- A really disappointing loss today . . . lots of silver linings to talk about . . . but one unavoidable reality . . . Pitt is officially bubble, and they really need to win the next 4 or 3 of 4 plus a Big East tournament game to assure an NCAA bid.
- Dixon may have lost this game for them with some odd substitution in the first half . . . why he would put Wanamaker and Benjamin into the game at the same time at the 1 and 2 is puzzling, especially considering he now has two PGs . . . a 5 possession swing occurred and it killed Pitt's momentum and may have lost them the game in the long run.
- Pitino also scouted Pitt out very well . . . the constant pressure and the targeting of Ramon were very smart.
- I don't like sitting Brown at the beginning of the game . . . but, it is what it is, I guess.
- By the way, Wanamaker played an awful 2-4 minutes . . . if he wants to play from here on out, he can't play D like that . . . honestly, one more performance like that and I think it is time for Pitt to completely shorten and cut him out . . . it may be time anyway, because these upcoming games are very, very important and Pitt can't afford inexperienced play and mistakes.
- Player of the Game - I want to go with Fields, but his defense lacked at points, he isn't moving great laterally yet. So, I am going with Sam Young, who seemingly hit every big shot to keep Pitt in this game. Young is playing like a true NBA 3 right now offensively . . . he looks like a bigger Jason Richardson. He has it all working right now and he is making much better decisions with the ball. And he even played some inspired defense late, along with some strong board work. He had some of his normal lapses, but for the most part I thought the effort was there.
- Fields was outstanding offensively . . . he helped Pitt get those 3-5 easy buckets that they missed without him . . . his ball movement is outstanding . . . the handle is excellent . . . honestly, I think he has kept himself in great shape while he was out . . . he has to work more into basketball shape (which in turn will help his lateral movement, which is a little lacking right now), but his explosion going forward right now is very impressive. He shed Sosa and Knowles multiple times and they are very quick guards . . . it was highly impressive. I think his explosion is affecting his jumper a little, but it will be better with more play.
- Except for the missed bunny at the end, Blair was excellent offensively. He also was great on the boards and played pretty decent defense . . . players scored on him, but he was where he should have been and stayed away from bad fouls.
- Brown still can't buy a 3, but the rest of his game was encouraging . . . I loved the aggressiveness and the D . . . he can get anything he wants in the midrange . . . and his length just really challenges other teams offensively.
- Benjamin played good today . . . Pitt needed a little more O from him, but the D was better than it has been . . . he took some gambles he should not have taken down the stretch though . . .
- Ramon was a lot better in shorter minutes today . . . Pitt needs his contribution badly, but I just believe he is a better player when he is under 30 minutes . . . honestly, I think he is even better around 25.
- Biggs was pretty invisible today, nothing really good and nothing really bad.
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2 comments:
Agree with most of your points.
I think the game was lost on Defense. Absolutely horrible defense. Lousville seemed to get about 400 easy layups.
Also, on Offense the priorities need to be Young and Blair on each possession. Run the offense through them. I think they do that for the most part.
I am not high on Wannamaker at all. I think he will get better but he clearly isn't ready to play at this point.
Player of the game... Young and Blair both played very well in my opinion. I would go with Young is I had to pick one player. He may some big 3's that kept us in the game.
I don't think the Dixon decision cost us the game. I think missing foul shots, three pointers and folding to Lville's pressure killed us.
Our legs are gone and that worries me. I just hope we will have enough against Cincy, DePaul, and either WVu or Cuse.
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