Do I and all the other fans want more? You bet. Does every loss fill my mouth with ashes and doubts? Of course. Let’s take a moment though to enjoy some of this.
Last night was an important win for Pitt over Villanova. (more about the actual game in a later post) They are on a 9 day layoff, without having to dwell on a loss or missed opportunities.
In an 8-day, 4 game stretch with road and home alternating games, Pitt was 3-1
Pitt is now 4-0 in the Big East on the road and 8-1 overall, and in sole possession of 1st place. Whether the conference is down or not (and it is), that is still a great start. Pitt started the 03-04 season 8-1 in conference, to match the best ever start.
Pitt has already won 20 games this season — the first time a Pitt coach has ever won 20 games in 4 straight years.
The sixth straight year Pitt has won 20 or more game — an ongoing record. The first time, in this era that Pitt has done it with a solid non-con.
Pitt has spent the entire season ranked in the top-10.
We are watching a team that prefers to control and slow down the pace, but is capable of playing just fine at a faster pace. Able to make adjustments.
The first half of last night’s game was reminiscent of numerous games this year. How can the person with the ball take it into 2-3 defenders and for the most part turn it over? That is not smart ball. I can see Cook trying too hard because he is playing in his home town but does it take to the second half to correct his error in ball handling judgement?
When they play like they did in the first half last night, the miscues/bad ball protection seem to end up being contagious. A contagion that effects their whole game offensively and at times defensively as well.
I just hope they work this bug out of them. I want them to get to the Elite 8 and beyond but said contagion will come back to bite them if they don’t get it fixed.
I know we are losing Gray and Kendall this year but I am so excited and impressed with next year’s recruits and 08 looks like it will be just as good. There are athletes in those classes who I believe will take this program to another level.
I think of Blair, Dodson, Wannemaker, and Vargas (if the land him) as special players who can create their shot, hard to guard, and when its crunch time…..SCORE, particularly Dodson.
Of couse don’t forget Fields and Young from this team. Remember they are only sophmores. The future looks bright!
1. When they showed Dixon sputtering nonsense about 1 timeout left, while Graves kept putting two fingers up to try and clue him in that they had two left. Dixon just kept on with the gibberish. I guess those stories about how nervous he is before games and how the players have to calm him down are true.
2. After a Panther hit a couple foul shots, Sam Young grabbed the ball and went to the baseline to go ahead and inbound it like it was still Pitt’s possession. Classic. He thought it should still be their ball. I would like to spend 10….no make that 5…..minutes in Sam’s head…it must be awesome in there.
Really impressed with our road record: that is a good sign for March.
these close games are good for our team down the stretch…we really tired nova out……hopefully funks like our first half here, and other first halfs during the season can be worked out….id absolutley love to see a game where everything clicked….i guess st. johns, but id love to see it vs a good team………
We will definitely miss Gray next year. He was that big man we’ve been missing for a long time. It would be nice to have another agile 7 footer in the pipeline.
But the program will have to do it with what they got. Hopefully Wallace, Diggs, and McGhee will be able to give them some quality minutes at the 5 spot next year.
“–adjective 1. quick and well-coordinated in movement; lithe: an agile leap.
2. active; lively: an agile person.
3. marked by an ability to think quickly; mentally acute or aware: She’s 95 and still very agile.
ag·ile (Äj’É™l, -Ä«l’) Pronunciation Key
adj.
Characterized by quickness, lightness, and ease of movement; nimble.
Mentally quick or alert: an agile mind.
1. moving quickly and lightly; “sleek and agile as a gymnast”; “as nimble as a deer”; “nimble fingers”; “quick of foot”; “the old dog was so spry it was halfway up the stairs before we could stop it”
2. mentally quick; “an agile mind”; “nimble wits”
From those definitions it can be seen that there are basically 2 criteria for being agile. 1) Being qucik qucik and moving with coordination. 2) Being qucik of mind
Of course Gray meets the second criteron and especisally this year. As for the first he does have some quick agile like moves in and around the basket but he is hardly Russell, Akeem or Okafor like but then agian none of them were 7′.
Gray has shown this year that he is definitely agile in the cranial domain. He has the abiltiy to think quickly and make good decisions.
So as to the first truly agile in both senses 7′ center, none really come to mind but I do know that when he was playing at LSU, I saw Shaq grab the rebound on the defensive board and then drive the court and drive to the hole and score on more than one occasion. But he has put on a little weight since then!
Fans who can’t appreciate a team that shares the ball as well as Pitt just don’t know basketball. These guys excel at passing the ball and none of them are selfish. 80% of the time we get a great shot. Players will pass up good shots to get a teamate a great shot. It is a delight to watch them play.