dante does have flashes where he shows how good he can be.

I think ball handling will be fine in 2012. Epps should have a good handle and will be ready to contribute as a redshirt freshman.

Hope he (Woodall) does come on in 2012. Maybe that’ll happen.

Or they get some unexpectededly large contributions from Epps and John Johnson, which would work just as well.

I’m sure they’re all over Taylor about the strength stuff. Some guys don’t lift and are as strong as bulls; other guys go through programs and you can still shove them around. I’m doubtful at this point that he’ll ever have much power, so let’s find out what else he can do.

Leaving the ‘lost at sea defense’ aside, Dante is not showing much of a game beyond 3 ft. from the basket. Right now he’s limited to staying on the block, which would force McGhee away from the hoop (not his strength either) and nullify the best rebounder on the floor when paired with Taylor. Nas is much more effective at finding and exploiting seams and stands tall on D too.

I like the current rotation, but the frontcourt bench reserves need to step up.

I also like this headline — there was a lot wrong with the officiating this game, with the blown oob call the cherry on top. Even after cooling off from the immediate aftermath, it’s right to call out the turdish performance of that crew.

Even though Pitt only has 3 losses – I am very concerned about this teams ability to at least make the elite eight . We only scored 59 points & Ashton Gibbs had half of them! Jaime Dixon must adjust his offensive scheme to get more points out of Talib Zanna, Nasir Robinson & J.J. Moore. Dante Taylor may be a better fit at Robert Morris.

There is zero chance that Taylor will be moved to the four next year. He has played less than 10 minutes total in his career at Pitt at PF.

Pitt will have an abundance of PF’s next year, Robinson, Zanna and Birch. Pitt will have no other experienced centers (unless you count Richardson and I don’t).

Not even worth discussing, CAUSE IT AINT HAPPENING.

Thanks for the disagreement Hugh and Omar, that’s more like it!!!

It should be really interesting next year, how the team shakes out, although every year is interesting in the Howland/Dixon Pitt is the Beast in the East Era.

Some very good comments by several about Taylor’s lack of strength. That has become much more apparent since BigEast play started. Go figure.

With Birch coming in next year, and he is an extraordinary shot blocker by all accounts, I’m thinking you have to play him near the basket, they do have 6’11” 230lb. Top 100 recruit, Malcom Gilbert coming in as well who’s a natural center and who is also, like Birch, a very good defensive player. If Taylor doesn’t get serious and/or the lightbulb doesn’t come on, he might find himself getting passed by these true freshmen. As far as this year, Taylor might prove more useful in the less physical NCAA’s like he did in the non-con part of this year’s schedule. Let’s hope so. HTP !

I wouldn’t count Taylor out yet. Remember the leaps both Aaron Gray and McGhee made between their Soph. and Jr. years. Both went from conversations questioning why they were even recruited to Gray winning the BE Most Improved Player award and many on this blog thinking that McGhee deserved it over Gibbs last year. Taylor has a lot more raw talent than both.

To me it’s more the mental part of his game that’s holding him back rather than a strength issue. Maybe the light goes on there next year when he’s counted on to be the main big man instead of just the backup.

I hear you TampatT. Blair spoiled Pitt fans a little because he was such a freakishly instinctive athletic player with a high motor, which allowed us to overlook some of his early deficiencies, especially on D. Taylor’s progression is closer to the norm than Blair’s. As excited as I am about the incoming bigs, we also need to be realistic that young players typically take time to progress. Hopefully Birch is closer to Blair than Taft, but I’m not ready to write off Taylor. Keep in mind that Taylor is playing hurt and that could explain the recent drop off, but his defense needs improvement to start at 4 or 5.

That is so amazing!!! Right now, I still got a long way to go. I am going to check back often! 🙂

[…] Especially when the opponent is St. John’s and I may never forget the home-cooking they got in 2011. […]