I suppose it’s very frustrating, because I’m sure we can all think of just a couple plays that if Pitt hadn’t made a mistake or the ball went in, Pitt would be the winner. Instead Pitt loses 64-63.
That’s the nature of a tight loss. The “what if” game.
- What if Blair had made any of those bunnies around the basket (5-14), or even one more free throw (2-5)?
- What if Benjamin hadn’t committed that final dumb foul that put him out of the game and gave ‘Nova the and-1?
- What if Ramon hadn’t committed any number of turnovers? Or Ramon hadn’t missed the front end of a 1-and-1?
And those are just a few off the top of my head.
You can bet if Villanova had lost, their fans would be playing the same game considering the way Pitt shut down Cunningham, Reynolds, Fisher and Redding. The Villanova bench bailed out the starters in this game. Grant and Pena scored 34 points. The Wildcat starters came up with 25. I guess that’s what makes the loss frustrating. The primaries were stopped, but other ‘Nova players stepped in.
Overall, this is what has to be expected for most of the Big East schedule. Very up-and-down play. Moments where it looks like Pitt can overcome it all and moments where the team looks totally lost. I expect it will improve later in the season, but to not expect some tremendous inconsistencies over the next 2-3 weeks is not being realistic.
Teams like Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall and Syracuse. With their strength so obviously in their backcourt will be among the teams that really force Pitt to struggle.
Of greater concern to me is that I don’t think this team is in a position to stick with a 7-man rotation. In both halves, I saw Pitt start to wear down physically as the players just couldn’t get enough of a blow on the bench. All the starters played at least 30 minutes, with Blair leading with 37 minutes. They hit a point with 7 minutes in each half, where they really seemed to lose a step. Villanova went 8 deep (technically 9, but Stokes only played 5 minutes) with at least 15 minutes of playing time. I believe that Coach Dixon knows from practice that Diggs, Frye and McGhee aren’t ready for the primary game situations; but he may not have a choice. I really worry that someone else will go down, because they are so worn out in the game, that they just take a bad step or move.
In some ways, this is what Oklahoma State endured last season. A team that started so strong, just didn’t have enough bodies because of injuries that derailed a promising season.
A couple other thoughts.
Blair needs to work on being better at positioning himself to receive the ball. The competition is better now, and without Fields, the passing not nearly as crisp. That means he needs to help make sure he has position to protect the ball on entry passes. It’s why he isn’t getting the ball as directly and more off of rebounds. Ramon at least recognizes his limitations and isn’t forcing the ball inside. It’s why Young got more balls tossed into him than Blair.
I think we can expect a lot more slower tempo games from Pitt. The good news is that Young seems willing to play in that system. He wants to run, we want him to run. Right now the team can’t, and as a leader and top player he seems to know that is playing within the present constraints.
Even without Fields, Pitt can control and impose the tempo on other teams.
Even if we had won, the comments should be “well, we won, but this is going to be ugly.” I am disappointed in his development or lack thereof. At least its been hidden the last few years, cause we could just get Fields back off the bench and send him it to make another run, or take that lost shot, or even to “dribble the ball up the court.” I’m willing to bet 50-75%, if not 90% of the teams in the big east have a shooting guard who can handle the ball better than he can. Its embarassing.
Feilds made everyone around him better, and now we’re stuck with a guy who puts other players in bad situations and makes guys around him look worse.
Can we just play Wannamaker at the point already? 1) it can’t get any worse, 2) at least then we could say “well, its a true freshman who wasn’t a PG in highschool” as opposed to the 4 year player, primary PG backup, senior, blah blah blah.
The turning point was at 45-40 Pitt, Biggs gets the ball in the middle of the paint on mini-fast break and opts for a 7-foot jumper instead of driving the open lane. Nova comes down and gets a hoop and the foul. From a (likely) 7-point lead midway through the second half to a 2 point lead and some big Mo for Nova. Biggs just does not play like he’s 6’8″, 240. Drives me freakin’ nuts!!
Other thoughts:
1) Blair rushes those shots on the post and thus tends to throw them instead of shoot with some touch.
2) Chas is dead on – they were getting way tired, as evidenced by all of the sloppy fouls in the second half.
3) Wannamaker has got to play more, and more point. Has to. This would have been a game just to give him a few possessions at point. Ramon definitely cannot do it and it’s a waste of his one true skill, if he can regain it, which he may be doing.
Disagree that you can expect much more from Ramon at point. Put J.J. Reddick at point at Duke in his prime against tough, speedy guards and he would not have done much better, maybe only a little ’cause he was taller and could go over the double teams a little more easily.
Overall, though, given their personnel issues, to lose to a pretty good team by a single point only because they got two bench guys to come up HUGE, on their home court, holding their leading scorer to a pittance, I find it hard to complain. Lots of good things happened out there today, and this is definitely something they can build on.
I was at the game.
Blair (with young) kept us in the game..don’t play what if with him.
cuse lost their guard too..we can beat them.
sat two rows behind nasir robinson
our facilities are light years ahead of nova..not even close…
We are stuck with no point guard for the remainder of the year, and playing Benjamin or Wannamaker instead of Ramon will only make things worse. Don’t you think Wannamaker would be taking minutes at the point if he could run the offense at all? When Ramon was out and Wanny replaced him, Benjamin, who has almost no handle, was running the point. That tells me that Dixon knows Wanny can’t play point in Pitt’s system right now.
And with Woodall coming next year, Wanny may never see the point, cause Woodall WILL be the back-up to Fields at the point next year.
the only thing that drives me more crazy is that the announcers call ramon “Ramon Raymond” every game…….whats so hard about the name ron ramon…..jesus…….
btw..give the kid a break…he’s obviously not a pg and he’s playing with two f’ed up shoulders….if the team was healthy, he wouldnt even be playing……..
