There isn’t much to take away as positive to the season ending loss.

Equally spaced along a row of benches inside the locker room, the Pitt Panthers, all of them, faced their lockers, forearms rested on thighs, with their heads between their knees. The silence was deafening.

This is where it ended, long before any of them thought it would, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. A team filled with so much promise five months ago when the season began, Pitt bowed out with a whimper yesterday, losing to Pacific, 79-71.
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Disbelief shrouded the Panthers, who had advanced to the third round the past three seasons. They spoke openly about this team being the most talented of the bunch and the one that finally could reach the Final Four.

“It really hurts,” said point guard Carl Krauser, who led Pitt with 27 points. “We kind of took a step back this season. It’s one-and-done. I never had this feeling here at Pitt.”

Where to start with this one? Pitt lost it in a myriad of ways: porous defense, wretched outside shooting, a slow start. And get this, being overpowered by the European-style, West-coasters inside.

Pacific outrebounded Pitt, 35-30, and had the better of the play in the post. The Tigers were the third opponent to outrebound the Panthers this season. Four Pacific players scored in double figures. Forward Christian Maraker and guard David Doubley scored 17 points apiece, guard Mike Webb had 15 and center Guillaume Yango 12. Pacific dissected Pitt’s defense and shot 47 percent from the field, 58 percent in the first half when the Tigers jumped to a 15-point lead.

You just don’t go into the offseason feeling real good after losing like this.

Judging by the way Pitt came out in the first half, you would think they never got the memo that the NCAA is a one-and-done tournament. They still seem to be struggling with that.

This was a St. Patrick’s Day Massacre for the Pitt program, an occasion that elicited tears and torment after a biting loss to Pacific, 79-71, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t know if I want to cry or punch somebody,” sophomore center Chris Taft said.

“Can you believe it? It’s really over for us.” freshman guard Keith Benjamin said. “We weren’t expecting this at all.”

No, the Panthers were expecting to go to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive year and put to rest any questions about their inconsistent regular season. They also hoped to back up a preseason proclamation by Taft and point guard Carl Krauser of “National Championship or bust.”

But 2004-05 ended far from St. Louis (site of the Final Four), with the Panthers dropping five of their final seven games and finishing with a 20-9 record. Senior forward Chevon Troutman, playing his last game at Pitt, aptly set the tone for the dismal afternoon, missing his first four shots and getting benched by coach Jamie Dixon.

Things slowly deteriorated from there.
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Pacific moves on to the round of 32 to play No. 1 seed Washington, while the Panthers enter an offseason that is filled with question marks. Will Krauser and Taft return next season? Can starting shooting guard Antonio Graves (12 points) become a high-level Big East player? Can underclassmen Ronald Ramon (no points, 0-for-5 from the field), Levon Kendall (no points), Benjamin (seven) and Aaron Gray (no points) carry Pitt forward? Or, did the program peak with the three consecutive Sweet 16 berths?

Second-year Jamie Dixon said afterward that “we’ve improved,” even though the results said otherwise in 2004-05.

That “improved” comment is going to haunt Dixon for a while. Joe Starkey goes after Dixon for that, and a host of other things.

In the wake of Pitt’s season-ending, 79-71 loss to Pacific on Thursday, coach Jamie Dixon was asked why his team never improved.

It seemed like a reasonable question, considering the Panthers lost five of their final seven games, saved their worst two games for last and never found a way to solve their major problem — defending the perimeter.

Pacific became the eighth team to shred the Panthers for 10 or more 3-pointers, making 10 of 20.

“Actually, I thought we did get better,” Dixon said. “I thought we improved throughout the year. We had two very good wins just two games ago.”
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“I would definitely say our team improved throughout the year,” he said. “I don’t think we played as well as we could have today, but our young kids got better. Keith (Benjamin) got better. Ronald (Ramon) got better. Antonio (Graves) got better. Chris (Taft) got better. We had a great season.”

Dixon cannot believe that.
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Maybe the real question is whether Dixon has improved. It’s hard to argue in his favor when the players he put on the floor yesterday left their feet at simple ball fakes, failed to block out, tossed up ill-advised shots (hello, Chevy Troutman 3-point attempt that clanks off the backboard) and threw the ball away regularly.

And have you ever seen a more ineffective press?

Dixon stubbornly left senior Mark McCarroll in the starting lineup, even though McCarroll has contributed very little (nothing yesterday in nine minutes).

Where was John DeGroat on a day when Pitt had one of his worst efforts on the offensive boards?

I think we all know that Dixon was trying to protect his players and coaches, but then he needs to take responsibility for the loss. There was no sense of that. It seemed that the entire team, top down, just seemed stunned that they lost — again. That there was nothing they could do about it.

Ron Cook lauds Krauser while taking shots at Dixon.

At least Carl Krauser was man enough to face the harsh truth after Pitt went out meekly in the first round of the NCAA tournament yesterday. At the same time coach Jamie Dixon was talking absolute nonsense about the Panthers improving throughout the season and having a great year, Krauser was putting the 79-71 loss to Pacific in its proper, if painful, perspective.

“We definitely underachieved. This is a big step back for us.”
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Krauser has to take his share of the blame, an odd thing to say about a player who scored 27 points. But Krauser clearly wasn’t ready for the 12:40 start. Neither was Chevon Troutman, who — there is no other way to put it — played as if he had been out all night chasing the Boise State women gymnasts.

Let me pause here for an observation. There’s a real hesitancy on most parties, and I’ll include myself, to direct too much criticism at Troutman. Everyone likes Troutman. They see the effort, the fact that he is maxing out his potential. How generally solid his game is. How much he has overcome, personally. He seems to be everyone’s favorite player. We want him to do well, and hate to have to say how bad he’s been playing. How much blame he has to shoulder for the loss. I mean, there were moments in the first half when I thought maybe Kendall and DeGroat should be in there at the forward spots.

In the wake of the loss, Taft and Krauser are going to be considering their options. I don’t think there is any question that Taft goes pro. Despite his season, his draft stock hasn’t really changed. He is still considered a likely lottery pick based on his potential alone. Coming back won’t really change that. It would benefit Pitt and give him more time to develop his game, but it wouldn’t result in much of a difference in his draft status.

Krauser, a partial qualifier who must graduate from Pitt this year in order be eligible next season, knows that jumping to the NBA can be risky. He pointed to former St. John’s guard Omar Cook, who declared after his freshman season and was taken in the second round by the Orlando Magic in 2001. Cook has been in and out of NBA camps, but has struggled to make a career of it.

“I’m still undecided,” said Krauser. “I don’t know what to do, because both options are going to affect my life. If I make the wrong decision, I could be out there struggling like other guys, like Omar Cook and those guys. I have to make the right decision – and I know I can play at the next level — but I have to sit down and think about. I really haven’t done that yet because I didn’t want anything to distract me this year.”

I don’t think Krauser has looked too seriously at the NBA draft yet. If he has, and he is jumps, he is delusional. The 2005 draft for point guards looks to be ridiculously deep. At best he would be a late 2nd rounder, and only because some GM fell in love with him. Krauser’s best served by going to some camps and seeing how he compares on a broader level. There’s plenty he can learn.

Players also have the option of receiving a written evaluation from the NBA undergraduate advisory committee. The committee is chaired by Stu Jackson, the NBA’s vice president of basketball operations. Jackson, NBA scouting director Marty Blake and eight general managers comprise the committee and write an evaluation for a player who is considering the draft.

Players are even allowed to call NBA general managers to ask about their draft status. This step is rarely taken, though, as players are unaware that it’s within NCAA rules.

Drifting back to the Pacific game. Pitt’s inability to consistently drain 3 pointers over the last 7 games (losing 5) has to be considered part of the problem. During that stretch, they were barely at 30%. Remember in early January, when Pitt had one of the best 3-point shooting percentages in the country?

You have to wonder about whether Ramon will need surgery on the shoulder, or just time to let it heal. And you have to hope he is mentally strong enough to shake off the extended slump.

In his final eight games this season, Ramon was 6 of 34 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range and did not hit more than one 3-pointer in any of those games. He reached double figures only once in the final 15 games.

Benjamin had a good game coming off the bench, but he was the only one.

Lots of questions going into this offseason.