I went to pick up my son from kindergarten this afternoon. The principal helps direct out car-riders. He brought my son over, and I noticed he was wearing a Michigan tie. I was wearing a Pitt shirt, so I tried to engage him about the game tonight. Big surprise, he had no clue.
Sure they have a top-5 team. They are playing a big non-con game in prime time on ESPN2. Considered the best game of the night. Nothing. It’s all about Michigan-Ohio State this week. Their news coverage is really, really limited. Basically it’s, “hey, this is the first real game for Michigan, but, whatever.”
[As an aside, here I was all primed to give the Trib some grief for not using a regular beat writer so far this season -- leading to some uneven coverage -- but compared to the effort in Michigan...]
For Pitt, it is a little more coverage. And, you know, actually caring about the game.
“We’ll see how good they are,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And we’ll see how good we are.”
…
“They’ve got a lot of great players,” Pitt guard Tray Woodall said. “We’re all aware of that.”
Michigan, through three games, is one of the nation’s best 3-point shooting teams.
“They do a lot of things very well,” Dixon said. “What makes them so good is their guards, and how experienced they are.”
In classic Pitt fashion, don’t expect Dixon to alter his defense to stop Michigan’s outstanding guards. Instead, Woodall and blossoming freshman James Robinson will be asked to stare down Burke and Hardaway.
“We’re just going to defend,” Woodall said. “We’re a better defending team this year. We’re just going to defend and help each other. That’s what we do. You’ve got to love playing against guys like that. These are potential NBA players, all-Americans.”
The three point shooting will be huge. It is a Beilein team, after all. They are going to take a lot of 3s. Pitt is going to have to have the guards play a lot tighter on them. That means the front court has to be ready to defend if they drive and get past the guards.
While the talent on this Wolverine team is high, there is the fact that Coach Dixon has familiarity with the coach and his system.
As I said, it’s a 9:30 game on ESPN2. I’ll be on twitter tonight, because up until game time I have to do all the Thanksgiving prep for tomorrow. No time for setting up and being sure I won’t have to DVR delay for moments if need be.
I think Pitt can win…
if… 9-10 man rotation… nobody gets more than 30 minutes… and Woodall takes less than 10 shots.
Pitt’s strength is their bench… they should rotate them in… keeping fresh players on the floor… and blow the doors off the arena… run run run… This is like no other team Dixon has had and he needs to change his strategy.
it will be a long season…
The bench offers defensive depth and offense at a couple of positions. Guard is not really one of them. My advice on Woodall is to suck it up and move on. Football is much better for getting peg theories to stick.
Enjoying dinner now and headed to Garden in a few. Happy to have my T’giving bookended by a couple of trips.
Kentucky used 6 players so far…
Morehouse used 10..
Right now.. Morehouse leads by 2 with 14min left in game.
It’s usually a fine idea, but not tonight…I don’t want to Pitt try to come from behind big against this team.
I did like the fact when looking at the schedule that Michigan had 8 days off before this game. I hope they are flat and a little out of shape.
Either way we might be screwed. lol
The current BigLeast commish, wished Buttgers good luck, etc. I don’t remember us getting any kind words on our leaving a conference we helped keep together after 2003. And us joining in 1982 for hoops helped made sure it survived as well, as Joepa had plans back then which would have surely killed the BigEast in it’s formative stage.
So they should be very kind to us, the pricks. lol
Examples from tonight and last night:
Indiana – G’town. 36 FT’s to 10 for G’town.
Kentucky – Moorehead St. 39 FT’s to only 13 for MS.
Yeah I know…..Kentucky & Indiana are that much more disciplined….you know, with all the freshman on their teams
I want to wish all my PiTT brothers in arms a
HAPPY THANKSGIVING !
Though we may argue on occasion we all share a commonality and a heritage that is unique.
Again,
Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours !
Veritas et Virtus
Emel
Also nice blogging with you, bro.
Us Roman Emperors have to stick together.
Hail ______ haha
SPQR
Corpus Juris Civilis
Emel Augustus Hadrian Caesar
IKR
2 players subed already… in 4min of play.
Michigan used 6 players..
It will come down to last 5min of game and who has legs if rotation continues.
Pitt up 8 with 44 seconds in half.
10 man rotation… check
Woodall only took 3 shots… check
Appears nobody will be over 30min… maybe Robinson…
Wright getting lots of playtime… and not only for defense… scoring points.
Score… Pitt winning… 33-29
Way too many fouls(some really cheap)…H2P!
One small thing I’ve noticed. Pitt is a better team with Woodall on the bench. He slows the team down when he’s in.
Woodall reminds me of Gibbs last year… when Woodall is in… seems others don’t want to shoot.
Where are the refs from?
too ticky tacky…
8 free throws for Michigan
0 for Pitt”
My reply: “Did you watch the Indiana & Kentucky games?
Michigan guards are great. Really impressive one on one players. If it is close late, it will be scary.
Way more Michigan fans around me….MSG final renovation looks nice, but upper bowl is closed and most lux boxes empty. Bummer.
Zero free throws in the half???
bench Woodall.. force a shot… turnover..
@markp – foul calls have been fairly lousy both ways but mostly favoring Michigan. Starting to even up.
do you want to respond to Pitt fan in Atlanta..
RE: Woodall.
not coaching like he did first half…
not rotating players..
and players need to be agressive and take the damn shot… geesh… slowing it down and too many shots with less than 5 sec on clock.
Agreed on Adams, he is lost against superior opposition. Has a lot to learn Dante was good early but has disappeared along with most of the Pitt team in the second half. Michigan is really good!
This is a typical PITT team. No real superstars. That always bites us as we never have that one player that can take over the game.
We need for Adams to grow up fast.
STFU…he’s a freshman. Give him a chance to learn.
Keep Adams on the bench until the boy gets some heart. Woodall needs to handle the ball better. Taylor needs to remember that he was once a McD All-American.
on offense… AND defense…
and got little play time in 2nd half.
the players are there…
Moral victories mean nothing folks. Could of, should have, if we would have…
they played michigan tough and they will get better.
feeling good about this year after tonight. in march, we’ll win a game like this.
Wow…
WE have a big team with Zanna and Adams but we need for Adams to do something, anything.
We need clutch guard.
The team will get better but remember folks that the Big East isnt a cake walk this year with UofL, Cuse, UConn, and UC. Don’t forget the pesky fighting irish.
I like what we saw for 2/3rd of the game but we need players to take over the game. Defense keeps you in the game but a game changer wins it for you. We need the latter.
Michigan is good but NOT a #4 team. Top 10 but not top 5. UK, Cuse, UofL, Duke, and Indiana would kill the michigan team.
Very impressed that this team has no quit. Played hard until the final buzzer and had a couple calls gone their way could have really made things interesting. Officials are still in non-con officiating mode when this was played with the intensity of a mid-February game. Not fair to either team.
James Robinson almost willed this team to victory – the next four years will be fun with him at the helm. Now that we know he go to the basket – make it part of the offense.
Looks like Adams will be getting his degree after all….
Great player though…..amazing for a true freshman.
I was implying that he needs to take over the game earlier rather than later and should be more of an offensive threat than just 3′s and jumpers … but he’ll learn.
Your comments about Jamie Dixon obviously reflect your vast elite coaching experience (which I am sure you will elaborate on). I will take Jamie Dixon coaching my team any day. The season is young….PITT will be fine. We all expected more out of Adams at this point. Hopefully he continues to work hard and learns quick.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone!
HTP
This team has it between the ears. We will lose games.
But name a player from the past in Robinsons image.
You can’t because he is different. Maybe Branden Knight but that is it.
This team has a high ceiling. Congrats to Michigan. Ask Michigan if they want to play us in March.
Dokich is a fool. Times 2.
2 players over 30 min…
Can’t believe Cam Wright was having a hellava game and only played 9 min…. scored 8… didn’t see any action in 2nd half.
albeit 10 players were in the rotation… 4 players got less than 10min of playtime..
Dixon rotated well in first half… if he did the same in the 2nd half, Pitt would have won.
ESPN crew all night were talking about ticky tack calls on Pitt. Wasn’t the reason they lost though.
They’ll win 10-12 games in the Big East and make it to the tourney. They’ll be a top 15 team by end of year.
Twitter was abuzz with the national guys saying the NIT messed up cause they ALL though Pitt and Michigan were the 2 best teams in the NIT. The other game was so bad, it wasn’t even on ESPN networks except ESPN3.com
Robinson is the story of the game. A star is born in da Garden. He might be our best talent on the floor at this pt. And yeah, the refs blew that steal, which could have led to a hoop and OT. Cam made 3 big shots and deserves more playing time, especially when Trey tanks as he did most of the night. A loss, yes, but this young team played good D against a very good team and if we made 1 or 2 more shots during that 2nd half cold spell or our FT like Michigan did (22 to 11 advantage Mich)we might have pulled off the upset. Relax and enjoy the progress of this young team. HTP. Happy Thanksgiving
During a time out in the 2nd half on comes Sweet Caroline with the appropriate silent interludes to insert “Let’s go Pitt.”
The Blue contingent was stupefied.
Hmmm, it was all downhill from thereon in.
Happy Thanksgiving!
WTF.
Same old offensive sets, as I posted previously we need some new sets. This constant perimeter passing until the time clock is dwindling down and then a panic shot has got to stop.
Yea teams will let you pass the ball around the perimeter if your not trying to penetrate or pass inside. Yea they’ll let you do that all day, pass & pass & pass around and around.
Ziegler was the only one I saw out there in the 2nd half who could actually take someone off the dribble. He should have been playing more, he played a GRAND TOTAL of 9 minutes. Plus he had to be jacked to be playing Michigan. What gives !
I think Taylor is playing in pain with his knees, just a guess.
I didn’t watch all of the game but a lot of fouls were called that were questionable, what was the final fouls per team?
Pitt played a resonable game but didn’t make enough plays, a few rebounds here, more made foul shots and a few turnovers less would have won this game.
This loss is nothing to cry about Michigan is a very good team but Pitt demonstrated they can play with a top 4 team.
And I don’t even want to talk about what’s going on with Adams. Is this going to be another, forcing someone to fit into a square hole, when he’s not a square. I thought we learned that lesson last year.
Mich shot a bunch of FT’s in the last minute as PITT was fouling to stop the clock, trying to steal the ball, etc.
I think they shot at least 10 and made like 8 in the last minute and a half.
Other than that, only 10 TO’s and assist on 80% of their baskets. Once again the press looks like it can be successful – heres to B Knight convincing Dixon to go to it more often.
I’m a fan from what I’ve seen so far – as I mentioned previously, anytime Pitt gets out-rebounded, they come back with a vengeance for an extended amount of time on the boards. This loss will only make them better.
They outrebounded us by 11,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. ”It was obviously a very close game, tight game. I think this is a good game for us. We got some good performances.”
We had one guy in double figures.
A good game ?
I thought this program had reached the point, we don’t take moral victories from losses.
Apparently not !
Well we won’t know if it makes them better, until sometime in January as the non-con has no challenges or good teams remaining on the schedule.
They better pick themselves backup for the game on Friday at MSG or they could lose to Delaware.
Which only lost by 3 to Kansas State.
Need I remind everyone when PITT beat VA Tech they were #13 in the country, they are 5-6 now and need a win in their final game to get to some schmuck bowl.
So moral of that story is, the rankings mean absolutely nothing right now.
Pitt has the team (depth) to press the entire game if they want to…
I know I keep harping on Depth… but that is what IS Pitt’s strength and they need to use it to their advantage. Dixon didn’t use the depth appropriately in 2nd half. 9-10 min for 4 players doesn’t cut it…
Pitt played well…
but Dixon didn’t use the same rotation strategy from 1st half to 2nd half… that is why Pitt lost.
Adams needs to get physical… he played very tentative last night. He is NOT a one and done.
Enjoy the Day !
- The Oakland Zoo should be proud. Loud for the whole game while UM fans sat back, waiting for their weekend football game.
- There were two Pitt possessions, back to back, in the second to last minute when Zanna & Taylor were under the basket, bobbling rebounds that UM recovered, that they scored on both times. Neither Zanna nor Taylor seemed to know the other was there and they did not help each other, each touching the ball! Why Dixon, why? If you go with the big men, make sure they communicate.
- Robinson, Zeigler: like! Might grow to love. JJ Moore was an animal last night.
- Patterson: he felt absent to me too, and then I saw he had 13 points! He is a hesitant shooter, and while I *think* he *might* be trying to develop a Sam Young pump fake, UM read it every time and it came across to the crowd as hesitant. He needs to get more comfortable taking his shot.
- I was disappointed Woodall didn’t lift this team on his back with 2:42 left to go. He was on the court and Levance Fields he was not. Zanna started playing sloppy, and Woodall was not the senior in front of his NYC family I expected. I don’t think Woodall has ever had a *great* game in NY/NJ, am I correct?
- However: as I mentioned, I saw behind Pitt’s basket in the second half. The officials made sure Pitt could not come back in the final minute, as those boys were playing loose and could have won the game.
Very excited about this season! H2P and Happy Thanksgiving Pitt Blatherers!
Are you implying Michigan is overrated? Maybe at 4 but they certainly have the “look” of a top 10 team. One thing the announcers hit on were that they have “NBA bodies” on the court. Reminded me of a Pitt team – men among boys. Give some credit to Pitt’s D for Michigan’s lack of 3′s.
Joe D – The ONLY reason for the rotation in the first half was because fouls were piling up. Michigan made adjustments at halftime and employed the the 1-3-1 much more often and effectively. The impressive part was Pitt keeping TO’s to a minimum … they needed shots to fall though.
I don’t think Pitt should press the whole game but stretches would be nice. Typically, as conference games roll around Dixon shortens his bench – I don’t think that will be the case this year. I would expect the minutes you saw last night to be the norm – both Cam and Durand getting about 9-10 mins a game.
Pitt was lacking a go-to player. Woodall needed to step up between the 15 min and 5 min mark of the 2nd half … I’ve been on his side forever but these are the games where he has to make a name for himself and show the Pitt faithful he’s a legit BE player … otherwise it just fuels Joe D.
I thought Moore should have been on the court more – Pitt needed his athleticism to offset Michigan’s length. It seemed like Dixon was trying to get Patterson going this game – he did but at the expense of Moore. Not sure that is a good thing. Patterson played 10 minutes more than Moore. I know they are playing diff positions but the entire front court rotation was a little off last night. I’d say fouls played into it but Patterson had the most and eventually fouled out.
DE won’t be easy – especially after a tough and emotional loss to a “big time” opponent.
Michigan does have more thorobreds. We know we can play with them, have to learn how to finish.
http://espn.go.com/espntv/onair/index?start=11-23-12-11:00-AM
On Robinson, love this kid and thinking he is our starting point guard. Woodall needs to be coming off the bench as back up point as he is not a 2 guard and is a poor shooter. Jamie can spot him at 2 guard but he can’t start there.
Now granted McGhee didn’t have great hands, and Sleepy and now Adams are having much difficulty playing with their backs to the basket. But whatever the problem, this has been going on for quite a few years now.
Before Adams gets totally frustrated, let him play PF, facing the hoop, let him score some points and freelance a little and use his unique athleticism for a guy his size. All that athleticism gets bottled up with him stuck in the middle. However they let him play at ND Prep, let him play that way.
He can practice his post moves over the summer.
Maybe they can hire someone to teach both him & Gilbert who also appears to have limited offensive skills with his back to the basket.
Maybe get a two for one deal
It looks like Robinson and anyone else with the ball is afraid to feed either Taylor (too short & weak), or Adams who doesn’t know what to do with the ball. Hopefully he’ll yearn soon…
Adams has no post moves…his chuck it up layup leaves much to be desired. He needs to dunk the ball….he seems worried that he’ll foul someone trying to score. That’s almost impossible…
I don’t like the idea of Adams playing the 4 though…it will just waste another year for him and Taylor will have to play 35 minutes. Would take Zanna off the floor too….not to mention moving Moore to the 3.
Well, no matter what happens with Adams, Pitt won’t have the most improved player in the BE next year
Yeah I got it. I was aiming at those who label him a bust.
Wow. That comes outta nowhere.
I like this team. I hope I like it more after we play the chickens from that slave holding state (they don’t talk about that part if their history) of Delaware!
This is the best total group of Pitt players I have seen in a long time. Yes, we lost to a very good team and lost our poise a few times. It happens. Adams has a lot to learn and does not have the physical presence to match up with top talent…Ziegler is the real deal. JJ Moore is an animal and needs much more PT..Patterson looks good, Woodall a liability against quick talented guards but solid as a rock against non top 20 teams. Dante is better but still needs work. Robinson is a freak of nature and the best (and headiest) player on the team.
We are all going to have a lot of fun and the sky is the limit for this Pitt team!
PITT will be fine this year. They are a legit top 15 team. We will surprise a few top ten teams in big east .
Expect us to make the sweet 16 as we have the talent. We simply need more experience.
I love Moore, Patterson, Robinson and Zanna. Typical PITT hard nosed guys. Tough to go against them in march.
Team seems hungry this year along with Dixon. That’s a great thing for us.
Adams needs a lot of work. A lot of work. Let me say it again. Adams needs a lot of work. Clearly he hasn’t faced this type of athleticism in talent in the KiWi nation. HE MUST GET AGGRESSIVE and stop letting folks take his lunch. Dixon must slowly give him more PT but he should watch for now. He isn’t ready
What I saw last night was a guy who isn’t nearly ready to play D-1 hoops, let alone in the NBA. But he has more natural ability & upside than McGhee. Adams will get there if he stays, they say big men are the slowest to develop.
But if Adams leaves early, then all bets are off
Both must bulk up.
Plus the refs made one definite bad foul call near the end on a clear steal. They may have made another on slight touch by Patterson as the player was going, or may have already been, out of bounds.
Besides poor shooting, offensive rebounds hurt Pitt in the second half.
The team looked great in the first half.
Other than poor defense on Michigan’s last possession of the first half, Cam Wright played really well. I wonder why he didn’t play in the second half.
I see the athleticism in Adams. I saw the potential on a blocked three in the Oakland game. However if he is one and done somebody in The Association is taking a flyer.
last 3 days.
1 the acc will take its time on expansion they
are meeting on dec 1 and on dec 3.
they are thinking abought 2 teams who are not in the big east.
2 they are thinking to may be go to 16 teams
i dont know if that is 2 and holding a space for ND, or 3 and leaveing ND as bb only.
3 if they take just 1 to go to 14 and if it is some one from big east it will be L VILLE to keep
FS in line.
4 one of the teams not in big east might be penn state dont know this but there are hints.
5 could GEORGETOWN move up to div 1 in football.
who knows ?
If they go the G-Town route, it would be to add Navy for football only and G-Town for basketball only. It would be harmonious for both because Navy would not want to compete in the ACC for basketball and G-Town couldn’t in football.
L’Ville is probably the choice but I still think they should at least reach out to PSU to gauge interest. PSU would have to sacrifice a lot but if they joined and it was a catalyst to ND joining full time, ESPN would be in a position to re-look at the conference contract.
Don’t underestimate ESPN’s influence in college football here. ESPN has a vested interest in the ACC and will not just sit around and let it get ripped apart from the SEC (CBS) or Big 10 (FOX).
He is the weak link (IMO).
JD I think is limited in his ability to coach up the centers. He also is too damned stubborn.
if acc should go to 15 and with ND giveing us 5 games then espn has to review the tv contract it
is writen that if there are changes they have to revist the deal.
so would that be enough to get ACC UP TO 24 MILLON
per team.
if it were Penn state and L VILLE yes.
if L VILLE and just the 5 games with ND most
likley not unlees they just want to bring us up to par with every one else to save them selves
becuse the ACC IS ESPN.
A few comments to offer as things to look for going forward:
-Adams seems to have a few problems to work on. First and foremost is committing stupid fouls. That’s obvious. Another is that when he is getting fed on balls he is taking too much time to make a decision. He needs to read the situation faster and turn and shoot or kick out in a more timely fashion. He looked a little behind the speed of the game. The defense doubles down on him and the longer he waits to decide, the more chance they could steal or tie him up. And the more time he gives the other defensive players to re-calibrate their coverage… Lastly, he needs to turn on the killer instinct. Needs to put himself into beast mode. He can’t let the fouls get into his head and become passive on the boards. He’s got some ways to go with that but his physical skills will not be worth a dime if he can’t light the fire inside.
-As if responding to popular demand, Dixon played both Zanna and Moore at the same time. Zanna switched to center and Moore stayed at power forward. It will be interesting to see if he did that because Adams wasn’t dependable or in foul trouble, or if this is a usable combo going forward.
-Just as we saw last year, desperate times call for desperate measures. Late in the second half Pitt switched to a 2-3 zone. Dixon played a bit of possum with Beilein after a couple of time outs switching and then sticking with zone. But then he kept it on for a few minutes longer. It seemed like it was pretty effective- at least as a change up from man. Wonder if we will see more of it.?.?.
-I’m not completely sure if Dixon knows when to use JJ Moore or not. In both the Michigan and Oakland games it seems he was holding him back until it was nearly too late in Oakland game and it was too late vs. Michigan. JJ’s an inconsistent shooter but I just think he’s a weapon that needs to be on the floor if we are down late in the game.
-The crowd was overwhelmingly Michigan on Wednesday night. That SUCKED. But Oakland Zoo made some noise. They did a great job. Sucks that they didn’t have the bands for this tournament.
Headed out for lunch and the game soon.
And a more concerted effort needs to be made to get the ball to Adams early in the game today, get him some looks, maybe make a shot or two and gain some confidence. I suspect that some time in the next 3-4 games Adams is going to have a “breakout” kind of game where he puts up 14-16 points, has a bunch of blocks and rebounds. Of course, the upcoming schedule is pretty weak, so that scenario is more likely, but it will still be important to happen so that Adams can begin to gain some confidence and make meaningful contributions.
I also agree that they need to feed Adams inside. He should be instructed to score if one guys on him….if two guys are on him he needs to find and feed the open man. Should be simple enough for him to understand that.
so i guess we did go cheap.
They’re going to get stuck playing Maryland & Rutgers probably more than the others. Since they are the ‘Easern Wing’ of the conf. Plus PSU had pretty much the exclusive big 10 recruiting rights in NJ & MD & NY. Now they are going to have 2 more big 10 schools that will be sharing that 3 state talent. And if you read that article on Grantland I linked, you saw that there aren’t that many D1 players coming out of NJ, NY & MD. Well that 3 state pie, just got sliced into 3 slices. They can’t be too happy about that as well.
Also Penn State is probably going to be scheduled annually against both Rutgers & Maryland, as the conf. prolly sees them playing in larger off campus venues when RU & MD had the home game.
So that means two less games against maybe quality opponents, Wisconsin maybe, Michigan maybe, Mich State maybe, Nebraska maybe, and maybe even Ohio State.
So you take all this and the $100 million dollar fine the big 10 imposed on PSU and the feeling of being a big 10 step child all these years and…..
who knows.
it would go someting like this how mutch will you pay per team if i get penn state.what can i tell they they will get if they come to the acc 24 million a year good and we never talked ok.
u conn or L ville get 1 or 2 super stars and the coach makes the team fit in with the super star
were if dixon gets a super star he makes the super star fit in with the team.
that is why they win titles and go to final 4 and we dont.
they build the team around the super star
and we make the super star blend in with the team
that is why players like KB will go to outher teams.
becuse with out one or two super stars who can take over games you will never win it all.
