Okay, I think I’m reset. I was actually feeling much better yesterday afternoon. I watched UConn play a very uninspired game against Louisville. On Senior day, on a team loaded with seniors. I had watched an inspired Cinci team take down WVU. Wake pulled an upset on NC St. There were some other scores that helped.
I was regaining perspective. Seton Hall isn’t a bad team, and they were playing for their tourney hopes and perhaps their coach’s job.
There were plenty of bad losses by better teams to teams on the bubble earlier in the week. Texas A&M over Texas, FSU over Duke, even Louisville getting over Marquette.
As the coach of Memphis, John Calipari, put it after his team struggled to a win over Houston following a loss to UAB and previously struggling against Tulsa.
Calipari added that other top teams like Duke, which has lost two straight, Texas, Pitt, are having the same struggles down the stretch.
“I told them, ‘There are other players around the country feeling like you do about their game,'” Calipari said. “Just keep working at it. You’ll be fine. We may not be playing great right now. Don’t worry about that. We’re winning the way we’re playing, but they’re going to have to start playing a little bit better.”
It’s just seeing the ticker go by with that USF win over Georgetown. It just set me off again over what could have been. Now Pitt plays on Wednesday. They will play Notre Dame if St. John’s wins or Louisville if St. John’s loses to Rutgers.
Neither option is a gimmee as both teams are playing much better than in January. Louisville battled Pitt hard, leading a good deal before fading down the stretch. A lot like Seton Hall in pressuring defense and trying to slow the game down. ND was down big to Pitt before coming alive with Quinn just getting white hot on offense — hitting 3s from everywhere and penetrating. ND has dropped Francis’ minutes because of his soft play, and the team seems to have improved from it.
If Pitt gets the win, they would face WVU.