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February 24, 2015

9pm

ESPNU

Late night for those of us in the East who are getting up there in years — or have small children.

Olivier Hanlan has been very hot for BC lately. In the last three games he had 32, 32 and 19 points. He went for 18 last time they played. That hasn’t helped BC too much as they have lost 8 straight and have not won a game in a month.

9-17 overall record, 1-13 at the bottom of the ACC. Needless to say a home loss would be devastating to Pitt.

Hanlan is going to get his points. He’s a talented scorer.  The key is to make sure the rest of the BC squad doesn’t get in on the action. Aaron Brown is the other primary offensive threat for BC. The wing forward was held in check the last time the teams met.

Hopefully Pitt comes out fast and puts BC down quickly. I really do not want another painful, long slog like we saw in January.





Nice link about what the NCAA considers and doesn’t consider…

link to cbssports.com

Younger teams tend to play down to the competition. Plus how often do you win a game when a guy on the other teams torches you for 39?

College basketball is never that exciting with the 35 second shot clock and over coaching throughout the NCAA. The real elite basketball is in the NBA in the playoffs.

Comment by Wardapalooza 02.25.15 @ 11:01 am

Tony, you’re right! I don’t see upitt and the other Doom and Gloom guys in this thread. It’s kind of refreshing. I appreciate the comments from Reed, Dan72,wbb,Emel,gc and the other regulars (sorry if I missed a few). They are thoughtful and accurate without being spiteful and prickish.

Pitt isn’t perfect…Jamie isn’t perfect…but they’re our team and we’re behind them. Let’s win out and surprise some people!

Comment by The Hagen 02.25.15 @ 11:04 am

Everybody plays slow anymore. There are lots of articles about how slow college basketball is.
link to regressing.deadspin.com

Comment by Wardapalooza 02.25.15 @ 11:11 am

I thought it was a good game for the Panthers. BC has played everyone the same way right up to the end result. BC plays tough and inspired for 35 minutes then dies.

Basketball is a game of runs. Few teams keep a 15 point lead … you like to see it stop at around 8 … giving up the entire 15 was a little over dramatic … but that’s the way basketball goes. Especially when you’re playing a team with a go-to scorer like BC has.

It was good win. Important one. They definitely played a little tight in spots but the leaders stepped up when they had to. Wake is a different story – Pitt should not be in the same type of game they were with BC. BC’s better than their record. Wake is not.

Wake should be a nice tune up for the final two games against Miami and FSU. Get their house in order and close this thing out.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 02.25.15 @ 11:13 am

pittman4ever, to clarify my comments of slogball. I agree that our current personnel is not made for playing slogball; we are much more effective playinf uptempo.

However, I agree wholeheartedly with what Len Elmore said about it last night on the telecast. Many people find it boring while others actually enjoy the execution.

Pitt had a great deal of success playing that style in what was year-in and year-out the best BB conference around … and I would bet that the majority here weren’t bored with that style back then.

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 11:13 am

Was NC State winning last night good for Pitt? Takes them off the bubble and lets us move up?

Comment by MikePITT 02.25.15 @ 11:22 am

No, we want them on the other side of the bubble since they’re taking a tournament spot. It also makes our UNC win look less impressive.

Comment by Kevin 02.25.15 @ 11:33 am

~wbb Pitt’s best year(2008-2009) in the Dixon era, was the year we didn’t play slogball.

In that year… Pitt avg’d 77.4 ppg, which was 29th in the country in scoring. (of 330 teams)

Comment by Emel 02.25.15 @ 11:51 am

agree, but that is the only year I believe

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 11:52 am

One thing that is getting intolerable is the number of timeouts. With all the stoppages in play, I wonder how these kids get into any sort of rhythm. The media time outs have made it so much worse. I know they are talking about eliminating some. I think they should eliminate at least one and make another 30 second instead of 60.

They should also make it a 30 second clock.

I think that these things would do a lot to improve the flow of the game.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 12:11 pm

As far as slogball, I really admire the defense that VA plays. You also have to be really good to wait till the last seconds to take a shot.

08-09 was also the year that you had Blair dominating inside, and Young pump faking like crazy. When you have those kind of offensive weapons you don’t need to slow the game down.

Other than that Pitt has always been a better defensive than offensive team, until this year.

When was the last time a Pitt team ran with a team like NC, probably never.

When you don’t have prolific scorers, slogball is a good option to make you competitive.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 12:21 pm

@MIKEPITT
We want all the bubble teams to lose, but it’s unlikely we’ll be battling NCST for a final spot. In fact, when the new bracketology comes out tomorrow, we will likely be in the 12/12 play in game. If we keep winning we’ll be in baring a loss. NCST on the otherhand will likely move up to a 9/10 seed.

Comment by ShorePitt 02.25.15 @ 12:28 pm

I also agree that UNC loss makes our victory looks less impressive, but on the brightside, we’re only a game back of them and they still have to play at Miami and at Duke!

Comment by ShorePitt 02.25.15 @ 12:29 pm

~wbb …The 2010-2011 team was Dixon’s 2nd best team (also a #1 seed), and that team avg’d 73.9 ppg.

Which was 51st in the country that year.

This year we are at 163rd at 68.1 ppg.

Comment by Emel 02.25.15 @ 12:34 pm

gc, about the timeouts at the end of games. FWIW, the same thing happens in the NFL.

The 2 minute warning occurred at 9:47 pm EST. The game ended at 10:04. (I remember this because I wanted to catch all of ‘Shameless’ on Showtime which began at 10 that night)

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 12:37 pm

I was referring to the Super Bowl above

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 12:38 pm

Emel, we got a late start this year. I wonder what we have been averaging over the past month. My guess is that we may be as high as the mid 70s

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 12:41 pm

although our 49 vs UVa would bring that average down

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 12:42 pm

The 15 point lead was driven from good def and rebounding leading to offennsive oops. Pitt doesn’t have the consistent def or rebounding to maintain that pace which is why they always give away big leads. Its so frustrating.

Comment by taxing matters 02.25.15 @ 12:52 pm

Here’s a site I always enjoy checking out as we head closer to tournament time. Doesn’t mean anything, but I always enjoy looking at it…

link to bracketmatrix.com

Comment by Mailman 02.25.15 @ 1:12 pm

Mailman, never realized that there were so many bracketologists. Geez

I just completed a gross margin analysis for a bid that we will be negotiating next week, and was proud of myself … that is, until I saw your link

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 1:28 pm

wbb, I wasn’t referring to the end of games. I understand the strategy of that. It is more throughout the game. Especially when a timeout is taken and then one or two plays later we get a media timeout.

The process of fouling and taking numerous time out at the end of games is part of the game. You must make your foul shots and beat the press to win. While a little frustrating when you are the team with the lead, it is an obvious part of the game, which for the most part makes the game entertaining down the stretch. It is the number of stoppages throughout the game, which I find more frustrating, although I am a fan of the Dance Team, but sometimes it seems like they have more court time than the actual game.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 1:32 pm

Checking the scores of the games, Pitt is averaging 67.0 points per game in conference. 73.5 ppg in wins. 59.6 ppg in losses. 74.0 at home, 59.0 on the road.

Starting with the Notre Dame win (1/31), overall 70.1 ppg (conference only, not counting Bryant). 77.2 in the wins, 52.5 in the 2 losses.

Interestingly, Pitt is allowing 69.0 ppg in conference. 67.2 in wins, 71.1 in losses – that’s not much difference. 70.7 allowed at home, 66.8 away.

Comment by KeyboardKev 02.25.15 @ 1:34 pm

@taxing matters, the frustrating thing about giving up the big lead at the end of the half was that we missed a bunch of bunnies and routine shots in a row.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 1:34 pm

gc, I always thought that a TV timeout every 5 minutes of PT instead of every 4 is much more feasible. However, I’m afraid there is no reversal in the amount of commercials, even though most of them we see over and over.

Remember when the NFL wanted to cut down on the overall time of their game broadcasts about a decade ago? Instead of cutting out the TV timeouts after the kickoff, they decided to let the clock continue to run even if runner goes out of bounds … unless it isunder 2 minutes left in the half or game.

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 2:08 pm

Reed, I think you would appreciate this. Last night at half time, Avonte Maddox, Scott Ondoff and Pat Amare represented the FB team in its presentation of scholar athletes.

I love the fact that Amare is there. This is the kid that when his father left for Africa, he was left to fend for himself in his early teens, He stayed at a handful of different locations, and at times in vacant building in Philly before his coach took in him when he was a junior. Yet, Amare never lost focus on what was important.

Don’t think I ever rooted so hard for a kid to graduate as I do for Amare … (although Nate Byham who was raised by his grandfather was also high on the list)

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 2:20 pm

@mailman – 25 of those brackets have Sacramento State at about a 16 seed. Apparently the consensus is Eastern Washington is going to get the Big Sky auto bid.

Comment by Pitt Dad 02.25.15 @ 2:39 pm

The Hanlan kid was 14 for 14 from the line and I swear only one of the foul shots touched the rim.

Chris Jones took the night off and Newkirk looks totally lost.

Dr. No must be healthy because he was back in action but didn’t look prepared

Lunardi is now saying we could lose one and still maybe get in.

Comment by spiritofsection22 02.25.15 @ 3:02 pm

wbb, I agree, TV pays the bills, so take some timeouts away from the coaches.

Remember, Pitt Football before TV timeouts. What a difference. Now you have to go to a high school game for that experience.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 3:11 pm

Amare and Maddox will really help the D. Hope Maddox is putting on some muscle in the off season. The kid is a hitter. Too bad they both couldn’t have redshirted last year.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 3:13 pm

High school basketball games take about an hour and 20 minutes. Before the Pitt game, I was kind of following PG tweets last night on the New Castle – Beaver Falls game — BF won 52-49.

Soph Donvan Jeter had 21 pts and 11 reb. Again, according to Rivals, he is offered by Pitt in both BB and FB

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 3:29 pm

The solution to the timeouts is in the NBA. Say a coach takes a timeout with 15 minutes left in the 1st half. That ends up also being the TV timeout. If the coach doesn’t take a timeout, the under 16 timeout still comes off a teams total for timeouts in the game at the first stoppage.

Comment by Wardapalooza 02.25.15 @ 3:40 pm

wardapalooza, agree that it would be a great solution … but sad to say, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 4:01 pm

wbb – I’ll never forget Nate Byham’s grandfather Ron’s friendship, which sad to say I’ve let lapse. The stories he told of the problem’s with his daughter (Nate’s mom), taking Nate in and then losing his own wife, are as heartrending as any you’ll see in any media story. Ron did it all for Nate and did it graciously which might have been the harder thing to accomplish. Lots of us would have felt put-upon as I suspect I would. Nate was a tough ass kid because his grandfather was and knew he had to pass that down for his grandson to get ahead in life… and not just in football.

You know we are Old Guys when we can remember when the NIT was by far the more prestigious of the two BB tournaments – the NCAA played 2nd fiddle for a long time before the NCAA organization knew it had a TV cash cow on hand.

I’m about to post up a looong article on recruiting and attrition of the rosters over the years – since we don’t have another BB game for four days It will get some good discussion to get us ready for March and spring practices.

Comment by Reed 02.25.15 @ 4:45 pm

I would say Artis is our MVP, but an article in the Trib says one expert has him an eventual lottery pick. Amazing progress, can’t say I can see that, but certainly encouraging.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 5:02 pm

Emel. Konate is 6’8 and plays for Kennedy Christian. Most of the centers he plays against are 6’4 or 6’5. The last time I checked Pitt is his only offer.

Comment by Chick 02.25.15 @ 5:16 pm

Maybe he’s cousins with Diallo since they’re both from Mali.

At this point anything is worth a try. JD is probably thinking that too!

Comment by Emel 02.25.15 @ 5:52 pm

CBB games are 2 hours. Timeouts are fine. I like the idea of the 30 sec shot clock. I’m not a fan of 24 b/c I like watching offense being run. Elmore was right on the broadcast – there’s a beauty to the college game … you just have to appreciate it.

The biggest problem with college ball is spacing. They need to bump out the 3 point line and create more space under the basket. More space = more good shots = more scoring.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 02.25.15 @ 8:22 pm

Artis will never be a lottery pick let alone a first rounder. He’s a 22 year old true sophomore with limited hops and can’t defend. The NBA draft is about potential and measurables. He’s a very good college baller but his ceiling is most likely reached … at least in the eyes of the NBA. He’ll be a pro just not on American soil.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 02.25.15 @ 8:27 pm

TT, read this

link to triblive.com

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 8:32 pm

There is no chance Artis is a 1st rounder. He just lacks the athletic ability.

Comment by ShorePitt 02.25.15 @ 9:05 pm

gc – I hope people don’t get in his head. Zero chance he’s a lottery pick. He’s a good college basketball player who will play professionally. I have zero doubts about that. He’s not very athletic and he’s old and going to be older by the time he does enter the draft. He does not project as an NBA player. Name a starting 3 in the NBA that he could defend? He can’t even guard a college 3 … his rise in stats coincided with his move from the 3 to 4. I love the kid … but projecting him as an NBA player is very far fetched right now. To throw more salt on the wound, when he graduates he’ll be 24. That’s ancient by NBA standards.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 02.25.15 @ 9:26 pm

as I said yesterday, I believe Jones as the best chance of being an NBA player … not saying he will … he just seems to be an NBA type to me. Definitely needs to improve his overall game, but he made a major jump just this past year

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 9:34 pm

Artis a lottery pick? Christmas, Okafor, Hanlan, Grant, Rozier and Harrell are just the ACC players that I would think be better lottery candidates

Comment by wbb 02.25.15 @ 9:39 pm

Does VT win over Duke help Pitt?

Comment by Frank MD 02.25.15 @ 9:46 pm

Frank im also wondering..

Comment by MikePITT 02.25.15 @ 9:50 pm

I highly doubt we have an NBA player on the roster right now.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 02.25.15 @ 9:55 pm

TT, I agree, really surprised at the article. Love Artis, and I think he will get better. I see him being able to create his own shots next year and a much better passer. I can even see the offense being created through him like Lamar Patterson.

But I agree he has along way to go before he plays in the NBA let alone a lottery pick.

wbb, I think Jones ball handling needs to improve a great deal if he is to make a living playing ball.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 10:01 pm

I am also pretty sure Artis has his head straight after listening to his interviews with Hillgrove and Groat.

Comment by gc 02.25.15 @ 10:02 pm

Artis doesn’t have the hops, if you noticed he wasn’t very far above the rim on his running dunks and clanged one of them off the back or front of the rim.

And as of right now, against better players he can’t create his own shot. He could against BC, but again I mean better players. BC’s front line is pretty lame.
Which is why Young went off as well.

UVA just destroyed Wake tonite, 70-34. Now how they will effect how Wake plays on Sunday is anybody’s guess. Manning will be working them harder no doubt.

Comment by Emel 02.25.15 @ 10:02 pm

@FRANK and MIKE
It wont help our RPI, but VT improving their numbers could help our resume, especially if they can get in the top 200 rpi. I can also see the committee not knocking us so bad if VT can pull it off against one of the tournament 1 seeds.

Comment by ShorePitt 02.25.15 @ 10:06 pm

I suppose if he averaged like 20 points per game and improved his passing and ball handling he could get drafted in the late first round or 2nd round.

But a lottery pick ? somebody must be on the pipe.

Comment by Emel 02.25.15 @ 10:10 pm

In an attempt to kick-start the offense — and a personal change in philosophy — Dixon encouraged Artis, in particular, not to pass up open shots even when early in the shot clock.

“It’s obviously an encouraging comment by Coach to say shoot the basketball,” Artis said. “But if he didn’t say that, I would shoot the basketball as well. I think the other guys would not be so scared to shoot as well, worried about being taken out.”

One wonders how much better the team would be now, if during the non-con…the handcuffs would have been taken off the shooters on this team.

It’s hard to be good, when you play tentatively.

Comment by Emel 02.25.15 @ 10:15 pm

@wardapalooza & wbb, et al. There are quite a few college basketball fans, myself included, who intensely dislike the way basketball is played in the NBA. For us, the less like the NBA college basketball is the better. Even with the talent level in the NBA, the 24 second clock causes sloppy play and plenty of turnovers. The same happens in run and gun college games and would only increase if the shot clock is lowered to 30, and especially to 24. I find that style of basketball as unwatchable as some of you find what you call “slog ball.”

Comment by Pitt1972 02.25.15 @ 10:43 pm

@ Emel – just found this in an article on 247Sports – teammate of one of our recruits (Wilson) – At 6-5, 200-pounds, Dillard is a strong athlete on the wing who is capable of knocking down shots. He is originally from Gary, Indiana but attending Our Savior New American School in New York.

Ranked No. 128 in the 247Sports Composite, Dillard has Purdue leading Pittsburgh in his Crystal Ball with Pittsburgh trending.

He is also the HS teammate of 6’9″ recruit Diallo who is ranked No. 6 – if Jamie lands these three in one class, the downward trend will have turned up. Two of three would be great!

HTP!

Comment by Erie Express 02.26.15 @ 5:49 am

Pitt1972, the only thing I hate more than the NBA is the NFL … mainly beacuse pro sports mandate how you have to play the game.

But all of what wardapalooza was proposing was the elimation of maybe 1 or 2 timeouts per game. I have seen a large handful of times when a coach will call a TO, and then once the ball is put into play, there is a stoppage within seconds that has occurred under the 16, 12, 8 or 4 minute mark. Thus, you have the scenario where 2 timeouts are called within a small handful of seconds … which IMO silly.

This reminds me of the current NFL, after a TD or FG. Many times now, with the ball being kickoffed from the 40, it results in a touchback. Thus, you have the scenario where after the score, there is 3-4 minutes of commercials … then the ball is kicked resulting in a touchback, and with no time taken off the score clock … we are stuck watching another 3 minutes of commercials. Again, very silly.

Now college FB has done that also, but to a much lesser extent.

Comment by wbb 02.26.15 @ 7:14 am

@Pitt1972 – right with you on the NBA opinion other than San Antonio and Atlanta(this year).

I think I can tolerate the shot clock at 30, but no lower. I think that will make good defenses even better, and bad or mediocre offenses especially ones where they have no single player who can create his own shot, much worse. We will see much more outside shooting with clanking misses an long rebounds from those shots.

Shooters will be at a premium, but there are only so many of those to go around.

IMO,, it would be UGLY…..unless we found Pitt with a couple of Seth Curry’s over the next few years;).

Comment by TVax 02.26.15 @ 7:30 am

once again, wardapalooza’s posting had nothing to do with the shot clock. All it was about was eliminating 1 or TOs a game. Read the posts!

Comment by wbb 02.26.15 @ 7:42 am

Here’s another thing to read. So, if you think we had trouble stopping Hanlan the other night, how are we going to stop this guy?

link to msn.com

Comment by wbb 02.26.15 @ 7:44 am

+1 wbb

Comment by alcofan 02.26.15 @ 7:48 am

Reed, as an update, Byham is now an assistant coach to Greg Gattuso at Albany College

Here is Amara’s amazing story .. hard to not pull for him
link to espn.go.com

Comment by wbb 02.26.15 @ 7:53 am

Yeah, but what about the other 35 minutes for X R-M?(sarcasm) He only scored 8 on Pitt and is only a 27% 3pt shooter. Pffffft!(more sarcasm)

Just put JR and Cam on him and they’ll hold him to 29 in 4 minutes and both foul out. Just hope we are up by 20 when he starts that stretch :).

Comment by TVax 02.26.15 @ 7:53 am

My prediction: Dixon misses on both Diallo and Dillard.

Comment by MikePITT 02.26.15 @ 8:17 am

From a website “Heeren was probably the most famous NBA statistical analyst.” Key part is the was. It doesn’t look like he is really connected to the NBA so his opinion about Artis isn’t worth much.

Pitt1972, maybe college basketball was better years ago when all the NBA did was ISO plays, but if you like basketball you need to watch the Western Conference playoffs in about a month or so.

Right now college basketball is a whole bunch of grindfests, as seen by it maybe being the slowest paced season ever. It’s barely watchable. The slowest paced team in the NBA would be the second fastest team in NCAA and would only have 12 turnovers per game putting them in the top half of the NCAA. So really a 24 second shot clock would add at least 30 extra possessions in a game and add maybe a couple turnovers. Definitely a trade I’d make.

wbb, exactly with the timeouts, the back to back full timeouts is a killer. It ruins any flow to a game. Also if TV timeouts count against a team that’s one or two less that Dixon and other coaches can overuse at the end of the game.

Comment by Wardapalooza 02.26.15 @ 8:22 am

Thx for the info Erie Express.

Yea it would be awesome (kind of hate that word since Dicky V) if we landed all 3 of them.

Hitting the trifecta…..it would be !

Comment by Emel 02.26.15 @ 8:31 am

Concur with Ward…..too many TO’s for the coaches that seem to micromanage each and every possession.

Also the game is now perimeter driven since the 3 point line is only a 20 footer, so that is driving down FG % since so many 3’s are being taken.

The 3 point line needs moved back, which would bring back more penetration to the hoop, driving dunks and passes into the big men on the blocks.

While I was a long distance shooter myself, I really don’t want to watch a bunch on perimeter shooters hoisting up 20-23 footers, of which they miss roughly 66% of the time.

Comment by Emel 02.26.15 @ 8:41 am

^^bunch of ^^

Comment by Emel 02.26.15 @ 8:47 am

What happened to Reed’s article he was going to post?

Was it eaten during the 2 1/2 hour break between 5:50 & 8:20 comment disruption yesterday PM.

Glad I’m retired. I hated when the computer ate my reports at work.

Comment by PITT-cocks Fan 02.26.15 @ 9:19 am

Will post it for today’s lunch break.

Comment by Reed 02.26.15 @ 9:52 am

I believe I was the one that initiated the discussion on Time outs and the thirty five second clock.

I still think that because of the frequent and long media time outs, that eliminating one of the coaches timeouts and making one more a thirty second TO, would help. I like wbb’s idea of making one of the coaches TO’s the media TO if possible. Anything to cut down stoppages of play a little bit. I also proposed 30 seconds. I don’t think this would make the college game more like the NBA. With 30 seconds you still have to play defense which is absent in the Pro game by choice.

These changes would only add a few more more possessions and make the flow of the game slightly better.

I think a longer 3 point line would help improve the flow of the game as well.

I don’t watch the NBA either, because there is no D till the play-offs. I don’t think a 30 second clock eliminates D, if anything it eliminates 5 seconds of standing inside the half court line waiting for the clock to run.

Comment by gc 02.26.15 @ 10:36 am

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