Ah, finals week. The sugar, caffeine, nicotine, mild hallucinations from pulling 2 all-nighters in a 3 day stretch, the lack of personal hygiene, and then selling your books for beer money. It’s not that I miss all of that, so much as I miss knowing that I was able to do that without dying or ending up hospitalized. Ah, youth.

Pretty much as expected. Pitt had a slow, sluggish game after a week off and finals.

Due to semester exams, Pitt practiced sporadically last week as players spent more time in the library than in the gym. And for much of yesterday afternoon’s game against Vermont, it appeared as if the Panthers’ heads were still in the classroom.
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Coach Jamie Dixon did not practice his team Sunday, Monday or Wednesday. When he did attempt to have a practice, three or four players were absent so they could study or take tests.

“We seem to play better when we practice. I’m sure about that,” Dixon said with a smile. “It’s not an excuse. It’s just part of college basketball. Everyone goes through it. We had more finals later in the week this year than in the past. That was something that was different. We’ll face worse adversity than that. Any wins in finals week is a good win.”

Again, not terribly unexpected. A young team, finals, not a lot of practice, a week between games, and the expected let-down after blowing a team out of the water. It doesn’t stop a bit of frustration and wishing otherwise, but, uh, “it is what it is.”

Coach Dixon, as usual, defends his players and the team.

When it was suggested that Vermont was able to get some easy looks at the basket at the outset, Dixon quickly countered.

“People have high expectations,” he said. “When 34 percent isn’t good enough, then you know where we’re at.”

Which, of course, was not the question. The question was the early, wide-open shots Vermont was getting. The Catamounts able to follow their own shot because Pitt wasn’t boxing out under the basket. Vermont actually was even with Pitt on rebounds in the first half. It took Pitt more than 10 minutes into the game before taking the lead for good. The Panthers opened with 3-14 shooting, before closing the half with 9-14 shooting.

Vermont hit their first 4 shots, 3-4 on threes in the beginning, and were getting second chance points. The Pitt D came around first. Vermont started out 5-7 shooting, then 3-16 the rest of the half.

That’s what gave Pitt the opening to start blowing it open. That, and Carl Krauser taking over. Krauser caught fire during Pitt’s run in the first half, and single-handedly forced a change in Vermont’s defense.

“He’s a really good player,” said [Vermont Coach, Mike] Lonergan, whose team went to a zone to slow Krauser. “They’re a very, very physical team. We battled their big guys and the guys really worked the ball around, we just couldn’t get a break.”

It is a luxury to have Krauser be able to take over these games. He not only provided the leadership to settle the team down, but scored almost at will for a stretch.