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January 5, 2017

Pitt Regroups to Pull Home Upset

Filed under: Basketball — Chas @ 8:43 am

Both in terms of the gut punch loss on Saturday and giving up a three to send last night’s game to overtime.

Credit to the team and Coach Kevin Stallings. I think most Pitt fans had about given up when London Perrantes was not fouled, and allowed to shoot in rhythm to drill the transition three to send the game to overtime.

Hell, given the way Pitt closes out then end of halves and games, there was a feeling of dread building when Pitt was inbounding the ball and a chance to ice the game if they scored before that.

Instead, the coach bluntly put it to the players.

In a position he admitted was a desperate one, coach Kevin Stallings gathered his team and delivered a message.

“We can sit here and feel sorry for ourselves or we can man up and do something about it,” he said.

And that is what they did in overtime.

In the huddle before overtime, Jamel Artis decided it was time to seize control and not let this game get away. His method of achieving that?

“Hit them in the mouth,” Artis said.

Artis scored 8 points in overtime. He overcame an insanely bad night at the free throw line to hit 5-6 in the 5 minute frame (1-6 on FTs in the first 40 minutes).

Pitt shot 13-21 on threes to make Virginia actually have to play at a faster pace. Pitt is in the lower third nationally in tempo, but Virginia is the absolute slowest team. Pitt shot worse inside the arc at 16-33. Two things about that, though. Virginia is top-3 nationally in terms of defending 2-point shots, so shooting just under 50% in there is surprisingly strong for Pitt. Second, it is a marked improvement from the numbers against Notre Dame, where Pitt only went 15-41 on 2-point shots.

I really think this was one of Pitt’s best performances over the entire game. They didn’t have big 5-10 minutes of looking completely lost on one or both ends of the floor. There were brief bursts of it, but that is typical of any team in any game.

I’ve said it since the Maryland game. This Pitt team is capable of getting impressive wins, and can turn around and take some mind-boggling losses. Last night was one of the good ones.

 





Always nice to beat Virginia. Hail to Pitt!

Comment by MariettaMike 01.05.17 @ 8:59 am

Good “W”. Finally over bowl game & ND losses.

For those in Southeast. Replay of PITT – Va. game today on Fox Sports South (or is it on Fox South East – I get both & always confuse the two) today at 1:00pm.

Comment by PITT-cocks Fan 01.05.17 @ 9:46 am

Per my post before the Game… did not see Virginia slowing down Pitt’s Offense.

In fact the opposite happened.

What surprised me was that Virginia was able to play as well as it at “Stallings Speed.”

Comment by PittofDreams 01.05.17 @ 9:53 am

And Johnson actually made a few. Nice to see.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.05.17 @ 9:55 am

Very good to get a win over the Yahoos…putting up 88 impressive…nice passes by Young out of double team for easy buckets…was at the UVA game at Pitt last year and Young had several turnovers in similar situations. good to see jeter getting untracked. Thinking that this team will go as far as Jeter, Johnson and Luther take them…Artis and Young are givens….brain freeze on D not to pick up Parentes sooner and let him shoot basically an uncontested long 3 in rhythm… lets beat the ‘Cuse this Saturday and then roll the dice vs the ‘Ville…H2P!!!!

Comment by Jerry S. 01.05.17 @ 10:10 am

Amazing 3 point shooting, Artis 6-7, Johnson 4-5, and Jeter 3-5, made two in a row to start the overtime. Foul shooting was really foul, Young was 3-7 and Artis was 6-12. Hard to understand, that usually is a killer against a team like VA.

Kithcart is a real liability so far. Absolutely can not shoot. Jones not a whole lot better though he is bigger and stronger and does get hot once in a while.

Big difference game to game was Young’s inside game and team offensive rebounding. which have been absent for much of the year. Stallings commented that their strength inside should be an advantage.

In case you missed it, early in the second half, after 3 defensive lapses, Stallings called a time out and read the riot act to the players. He was screaming at them. Pretty effective.

Comment by gc 01.05.17 @ 10:22 am

Defensive lapses are still really bad, too many wide open threes, and a few blow bys given up.

VA has been recruiting well and you can see they have many talented players.

Comment by gc 01.05.17 @ 10:26 am

Hey, no one beats Pitt 8 times in a row. Now if only Jones can start playing a little better, we have a chance to win some big games in the ACC.

Comment by rayhpgh 01.05.17 @ 10:32 am

I’d suggest savoring this win, if we go .500 in our ACC schedule this season, I’ll be surprised.

Comment by Dr. Tom 01.05.17 @ 11:35 am

I was impressed with how well the Panthers played. They controlled the tempo and kicked butt in the overtime. Actually they played well and I felt they should have beaten Notre Dame as well. If I have any criticism, it’s that they haven’t put teams away. I felt they controlled play against Notre Dame, but Pitt let them stay close and it bit them at the end with the 3 point shot.

Comment by Justinian 01.05.17 @ 12:01 pm

I was impressed that the offense controlled the pace last night. It reminded me of the classic NCAA Tourney games against Pacific and Bradley – the best defensive Pitt teams were built for the standard post player type lineups, and the athletic versatile 4s and 5s gave them fits. Same thing with Young/Jeter/Artis.

Re Jones – I don’t know that I’ve seen him make a jump shot this year. He’s best when cutting to the hoop for layups and getting fouled. And I think it was his lapse allowing Parrentes to be open for the tying 3, since Jones had 4 fouls. I fault Stallings for not substituting in that situation.

This team will go as far as a 6-player rotation can take them.

Comment by KeyboardKev 01.05.17 @ 12:02 pm

Team has potential, but needs to play consistent defense(way too many lapses). Along with long stretches of turnovers. You can not score if you don’t get a shot.
Had to listen to game on radio last night and you could feel Groat’s pain with “not another bad pass” and “that basket was way too easy” comments. Team with four senior starters should not be doing this.
I think there are five good players available, starters less Jones with Luther being the fifth, unfortunately none of them are guards. Artis is probably the best option at the point, but not sure he can handling beating a strong pressing team without some support. Dixon really missed the boat on recruiting the guards. I think had Stallings know how empty the cupboard was he would have found a JC player or two to help.

I think making the tourney this year would be a good season, and the incoming class better be ready to play as there will not be a lot left after this year.

Comment by Jimbo 01.05.17 @ 12:43 pm

That was a YUGE win for us last nite. If we have any hope of finishing in the Top half of the ACC.

Was very surprised UVA played at Pitt’s tempo, since prior to last night that had no player avg’g in Double figures and they stood a better chance to win with the game in the 50’s or 60’s.

Prior to last night UVA was avg’g 68 ppg, while only giving up 51 ppg, which was #1 in the nation.

For all the non-stop babbling of those announcers, I don’t believe they made much of Pitt blowing past that 51 ppg opponent avg of Virginia.

WVU only scored 66 points on them, FSU 60 in their 2 losses before last nite. And Virginia just beat L-Ville 61-53, 2 games ago. And L-Ville usually tries to force the tempo as they avg. 76 ppg.

And btw Notre Dame beat L-Ville last nite 77-70, so Pitt should be able to hang with the Ville, if their press doesn’t frazzle us.

Getting back to last nite, Tony Bennett must have felt they could play with Pitt at Pitt’s tempo and win (and they hung and almost did). So that is kinda interesting.

So I’m not quite sure what that means at this point, heading to Syracuse for the next game. Other than this isn’t one of Syracuse’s better games, but winning on the road isn’t easy.

Pitt had Syracuse’s number as we all know under Dixon, hopefully that continues under Stallings.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 1:06 pm

^^ one of Syracuse’s better teams ^^

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 1:08 pm

And there will be a rematch of Pitt-Virginia in the final game of the regular season.

Will be interesting to see where the teams stand at that point.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 1:15 pm

Looking at the Game Stats, Pitt shot 62% from 3 (13 of 21), overall 54% FG and had a 38 to 24 Rebounding advantage.

While UVA only shot 40% from 3 ( 8 of 20), overall 49% FG and only took 5 FT’s, making only 2. Pitt took 28 FT’s and made 17.

Looking at those stats ONLY, this game should have been a utter rout for Pitt.

But this one stat explains why this game went into OT.

Pitt had 14 Turnovers
Virginia only had 6 Turnovers.

I noticed Mike Young was bringing the ball up the court in the 2nd half a lot, instead of Artis.

No Guard Recruiting in the last several years and Newkirk transferring to Indiana is really going to hinder this team against a good pressing team, you would think.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 1:29 pm

Emel, Yes, it should not have anywhere as close as it was. Even if Artis or Young’s free throw were not off, they would have easily won in regulation. Newkirk would probably have fit in better under Kevin Stallings. The same could be said for Voytik with Matt Canada’s offense.

Comment by Justinian 01.05.17 @ 2:11 pm

At least we are beginning to feel the BB season will be interesting after the win.

I’m getting older; only had high school Winter Track and woodworking to look forward too. Oh forgot, a bunch of visits to the dentist coming up. Now I have some PITT BB.

Cam and Luther are developing into our “third” scorer. Jeter doing a lot of good lately. At least, Jones got/getting a good education and will be a PITT man for life.

No bench!!!!

Lots of scoring = fun to watch. Though Bennett is a Dixon type, would still love to have him at PITT.

If Stallings can keep us going with mirrors for a couple yrs; (Don’t think he has enough horses coming back) maybe through JC. We may interest a young Turk coach who can recruit big.

Comment by Old Pitt Grad 01.05.17 @ 3:34 pm

GC – I’ve been critical of Jones at times too, but if you look closely, he played a very nice game last night. 5 pts & 5 rebounds, plus did a lot of little things well, and defended pretty well too.

With regard to defensive emphasis by KS, I did notice after Jeter left his man open for a 3 pt shot, he was yanked for Luther.

Luther played a fantastic game all around.

Poor Kithcart, I agree he is a liability at this point. He is going to need to score/shoot at least enough to keep opposing defenses honest, otherwise he does not belong in the game for more than spot time. I thought he was going to cost us last night. Milligan has been a better player, not sure what is going on there. That said, I do hope Kithcart gains some confidence and turns the corner, I was hoping for good things out of him…

Comment by 1618mt 01.05.17 @ 3:38 pm

Nice win, hey UPitt South Florida just fired Orlando Antigua he has a better hairline maybe the new AD is into hair styles and hires him?

Comment by WLAT 910 radio and the big beat! 01.05.17 @ 3:40 pm

Chas, your passion for PITT BB is fun to read.

Comment by Old Pitt Grad 01.05.17 @ 3:51 pm

1618mt – I also noticed the yank of Jeter. Although, in the Trib today it says he had cramping problems – maybe that’s why the guy was so open (I guess it’s a good euphemism if nothing else).

I looked at the ESPN stats for turnovers. Taking TO/Game and Minutes per game, and throwing out Rozy Nix, Damon Wilson leads the team at a TO every 12 minutes, followed by Young a 1 TO every 13.1 min, Artis at 13.5. Kithcart actually a TO every 23.7 minutes, but Johnson is amazing at 1 TO per 36.3 minutes.

Comment by KeyboardKev 01.05.17 @ 4:00 pm

Jeter hit the 2 big 3’s in OT to put us up 76-70 and then Artis hit one to put us up 79-70.

Jeter also led the team in rebounding with 8 and led in Offensive rebounding with 3. Also had 0 turnovers.

So he had to be the unsung hero of the game.

Sheldon’s 16 points was about 10 points above his avg.

Going to need more of that. Great game by him.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 4:22 pm

Cam Johnson also had a very strong game. Grabbed a career tying 8 rebounds. Was a dead-eye from 3.

And nailed every FT he took. And only had 1 Turnover.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 4:27 pm

There are games Luther will be a liability…ND. And games Kithcart will be exposed….last night…all depends on the style of the team we are playing. Last night Luther was terrific!

Comment by Dan 72 01.05.17 @ 5:09 pm

Stallings admits he screwed up not foul parrot….

link to twitter.com

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 5:15 pm

Let’s hope Kithcart can help break a press, he is a good ball handler and passer. He can also get to the hoop, but can’t make a foul shot. Course neither could our two stars last night. But they both more than made up for it on the floor.

1618, I am hard on Jones and think he could do a lot more with confidence and aggressiveness, same with Jeter who came through last night.

Johnson and Luther starting to look confident with the new system.

Really disappointing that Wilson hasn’t lived up to his High school rep, he could have really helped. One all-around competent guard and this team could be really good.

Comment by gc 01.05.17 @ 5:18 pm

Just see a much improved team since the SMU game, think we win if we played them again. Way better defense last night at some crucial times. Stallings may surprise naysayers

Comment by Steve h 01.05.17 @ 5:24 pm

Striking out on both Wilson & Kithcart could spell disaster. That means Stallings guard recruits have to all be studs or else.

link to scout.com

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 6:16 pm

guard and a center
those are the missing ingredients

Comment by TX Panther 01.05.17 @ 6:22 pm

You can be really good without a center but hard without a guard or two.

Comment by gc 01.05.17 @ 6:29 pm

Things are looking up…..Lunardi has us a 9 seed.

link to espn.com

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 6:31 pm

Prior to last night, most here expecting the worst.

My advice… don’t get TOO excited, at least not just yet. Struggles are coming.

This coming from one of the few predicting Stallings’ success over the LONG term.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.05.17 @ 6:33 pm

At least we’re watching Pitt play Basketball again.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.05.17 @ 6:34 pm

As for Kithcart… not only challenged ability wise… also seriously challenged in terms of SIZE.

So far looks to defy the saying that “Good things come in small packages.”

Comment by PittofDreams 01.05.17 @ 6:39 pm

Dan 72 – I love that Stallings admitted he screwed up by not fouling, that takes some humility. I know there are 2 schools of thought, but I’ve always been a “foul em'” guy.

Emel – absolutlely, great game by Cam as well. He and some others also did a great job of tipping rebounds to teammates, which saved us a few times last night.

And re Kithcart – Although he’s a liability at this point, I don’t have any problem with his size for a PG, but when you’re smaller, you need to be a penetrator or a guy who creates shots for others, however at this juncture he’s not doing any of that. He RARELY penetrates with any success. I have no doubt this could change, but he needs to prove it at this point.

Comment by 1618mt 01.05.17 @ 7:02 pm

Most in depth article I’ve seen on the game.

Got it off the twitter link Jack posted. Thx bro.

link to pittsburghsportsnow.com

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 7:43 pm

This team as I noted last nite… is much more entertaining to watch than recent teams.

You’d have to go back to Lamar Patterson’s and Zanna’s senior year.

That article I linked mentions the attendance last nite was less than 10K. But the Zoo was packed, fortunately to make it sound like a full house.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 7:47 pm

KittyCart needs to really tighten up his ‘handle’ if he is going to be of any help in a press situation.

Very loose with the ball.

Comment by EMel 01.05.17 @ 7:49 pm

I saw Kithcart’s HS tapes. He played in a very average HS league in tiny Lynchburg VA. He is a very good ball handler and was a terrific shooter in HS…..but not much competition.
He was rather good in spots vs ND. Awful last night. He’ll get there and help Pitt win some games vs quick small front courts. Not amongst the trees last night. Needs a ton of seasoning!

1618 …after the Vandy game of yore reminder from EMel et al last night, I almost broke my tv when we didn’t foul the 3 point shooter. Glad to hear coach fess up! Dixon never ever admitted fault in anything.

Lots of ups…and a few downs coming. Stallings really values scoring….the only way to advance in NCAA s

Comment by Dan 72 01.05.17 @ 8:22 pm

Thanks Emel….I missed that. Great article. I agree, I’d rather watch this brand of BB any day. Of course it’s hard to beat 2 OT games against ranked rivals.

I want to check out this article when it comes out:

link to twitter.com

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 8:45 pm

Dan, read the article Emel posted….

link to pittsburghsportsnow.com

He explains it best in the article. His rule is fowl with 5 seconds left….and they brought the ball up after a missed shot instead of inbounding the ball after a made shot.

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 8:47 pm

Recruiting notes:

“UPDATE (7:00 PM)-

**Like Pat Narduzzi and the football program, Kevin Stallings offered a prospect that’s considered one of the best in the entire country. 2018 forward Cam Reddish is a 247 Sports 5-star player and they rank him as the #4 overall prospect in the nation. Reddish, who’s from Norristown, Pennsylvania, has offers from Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas, UConn and Villanova.”

link to pittsburghsportsnow.com

At least he’ll be offering big time players unlike you know who…

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 9:09 pm

Jack again….read it ..thanks. All losses like ND are horrendous to take as a team but if you can learn and not repeat those mistakes, you have the chance to be a special team.

The 5 stretch offense Pitt runs used to be called 5 out motion. I’ve rarely seen it played well for an entire game but it is all Pitt runs while everyone else runs a 1-4 or flex offense. Because of Pitt’s overall height and athletic ness, it is very hard to defend for a full game. To hear the VA coach say he kept his best center on the bench and went small all game…wow!

Comment by Dan 72 01.05.17 @ 9:27 pm

I thought that the Panthers played solid games against Virginia and Notre Dame. Pitt controlled the tempo in both games. But they still need to learn how to put teams away. Because of turnovers or missed opportunities they let them hang around. I don’t think either game should have gone to overtime.

Comment by Justinian 01.05.17 @ 9:40 pm

Remember what I posted yesterday about Stallings getting his kind of players?

link to pittsburghsportsnow.com

We need a couple good games in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament to get things going in recruiting.

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 9:53 pm

Justinian…..I agree about the turnovers. That would really help out.

Now if we can beat another nemesis…L’Ville next Wednesday that would be huge. I think we’ll beat Cuse since they know we own them and because we’ve been playing against the 2-3 zone most of the year.

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 9:57 pm

Another possible recruit:

link to pittsburghsportsnow.com

Comment by Jackagain 01.05.17 @ 10:04 pm

Interesting Opinion this morning from Paul Zeise of the Post Gazette.

A couple of highlights…

“… nobody can deny that Pitt is now really fun to watch, and that, given the personalities of this senior class, Stallings is a much better fit than Dixon was.”

And

“Dixon never beat Virginia, and one reason was he tried to beat the Cavaliers at their own game, grinding out possessions. That approach is a recipe for disaster.”

Comment by PittofDreams 01.06.17 @ 6:32 am

If you want to know about Basketball in general and Pitt Basketball in particular… just read Zeise.

Someone who knows and says what he knows.

Refreshing.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.06.17 @ 6:35 am

Now, if we can only find the same for Pitt Football.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.06.17 @ 6:36 am

Personally I found Pitt fun to watch when we won, no matter the style.
I completely agree with moving on from JD as recruiting seemed to be tracking downward and if his style of play was to blame(likely a big factor), good luck at TCU and I am OK with the Stallings hire.
Wednesday’s game LOOKED different than every other game I’ve seen this year and the difference wasn’t just the shooting success. MY looked to play with consistent intensity on every possession. Likely the good shooting helped his attitude, but I didn’t see it fade as UVA made their potentially psyche breaking comeback. Let’s see if this effort continues on nights when shots aren’t falling and then I will get excited for March.

H2P!!! Let’s see recruiting payoffs soon.

Comment by TVax1 01.06.17 @ 8:07 am

I do agree with Zeise that Stallings is a better fit for this particular group of players. I know people like to ding Dixon for his quality of recruiting. However I think he did recruit more talented players. His issue/problem was that he wouldn’t adapt his style to allow more talented players the freedom that they needed, wanted or deserved. The past two years Pitt has shown an ability to run and push the ball. For whatever reason Dixon continued to try to push them into his old style (HT Emel, slogball). It’s interesting because I have seen two TCU games this year, both conference games, and he seems to allow that team more freedom. Perhaps he learned something….

TVax I think you are on to something. I saw the same thing with player intensity the past couple of years when shots are falling.

On the other hand Zeise has become Stallings biggest cheerleader. It’s like he’s working with EJ. He should be more measured as it was only one game against a conference opponent. As Emel noted earlier in this thread Pitt shot 62% from 3, 54% overall, and outrebounded UVA by 18. This iteration of UVA did not resemble the UVA teams I have seen over the past three years.

Comment by Barvo 01.06.17 @ 9:41 am

Obviously Virginia was a pretty good matchup for Pitt.

Keep in mind, minus the BAD luck at the end… Pitt is 2 and 0 in the ACC.

Sure worse matchups are coming against NON-Virginia like Teams. That would be Teams who like to RUN and also have a BIG.

But what I REALLY like about the way Stallings operates is the way he is NEARLY invisible during the Games.

He obviously does his COACHING in between Games and not during them.

Preparation for Stallings is KEY.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.06.17 @ 9:49 am

Bravo…I watched TCU on tv last game and agree Dixon is running his offense at a faster pace and giving some shooting
freedom that I rarely saw him give at Pitt.

Having said that, he still runs his 1-4 offense with the same 5-6 options he had at Pitt…just a little quicker. The reason his teams do so well in Dec/Jan is that this offense is so precise.
By Feb/March his teams have been scouted and,like me, the opposition knows each and every play before it’s even run.

Comment by Dan 72 01.06.17 @ 9:49 am

POD….Stallings also consults with his “trusted” assistants throughout the game….like most other coaches.

Comment by Dan 72 01.06.17 @ 9:50 am

As for Zeise… personally find him to be more even-handed than many of the other Pitt Beat Writers who really are extensions of the Pitt Athletic Department.

Regardless, if you’ve read Zeise the past few years it’s tough for anyone to question his Basketball IQ.

He understands the Game and its complexities.

Comment by PittofDreams 01.06.17 @ 9:55 am

Basketball is a game of match-ups and Kevin Stallings understands that. The way the Panthers are currently playing creates a lot of problems for opposing teams. Imagine trying to defend Artis on the perimeter or Young who can hit from the 3 point line or post you up inside. Jetter is also a very versatile guy who beat you in variety of ways. I believe a coach should be flexible enough to take advantage of the abilities of his players. Jamie Dixon had a system that I loved where recruited a particular type of player who play that style. Tony Bennett’s Virginia teams play in similar style where they stress defense and the half court game where they work the clock and make you defend longer than you are accustomed to. Personally I am not married to a particular style of play, but I think you need to exploit whatever advantages you have. I see this group has a lot of offensive talent and I think is wise to play that way.

Comment by Justinian 01.06.17 @ 10:21 am

Way to early to tell how good this team can be, but if they get consistent contributions from Johnson, Jeter and Luther, tighten up the D a little and make foul shots, they may surprise.

In just two games at the Pete, there seems to be a different feeling, much more to cheer for. Too bad the full zoo wasn’t there for ND.

With 4 seniors they should be decent on the road as well, but we’ll see.

Shots usually don’t drop as easily on the road, where we will need better D.

Comment by gc 01.06.17 @ 11:29 am

gc, I like what I’ve seen in the last two ACC games. I would have preferred 2 wins, but I thought the Panthers played well. For whatever reason, they not putting teams away. They still need to tighten up some things. It’s almost as though, it’s surprising that the other team is stilling hanging around.

Comment by Justinian 01.06.17 @ 4:07 pm

Current beat writer, Craig Meyer, is excellent.

Comment by Tossing Thabeets 01.06.17 @ 5:01 pm

Too bad Crisshawn Clark got hurt….we could sure use him this year. I forgot that Stallings will have him onboard next year as a SG.

link to espn.com

Comment by Jackagain 01.06.17 @ 5:55 pm

What baffled me about Dixon was why did he recruit kids who could not play his style of defense-first bb. I can see where you can miss on one player, but to miss on several after watching and following them for years in high school and AAU is baffling. He knew what it took to run his style, yet who was the last player who was a natural for it?

Comment by DionJag 01.06.17 @ 6:15 pm

Pitt of Dreams:
I think Dixon increasingly micromanaged games as his recruiting waned. I was sick of seeing him on the floor. His body language alone was deflating.
Stallings is much different. I suppose there are some benefits to micromanagement , but I can’t think of any. Would love to come out of Syracuse with a W.

Comment by SFPitt 01.07.17 @ 6:17 am

TCU (Jamie Dixon) is at WV at noon on CW Jamie for some reason is running an up tempo game Why didnt he do this with Pitt Give the guys some opporunties to do what they are best at The Hell with Slug Ball hey guys dont shoot lets play defense and win 51 to 50 anyway H2P

Comment by Boo Boo #1 01.07.17 @ 7:04 am

Pulled this bit from the P-G article on Barney this morning –

The Stallings hire was met with some blowback, both from the fan base and media, but Barnes claims that reaction was not something that stayed in the back of his mind as he considered the Oregon State job.

“We make decisions for the best interest of the university, and if we want to listen to the fringe or whatever, at the end of the day … we got the best guy,” Barnes said. “He’s doing a great job. … We’re excited about the future in basketball. You let a blip on the screen, because of some knuckleheads at a press conference, bother you, then you’re not going to be focused what you need to be focused on.”

Noise = “fringe” or “knucklehead”

You learn something new everyday.

Comment by Erie Express 01.07.17 @ 9:13 am

I guess anyone who questions his judgment is a knucklehead and part of the fringe. Talk about arrogance. Glad that ass is on his way out.

Comment by TX Panther 01.07.17 @ 10:42 am

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