Well, it will be a year after this (barring a meeting in the Big East Tourney) before Pitt plays Louisville once more. Louisville will spend one more year in the Big East with Notre Dame.
The big news going into the game was supposed to be about both teams needing to prove something.
Pittsburgh has won four in a row, but the Panthers don’t have a ton of great wins — the two best are probably Georgetown and Connecticut. A road win over the Cardinals would be impressive. Speaking of Louisville, it has lost three in a row to tumble from the No. 1 ranking. Pace will be a factor in this one, as will the ability of Tray Woodall and James Robinson to take care of the ball. On the other side, the Pittsburgh guards need to stop dribble-penetration and hope the Cardinals aren’t hot from 3-point range.
As a general rule, I find most teams have to hope the other side doesn’t heat up from outside the arc.
But the story has slightly changed as Louisville is going to be a little shorthanded. Wayne Blackshear — once more — has injured his shoulder and Kevin Ware was suspended for the game.
I have no knowledge of what Ware did or how long he’ll be sidelined, but let’s just say that this morning I was given a description of Pitino’s rage regarding this situation, and there is no portion of that description that I could include in this post without receiving an X-rating.
/Insert obligatory joke regarding the tirade lasting maybe 15 seconds.
From a scoring perspective, it is a piece but not huge. The two combine to average 13 points/game. But they are both part of the backcourt — Ware is a guard while Blackshear is a slashing guard-forward. Blackshear averages 22 minutes and Ware almost 16.
The pressure only increases on Peyton Siva to avoid foul trouble. Something that has limited him in this Cardinal losing steak. Louisville can’t afford to have to sit him as much with less backcourt depth.
I’m stuck once more on DVR delay. A disturbing trend this season.
There is nothing wrong with the formula. Played Louisville tough on the road in a game that they were saying was beyond must win. Louisville was ranked 1 for a reason. Good teams get easy buckets and force you into turnovers. Louisville forced Pitt to play way too fast in the first half and the turnovers were high. It also didn’t help that James Robinson had to sit out cause of that horrible foul that Bilas pointed out was horrible. Pitt adjusted in the second half. The goal remains the same keep working and grinding and getting better for March.
*Pitt had more offensive (19) than defensive (16) rebounds last night. Pitt got more of its own misses than Louisville did (18). I can’t remember seeing that happen in loss. Bizarre.
*Steven Adams is getting better, more aggressive, smarter in every game. If he stays on this progression, he’ll be a beast come tourney time. Bilas compared him to Ardvidas Sobonis, not good for those of us who want him to stay one more year.
*If Lamar Patterson turns down that open 3 at the top of the key one more time, my head is going to explode. The play is designed to get him that shot. It is a high percentage shot, the team is in perfect rebounding position if he misses. HE HAS TO TAKE THAT SHOT! He did it at least twice last night, once led to a turnover and the other time he ended up making a much tougher three at the end of the shot clock.
*Talib Zanna took zero, zero free throws last night. If he can’t power up and either draw a foul or make the shot, HE SHOULDN’T TAKE THE SHOT. So either he needs to be more aggressive or kick the ball out to a shooter.
*Tray Woodall = random acts of basketball competence. He is either making a much needed pull up jumper or a timely three OR HE IS TOTALLY USELESS. He is most inconsistent fifth year senior I have ever seen. Every time I start to scream at the TV for Dixon to yank him, he makes a great shot. Then if you look at his stat line, it looks pretty good, 14points, 3assist, 3to’s, 4-9 from 3.
*Pitt was terrible on the high ball screen. Dante Taylor looked like a freshman trying to re-route Siva after his man screened. The PF got completely lost and let a Louisville big all alone under the hoop. It was uncharacteristic.
*Pitt was not able to play their game and at their pace last night. Whether it was due to Louisville’s speed or Pitt’s lack of leadership, coaching, toughness or poise, I am not sure. Would love to see some swagger from someone.
Apparently, he also tweeted, “I have a big decision coming up”.
64-61 most important stat.
Adams an 0pher from the line.
Zanna has the yips
11 first half turnover do matter.
Syracuse will be a VERY BIG game.
We are getting better, we are learning and the goal is to peak in March, not January.
i agree with everything that boubacar aw says, especially about the swagger.
*Zanna is just overmatched athletically against good front lines. Guys like Behanan, Dieng and Harrell just abuse him. He’s got no vertical. Against lesser comp and weaker front lines, he excels (leading scorer in the non conf), but those November games are over. Zanna not being able to bang and finish cost Pitt badly….
*Siva’s quickness — he blew by guys and created buckets for teammates and Pitino has (almost) cured him of taking dump jumpers that he can’t make.
* Smith took Patterson mostly out of the game.
* Woodall made bonehead plays down the stretch. He started to try to do too much. He took a bad jumper off the board that Pitt was lucky to rebound and he tried to penetrate and dish and turned it over. Then he missed the front end. Lame. He can score some and that’s about all he’s good for.
* I can’t even talk about the free throw line. Well — only one thought. Don’t know who said they’re surprised Ziegler can’t shoot free throws because he’s the son of a coach. Do you actually assume most of today’s coaches are smart guys who teach good fundamentals? Are you also surprised that Ziegler and Woodall (who played for Hurley) only have right hands and are incapable of using one half of the basketball court? Don’t assume that today’s coaches teach much — their job is mostly to suck up to recruits and AAU slimeballs.
On the positive side, Adams is starting to excite me. Good move by Dixon to pull him after that first foul; he came back in really contributed.
Pittsburgh Panthers (BPI Rank 14, RPI Rank 46)
According to RPI, Pittsburgh would be a bubble team at No. 46. But according to BPI (No. 14), Pitt is a top-15 team.
The Panthers put together a rather weak nonconference schedule — RPI ranks it 295th. Eleven of their 21 games have come against teams outside the RPI top 150. None of those games were on the road. Against all others, the Panthers are just 6-5. Against top-50 teams, they’re 2-4.
BPI takes margin into account. Despite facing some weak opponents, 10 of Pitt’s 17 wins are by more than 20 points. Therefore, since the Panthers took care of business against those teams, the weak schedule doesn’t hurt them nearly as much as it does in RPI. The Panthers’ 15 wins are by an average margin of 24.4 points per game. Also, in their overtime loss to Marquette, Tray Woodall left the game early in the first half with a head injury.
Which is sadder — that Ziegler didn’t drag them down with a 1 of 4, or that 5th year senior captain bricks the front of a pivotal 1-1?
Also, the problem with Moore is that he is playing out of position — JJ MOORE IS NOT A 4!! And this is an ongoing issue with Dixon’s teams in that he almost always has at least one pertinent player not playing the position best suited.
Ray tells Stan, “I don’t know what the problem is, Jamie makes em run if they miss FT’s”.
How about this…why don’t we fix their form. Let’s start with Adams. He is 7′ tall and starts his FT from over his head, say about 10′ or equal to the height of the basket. He then arcs his shot about 6′ in the air when he shoots. Forgetting that he is off balance and does not have proper elbow control, I could improve his FT shooting immediately by getting him to reduce the arc of his shot to about 1 foot instead of six.
Shortest point to an end is a straight line. Then Adams just has to push it hard enough gently to get it over the line. Also, have him pick a middle spot on the rim, aim his middle finger on the ball to that spot, follow thru and you take right and left out of the equation. Soft shots like Robinson’s are the key…but even he missed one last night.
I have email this comment to Jamie. We’ll see. I am sure he is in no mood to receive advice right now…but I sent it anyway.
I know their are a good many experienced former basketball players and coaches on this site. Each of you has had a shooting coach. I had Buzzy Braemen who has worked with many NBA and college teams. How would you teack Ft’s to Pitt’s team?
I cannot stand these misses much longer.
I, and every other fan don’t need statistics. We’ve seen with our own eyes, the last 12 years with Ben and Jamie’s teams.
They are known for two things nationally over these last 12 years…….
1. Tough, gritty defense and physical play
2. Lousy free throw shooting.
Yes, occaisionally we have someone who is consistent. As a team, absolutely not.
Yes, occaisionally we pull off a 17-22. And what happens when we do that?? You can see all the posts, “holy cow, we made free throws”, “what the hell did they put in their Gatorade”, etc. etc.
Those 17-22 are peppered in with 8-25, 12-24, 9-21 and 3-12’s.
***Love what Howland and Dixon have done for our program, thankful they have been here***
This is not a fire Jamie post!!! LOL
Don’t laugh too hard, if you ever criticize a little on here, some take it that way.
There has got to be something to be done about this other than making them “run”.
I also know we have other problems and issues, but this has gone on for far too long.
HTP!! Beat Syracuse!!!
For instance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Talib is still our leading acorer
Is this a great season yet? No. But it’s a helluva lot better than last year.
HTP.
Zanna doesn’t play like a PF, he’s too much a finesse player. Likes the face up jumper from 15 feet, doesn’t finish strong around the rim.
So either bench him or move him to SF.
Despite the rebounds last night, his very poor shooting and averaging 5 ppg over the last 5-6 games finally came up and bit this team
Sleepy could be a quick fix for PF, as he produced when he was in there. Maybe bring Zanna in off the bench would help his very large case of the “yips”.
You have to fix the PF position since we don’t get much offense from the 5 or the 1. There’s no way you’re going to beat better teams with hardly any offense from 3 starting positions.
He does ok in the non-con and then against better comp he just fades away.
Now he played well in the CBI, but again that was non-BigEast, which as we all know is a very physical conf. He’s just too soft.
I like Adams in the middle of the 2-3 Zone, where he can play intimidator. And cover for all the times the guards get beat on dribble penetration.
You shouldn’t give up all those dunks and easy layups in a Zone as well.
I say junk the man to man. We know from last year this team sans JR & Kiwi Steve CAN’T PLAY MAN DEFENSE !
Comment by wbb 01.29.13 @ 3:24 pm
Don’t think so, it’s either Patterson or Woodall.
We’ve played 9 BE games and in the last 6 Zanna is averaging like 5.5 ppg.
JR’s numbers have also significantly dropped in the BE, but after all he is a true freshman.
This is Zanna’s 4rth year in the program.
There is one (1) PITT player in the Top 30
of BigEast scorers. (they only list the Top 30)
at #29 (drum roll please) 🙂
Lamar Patterson 11.8 ppg
P.S. again this for BigEast games only
He’s slowly coming around to playing more Zone.
Maybe if I keep pounding him on here, he’ll finally relent …….ALL THE WAY ! haha
Message to Coach.
Regarding the next game, Syracuse only has one player who can shoot from outside. Howard Triche.
He’s #6 in the BIgEast with 5.4 apg.
Without him we’d be in real trouble as JR is not ready for the rigors of the BE yet.
As he’s not even averaging 3 apg in conf games.
And we know he doesn’t shoot or score much.
And not a great defender on dribble penetration.
Durand Durand is #9 in 3 Point % at 40%
Patterson is #12 at 38%
Adams is #4 in Blocked Shots at 2 bpg
Woodie is #2 in Assists to Turnover Ratio 2.6
JR is #10 at 1.9
Adams is #10 in offensive rebounds at 2.6 pg
Zanna is #13 at 2.2 pg
Interesting we have no one in the Top 15 in
Defensive rebounds.
Adams is #12 in Total Rebounding at 6.4 rpg
Woodie & Patterson are at #12 in steals at 1.6 spg
We have NO ONE in the Top 15 of FT % (naturally)
(think we need to hire Dan72 to help out on this
traditional weakness of Howland/Dixon teams)
The legendary John Wooden, played to his players strengths and therefore changed his coaching style to fit the personnel.
I’ve never liked a 7 footer chasing someone around on the perimeter and then as you said, picking up cheap fouls on ball screens 30 feet away from the hoop.
If you have a 7 footer, you keep him close to the hoop. Even moreso if that 7 footer is a good to great shot blocker and intimidator. Naturally if you play man, the opposing coach will attempt to draw your 7 footer away from the hoop, to unclog that area or try to matchup a much smaller quicker player on your big 25 feet from the hoop, exposing him to either getting blown by or having to reach in and pick up a cheap foul.
Don’t ever remember Lew Alcindor or Patrick Ewing running around the perimeter chasing people with arms flailing. No they were planted in the lane.
Someone with more knowledge will have to explain it to me.
I remember DeJuan being pretty good at it, but the man could move and had natural instinct to be in the right place.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State got the boot from Virginia’s 2013 schedule.
Virginia was supposed to visit Beaver Stadium on Sept. 14, the return trip after the Nittany Lions lost 17-16 in Charlottesville last September.
But Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner said Monday in a statement that Virginia informed the Nittany Lions it wouldn’t be visiting Happy Valley in order to play a home game, and that he hoped to find a replacement soon.
We should do the same as UVA.
Sellouts at Heinz or not. Let’s not have anything to do with this clearly insane place called:
Creepy Valley
(where they still are having candlelite vigils for a pedophile enabler)
Comment by wbb 01.29.13 @ 3:24 pm
Don’t think so, it’s either Patterson or Woodall.
Emel, I meant that Talib is still the overall top scorer … which he is. This makes my point above that we should be differentiate between non-con and BE stats, and paying more attention to the BE stats not just the overall stats.
you all wanted explanation, so there it is
misunderstood you. How’s things up in the Burg?
7 footers are naturally not as quick as small guards and some forwards. Therefore you don’t want them wandering too far away from the hoop, where their lack of quickness is exposed.
Even Adams as quick as he is for a big, got out of position several times on the outside and L-Ville got an easy hoop. (Deng benefited greatly as he schooled us)
Again you play to the kids’ strengths not his weaknesses (in this case lack of quickness).
As we’ve seen with a lot of the mid majors, good 3 point shooting guards is a big equalizer.
What do we have? Four guys in the regular rotation who have NEVER played in our system before and have never played together. One of most important pieces is the big guy as the other team’s big does does most of the initial screening. What do we have? A talented and completely inexperience center who probably never even heard of hedge before he showed up on campus this past fall.
In the past, we’ve been able to give guys 2-3 years to learn to play the system before they were asked to contribute meaningful minutes. Not only do we not have that luxury this year, we don’t even have the experienced upperclassman to teach them the ropes.
As much as it pains us to watch, our defense is going to struggle. It’s getting better, but clearly there are guys who are learning and will continue to learn. I think this is really smart, talented bunch that is picking things up quickly and getting better with the experience. The natural talent and upside of our young guys is the difference between this year and last.
Also, a key point that keeps getting missed on the 3-12 FT performance is the fact that there were only 12 FTs! I know Deng was blocking a lot of shots, but Patterson reverted to settling for jump shots — only if there was nobody within 20 feet of him — rather than attacking the hoop. I’m so tired of the head cases on this team year after year. Speaking of which…
At this point, I’d rather see Taylor starting at the 4 than Zanna. He may have some defensive difficulties but he rebounds better and has been attacking the hoop with far more authority.
Thanks for the link to the recruiting article regarding the recruiting of Tyler Boyd. It is an interesting article that provides some insight into the human factor of recruiting. These are mostly young men with good intentions and families that love them and want to see them be successful in football and in life.
I take a couple of things from Ms. Boyd’s comments:
1- Tyler has worked hard and these official visits are a small reward. You get a free trip to see some places that you might not otherwise see.
2- recruiting is a grueling process; not as glamorous is it seems. Parents need to trust the coaches and the institution; that they will take care of and provide opportunities for their son.
I like Tyler Boyd more and more. He seems like a good kid. Hopefully, he sticks with PITT. I see a lot of promise in what Coach Chryst is building. It could be special if these young men buy into returning PITT to prominence!!
HTP
BTW….Boyd is now “confused” after the WV visit. Here we go….
