The NCAA Tournament really tips in less than an hour.
See, the play-in games simply cannot count when you don’t have to pick them for bracket pools.
Hope you have made your pick for the annual Pitt Blather Bracket Challenge.
The group is locked, and semi-private. To join, the password is: PittIsIt
A little time left to make the picks.
Not surprisingly, the fans really didn’t. They weren’t showing up as much by the end of the regular season. No real surprise when they don’t show for the 3d-tier post-season exhibition competition.
On the bright side, Pitt didn’t fail to show-up against Wofford. Unlike, say Arizona being at home against Bucknell. Especially since Bucknell was an 8 seed in a 32-team NIT field. Between the Arizona loss, and the pasting USF put on Cal last night (if you didn’t see the game, the final score was no where near indicative of how badly Cal was abused), it becomes an open question of whether Pitt would have made the NCAA Tournament if they played in the Pac-12. I’m thinking Providence could have had a shot. I mean, we are talking Big East football bad for Pac-12 basketball.
Pitt blew out the Terriers 81-63. There was some familiarity to it, as Pitt let Wofford make a run in the second half to get within single digits. Then Pitt reasserted themselves and pounded Wofford back into submission.
Pitt had a big night shooting from outside, as J.J. Moore’s jumper was falling. Moore finished with 32 16 points and hitting 4-6 on 3s. Woodall and Gibbs also dropped four 3s in the game.
Probably more surprising was Talib Zanna had an easy time inside grabbing 7 rebounds and 12 points (6-8). It was that kind of night for Zanna and the other guards that had Dixon saying after the game that he screwed up on not playing some of the other guys as much as he should have.
The Panthers were 14 of 25 from beyond the arc to tie the record for most 3-pointers in a game at Petersen Events Center. Because they shot so many long-range jumpers, Pitt went to the free-throw line only three times and made one.
“We need to get the ball inside more,” said coach Jamie Dixon, who stuck basically to the same substitution pattern he employed all season. “I probably should have played [Malcolm Gilbert] more and I need to get Cam [Wright] more minutes.”
That sounded almost Wannstedtian.
Yeah, what the hell. Maybe you are there. Maybe you are following on the radio. Let’s try and relax. Enjoy things and treat it like an exhibition. Remember, Wofford gave Walt Harris his worst win at Pitt. (It was Wofford, right?)
I think one thing I find frustrating after this season is the use of the word embarrassing to describe this team. I get why the players say it. They were the ones doing the losing. They were the ones being beat. I struggle with we, as fans, using it to describe theteam. Especially when it carries to such a level to be personal.
Embarrassing teams to me are the ones that do something more than merely lose games. Ones that quit on the coach or the season (Illinois). The ones that get embroiled in off-the-field or -court messes. Or have so many other distractions that the program looks to be in complete disarray (UCLA). Then I get it. It is a feeling that their actions reflect badly on our school and what we feel it represents. But just for losing games?
Not to say there aren’t plenty of other ways to describe this team. Disappointing. Frustrating. Inconsistent. Underachieving. Sloppy.
When seasons like this happen, no one wants excuses. Heck, reasons are barely tolerable. We just want it fixed. No one cares that it happens to other teams — because it is other teams.
The theory that I have at least been telling myself the last 10 years as to why my bracket has fallen apart is that my Pitt biases are just too strong for me to logically analyze and make bracket picks.
Guess it’s time to put it to the test.
Time for the annual Pitt Blather Bracket Challenge.
The group is locked, and semi-private. To join, the password is: PittIsIt
This year the prizes include a $50 gift card, a couple Pitt shirts and any other free shwag I’ve accumulated and can regift. (I swear, John I’m going to get your prize pack for 2011 mailed any day now.)
Last place is a copy of the game program from the Buffalo-Pitt football game featuring a smiling Fraud Graham on the cover. A collector’s item to be sure.
I apologize (sort of) if you think you are being singled out in this rant. Honestly, it isn’t directed at any one person. It’s just that I’ve gotten a little worn down over the course of this season — and especially in the last week. It just seems that too many Pitt fans have gone off the deep end.
Maybe it’s taking the success this program has had for granted. Maybe it’s the frustration of the season. Maybe it’s the frustration of feeling so close in previous years. Maybe it’s because the football program has been such a source of angst that the basketball side has been the tether on the sanity that got cut this year. Maybe it’s just a very vocal minority.
Pitt is somehow above playing in the CBI. That this is an embarrassment. The players and coaches should hang their heads in shame and apologize to all, personally for this season. When did so many Pitt fans think they should be as twisted and warped as the fringes of UCLA and Kentucky?
I don’t know, but suddenly Pitt finally has a season where they truly take a step back. Where they don’t just underachieve, but fall flat on their face. And now the previous ten years of going to the NCAA Tournament is ancient history. The prior eight years of Jamie Dixon being the head coach are reduced to the failures — and any success was merely an aberration. That this year is the true norm.
Not sure how close Pitt came to making the NIT. I’m guessing upsets like St. Bonaventure over Xavier had a trickle-down effect as NCAA bubble teams that were left out knocked out NIT bubble teams. At least that’s what I’ll tell myself.
The game will not be televised, it seems. The CBI has its deal with HDNet (which is channel 306 on DirecTV), and they are showing the Delaware-Butler game that night.
So be it. It’s still one more basketball game. Aside from spring practice for the next month we are seeing the dead period loom large in front of us.
The time of year when the only excitement is recruiting trail stuff. Summer league play. Blind speculative pieces. It can get rough.
Here’s the bracket for the CBI (PDF). Pick your bracket below, I guess.
Here is Coach Chryst’s schedule:
March 14th – Finalize staff plans for the next month. Declare recruiting a disaster and decide not to do it any longer this year. Ask staff to reaffirm commitment to PITT in writing. Ask Joe Rudolph how he developed a sudden wrist injury and can’t sign.
March 15th – Spring practice opens. Watch QB drills where Sunseri amazingly completes his first five deep balls thus cementing his starting job for a third straight year. Make public announcement to that effect. Ask the Athletic Director why the PITT ticket office is suddenly flooded with season ticket cancellations.
March 16th – Hold first official team meeting. Ask anyone who wants to transfer to declare it now. Go looking for Trey Anderson as he had to leave the team meeting to go to the men’s room and hasn’t been seen since. Review the program’s Rules and Standards of PITT Football. Scream at the secretary who forgot to search and replace “Chryst” for “Graham” in the document. Discuss Chryst Amendment #1 which states that any PITT football player(s) who break into a student’s dorm party and beat the crap out of numerous students are required to clean Heinz Field after the next game.
March 21st – Readjust two-deep lineup. Demote Sunseri because he keeps running out of bounds as soon as he gets the snap. Elevate Myers to 1st string on the condition Myers can find his playbook – which is propping up a broken bed leg in his dorm room. Ask Ray Graham if he’s 100% sure he can’t participate in practices; infer he’s a pussy when Graham starts waving his crutch around while saying “I can’t even walk, cracker!”
The horrible events at Western Psych yesterday overshadow everything else. Details are still so sketchy. The shooter is dead but still unknown. It’s not believed he was a patient, but he sure wasn’t well. Prayers and good thoughts for the family of Michael Schaab who was killed as well as to the injured. UPMC is not releasing the names of the injured, but is providing updates on their conditions.
A week and a half ago, the shooting took place at Chardon High School. Some 20 miles away from where I live. Everyone around here is still trying to process that. Trying to make sense of the senseless. I don’t know if it’s really possible.
How do you explain a sickness that manifests itself in such a violent way against others? Maybe we learn some details that explain part of it. Individuals with some understanding, education, or training may be able to vaguely comprehend the breakdown. But that final step. That point where the horrible act is performed. When the full break happens mentally. How do you make sense of it?
Even those with extensive background and education. There’s nothing simple and easy to offer in the way of explanation. Or solutions.
The small gestures of wearing ribbons or a band on the wrist doesn’t seem enough. It sometimes feels lacking and not nearly enough to express support and sympathy. But sometimes that is all we can do. Show that we care. That we are not merely nodding our head and making sympathetic sounds. Taking some step to show we care about others and our community.
I’m so, f***in proud of those Pitt fans.
In the waning seconds of Pittburgh’s 64-52 loss to Georgetown, Hoyas fans began chanting, ‘NIT! NIT!’ Pitt fans responded with, “ACC! ACC!’
It was something of a given anyways. Pitt had to cancel a home game with UCF — at the behest of the Big East — with the expectation of having TCU coming in 2012. Then they got a better offer to go straight to the Big 12. That was followed by losing the Backyard Brawl after WVU fled to the Big 12, and the Big East caved as expected. That left Pitt two holes to fill on the home slate at a very late point.
We knew Pitt wasn’t going to get a good team to go on the road that late. There just weren’t any other 1-A teams that had an open date — especially at the price Pitt could/would pay. And even if the Big East had somehow managed to get Boise St. to join this year — instead of the desperate Temple — you know part of the deal would have sent Pitt to the Smurf Turf.
So, now Pitt has a full schedule. Such as it is.
I’ll hit on the disappointing, but frustratingly predictable loss to Georgetown later. For now, the spectacle that is Big East, um, growth.
I don’t think anyone really thinks John Marinatto is a good commissioner of the Big East. The only debate really seems to be whether he is thoroughly incompetent or merely completely overmatched. The addition of Memphis — without even making them come to the Big East for the 2012 season — should have resolved the issue into the category of thoroughly incompetent. But in case anyone had any lingering doubts, the press conference today should be the clincher.
Temple joining is not the issue. It makes sense. Heck it is more reasonable than elevating Villanova at this point. Er, what?
The BIG EAST Conference Board of Directors also unanimously voted to continue working closely with Villanova University regarding its FBS football future and, in doing so, take into account its longstanding relationship and many contributions to the Conference over the past three decades to give all due consideration to a football membership application.
The Conference also fully supports the extensive, thoughtful and thorough process that Villanova is utilizing to evaluate its football program. To validate the BIG EAST Conference’s support of Villanova and its potential admission as a football program, the Conference has committed to offer financial assistance to cover future costs incurred by Villanova to exploring BIG EAST football membership.
In addition and to further demonstrate its support and consideration, the Conference will pledge to waive the football entry fee if Villanova is admitted within the next three years into the Conference as a football playing member, provided that it satisfies the Conference’s requirements for membership and the NCAA’s requirements for membership. We are confident that Villanova’s process will result in an outcome that’s in the best interest of the University and its accomplished athletics program.
I suppose it may be the cost of getting Temple into the Big East and resolving the schedule problems for the football schools in 2012, but given the money the Big East is giving up to help Villanova, then maybe it would have been cheaper to just pay Boise State’s exit fee from the MWC?
Have to do another open thread. Responsible for picking up kids from school and taking them to afterschool activities today. DVR time once more.
Hoyas are playing better than they were when Pitt took them out in late-January. Really don’t know what Pitt will look like today. Will Nas and Tray be okay playing a second straight day? Can Pitt play well for a second straight day? Is Pitt in the head of Georgetown?
Game should be sometime around 2:30 on ESPN.
Not exactly a lot of time to do hard-hitting questions and answers, but since the last Q&A exchange (man, I was really down on J.J. Moore at that point of the season) was followed by a Pitt win why not. I’m stunned by how spooked the Hoya fans are by Pitt because of the recent history. It would be nice if the players were equally spooked. Casual Hoya wanted to have another go. You can see my responses here.
Seriously. What the hell happened in the last meeting? I still can’t figure it out. [Editor note: Check the box score. It really goes against much of what we have seen most of the season. Pitt dominated so much inside, while getting nothing on the perimeter. Nas and Zanna even hit 7-8 FTs.]
Thank goodness! I thought it was just me! Georgetown was off defensively in that game and I’m not sure why. Henry Sims and Nate Lubick were getting beat to their spots down low and Pitt had a bunch of backdoor layups and alley-oops when the Hoyas were forced to help and double. In fact, Pitt looked very Georgetown-like in that game. Georgetown’s defensive lapses ultimately prevented the Hoyas from clawing all the way back from what was a double-digit deficit, but they did show signs of life in the 2nd half and I have to think (read: hope and pray to the high heavens) that the result won’t be the same again.
Game is on ESPN2. Probably be starting around 2:30 give or take.
I’m going to be tweeting during the game rather than a liveblog. Only because there I may have to record the last 5-10 minutes.
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