The last two weeks we got a lesson in being No. 1 for the first time. It was fun while it lasted.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Pitt lost to Louisville on the road yesterday, 69-63. The Panthers are now 17-1 and no longer the chic media topic when it comes to college hoops. Wake Forest has taken that crown by knocking off Clemeson to become the only unbeaten team left standing.
Now Pitt fans, we get a lesson on whats its like to be knocked from the No. 1 ranking. That, however, will not happen until tomorrow when the rankings come out. Until then, lets continue to bask in the glow. Pitt’s No. 1 baby!!
In all seriousness, as you all probably know, one loss is not a big deal. I find it funny how publications are running headlines such as “Louisville stuns top-ranked Pitt.” Stunned? Probably not. This is the Big East. I’ve also heard talk of Louisville ending Pitt’s run at perfection. Technically, that is what happened, but realistically, were any of us, some of the biggest Pitt homers included, remotely even thinking about a perfect run? Not when sober at least.
Knee-jerk reaction is to be upset with the loss. It definitely had its ugly points. The box score leaves plenty to be concerned with. Sam Young (6 for 20) and Levance Fields (3 for 14) shot ice cold, which happens. It’s just not good when two of your stars shoot that poorly in the same game. Young was paticularlly hampered by a 2-of-10 performance from beyond the arc. Ron Cook latched onto Young performance, since in reality it was his third off-night from the field in a row.
If Young had talked, he almost certainly would have said something like this:
“I’d like to apologize to my teammates and to Pitt fans for costing us the game tonight. I was awful. It hurts bad because all of us wanted to go undefeated this season. All I can do now is promise to work hard to get better. And I will be better, starting Monday night against Syracuse.”
Cook makes some good points, but as usual his wording makes him sound like a prick. Don’t make up a quote for a kid saying that he cost the game. Even if its clear the quote is made up. Bush league, in my opinion. I would have been more impressed by the column if he wrote it a game ago, when it was already obvious Young was shooting poorly. It’s easy to pile on after a loss, but often times the negatives from a loss were already begining to reer their heads in the wins preceeding. This is an example of such.
The best point in the column was made by Dixon. Young was 0-0 from the free throw line, which from a player with Young’s athletisicm, you could argue is worse than going 2-for-10 from the free-throw line. Get to the hoop! Too many jump shots.
More troubling for the Panthers was the 20 turnovers. That is sloppy, regardless of how well Pitino’s teams press and pressure. Again, it happens.
My reaction to the loss will be determined by how Pitt recovers. The Celtics started the season on a remarkable run in the NBA, then after falling to the Lakers on Christmas day went into a tailspin that they are just begining to recover from. That could easily happen to the Panther’s given their upcoming schedule and the nature of Big East basketball. Pitt needs to bounce back and show that Saturday’s negatives were aberations and not trends.
Louisville is certinally a team to fear in the Big East. Good coaches like Boeheim of Syracuse and Pitino will always improve their teams exponentially as the season goes on and the Cardinals are doing exactly that. They have gone from a loss to Western Kentucky early in the season, to knocking off the No. 1 team in the country in mid January.
Five wins in 14 days that changed the Cardinals’ season? Probably too soon to know for sure. This is the Big East Conference, remember. Two weeks into the season we’ve already declared first Connecticut, then Georgetown and then Pitt The Team to Beat.
But if you beat UK and back it up with four Big East wins, you’ve earned a few minutes to holler and high-five adoring fans, the way the Cardinals’ players did as they danced off the court last night.
This is exactly what we expected from the Big East season. Louisville is the hot team right now, but trust me, there will be another. And probably another after that.
Time to look ahead to Syracuse on Monday. They are on a high right now after defeating previous hot team and current ice-cold team, Notre Dame.
