There’s a reason Rick Majerus gets so much positive love, no matter what he does. He knows how to lay it on and play to the jolly fat man role.
“I do want to make one final comment; Pitt has been a really great host this weekend. It’s not easy to host a tournament and have it run smoothly, but that’s what these guys did here. From scheduling shoot-arounds and locker rooms, to the coordination of everything else, this place really is top-notch. Everyone, from the police officers to the attendants and everyone in-between was just so friendly. I’m telling you what, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the NCAA Tournament come here to the Petersen Events Center. It would be silly to not take advantage of the facilities and the accommodations that Pitt has to offer. From the gyms, to parking lots, to the people, this was just a great experience and I want to thank everyone involved.”
As for the stories. Majerus was happy to gush about the Pitt players.
“Bryce was emasculated by that young kid,” Majerus said of Blair. “I really love that kid. The kid is a big-time player. It’s the same thing I used to say about Tim Duncan when I faced Duncan at this age. I’d like to be his agent.
“He’s a phenomenal low-block talent on the come. He reminds me of a young Malone. Blair has phenomenal hands. He has soft hands. He has good touch, and he has strong hands. He just blocked Barry Eberhardt and Husak like they were rag-dolls down there. He just took Husak to school.
“You can’t coach the three components that kid’s hands have. Plus, he’s got great low-body balance. Plus, he’s big and strong, and he’s genuinely tough. In an era where there is a lot of pretend toughness, that kid has toughness. He could be special as a (power forward).”
There also was the Majerus influence on Pitt, as it was clear to many that St. Louis played a Pitt style of basketball.
“It was great because we knew exactly what was coming,” Pitt point guard Levance Fields said. “We knew we’d be on defense for 35 seconds each play. We emphasized not falling for shot fakes and no one did. That was good to see that we carried things through.”
Long before coming to Pitt, Dixon, while an assistant under Ben Howland at Northern Arizona, went to Utah to study Majerus and his coaching style. Dixon and Howland began running Majerus’ motion offense and adopted his tough, defensive mentality that have become the hallmarks of Pitt’s program.
“We were struggling our first two years [at Northern Arizona],” Dixon said. “We were running some other stuff. We went to their offensive and defensive philosophies. He’s been a good friend and a mentor. His stamp on this program is probably the most significant of anybody.”
Pitt is transitioning to a more up-tempo style this season because Dixon has recruited better athletes, but the Panthers showed last night that they still know how to win a low-scoring game. Saint Louis got control of the tempo and bled the shot clock almost every possession, but Pitt made all the right plays down the stretch to record the victory.
“We want to run like we keep talking about, but put in a situation where we have to play against a team that is going to hold the ball for 35 seconds a possession, we have to play a similar style that we played in previous years,” Fields said.
From St. Louis, the lesson was that talent matters. A lot.
Blair, Pitt’s 6-foot-7, 265-pound freshman, rolled through the Billikens, scoring 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds as No. 22 Pitt handed SLU its first loss of the season, 69-58. SLU doesn’t have a player like that — not many schools do, actually — and it showed.
“He bopped Barry Eberhardt and Bryce (Husak) like they were rag dolls down there,” said SLU coach Rick Majerus, who compared Blair to a young Karl Malone. “They’ve got size and athleticism. They kicked our butt. We didn’t play well, but it was because of Pitt.”
The St. Louis beat writer had some additional thoughts in his blog.
Majerus effusively praised the set up at Pittsburgh and the efficiency of the operation. He said Pitt should be an NCAA site (Petersen Center is too small; they’d have to do it elsewhere) and offered to have a home-and-home series with Pitt.
Pitt was called for only nine fouls, three in the first, six in the second. SLU was called for 17, though seven were in the last two minutes of the game.
In other words. the officials let them play and did call the game rather evenly.
