A month ago, the national question regarding Pitt, was were they a fraud? Two weeks ago, it was why aren’t their 3 stars producing? A week ago, it was, can Pitt handle Syracuse? Now, Pitt is confident again, and the questions have stopped for the moment.
The team credits the meeting following the loss to St. John’s and the renewed focus on getting the ball inside more. Not settling for outside shots.
In a story bound to raise more than a few eyebrows, Krauser credits his turnaround to going back to basics. Letting Krauser be Krauser.
“I was trying something different for the coaches,” Krauser said Monday, after he torched Providence for 19 points and nine assists in an 86-66 victory. “I was trying to move the ball a little more, but, you know, my game is basically instinctive. That’s the way I play. That’s the way everything works well.”
Does that mean Krauser was trying too hard to be the classic, pass-first point guard instead of just playing his game, and that playing his game can mean assuming a scorer’s mentality?
“Exactly,” said Krauser, who is averaging 17.3 points, 8.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds during Pitt’s three-game winning streak. “That’s exactly what it was. Sometimes, you can’t change what’s working. You know, when you step out of character to try something else, it’s always going to be a little awkward. You have to come back to yourself, to the way you play. That’s the way you got here.
“I just came back to that.”
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon flashed a quizzical look when told of Krauser’s remarks about feeling too robotic last month.
The story is reported straight forward, you keep waiting for the conttradiction or something. It’s not there. Still, the piece points out that Krauser, while never a classic point guard, puts up some similar numbers to Chris Thomas of Notre Dame and Gerry McNamara at Syracuse. There is also the state of his defensive play. Playing tough defense out on the perimeter helped get his offense going.
“Oh, man,” Krauser said. “It set a big fire to the wood.”
There’s a reason Krauser is considered one of the best interviews in the Big East.
