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February 24, 2011

Not sure much of an introduction is needed for this. It’s the Backyard Brawl. It’s at the Pete. It doesn’t start until 9pm on ESPN. On a Thursday night. The best thing for public safety in Morgantown may be a TV blackout.

The last 9pm Thursday game was a year and a week ago at Marquette. That worked out rather well, even if I did overdo the Gemini.

I’d like to hope that Pitt wins this one going away, but I think we all know that isn’t going to happen. Dante Taylor will be a game-time decision. If he can’t go, that means Richardson is the primary back-up to McGhee.

Per the usual. A moderated chat to deal with repetitive comments, trolls, insane overreactions, etc.

If you need to break the site out from the blog,Click Here.

Otherwise, the liveblog is just a little lower.





Just watched the 3OT game on ESPN classic. I’m pretty confident about this game tonight. Beat WVU!

Comment by Jim 02.24.11 @ 7:56 pm

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anthony Boerio, Chas Rich. Chas Rich said: Liveblog for tonight's Backyard Brawl at 9pm. link to bit.ly […]


Are they delaying the Pitt game because of the OT UConn game?

Comment by Lou 02.24.11 @ 9:06 pm

Gilbert Brown is making his 3s. If he can keep it up, we’ll be tought to beat.

Comment by Justinian 02.24.11 @ 9:49 pm

One of the best ass kickings I have ever seen Pitt deliver. Hate to say it though, these refs?? where do they get these guys…let em play please.

Comment by Dan 72 02.24.11 @ 11:14 pm

Great win. So much too take away. I guess we have to be undeafeted and not have bad losses ie ND and St johns, it’s completely absurd the slight we and the big e are getting nationally. Liking Patterson on the wing. Hail Hail.

Comment by Justin 02.24.11 @ 11:16 pm

I liked the ND and SJU losses in the “bad loss” column – if those are such bad losses why do the ESPN morons rank both of those teams? Even Tenn moved into the top 10 after beating Pitt, and Pitt had no say their subsequent collapse.

Comment by Ghost of Hornman 02.24.11 @ 11:25 pm

Any word on Talib’s thumb? Wasn’t hurt in practice — maybe he slipped on some ice or something? Why is Pitt being all Bellicheck about it?

Comment by Ghost of Hornman 02.24.11 @ 11:26 pm

I’ll take some of your suggestions and try to apply them.

Comment by ?????? ??? 02.24.11 @ 11:37 pm

I heard Talib has a broken thumb and is out 4-6 weeks aka probably the rest of the season.

I must say Patterson played great tonight. He simplified is game and made good decisions. Hopefully, something clicked and now he understands what he has to do. Getting production out of Patterson would be huge.

Comment by BlackMagic 02.24.11 @ 11:55 pm

Patterson has been seen hanging out at the “Dirty O” so his belly is full and his game is coming around full circle its amazing what the Big O fries will do for your confidence.

Comment by POLE 02.25.11 @ 12:36 am

According to the radio guys after the game, Zanna’s thumb was hurt in pre-game warmups and he will be out 3-6 weeks.

Comment by Pantherman13 02.25.11 @ 12:42 am

The Post-Gazette is now reporting that Zanna’s injury occurred away from the basketball court earlier on Thursday. Not sure what that means…

Comment by Pantherman13 02.25.11 @ 12:56 am

Kids…

“He (Patterson) got his opportunity after Zanna broke his right thumb after the pre-game meal while, as coach Jamie Dixon put it, he was “messing around” with some teammates while getting into a car. Zanna will have surgery Friday and is expected to miss between three and six weeks.”

link to sports.espn.go.com

Comment by Dave in Orlando 02.25.11 @ 1:11 am

Now the team has to focus on the Cardinals, a win there gives Jamie Dixon a record breaking performance in the coaching arena, he’ll have broken the NCAA record for total wins in the 1st 8 seasons of any college basketball head coach,,,,, EVER. I remember the doubts on giving a Pitt assistant coach such an opportunity back 8 years ago. I guess Dixon has kind of closed down that discussion with a resounding thud over his tenure. Go get them Panthers, win one for Dixon!!

Comment by Dr. Tom 02.25.11 @ 7:58 am

A few observations:

*Agree, Patterson was tremendous last night. He’s not an athlete, but he has a nice court sense and gets a lot accomplished with his floor game. Key rebounds, stripping the ball, good cuts to the hoop and a nice long pass on the break. Think he’ll be a key role player in yrs to come.

*Taylor was better last night. Never going to be a banger, but he played hard.

*I knew Gil Brown had been here a long time, but didn’t notice until last night that his hairline is receding. Better get that pro contract signed for Uruguay before anyone asks to see a birth certificate.

*Anyone notice that Pitt’s second half run came with Woodall not playing during the first 12-13 minutes of the second half? I hate watching Gibbs handle it because it takes away from his opportunities to get loose off picks, but maybe they’re better off with him and Wanamaker sharing the ballhandling and Woodall playing very limited minutes for a while. Woodall’s inability to set up his teammates to score makes it tough to justify minutes for him. It’s a dilemma.

*Nice to see Wanamaker going aggressively to the hoop again. Was worried he was hurt; not concerned anymore.

Unfortunately, at no point last night did I think Coach Huggins was going to explode courtside and get gin-pickled guts all over everybody. For him, he was positively mellow. Oh well.
He was positively mellow.

Comment by hugh green 02.25.11 @ 8:11 am

There was no panic last night with JD–love that. I have to say that I’m excitedfor Patterson’s contribution on the offensive side.

I’ll take his mid range jumper, occassional 3pt, and higher FT% when compared to Zanna’s rebounding, defense, and putbacks. If DT lives up to his billing, we will be on the scrap factor. We need a big in the lineup that can pop up and hit a mid range jumper.

Still frustrated that we refuse to feed the big fella more last night… McGhee was doing an excellent job positioning undersized guys away from the hoop to set up the lob. Fortunately Wanny fed him a couple times, but man…we need to take advantage of these glaring mismatches.

Comment by Pauly P 02.25.11 @ 8:20 am

Woodall makes every pass an adventure. I thought he would improve over the season, but am not seeing it. That is going to be a huge problem moving forward. Will be interesting to see how they handle Louisville’s more athletic players.
Rest of team is solid, JD does a great job of preparation and different folks step up as needed.

Comment by Jimbo 02.25.11 @ 8:36 am

As they’ve done with several games as of late, Pitt made nice halftime adjustments that went on to win the game for them. It’s certainly nice to dominate and blow out every opponent, and you could argue that always playing catch-up–especially against good teams–could be tiring. But being able to make a halftime adjustment and win a game is a mark of a good team.

Comment by Lou 02.25.11 @ 9:19 am

“Woodall makes every pass an adventure.”

Jimbo, agree. I think that it is influenced by a simple fundamental of the game. Woodall likes to make his bounce pass by using a one-handed push instead of a conventional two-handed bounce pass. The one-hander is not as accurate, has more spin on it, and doesn’t get to the receiver quite as quickly. It’s a small nuance, but it makes a big difference.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 9:32 am

hugh: Pitt’s run had everything to do with Patterson’s presence and little to do with Woodall’s absence last night. Patterson added another court savvy ball handler to the lineup during that run to go along with what Wanny and Gibbs bring. You’ll rarely see Wanny, Gibbs and Woodall together because of the rotation and size issues.

Not sure what season you’ve been watching, but I can recall plenty of runs with Woodall in the game. One can find fault with any player on a game-by-game basis, which you seem to do, but I look at a player’s contribution over the season. On that note, Woodall is second only to Wanny in total assists and assists per minute of play. His assist-to-turnover ratio is first at 2.49 to Wanny’s 2.40. This includes his “awful” performance last night of 6 assists to 1 turnover. He’s also second only to Wanny in steals, making up for some of those turnovers.

I’ll admit that he looks to be forcing things a little bit lately, which he wasn’t doing earlier. But I think the reason Jamie plays him is because he contributes more often than not.

Comment by TampaT 02.25.11 @ 9:33 am

I have to agree with Tampa regarding Woodall. IMHO, his biggest problem continues to be inconsistent decision making rather than poor execution (although I acknowledge that the two aren’t unrelated). For example, at one point in the first half he ran a break to the WVU foul line, but 4 defenders had already made it back. He wisely did not try to take it to the hoop or force a bad pass, but instead of pulling back out, forced up an 18 foot jumper. Dixon pulled him out and sat him for awhile after that.

He seems to have good skills, but loses focus at times. They really need him to embrace his role going forward.

Comment by Pantherman13 02.25.11 @ 9:49 am

Woodall is a great reason why people need to look at objective stats instead of relying on their biased subjective opinion. People love to be critical of Woodall. It’s sort of the same thing that happened with Carl Krauser, but not nearly as bad. He might seem out of control and force some bad shots, but the stats show he is number 39 in the country in assist to turnover, which certainly isn’t indidicative of a huge problem going forward in regards to taking care of the ball. And Woodall isn’t afraid to take big shots and make big shots.

Comment by BlackMagic 02.25.11 @ 10:09 am

I see the biggest issue on Sunday will be taking care of the ball, as Lousiville’s full-court press and quickness can create a lot of turnovers and quick baskets. Also, as we have seen, Pitt can be very careless with the ball when pressed .. and not just Woodall either

Comment by wbb 02.25.11 @ 10:13 am

Woodall has shown some serious onions this year…Providence, St. Johns…he is progressing fine IMHO…I’m expecting a serious jump in his floor general quotient next year.

Comment by Pauly P 02.25.11 @ 10:17 am

One thing I noticed last night was how Gary Mcghee constantly had perfect low post position with his man pinned on the blocks for a lob over the top. His teammates had no confidence in him & never once passed the ball to him.

Comment by ROCKY20 02.25.11 @ 10:50 am

Not never, Rocky.

Comment by steve 02.25.11 @ 10:55 am

What are you talking about, Rocky? McGhee received a number of passes–many of those little lobs over the defender, where Gary went strong to the basket and dunked.

Comment by Lou 02.25.11 @ 10:56 am

” never once passed the ball to him [McGhee].”

Rocky, they certainly did pass him the ball and he scored as a result. You may want to watch the entire game next time.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 10:56 am

Rocky – that’s just not true. McGhee was fed lobs several times in both halves, once the coaches and players recognized how WVU was overplaying him. There are probably two reasons why they didn’t do it more often. First, WVU started sliding a second defender down on the weakside to counter the lob. That did help to open some lanes for other players though. Second, I think you are right that there is a trust issue of sorts with McGhee. I love the guy’s effort, and he has become a good positional rebounder, but his hands are horrible. The entry pass needs to be pretty close to perfect, with little chance of disruption from a defender. I think the guards are reluctant to try to force much inside unless it is clear that it is the right pass.

Comment by Pantherman13 02.25.11 @ 10:57 am

Always satisfying to beat WVU. Solid win. Incredibly physical game. You can say otherwise, but we’re going to have to adjust our play in March. There’s no way that kind of brutal grind will be allowed in the tournament. Fortunately, I think we have the depth to deal with shocked West Coast refs who’ve never seen prison ball.
Zanna’s injury was silly and hurts the team, but I think Richardson will fill in ably. “Big Hungry” doesn’t have the upside or athleticism, but he’s a smart, tough kid with a decent mid-range game and can rebound. Both are lost on defense. Richardson less so.
I’m still waiting for Dixon to implement a back-cut. Opponents are *often* anticipating lazy passes at the top of our motion set, overplaying, jumping into passing lanes and forcing turnovers or deflections.
A simple head-and-shoulders fake toward the ball and back-cut towards the hoop would lead to an odd-man scoring opportunity. Think Princeton/Georgetown.
That’s the one part of Dixon’s approach that confuses me. He doesn’t seem interested in making an opponent pay for gambling. Whether it be passively attacking a press or failing to use a defender’s aggressive half-court posture against him, Dixon seems set in his ways and content to leave points on the court. This is particularly frustrating when we’re not shooting well and could use some easy baskets, which wasn’t necessarily the case last night.
That said, Dixon’s on the verge of becoming the fastest college basketball coach to 214 victories – ever – and I’m commenting on an Internet message board…

Comment by Dave in Orlando 02.25.11 @ 11:04 am

Anytime we beat WV is good, when we kick their ass it’s great and we did that in 2nd half; out scored them 41-27. Much to like, vets played high level and with awareness. Taylor looks like he’s getting bigger, he’s more confident and hits FT’s. Wish he’d stop appealing to the refs all the time, even if Mazz trips & tackles him. Patterson came out of nowhere, played with poise and presence. Even Richardson’s baseline jumper, just one bucket, but the kind of timely contribution we need. I like Woodall, he’s come a long way and will continue to mature. His scope of mistakes are more narrow than last year this time. He a tough and scappy kid, I like him.

JD is a rare breed. A teaching coach, nutures his kids, builds them up, gets as much out of his kids as any coach, maybe more. Pitt’s success depends on his kids playing their hearts out together, as a unit and that takes special coaching. That’s why I dislike Huggins, he seems to berate his kids under the guise of coaching them. He tells them, in front of everyone, what they did wrong, what’s wrong with them. Don’t like that style, I think it tears a kid down. Alluding to his first loss to Pitt this year he said disparaging things to the media about his kids in a joking manner. I think he’s a shit coach. I hope he stays at WV for a long time.

Comment by Old School Panther 02.25.11 @ 11:06 am

I was just looking at the standings in the Big East. What a great basketball conference! Just about everybody beating up on each other. At least one BE game appears to be televised every night. Doesn’t thrill the wife. Oh, well. She is able to catch up upon her reading.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 11:09 am

One more thing. Did you pick up on the comment by Marquette’s coach, Buzz Williams? During a post-game interview, he discussed his strategy at the end of the UConn game. He said that he knew that Kemba was not going to pass the ball. There is not one Pitt player where such a comment could be directed.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 11:21 am

Regarding Woodall……….yes, by all means, read the box score and don’t watch the games. Or better yet, go to KenPom and skip the paper entirely. Don’t bother watching the game and seeing for yourself how a PG is affecting a team’s flow.

It’s a zero sum game. Patterson’s production IS Woodall’s absence. Can’t have one without the other. That’s my whole point about Dixon’s dilemma: he’s got to take minutes away from Woodall because of lack of production (which he obviously realized in the second half last night), but how many minutes do you subtract?

Comment by hugh green 02.25.11 @ 11:23 am

@rocky…

I have been a vocal critic of our guard’s inability to find McGhee when the situation presents itself. Like last night, when Gary has a strong physical presence and the backsidedouble team is not in force, we NEED to feed the position for easy lob layups. I thought the boys did an average job of that last night…and frankly, they did it more than I have seen all year. COuld they have done more? Yes.

But…

the minute that double team arrives, it just doesn’t make sense to force the issue with Gary’s poor FT% and propoensity for TOs.

I stress…”When the situation presents itself”…

and last night, especially in the 2nd half, it did.

Comment by Pauly P 02.25.11 @ 11:52 am

Sorry don’t see your point about it being a zero sum game. Patterson’s minutes come from Gilbert not Woodall. With Woodall playing under control, you get the same effect with him in there and Gibbs or Wanny on the bench depending on the opponent’s defensive scheme, opposing guard matchups, who’s hot, etc.

The point about the stats was to show Woodall’s contribution over the course of the season. You seem to like to pick specific games. Wasn’t it just a couple of games ago that Patterson didn’t even belong on the floor?

Again, I’ll admit that Woodall’s been forcing things. Overall, he had an off night against St. Johns. Most likely he felt he had something to prove in his hometown against the hometown team. Put a little too much pressure on himself. But, he had the “onions” as Pauly P said to hit the shot that by most accounts should have won the game. Last night may have been an attempt to make up for St. Johns, again forcing it a little. Jamie saw that and sat him. That’s why Jamie knows more about coaching than you, me and this board combined.

And Jamie knows that Woodall positively affects the flow when he’s in there more often than not. That’s why he’s generally first off the bench.

Comment by TampaT 02.25.11 @ 12:14 pm

I like Woodall…he plays with confidence. If the shot is there he takes it…If he misses, he takes his next open shot…He has a knack for hitting “big” shots…My one criticism of his game is his poor FT shooting…I just can’t stand it from a Point Guard…It is what it is for this year, but working on his FT shooting has to be a priority between this season and next.

Comment by HbgFrank 02.25.11 @ 12:29 pm

@hugh Watch games and don’t pay attention to stats like how you did when you said you liked how Kraft plays hard-nosed D? Which happened to be in a game where he got absolutely torched by E’Twaun Moore. But I guess points scored by Moore are just a meaningless stat because Kraft looked good on the court to you.

And if you watch Pitt games, you would know Patterson and Woodall don’t play the same position. Is Patterson going to be guarding the other team’s PG or a small quick guard? Woodall didn’t lose time because of his production. He just played about the same number of minutes he was averaging before Gibbs was hurt. You want to know how I know that? By looking at the box score.

Comment by BlackMagic 02.25.11 @ 12:34 pm

Woodall has been key in many games and has spurted key runs this season. Kids a good player. He’s young and will make mistakes at times but overall he’s played pretty damn well this year.. Some of you need to relax. Just because we made a run with him on the bench during this particular game doesn’t mean he should play limited minutes. We beat Nova without Gibbs so maybe we should keep him on the bench for the rest of the season, according to that logic. No, that would be ludicrous, and so is the suggestion of Woodall’s minutes being cut. He’ll be a huge factor down the stretch and in the coming years.

Comment by OntarioLet'sGoPitt 02.25.11 @ 12:39 pm

In addition to Zanna’s injury, I believe the reason that JJ Richardson saw so minutes last night was Gilbert’s foul problems. JJ isn’t going to play a lot if he keeps ggetting beat on the dribble drive last he did last night.

I look for Jamie to alter the rotation a bit, and that Gilbert may start at the 3 but also will provide relief for Nasir at the 4 (Gilbert has played there before.) This wil give more minutes for Patterson and possibly JJ Moore

Comment by wbb 02.25.11 @ 12:45 pm

Last night, when Robinson sat for fouls, Dixon moved Brown to the 4 (he covered Jones on defense actually) and Wannamaker to the 3 and brought in Woodall to play point. Well really, they were just playing with three guards…Patterson has played minutes at 2,3, and 4 this year…Any minutes for JJ Moore will still be token minutes. His position is strictly perimeter and all the guards are healthy.

Comment by SilverPanther in NYC 02.25.11 @ 12:59 pm

I love it. The apologists are out; we even got Krauser love. I barely know where to start.

*Hey, I was the first to say last year that Woodall’s minutes were generally positive because they were struggling with Gibbs at PG and needed more speed in the lineup. It just stinks that he’s our only PG alternative. You guys are OK with him because your expectations aren’t high enough. If you’re going to play PG in the best conf in the country, a left hand and an ability to create should be tablestakes.

*If Woodall comes in, Wanamaker moves to the three and Patterson sits. Kind of simple. During last night’s run, Woodall had to sit because Dixon wanted Patterson in the game to start the second half and didn’t want to sit either of his two best players (Gibbs or Wanamaker). Is this rocket science?

*The points I saw Moore score weren’t on Kraft. Kraft was guarding Purdue’s little PG. My advice is, wait and see if that kid has a nice career. Remember, true freshman, not a kid in his 3rd year somewhere.

*I did say Patterson looked unprepared against SJU and Dixon had no choice but to pull him. Yes, with young kids sometimes it’s a game-by-game thing. But I’ve liked his game (which some of my buddies would tell you) from the start.

*And yes, Woodall got his minutes last night. Interestingly enough, they came during periods of the game when Pitt was struggling or had already built the lead. Hmmm……

I hope I’ve been clear. I absolutely think Woodall has to play and I think he has a role on this team and he has hit some big shots. (Nevermind thre are other things I’d much rather get from a PG…..). The fact is, Dixon just doesn’t have any other backcourt options even remotely ready to contribute. So I get it, I have to get over it and hope the kid plays well because he has to play 16-20 mins a game no matter how you cut it.

Still disappointed that we didn’t have a better PG to take the baton from Fields…….

Comment by hugh green 02.25.11 @ 1:15 pm

Oh, and if Woodall “spurted” any “runs”, I missed it. Maybe that’s why he had to sit early 2nd half; they were washing his shorts.

Comment by hugh green 02.25.11 @ 1:19 pm

Agree on the backdoor cuts. They are *so* there if Pitt is willing to commit to making them. Brown should be getting at least one oop a game off of a backdoor cut.

Woodall’s one-handed passes do drive me crazy, but overall he’s had a pretty good year. Not outstanding, but fairly steady, with some games where he stunk and others where he was outstanding. And he’s not afraid to take the big shot and has proven he can make it.

Shame Gil had the foul trouble. Looked like he was headed for a really big night.

As for McGhee, he does get passed up when he has good post position at times, but I’m no longer as upset with it. Unless there is no other defender (than his own, of course) in the immediate vicinity and the pass can be made in the air, not off the bounce, the benefit vs. the risk has just not panned out. He bumbles bounce passes too often and takes longer to make his move, giving the D time to recover and often leading to misses and blocks. The poor FT doesn’t help either.

Comment by Carmen 02.25.11 @ 1:30 pm

Love how those who prefer to be critics to demonstrate their knowledge of the game always call those who prefer to be the opposite “apologists”. Happens with football too. I’ll leave it at that.

Lastly on Woodall, sure he has his flaws. I think we’re watching a college team and not the NBA, so all but one or two players are going to have pretty big flaws. IMHO, Woodall has made a lot of progress in his three years and there’s no reason to think he won’t continue. He may always only be a role player, especially if Epps is all that, but his role will be important to the team’s success. Therefore, I’ll support him flaws and all.

Comment by TampaT 02.25.11 @ 1:33 pm

“[McGhee] He bumbles bounce passes too often”

Carmen, amen. Towards the end of the ST. John’s game, he fumbled a pass that was a little low, but certainly catchable, out-of-bounds. If McGhee catches the ball and then dunks it, we win and have a lock on at least a tie for 1st place in the BE, and maybe ranked No. 1 in the country.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 1:50 pm

Two-handed bounce passes? Really? Is this 1965?

The problem is not a one vs. two handed bounce pass… a two handed bounce pass is obsolete in today’s game… in fact, I’m not sure that it is even taught once kids get past 4th grade. The one handed pass is meant to get the ball away from your body, and out of reach of the defender.

With the athletes today, there simply is no way to throw a 2 handed bounce pass from point-to-point. If you think Woodall has difficulty completing passes now, your assessment would be much worse if he started tossing the ball around the court like he’s playing in the 1947 NIT…

The problem has actually been “flat” cuts getting open by the wing players, allowing the defender to get in between Woodall and “the receiver”, whether it be Gibbs or Wannamaker… thus causing the pass to be more difficult.

This also has alot to do with scouting, esp in conference games, where all the teams know the sets they will see from each team…

Comment by Big Bill 02.25.11 @ 2:33 pm

Deep conversations going back and forth, but I needed some stress relief.

Dave in Orlando.. “Prison Ball”.. I chuckled for 10 minutes. Thanks

Comment by CompLit 02.25.11 @ 2:36 pm

So Pitt played so much better with Woodall on the bench eh?

Pitt was +14 when Woodall was in the game against WVU. So yeah…. Pitt played so much better when Woodall was on the bench. Pitt was also +6 when Woodall was in the game against St. Johns. Yet another reason why stats are better than what a person “sees” on the court.

Comment by BlackMagic 02.25.11 @ 2:37 pm

BlackMagic…. well played sir… game, set, match…

Comment by Big Bill 02.25.11 @ 2:56 pm

“Two-handed bounce passes? Really? Is this 1965?”

Big Bill, no, this is Wanamaker getting the ball to McGhee underneath for a dunk. (BTW, a reason Wanamaker is considered Pitt’s best player by many of the TV commentator/analysts, in my opinion, is because he has the best “old school” fundamentals.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 3:11 pm

BigGuy,

The 2 handed bounce pass comment you directed earlier to Woodall, not Wannamaker… doesn’t matter though. His “old school” approach doesn’t include very many 2 hand bounce passes to the post. You simply CANNOT feed the post in today’s game with a basic, straightforward 2 handed bounce pass.

My original post was about Woodall though, and BlackMagic came through with a hell of stat to prove how valuable Woodall has been.

And, more often than not, Gary was pinning his guy in front as he was being fronted in the post… Can’t throw ANY type of bounce pass in that instance…

Comment by Big Bill 02.25.11 @ 4:02 pm

Big Bill, I originally posted in response to a comment that suggested that passes made by Woodall are often errant. I made the comment that, in my opinion, Wanamaker is a better passer than Woodall because Wanamaker makes bounce passes with two hands when possible; Woodall seems to do a one-handed push pass when he could make a two hander. I can’t argue with your suggestion that it often is impractical or impossible to make a two handed bounce pass, especially with a guy standing in your face.

On another note, I don’t understand why bounce passes are not made more frequently. I also don’t understand why on a 2 on 1 fast break, the ball is not taken to the middle and why the dribbler does not stop at the foul line to either shoot if the defender wants to pick up the trailer or to bounce pass to the trailer if the defender goes after the dribbler. I refuse to discard old school fundamentals,

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 4:31 pm

Some folks here would have our bigs move to underhand freethrows ala Wilt

Comment by Ghost of Hornman 02.25.11 @ 4:48 pm

I don’t think it could hurt to have Nasir watch this video….

link to youtube.com

Comment by Bobby 02.25.11 @ 5:07 pm

Ah, Ghost, let’s not get carried away.

You have me on a BB fundamentals kick. I don’t know Wanamaker’s HS coach, but I suspect that he was a great fundamentalist. When Brad gets the ball, he immediately looks to determine if he can drive. If he can, he takes off. Many other guys out front or on the perimeter, when they receive a pass, the first thing they do is bend over and pass the ball from their right hand to their left hand and then back and forth a few more times until they decide what they are going to do. Would not have happened in my day.

Comment by BigGuy 02.25.11 @ 5:09 pm

Who’s the best rebounder on the team?

My surprising vote: Ashton Gibbs

Comment by steve 02.25.11 @ 5:32 pm

Woodall was interviewed on The Fan this afternoon and he was asked if all the Pitt players were put in a room, who would come out alive. Woodall answered (him excluded) was Nasir Robinson … guess I’m not surprised.

Comment by wbb 02.25.11 @ 6:49 pm

TampaT, Epps is all that. During shootaround he was draining NBA 3’s at a ridiculous clip while doing things such as a side step. My whole section was completely flabbergasted.

Comment by Krayz 02.25.11 @ 9:06 pm

i wonder how the plus/minus accounts for the fact that Pitt’s best moments against WVU(almost 13 minutes worth including a decisive 15 point swing) came with Woodall on the bench, excepting a moment when Travon got back in long enough to pick up his 3rd foul.

Might be tough to pick up from the boxscore……

Pitt’s best lineup last night was gibbs/wanamaker/patterson/robinson/mcghee. Something to think about. Or you could just read the boxscore and go back to your coffee.

Comment by hugh green 02.25.11 @ 10:29 pm

in fact, i wonder why any of us bother actually going to or watching the games. it would certainly be cheaper and less time-consuming to just check out kenpom and a few boxscores and skip the games entirely. you could compress the entire season into a couple focused hours in April.

i could have just checked the boxscore instead of going to Boston a couple yrs back to understand that Nova hit 21-22 free throws. good enough, i guess. great stat. all I should need to know. why worry about the fact that there were multiple opportunities to slow Reynolds down on that fateful last possession?

Comment by hugh green 02.25.11 @ 10:52 pm

Didn’t have time to read through all of the comments so I’m sorry if this was brought up BUT…

A favorite Pitt fan whipping boy, Dante Taylor, appeared to be poised and mature last night. Didn’t put up big numbers, but just something about his demeanor and the way he played made me think that this kid’s finally coming around.

Comment by Jimbo Covert's my Dad 02.26.11 @ 1:16 am

@Jimbo

I’m a bit more bullish re: Patterson, Woodall and Zanna making a jump next year in their maturation process than DT.

Some things really bother me about DT that I can’t seem to get over…

1) Physicality– To be an effective 5 in the BE he is going to need some mass, strength, and overall improvement in conditioning to front, position, defend/hedge, screen and rebound.

2) Defense– Like most early 5’s in their development, he picks up cheap fouls too quickly and is a non factor for most of a game. I see him having this problem next year.

3) Shooting hitch– I can’t see him ever having an offesive game more than 6′ from the rim with that horrible hitch in his shot; therefore, he is basically a Chris Taft-like player.

4) Attitude– Granted most kids seem to whine on every foul or get easily rattled by an aggressive competitor,but DT seems to have a aura of immaturity when it comes to dealing with the fouls and other rough play that happens in a game. Plus, he needs to get over celebrating after every made shot.

I hope he can be effective…but I just am not reaady to say he has turned the corner…

Comment by Pauly P 02.26.11 @ 9:25 am

Except Hugh, your argument is that he makes bad passes and turns the ball over. the 6 assists account for his good passing, and the one turnover disproves your other theory. So, other than looking at his stellar A-to-T ratio, and his steady improvement throughout the season, it is only your irrational bias against him that causes you to think he’s not playing that well. Fact is, Pitt wouldn’t have beat either WVU or Nova without the way he played in Gibbs’ absence.

Comment by merlin 02.26.11 @ 9:38 am

Woodall is an above average point guard in the Big East. That is saying something. Also, he is a much better defensive player than all of his predecessors in the Howland/Dixon years. He isn’t an All-American, but that doesn’t mean he is a scrub. I think the kid can still get better.

Comment by Omar 02.26.11 @ 10:53 am

Woodall isn’t a better defender than Brandin Knight. I forgot about him for a second.

Comment by omar 02.26.11 @ 1:58 pm

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