Pitt is 3d in the AP Poll and 3A (4th) in the Coaches poll. It’s nice but don’t take it seriously. Most of the polls are still about pre-season expectations and name recognition this early in the season.
5-0 is a solid start, and it is impressing people.
No. 5 Pittsburgh (5-0)
The Good: The Panthers proved they are for real. Pitt routed Massachusetts (one of the Atlantic 10’s top teams) 85-68 at home. Better yet, the Panthers proved they can play without 7-foot center Aaron Gray. With Gray’s minutes limited because of foul trouble and a cut on his lip that required seven stitches, the Panthers relied on their balance. Five players scored in double figures, but nobody had more than 14 points. Nine players have finished in double figures already.
The Bad: The balance is certainly impressive, but a go-to guy has yet to emerge – a role that trigger-happy Carl Krauser played for the last two seasons.
The Ugly: None.
Rex made a good point about Pitt not going to blow any team out of the water by 50 points. Pitt is a very efficient team on offense, but they are not a run and gun team. The Pitt approach is to take their time to find the shot on offense and make the other team work hard on both ends of the ball. It’s a very controlled tempo. A team like UNC or Memphis will seek to run like crazy so they will have 50 point wins over Gardner-Webb. Pitt won’t. Don’t expect it or you will make yourself crazy complaining about wins.
Just remember, at least Pitt didn’t go down in flames to Stony Brook and are looking to a game with 0-3 Bucknell as a statement game. That’s building up the old confidence.
They need to push it when the opportunities present themselves, and they need to be effecient when they do it. Too often they do not convert on fast breaks — too many passes going off of people’s hands, too many bad passes period. That’s something they really need to work on.
