7pm.
Been a day. Let’s stick to sports for a couple hours.
Luck in sports statistics is essentially the deviation of wins and losses from the numbers. So a team that wins a lot of close games is considered lucky and a team that loses a lot of close games is unlucky.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple. We like to ascribe characteristics to the teams. The ones that constantly win close games aren’t simply lucky (unless we hate them). No, they are veterans, gritty or just “know how to win.” Teams that are constantly on the other side of the coin are too young, or soft, or have a culture of losing.
Well, your cliche may vary.
Needless to say, Pitt has been in a lot of close games and ended up on the losing end of a lot of them. To the point where Pitt is close to the very bottom of all D-1 teams in terms of “luck.”
I don’t think this Pitt team is soft or has a culture issue. They are young. And they have indeed been unlucky. But a lot of it has been self-inflicted. Especially over the last few weeks.
They’ve come out and dug big holes for themselves in games with poor shooting and not getting back on defense. The frustrations of losing have taken a toll. So, when they do regroup and get back in the game, they are still behind and not able to quite close the deal.
Players have hit walls. Their weaknesses have been scouted and exploited. Don’t even get me started on being able to handle zone defenses.
But this team still has their chances. Especially tonight.
