I guess it worked out that I didn’t get a chance to do a recap of the loss to Marquette. It would have been completely wrong and looked pollyanaish in the cruel light of the Notre Dame debacle. I would have called it just one of those games. Marquette was hot. Even Marquette’s own coach said that they played their best game of the season. They were at home. There’s a reason they had won 23 in a row at home. Pointed out Ohio St. getting blitzed at Wisconsin the next day. Yada, yada, yada.
Dead wrong.
The ND game was Pitt’s worst game of the year. Near the end of the game, ESPN panned over to Coach Jamie Dixon and you could see him visibly seething. I’ve never seen him so openly pissed at his own squad while a game was still happening. At officials, sure, but never at his own team.
It was present right after the game ended.
But this might have been the most inconsolable Dixon has been after a loss. He could barely speak for a long time after Pitt blew a 19-3 lead by playing some of the worst basketball since the Ralph Willard days.
“Sorry you had to see that,” Dixon muttered to a friend as he left the court after his postgame radio show.
And it carried over to his post game press conference.
PantherLair posted video from Dixon’s presser if you want to look for yourself. He just kept looking down at the box score. As if he couldn’t believe the numbers he was seeing.
Once again, Pitt was outrebounded, and as I’ve stated I don’t buy into rebounding differential. I do accept the idea that rebounding margin on this team is an indicator of effort and hustle. And from that perspective, it was damning. Especially in allowing offensive rebounds.
Even when Notre Dame was missing every shot to start the game. Even as they were turning the ball over. They were getting offensive rebounds. They were getting more chances. They went after it harder and stronger than Pitt.
We can talk about the foul calls suddenly picking up after Brey’s technical. Or how it fired up the Domers. Or how two quick Zanna shots and misses went the other way for 6 points.
It’s just that suddenly this team is not the same. The energy is low. The focus is off. Execution. Everything.
“Our offensive efficiency numbers had been terrific,” Dixon said. “This put an end to that.”
Pitt shot 35 percent from the field and only made six baskets in the final 17:54, and two of those came in the final 1:22 when the game was already decided.
“We played selfish,” senior guard Tray Woodall said. “We’re a team that passes the ball, but our assist numbers and rebounding numbers indicate how selfish we played. We have to find ourselves, look at ourselves.”
Pitt had 10 assists on 16 field goals and got hammered on the backboards, 40-25. The Panthers entered the game the top rebounding team in the conference, but the Irish continually crashed the boards with success and tracked down almost every loose ball. The 15-rebound deficit was by far the largest of the season against Pitt.
“We’ve been drilling it, talking about it,” Dixon said. “Our losses have had a common denominator. That’s where we came up short in our seven losses.”
Not to mention not making a single three-point shot the entire game. Lamar Patterson, the best 3-point shooter on the team didn’t take one. Passing up on them, and plenty of other shots. Patterson chose a hell of a game to have a funk. Durand Johnson was sent home with a stomach flu. (And honestly, I keep hoping it is revealed that the whole team has it. That would explain a lot more of the performances.)
Considering how Patterson spoke before the game about wanting to win at home. About hating to lose at home, his effort seems that much more unbelievable.
No one it seemed wanted to shoot. No one wanted to rebound. No one wanted to play. There was poor effort to help in the second half. Everyone was in their own funk. Or as Woodall put it, selfishness.
That’s selfish also, to be open and not shoot the ball,” Woodall said. “That’s selfish, too. You have to take what the defense gives you.”
Dixon has said all season many of his players are too unselfish and he agreed that hurt his team Monday night.
“We have some guys who are too unselfish,” Dixon said. “We got tight. As the game went on we passed some open shots and ended up throwing up a guarded shot. That makes your offense incredibly inconsistent. We never got in a rhythm where we were finding guys and getting guys shots.”
I mean, Cam Wright ended up taking the second-most shots last night. It wasn’t because he was just hoisting them. It was no one else was. Wright also led the team in assists with 3. I like Cam Wright — off the bench, as a cog on this team — but he should not be taking more shots than Patterson and Adams and even Moore. He certainly shouldn’t have as many assists as Woodall, Patterson and Robinson combined.
Zanna has no confidence in his shot. Robinson and Zeigler are afraid of taking shots from outside, because they aren’t good shooters. J.J. Moore wants to shoot outside but is horrible at it, and is not finishing strong on the occasions he is driving to the hoop.
This is still the same team that looked to be getting better at the right time. Making progress and growing. We won’t know until Sunday if this is the sort of attitude adjustment they have to make in the face of the losses. Or if this team has something else wrong with it.
the three ball. This team is not that talented
There aren’t any Wannamakers, Fields,
Blairs, or Youngs. Unfortunate Durand
missed the game. He will take the open
shot. A lousy game on offense is
understandable. However was shocked
the cheats from ND out rebounded us
on the offensive glass.
As flexible as Pitt’s rotation is, I thought it was handles poorly at times last night. It’s really bad when Ziegler, Wright, and Robinson are out there together (esp. w/ Zanna at the 4) because there’s virtually no outside threat. As poorly as Patterson played, either he or Woodall need to always be out there to extend the defense a bit.
But really, trying to pinpoint specific reasons from last night is futile — there wasn’t a single element to be proud of other than maybe the first 10-12 minutes defensively.
Everyone recognizes the problems at the four. Taylor may not be the answer, but a few minutes could not hurt.
I agree with Wbb that Moore is no four, did he play much 3 last night, I only saw the end of the game. With Durand out did he back up Patterson?
If they lose one though they would finish 11-7. Which just perceptually looks way worse than 12-6. Get this win Sunday on the road at SJU, stay in the top 25. Win out, and end up with a 5 seed in the tournament. Lunardis projections has PITT as a 6 seed as of today, so a 5 is certainly do-able.
HTP
The stats dont reflect this dramatically, though they do somewhat bear out what I saw – which is that we can not handles a strong and mature front court. Fortunately, there are not many to face in the NCAA this year. But both Marquette and ND have them, and both really took it to us.
The one silver lining though — Adams taking the ball practically coast-to-coast ending it with a finger roll. That was awesome and something no center in Pitt history was capable of doing.
Ugly Stat of the Night — Pittsburgh Panthers
The Panthers went 0-for-8 from 3-point range and had a season-low scoring output in a 51-42 loss to Notre Dame. It was Pittsburgh’s fewest points as a ranked team since 2007. Pitt is the only ranked team with a scoreless night beyond the arc this season, and it’s happened to them twice, both at home. The Panthers hadn’t previously failed to hit a 3 at home since 1998.
“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”
He wasn’t the greatest shooter, the greatest passer, or the greatest dribbler, but I’d take a Carl Krauser right about now, pounding his wrists together doing his Bronx thing, yelling into the sky, or Chevy pounding his chest.
None of that the past two years.
“I am sorry. What happened to your TEAM was business. I have much respect for your TEAM. But your TEAM, his thinking is old-fashioned. You must understand why I had to do that.”
Huggins speech after a game:
“You sonofabitch, do you know who I am? I’m BOB HUGGINS! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders.”
This is something completely typical for Pitt in the modern era of college athletics. We’ve seen this same jaw dropping crap over and over with these Pitt programs for decades now. We could all sit her and list them. And then I read that, after months, Chryst decides to give up and promote House to D.C. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE? WHERE THE HELL AM I AND HOW DID I GET HERE? I’m sick. I can’t take it anymore.
Adams is young & raw but your only NBA player out there. His sweet 10 ft jumper early on and the 2nd half coast to coast finger roll layin with two defenders on him are nice signs of things to come. Fights hard for position but the guards get him the ball too late.He does mishandle a few, but he’s your star in the making. He needs to play more minutes (21 last night). Sleepy contributes on offense but gets run over on D like Zanna. No tough power forward on the roster, unlike past clubs. Still like Robinson. the kid has guts and made a nice reverse layup in traffic when we were still in it late. But this team has no go-to outside shooter and it hurt badly last night. Read where its the first time since 1998 Pitt has not hit a single 3 in a game!
Not with the Miller Time crowd or giving up on the season, but if Jamie doesn’t make adjustments and go with his best players with more minutes, we’ll be hard pressed to win more than 1 game in each of the tournaments ahead.
A few years ago, a sport writer refered to the Pitt team with Jaron Brown, Julius Page, and company, as a team of piano carriers. I really liked that team. I think this team better fits that description.
Wanted to hone in on the post play of Adams and why he was not getting fed in-time when he posted up. Answer was same as Marguette. ND actullay encouraged Adams to post up and let him have position easily quite a few times. Once the ball was entered to him, he was immediately double teamed by the off post player, either Kaufman (who had at least 4 unchallanged 8 footers/how does that happen?) or Cooley. This was by design and many of you would say “so what”. But the double started happening long before the ball was in any position to be entered.
Here’s the kicker, like Marquette, ND left the 4 wide open on at least 7 occasions..knowing Zanna and Moore would either not shoot or miss (or make no offensive move at all, just tossing the ball back to a guard).
It was like playing 5 against 6.
Again, I was furious with Patterson (amongst a host of others) not taking the wide open 3 but if you go back and look, they had a double team on Adams and again the 4 for Pitt was standing there wide f;’n open! Patterson saw this and thought he had an easy assist each time, so he drove the lane,and either started to pass to the 4 or actually did pass to the 4 who made no offensive move at all…so he had to throw up a prayer or pass it back out. Pitt fell for this over and over and over. ND suckered Pitt into bad play after bad play because of the lack of any talent at the 4.
Last but not least to EMel and all those others (which is most of this bloggosphere) who intimately know basketball…the number 1 fault I saw at both Marquette and ND was the lack of any offensive ball fake move by the player (other than Woodall who pump fakes to no one half the time)when they received a pass.
Classic fundamentals of basketball. If you get the ball and don’t at least fake a shot (or give the d player any reason to think you might shoot) the d will slough off you and your offense will simply not run. That, and the abundence of Pitt standing around on the off side of an offensive play (basically going “hey look at me I am open for a three!}and Pitt not being able to throw a “skip pass” (skip pass means you skip throwing the ball to your next closest player and throw accross the entire group) to save their lives, just kept the offense (can we use another word for offense?) moving like molasses.
I am NOT watching the tape again. Unless Jamie fixes the 4 position, no matter what he does, we will find ourselves offensively challanged the rest of the year.
He’s no dummy and I think the utter shock of last night will move Taylor to the 4. He has few other moves left.
He’s probably pissed because Ron Cook got his Pitt hatchet piece out first. The two have a rivalry going constantly to see who can bash Pitt the most. Pitt sure gives them plenty of material.
Cook was right. He might have his head up paternos ass, but even that did not obscure his view of totally pathetic basketball.
Pitt will get crushed by ST johns. There is no reason to expect that a team that showed no heart and no hustle against ND will change it’s spots.
Know why Dixon was so forlorn after the game? Because he saw players that didn’t try.
He might leave after this season; before his stock falls.
You’re not getting much if any production from the 1 spot, the 4 spot and the 5 spot. Ok, so you don’t won’t take Kiwi Steve off the court, because of his potential and more importantly we don’t have a viable alternative, as Sleepy is a defensive nightmare at the 5. So that leaves benching Zanna (who’s mostly be worthless since after the first 3 BigEast games) and JR (who doesn’t provide any outside shooting, isn’t very effective driving and his previous attribute of assists, isn’t there anymore as teams play off him and drop back into the passing lanes.
So I would start Woodall (only because again we don’t have many options), either Zeigler or Durand Durand at the 2, Patterson at 3, Sleepy at the 4 (again not many options) and Kiwi Steve at the 5.
Got to do something to shake this team up, and generate some more offense. As you have to get more production from the 1 spot and the 4 spot.
Make the changes NOW, so that by BE Tourney Time, and more importantly the Big Dance, they will have played together and had a chance to gel.
What the heck was he getting 23 minutes last nite ??
Tony February 19, 2013 at 3:49 PM
I am beginning to think some of these posters are really Steve Pederson. Believing showing up at Heinz and having faith will bring victories is so inane only a homer for the AD could come up with it. Criticize Doke for being negative means that you have a personal investment in keeping the status quo – which if you haven’t noticed – is a cut about mediocre. We want analysis on this board, not blind, pro Pitt crap. Take that over to pittblather where a number of guys follow Steve Pederson like little lap dogs. Chryst had a losing record last season and several times his team didn’t even show up. So you want to have blind faith in that? Get off your knees and start thinking.”
The game that both Durand Durand and Zeigler both had good games and then the next game Zeigler led the team in scoring off the bench, I thought they had turned the corner and found 2 players to make them much better. Then all of sudden, their minutes got reduced again and they both became non-factors again. And Pitt’s offense became it’s previous sputtering self.
I suggest Coach starts playing the aforementioned twosome again, immediately.
lol I do believe we have several ppl or at least several blogger ID’s that are from the AD’s office, posting here.
Either that or they haven’t witnessed the futility of Pitt football over the last 30 years, or they are incredibly naive.
And saying something like ;;;Give the guy a chance…is not a rational or logical defense.
That’s a wish based purely on hope.
Let me guess…Hope & Change.
Agree with your assessment, Zanna has become clueless at the 4 and is basically a waste of a position out there, he gets a few offensive rebounds, but he doesn’t know what to do with it anyway after he gets them. It either becomes another missed shot or a turnover.
Got to get him off the court, if Sleepy isn’t the answer at the 4, you could move Patterson to 4 and maybe Durand Durand can play the 3 or Moore.
Moore is a better 3 than 4 for sure.
Anything would be better than Zanna at this point, as you say…we’re playing 4 against 5.
Also think as I posted above, got to get more production or at least have the threat of a guy hitting a shot from the 1 spot. As they’re laying off him and he’s become pretty much useless as well. And a defensive liability. Can save him for late in game if we have a lead, cause he can hit free throws, so he can contribute that way.
Comment by Pitt Dad 02.19.13 @ 4:17 pm
That was a phenomenal play and showed the athleticism and talent of Kiwi Steve.
Ok so how do you use this unique athleticism for a 7 footer ??
You have to isolate him one on one against the opposing Center. Which means you have to clear one side of the court against a Man defense, with Adams on that side and everyone else on the other side. You get him the ball, everyone clears out and let Adams go one on one, face up. If an opposing player leaves his man to double team Adams, that PITT player (who’s defender left him) immediately vectors to the hoop and should have an uncontested dunk/layup.
Another way to use Kiwi Steve’s unique athleticism, ball handling and speed for a big man, is to try to get him into those positions in transition offense. We have seen glimpses of this in small portions in a couple games.
This is one of his big strengths. Where he is weak now and maybe for quite a while, maybe forever is playing with his back to the basket.
Sleepy has never gotten much better since Day 1 with playing with his back to the basket. Some guys obviously can’t.
Adams is much better playing face up. So why not try to get him in those positions where he can play ‘face up’. I think his potential is unlimited but most of it will be unrealized if he’s forced into the traditional plodding 7 footer’s role of playing with his back to the basket. Why does he have to be Aaron Gray ?
I can envision Kiwi Steve being more like another very mobile, athletic 7 footer. A guy named Dirk Nowitski. They say Steve has an incredible shooting range and I believe it. We’re not going to see that if he’s stuck in the middle of the paint waiting for passes that never come that lead to him getting less than 5 shot attempts per game.
Wow I wish I had the opportunity to coach a kid with his enormous talent. The options would be limitless in what you could do with him to really make defending him & PITT an absolute nightmare for opponents.
You have to get outside this staid thinking of everyone that’s 7 foot tall has to play like Aaron Gray.
Robinson has to shoot better if he can not he needs to sit, between him and Zanna we are getting nothing and allowing the defense to concentrate on the others.
Sleepy needs to start.
And there is rationale to back that up as well, as posted in the ‘to the House’ thread this afternoon so won’t repost here were the focus is BB.
Last night’s loss, however, felt almost as bad to me because this team has far more talent than the
motly crew that was coached by Ralph Timmons.
In addition, Ohio State was really good…the same can not be said for the Domers. We just plain stunk…and the talk about Elite 8 and Sweet 16 is a Koolade Cocktail.
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/171634/josh-hearlihy
Seriously,…….
What a mess this all is!
I think it was Bob Timmons wasn’t it. And the star of the team was my mom’s doctor.
The great Don Hennon. Or maybe he graduated in ’58.
Hennon had talent, heart and brains (he became a surgeon)
Yes indeed a real mess. When you get almost nothing from the 4 & the 1 spots,and not much from the 5, it puts lots of extra pressure on the two remaining spots to produce offense. That of course being Woodie & Patterson.
Patterson who had his best game of the year on Saturday as far as points scored….was a No Show last nite with a measly 2 points.
Pitt’s pretty easy to defend, as the 4 and the 1, you don’t have to defend. And nobody seems to be able to make very good entry passes into Adams which is why I suggest moving him out to a wing, you can get him the ball much easier, then clear out that side of the court and let him do his thing.
I know Jaimie is in love with the inside/outside thing, but that is not working with this set of players. So ditch it. Forcing them to do something they’re not equipped to do is just making them more unsure of themselves and wrecking their confidence. You have to put ppl or players in positions that give them the best chance for success. Right now we’re putting them in the best positions for failure. Or the worst positions for success.
Break it down.
12-0 vs very suspect competition
8-7 vs real competition.
Yes it’s better than last year’s fiasco. But we have added three (3) Top 100 players since last year (Adams, Zeigler & JR), so you would expect it to be a little better…right. And Adams was rated as the 2nd best center last year in the country. Also we’ve had Woodie for the whole year, whereas last year when he got injured, the team went into the dumpster.
In effect right now, we have a average team, in a down year for the BigEast. They still play the same system as they did, when they hardly had any talent at all in 2001-2003. However back then we use to get lots of easy layups for the frontcourt.
However that worked I don’t know, but it did. lol
Pitt lost to the better team. And they will continue to lose… probably 2/4 and then finish the season w/ the usual first round BE tourney loss and first round loss in the NCAA.
Dixon needs to go.
This team therefore is the 2nd most offensively challenged of any PITT team since 2001. After last year of course.
When we have to play nothing but halfcourt offense this team really struggles to score.
So it would be better to play less halfcourt as teams that actually have a 4 and a 1 are always going to beat us. You could even see that in narrow wins over two rent-a-win teams that had a good 4 and a good 1. Detroit & Oakland.
Either they speed up the tempo and press more to hide the deficiencies of the halfcourt. Or it will be a long next month imo.
I suspect a great many are watching Indiana vs MSU tonight. Izzo is the best coach in the country. He may not win this game but he makes in game adjustments that would take most coaches 2 weeks of practice to impliment. Second best is the guy from Butler. Just amazed at the way both teams react and adjust. Neither tries to play just one system.
No intended shot at Jamie here. The “meatgrinder” he runs fits the talent/or lack thereof that is available.
is it miller time yet.
Again with Pitt, one step forward, two steps back.
i killed there first born go read it.
HERE we go agein rumor is big 10 is looking to expamsion once more.
they say north carolina has a offer on the table and GT .
it is posted in several places check it out.
so what does that mean well it means if big 10
belives them than they want first pick before
the big 12 makes its move.
so they go to north carolina and GT knowing every one will end up at 16 soon
it is all there hope it is wrong but read the posts.
Only if we had a better coach committed to coming.
Not another DW firing with no plan whatsoever.
As far as UNC & the Big 10, I posted this before, the Tarheel Radio Network run weekly football show, spent the majority of each weekly broadcast bashing ACC football. Which I found extremely strange for a radio show that was supposed to be PROMOTING ACC football.
They even ridiculed the ACC’s 4-2 bowl record, which wasn’t bad at all. So I would say, since this show was run by the Tarheel radio network, they were “laying the groundwork” for a reason to leave the conf.
and everyone of worth has “left the party”.
Sort of like arriving late at a Frat Party and all the better looking girls were already picked over.
That would be…..just like PITT !
EMel it will be ok we still get the 17 millon per year we could be in big east with 2 million per year
and you know what i think NC says no but some one else might say yes.
Well it’s not like they haven’t played a little uptempo, transition offense in the past. Cause they have, he’s just not committed to it.
He was the same way with his abhorrence of playing zone, and he’s playing it a lot more this season than ever before. So there’s that….
So I will continue to hold some hope that he realizes that most of the players on this team play better in transition than half court including ALL the bigs…….
@Dan 72 – LMAO. No. I’m not Steve Pederson (but I have met him). And I’m not affiliated with the Athletic Department (except for my annual contributions to the Pitt Band).
However, if I were Steve P, I would immediately bring back Script Pitt and the 70s color scheme.
i think it was 2 weeks ago you could be right
it could be the ground work to leave.
Yea but if UNC leaves, FSU & Clemson are sure to go to and maybe Duke. Weakens basketball tremendously and football too.
We get stuck playing in a watered down version of the ACC, basically BigEast2 against the likes of Wake Forest, L-Ville, Uconn (would be added), probably USF too, NC State, UVA. Blah
Hope the Pitt Admin, has some sort of contingency plan in case everyone of worth starts leaving the ACC. Like call up TExas and say,,,,remember when….
‘This Week in the ACC’. Only later did I find out it was produced by the Tarheel Network after doing a little research.
There would be no reason to bash your own football conference week in and week out unless there was some reason to do so. Since that would be counterproductive to your OWN football program.
UNC basketball is coincidentally down this year as well, so they don’t look as scary as they usually are to the B1G.
better then 2 million.
so it wont make a diff in a waterdown ACC ANY WAY.
I’d be happy with a Pitt, Cuse, Cincy, UCONN, Louisville conference. Pick up the three or four best ones left and have a round robin in football and a full home and home in basketball. Can the ACC keep the full contract with five less members?
if you get cincy and u con that would replace the first 2 and ucf and say tulane just for kicks they would still have 14 so yes we would still get the money till end of contract which is 10 years i think
Missouri was playing in Starksville, Mississippi the other nite. And soon Rutgers will be playing Iowa and Minnesota in football. lol
The Big 10 is basically waving heaps of money in front of everyone and hopes that university says goodbye to all tradition and everything else that made that university unique in sports.
Big 10 & Delaney is the like the devil incarnate of college sports. I really hope like Pitt Dad mentioned cable TV goes ala-carte and the Big 10 falls flat on it’s collective face. Cause they do produce an inferior… vastly overated football product and to an extent, basketball product as well.
Forgot that Devil Delaney is a UNC alumnus, so there’s that in the equation as well.
He’s not content until he’s completed destroyed college sports. Because what makes college sports unique and desirable is it’s traditions.
And this power driven control freak is doing his best to destroy it.
That’s all Stevie Cornhole needs is an extra 15 million per year to fiddle diddle away.
You ain’t seen nothing yet
this is bad for the ACC if it comes to pass
but good for U CON AND CINCY
and if it does the big east will really be dead this time
there will be no big east how could it go on.
Also, yesterday, someone on here had me howling all day. I can’t find the comment or who it was, but it was something like this……
“look, we know Dixon doesn’t like to recruit kids who can shoot, but….”
The sarcasm was dripping all over the floor!!! LOL
Take Pitt out of the equation, and take any Pitt being left out of the party, out of the equation.
Purely as a college football and basketball fan, this whole expansion business has ruined the fabric of the sports.
Not all of it, mind you, just the latest.
I could understand teams unhappy with Texas, and the Big 12 situation. I could even understand the Big 10 getting Nebraska, they needed an even number.
The beginning of the end for me, was the Big Ten poaching of Rutgers and Maryland.
Look, college athletics the last 40 years has been all about the money, we all know that.
They’ve always been sluts and hookers, nothing new there.
They’re all just full blown whores now. That’s all. Just whores. Nothing more.
North Carolina v. Minnesota in football?? WTF is that???
Virginia v. Iowa???
Rutgers v. Illinois???
Pitt will still play football, against someone, somewhere.
As a college football fan, Illinois is supposed to play Northwestern and Mich St.
Iowa v. Minnesota
N.Carolina v. Wake Forest
UVA v. Maryland
Geography, geography, geography.
WVU, not even taking a shot at our rivals. Rivalry totally taken out of my thoughts.
What in the effin’ world is WVU doing playing Texas, Texas Tech and Iowa State in conference games??? Think about that.
A couple years ago, I posted a lot, just about what Pitt has to do, to get saved and have a chair when the music stopped.
I can honestly say, if the UNC, UVA thing goes down, I could really care less anymore.
Not being emotional either. When you take the geography out of the games, then what does it really matter anymore.
Not an old fuddy duddy longing for the Big Eight and Eastern Independents.
I understand progress.
I also understand going to far with progress, and sometimes going overboard.
Just because you progress, doesn’t mean it’s good progression.
One thing on this one. Conventional Wisdom says, that if Big 10 goes to 16, then Big 12 will make a play to become one of the Big 4.
Taking Clemson, Louisville, Miami et al.
Then Va. Tech and NC St. would go to SEC for them to have 16.
I mean who knows, it’s all BS with a little bit of substance, but how do you know which is which???
Also, if it starts breaking down, there is always the famous, if the Pac 12 sees them all going to 16, then they make a grab for TX, TX TECH, Okie and Okie St.
Then does the Big 12 fall apart and the ACC could survive by taking some of them.
My biggest disgust, is, I would like them to go ahead and get it all over with, and leave the teams in the conferences, where ever they may be for 10 or 20 years.
And now thinking as a Pitt fan, if they go to 4 conferences of 16, will Pitt be one of the 64 or will be now relegated to a “second tier” conference a’la Big East, Conf USA, Mntn West?
I can’t see North Carolina leaving the ACC. They are king of the conference and they like being king. If Virginia goes who cares?
I would like to see Dante Taylor get playing time at the 4 spot.
I’ve been wondering when folks would start realizing just how miserable college ball has become.
No post play, ugly offenses with too much high ball screen focus, and one-and-done players who never develop.
It’s getting rougher and rougher to be a fan…..
Our gurads and forwards may have a mind set that lets get down the court and run while steve gets the rebound.
Pitts success on the boards was that it committed 5 players to the boards on defense. I have seen too many many long rebounds were the oppositions guards got the ball about the foul line while Woodall and company were not blocking out their man.
Rebounding is a five man game. Blair success was that Biggs and Young gave him space. Zanna never blocks out his man nor does Patterson.
This is crap and Dixon ought to tell them their playing time now depends on how many offensive rebounds their man gets.
College Basketball stinks anymore, most of the players lack basic fundamentals. If the rules were enforced, (carrying the ball, palming, traveling, etc,) it would be even worse. Roy Williams even mentioned this in his weekly radio show the other nite.
What is being valued more these days is just basic athleticism over all everything else.
Sorry but I don’t really care how high they jump and how awesome they throw down a dunk. whoop whoop.
I’d like to see some semblance of teams that have the basic fundamentals down, that they should have had down in jr. high in the first place and I’d love to see a well coached team. And that doesn’t mean overcoached, where one substitutes and substitutes with no effect at all on the game other than that of no cohesion or flow to the game at all.
I do realize it must be very frustrating coaching these kids today.
Rebounding is a five man game.
Comment by pittisit 02.20.13 @ 4:34 pm
Agree pittisit,
Where this team has trouble on the defensive boards is teams with a good 4 & 5 and on long rebounds. JR is not a particularly quick guard and is not to good on chasing down long rebounds.
Woodie is better but doesn’t like blocking out his man, as he sometimes get pinballed around.
As far as the bigs not blocking out their men, this must happen in practice as well, since Zanna has never learned this. And it carries over in the game. Sleepy is more of an offensive rebounder as well, so it’s almost a team thing.
Hopefully Kiwi Steve doesn’t pick up on their bad habits on defensive rebounds.
Things may be bad now, but when Adams gets drafted after this season, I cannot imagine what crap Dixon will have on the front line next year for our first stint in the ACC. The only upside is that we will be losing Travon Woodall. And we will have another year of Lamar “don’t look at me for rebounds” Patterson.
I give our chances in the ACC in football much better than basketball. What a freaking joke this program has become. Thank god Syracuse is joining the ACC also. At least there will be one team Dixon can beat.
There has to be someone who would like to come to Pitt who could shot over 40% from the field.
There are not many self-motivated players like Sam Young who made himself into a shooter.
If they do not have the mechanics and shooters mentality (confidence) when they hit campus who is going to work with them Brandon Knight.
Bad week — I wish there would be more focus on day to day and less talk about regular season BE title. We won’t beat the late season bottom feeders on our schedule with that effort.