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January 27, 2008

There are several ways to look at this, and I am trying to see as many different views on this as possible. Mainly because there is always a combination of factors that go into this sort of loss.

First there is the fact that Rutgers is a young team that is on a hot streak. They were bad in the non-con portion. They started even worse in the Big East. This is a team that through their first five conference games averaged 49.8 points/game; shooting percentage of 34.8% (93-267); and 3s were 27.5% (22-80).

Over the past three games, however, they have been a different team on offense. They averaged 77.3 points/game; shot 55.0% (82-149); and 3s a stunning 53.3% (24-45). If Pitt had faced this team a week and a half earlier or — very likely — a week later there is every possibility that they would be back to struggling with scoring and not shooting as well.

Arguably, this happens with a lot of teams. I remember a couple years ago when St. John’s beat Pitt, they had just knocked off Louisville before beating Pitt and then put a scare into UConn before a second half fade from injuries and no depth.

Second, Pitt was overconfident about this game. They certainly played that way — especially at the start of the second half. The Panthers seemed to expect the Scarlet Knights to fold and were not prepared to really put full effort in the game. There was a lot more interest in hoisting shots rather than find the best shot. Probably one of the most frustrating things. Leave the overconfidence and stupidity to those of us who don’t play.

Third, Sam Young was enjoying the limelight and wanted to demonstrate how much game he has at small forward. Unfortunately, Young didn’t show any penetration continually floating out on the wing. Rather than drive and attack, he was content to drift and throw up jumpers. I guess to show his range.

It really seemed like he had read his own press clippings and thought he could do anything he wanted

Fourth, Pitt is getting worn down. The lack of bodies is starting to take a toll on them. There were a lot of moments where Pitt just seemed a step slow, or were looking to the bench to get a blow especially in the second half. Young, Benjamin and Ramon have averaged 36, 34.8 and 35.8 minutes over the prior 4 games. They played 36, 37 and 38 in this game. Young and Ramon are already averaging over 30 minutes/game for the whole season and Benjamin is up to 24+ since the volume of injuries has risen. Even Gilbert Brown has been averaging close to 30 minutes/game since Fields was lost. Blair would be up there as well, but for his foul problems.

Have there been players on Pitt teams that have averaged more for a season? You bet (PDF, pg. 159). Does it seem like a particularly good idea? Not to me. Especially when Brown is only a redshirt freshman, Ramon is fighting through shoulder injuries, Young has to worry about his knees and Benjamin has never played this many minutes before.

The closest analog would be the 2003-04 team (PDF) that had Krauser, Page and Brown all average over 34 minutes/game. Page and Brown were seniors and Krauser was almost as old as them. Keep in mind that Page never was able to get fully healthy and had a disappointing season. Plus, by the end of the season, they were worn down. Still, they were probably more physically able to take the burden.

Now, just a couple other things remaining from my notes on the game. Pitt, in the first half, was doing what they could to keep Blair out of foul trouble. You wonder why they kept leaving the 3-point shooters open? It was because there was a lot of help defense being played in the first 10-15 minutes. They were dropping down to collapse inside, so Blair could stay in front of the frontcourt players and not get in a bad position. Of course, Rutgers burned Pitt on that strategy by hitting 6-8 on 3s when Pitt played off of them.

When Pitt finally stopped and stayed on their man, was when Pitt went on an 8-0 run to halftime. Rutgers committed turnovers and didn’t get the good looks, as they were forced to put it on the floor. Unfortunately, coming out of the half, Blair was not able to avoid making the fouls without the help inside. He committed two so quickly, in the second half he had to be pulled.

Pitt also came out in the second half looking horrible. This seemed to be the overconfidence. They felt they got Rutgers best shot, adjusted and had them now. Instead, Rutgers made the decision to commit to going at Pitt. N’Diaye, who spent a lot of time on the bench in the first half with his own foul troubles, was much better in the second half, and really played well. With Blair out with foul trouble, it meant a frontcourt of Biggs and Young. Was it any wonder that Pitt was completely destroyed on the boards in the second half?





My ass is still bleeding from this one.

Comment by mike 01.27.08 @ 4:54 pm

Lots of great points there Chas.

Comment by Dennis 01.27.08 @ 5:20 pm

Points or excuses? Let’s see how the wonder boy coach rights the ship after this one. Will this team continue to rise to the ocassion despite adversity? We’ll know if they manage to get to the tourney. Take nothing for granted at this point. Jaime needs to coach better and the players need to play better. They have the talent and supposedly right schemes to get it done. It is mental right now. Does Presby have a neurosurgeon on call?

Comment by mike 01.27.08 @ 7:19 pm

Well Wonder Boy Mike I suggest you stick your head up your A and stop the bleeding!

Comment by TigerPaul 01.27.08 @ 8:11 pm

Tags verbals to Pitt will greyshirt

Comment by MelbaPlace 01.27.08 @ 10:04 pm

Put the pipe down, Mike. Jamie’s doing a hell of a job thus far with this team. As Chas noted, and as I believe is their primary weakness, this team has absolutely no depth. The minutes will eventually catch up. Hopefully, Wannamaker will show he deserves more time, and McGhee can continue to improve and we can hold on until L.F. gets back.

Comment by Crackbaldo 01.27.08 @ 11:38 pm

What about the constant barrage of 3s that were missed. That with being outboarded def sunk the team.

Comment by Ira 01.28.08 @ 12:59 am

Fact: Pitt shit the bed against an inferior playground (big east) companion.

Opinion: They will only get better.

Fact: 3pt FG percentages over 50% are rare.

Opinion: Rutgers deserved the V.

Comment by Campbell 01.28.08 @ 1:07 am

[…] I Have Met Georgetown, And You Sir, Are No Georgetown: Yeah, Pitt got beat. By Rutgers. At home. By 13. Not good. […]


We’re going to pound the dog snot out of Nova, and then lay an egg against Uconn. This will continue until Fields gets back.

Comment by Stuart 01.28.08 @ 3:03 am

I don’t know how significant this is, but in the pre-game shootaround the only players hitting jumpers were Gil Brown, Wanamaker, and Tim Frye. Young, Ramon, Benjamin, all were clanking short, and that continued through the game. Just not a shooting night.

It’s also easy to belive, but it’s not excusable, that the lack of hitting shots, combined with lack-of-depth fatigue led to the lack of effort on defense.

Comment by Kevin 01.28.08 @ 7:18 am

Why not give Frye a shot in a meaningful game situation? Everytime the kid comes into the game, he sinks a three.

Comment by AJ 01.28.08 @ 9:02 am

AJ,

Remember that when Frye gets in, the other team also has their scrubs on the court. Frye is a poor man’s Yuri Demetris, nothing more.

Comment by derf 01.28.08 @ 9:41 am

One of the more frustrating things about this loss was the inability to carve up the zone. Rutgers played an aggressive zone when they went on there run. Pitt did call a timeout and the set play got the ball inside (rotating around to the weak side) but that was it…later possessions led to hoisted threes. I left the game thinking that Dixon did get out-coached a little but after watching the tape, I’m not so sure. Pitt is better than this and the players know better.

Comment by George 01.28.08 @ 10:03 am

When the NCAA selection committee lines up Pitt’s good wins, this one will definitely be in the “bad loss” column. I hope for the Panthers’ sake, it doesn’t come down to that.

Comment by colt_convert 01.28.08 @ 10:11 am

The only thing Dixon did wrong was not benching the lazy ones that weren’t listening to him in at the timeouts. I’d rather see McGhee and Frye in there if they’re giving 100% than the half-assed shit i saw from Young. We were getting blown out anyways. It was much more embarassing with the starters in there.

You don’t “accidently” coach a team that has produced exactly one current (backup) NBAer to a record like we’ve seen over the past decade if you are a shitty coach. I do not blame Dixon one bit for this. He didn’t get outcoached, his players got outhustled. Anyone really think he told guys not to box out and get DESTROYED BY BUTTGERS ON THE BOARDS? “It was a nightmare…just a flat out nightmare…”

Comment by Stuart 01.28.08 @ 12:59 pm

Excuse me, half decade.

Comment by Stuart 01.28.08 @ 1:01 pm

Finally, they should have to watch the tape of the last 13 minutes over and over and over again, having every last mistake pointed out over and over and over again, until they cry. Then they should spend the rest of the week working on just rebounding and defense. And if they ever get outrebounded again they should have to run until they vomit blood. [/rant]

Comment by Stuart 01.28.08 @ 1:05 pm

i did not like the “buttgers” nickname at first, but alas it has grown on me……now it makes me laugh a little when i see it……

Comment by schoe 01.28.08 @ 1:06 pm

We just got a dose of nightmare right back at us. And, Tiger Paul, yes it has stopped but I don’t want to go through it again.

Comment by mike 01.28.08 @ 1:43 pm

Touche on that comment Mike!

Comment by TigerPaul 01.28.08 @ 1:50 pm

I thought the nightmare was when Mike Cook and Levance Fields went down to injuries in back-to-back games.

Comment by Omar 01.28.08 @ 2:30 pm

Let’s hope we have a fairy tale ending. Hey, the Hoopies brought out the can of whoop ass on those over-rated Sooners. Why can’t pitt do the same come tourney time assuming we can hang in there until then.

Comment by mike 01.28.08 @ 6:00 pm

[…] The loss 13-point-destruction at the hands of Rutgers doesn’t do that to me though. I think Chas gave plenty of reasons to calm down a bit. Hey, it’s the Big East — even the teams near the bottom can surprise you. They’re definitely on a hot streak and we’re banged up pretty well. All we need to do is hold the fort down until Fields gets back and we’ll be in good shape. Plus, more and more news keeps coming out of Fields returning sooner than originally thought. […]


Fields is not going to come in and waa laa be the savior,its going to take him 3 games to get in game shape.And will take the team that many games to get in order with him at the helm. Also even if he is back, and we dont play d and rebound and take bad shots we will still lose.I was at the Rutgers game.When we were passing the ball around the horn, Rutgers was playing a spread 2/3 zone and didnt allow us to move the ball outside without defending the pass to the fowards.So Ramon would look before he passed and it killed our timing and they were on us when we were shooting as well as not in position to shoot as well.They played Defense well against us. Dixon should have run inside plays everytime because of how open it was in the middle.We did get outcoached.Dixon did not adjust,we should have driven the ball to the middle and passed to the PF for a better shot.Also concerning the 8 blocked shots Rutgers had, our PFs were very timid taking the ball to the hoop.They were trying 3ft jumpshots instead of taking strong to the hoop.This also got into our heads and kept us taking bad outside shots.I could go on and on,considering Im a 5th grade hoop coach.I picked out all the problems and I even knew what to do to attack there zone,but Dixon didnt or his team didnt listen to him again (SamYoung)and Benjamin saying that Sam didnt listen to the plays because when hes on fire he does what he wants.That is the problem right there.Dixon better reign in his stud. If anyone wants anymore of my BS just ask,I will provide.

Comment by Buzz 01.28.08 @ 10:20 pm

I agree that minutes are a problem as the season wears on. But a big part of that goes back to the way Dixon runs the team from the beginning. He carries around this illusion that he has 9 starters on his team at all times (how often did we hear that last year /gag). He believes that he can sub in 3 players 5 minutes into the game when Pitt is up 10, and there won’t be a drop off. Sadly, he is wrong every time.

The point is, since he comes into the season believing there is no drop-off putting in Biggs for Blair, then he only has his starters conditioned to play 25 minutes a game. That is fine if you aren’t going to lose 3 players, 2 of which are starters, for the season. Now that the players have to be on the floor more, the fact that they are conditioned from the pre-season to only play 25 minutes is coming back to bite them.

Add to the fact that they are only conditioned to play 25 minutes a game, that they now have to run half-assed practices to avoid more injuries, and it is no wonder we are seeing guys wear down.

At this point, the alternative to the starters playing 35+ minutes a game is 1. Tyrell Biggs, who will shoot the ball as soon as he touches it, no matter where he is on the floor. 2. Gary McGhee, no comment required. 3. Brad Wannamaker, who I believe is probably the most athletic person on the team; but as a freshman, plays just as out of control as Krauser did as a freshman (and sophomore, and junior…. and senior).

On top of all of that, the Big East teams in general, and Pitt in particular, are hard-nosed, physical, grind it out teams, which tend to wear all the teams down somewhat by season’s end. Too bad the injuries cost them the up-tempo game they were playing early on. That would come in real handy right about now.

Comment by The Prowler 01.30.08 @ 12:18 am

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