I’m going to be limited in watching of this game. I’m DVRing it for closer watching later, but I have to keep an eye on the Cinci-WVU, Memphis-Houston and Kansas-K-State at the same time.
The good news…very high intensity…
Hail to PITT!
-al-
Serious question: Does Sam Young have a sweaty hands problem? I’ve never seen a player who just loses the ball so frequently for no apparent reason. Don’t know if there are any tennis fans here, but a pretty good Aussie player a few years back, Patrick Rafter, had this terrible sweating problem, particularly with his hands, and was constantly using a towel to keep them dry during points, using powder during games as well. Wonder if Sam needs to keep some freakin’ baby powder in his back pocket?!
Officiating didn’t look too sharp tonight…on one end its called “out of bounds” – the other end same play is a blocking foul…twice Young and Blair got fouled while shooting (still made shots), both hit on their arms, neither called, Dixon bitched at the refs, they refused to take their heads out of their asses.
For the record i missed the entire first half due to someone hitting us on the way to the game. Luckily i got to see the Young dunk – the second he was clear of the Nova player the entire place got on its feet. What a sick play. Other than that i was pretty pissed off sitting there, so not much else to say. I have no sense of the up and down of the game due to not seeing/hearing half of it.
1) “Send it in Jerome (Lane).” You see it ad nauseum whenever ESPN/Raftery are involved in broadcasting a Pitt game. Not a bad thing. I watched the game live as a 13 year-old and still dig seeing it 20 years later.
2) Julius Page’s dunk over Georgetown 7-footer Ruben Boumtje Boumtje in 2000. Sparked the team to a win over then undefeated Georgetown and marked the beginning of Pitt’s current run of success.
3) Sam’s “and one” tomahawk after blocking a three-pointer on other end of the floor with his left hand and taking it all the way to the house on his own. It helped put Nova away and allowed Pitt to avert back-to-back losses to unranked teams at the Pete. The reactions from Young, his teammates and crowd were telling of how emotional this team is in the wake of all that has happened this year.
I don’t have a problem calling for the ball – the time i referenced in the Duke game Ramon had to pick up his dribble and couldn’t get the angle to get Young the ball, and Young wouldn’t come help him – Dixon called a TO and Young started bitching at Ramon for sucking and started walking away from the huddle. Fields had to grab him, get his head back in the game, and drag him back to the huddle. And we all saw the sulking down the stretch in the Rutgers game. He has a prety good skill set, but his attitude needs work. This is the opposite of being a “team player.” Benjamin addmitted to the media Dixon will be yelling “bring it back out” and Young will just do what he wants to do because “that’s just him.” Yes, he can be a leader sometimes, but he’s too INCONSISTENT. That’s the problem. I think he’s pretty accomplished in all areas but two – dribbing too much like he’s a PG and losing the ball, and a stable consistent attitude.
My assessment of the criticism of Sam Young lately is this: the reaction we are having to him basically having one bad game, that wouldn’t have mattered if it wasn’t against the worst team in the league, is truly evidence of just how far Jamie Dixon has brought this program.
Consider that 99% of teams in the country who lost their starting point guard AND any other starter, let alone one as valuable as Cook, would have their season tanked. We all thought that is what would happen to Pitt as well. Instead, they have played well above what they should be playing at, given they don’t even have any point guard, let alone just using a back up one.
So Pitt is playing out of their mind most of the time, because they theoretically shouldn’t be winning games they are without those two starters. But when they hit a hiccup, a hiccup that for most teams would actually be the rest of the season, but is, miraculously about once every three games for this team, we all stat to panic and cast blame because they have shown us they are better than that.
My point is, the fact that we can get so upset about Pitt looking sloppy here and there, or that we can come down on an amazing player for having an off night, really speaks volumes about the expectations Jamie Dixon has brought to us as fans. When is the last time that we (or any team) has had such high expectations even despite the significant gaps in our current roster due to injuries?
I love what Jamie Dixon has done, and I sure hope he stays around. It is great being able to be optimistic and excited about our team, even in the midst of such hard times.
