Is this a revenge game for Pitt? Is this yet another breakthrough and first for this Pitt team that has taken Pitt basketball to a slew of firsts this season? I hope so.
The fun starts about 7 PM. Have your beverage of choice at the ready. It’s going to be a tough game. The link to the liveblog is below.
Grats to Nova and their unreal FT percentage.
I still consider the season a success.
Sad to see it end. I will miss Fields, Young, Biggs.
I hope Blair feels he needs to polish his skills up for one more year.
Thanks again and Hail to Pitt!
I seriously wanted to literally cry but I couldn’t muster up tears.
You can point to the free throw percentage, but really poor free throw shooting is what we expect and it’s what we usually get. What makes it look bad is the fact that Villanova shot free throws so well.
We’re built to be able to handle a bad night from the line. We could’ve survived it tonight.
I don’t mean to be the finger pointer, but Dixon really did… I dunno, I’ll stop there.
Man, I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to watch TV, I don’t want a beer, I don’t want to play a video game, I don’t want to talk to my girlfriend, and there’s no way I can fall asleep right now.
I’m just totally crushed.
A very flawed team that always peaks in Dec- Jan..almost pulls it off.
I have not felt like this since the Pitt Penn State debacle of 75 (7-6 State). We all know what happened the next year…let’s hope it repeats.
You have to feel for Fields, Biggs and Young. Left it all out there yet came up short.
What am I going to do now?
Man the pain in the guys faces…it was devastating.
I admired them for answering the ?’s but it was the last place they wanted to be at the time.
DaveD
Up 4 and then you blink and we are down 3. I don’t want to point fingers either, but it stinks that the role player lost it for the big boys.
I take nothing good from this right now, although I may in a few years. It is such an awful feeling to see Fields and Young go out this way.
If there is anything that will make me feel remotely better, I am predicting that Blair returns, Dante Taylor is Rookie of the Universe, and Bradley Wannamaker uses his head. See you in Indianapolis next year.
PITT FOOTBALL 09
THE REBIRTH
the only thing i can think of is how many times did syracuse and uconn fans have to have their heart broken until they finally broke through?
this is kind of weird, normally we are on the receiving end of a big scoring night from someone now WE have the guy with 28 points but we lose to a team that shoots nearly perfect from the foul line.
Jermaine…my boy, what were you thinking up by 4 and a chance to put em away and you turn it over?
DONT let it carry over to next year!
But I’m not in the mood to look fondly on it as a great game Dave.
I’d rather be in a shitty game and win, than the best of all time and lose. The closeness, plus the last glimmer of hope after the Fields free throws, which then led to us being absolutely crushed by that last play, it just makes it hurt really bad.
I’ve cancelled all of my plans for tonight to sit at home and mope.
Wow, I haven’t felt sports-related agony like this for a long time.
On a comedic side-note, I did rip my T-shirt off Hulk Hogan style in a fit of anger right as the game ended.
Good game, but I’m hurting right now!
Hail to PITT!
-al-
And oh yes – we can count on Dave Wannstedt to snap us out of this.
I love this team, I love this University, and I love this phrase:
HAIL TO PITT!!!
Heartache definitely after a loss like that.
That said, if there was a team i don’t feel crushed to be beaten by, it’s ‘Nova–Wright’s classy, the kids are too. Of any Big East team in the Final Four, I’d pull for them strongest.
Hail to PITT!
-al-
I was just a kid and I heard my mom drop an F-bomb for the first time in my life. I’ve only heard her drop like 5 of them total.
I really don’t want to be that cursed program that just can’t get over the hump. It’s excruciating.
It did take Dean Smith like 20 years to win one in Chapel Hill. However, I dont know about you guys, but I don’t wanna wait 20+ effing years.
What makes it suck so bad is that this was the best Pitt team so far and our best chance to go all the way. I know we keep getting better and better recruits, but there are no guarantees.
Oh God, now we have football, and Wannstedt, and no Shady……
Alright, I promise that this is my last post here. I’m just really depressed and need a release because the girlfriend is not a Pitt fan.
Jermaine Dixon made not one, but 2 plays to cost Pitt this game. The first was the turnover that people have mentioned. The other is the way he D’d up Scottie Reynolds on the inbound pass. Why is he on the front side of Reynolds giving him the entire length of the court unguarded? It didn’t matter if Nova inbounded, it mattered if they could get the ball down court. Keep your man in front of you!! If Dixon is on the back side of Reynolds, that game goes to overtime.
Anyway, I don’t want to come down on him. It was a great game and Dixon will be a huge part of the team next year. I am proud of him and this team. But man this sucks.
We lost the boards, couldn’t handle the press, had 3 turnovers against the press (will we ever fix this?) fouled 3 pt shooters twice (6pts, got murdered at the ft line, made stupid plays – see Dixon, etc etc etc and still were in this game to the end.
Great guts and great coaching….I said a while back J Dixon was the key for Pitt and he had his worst night ever…..we’ve all had a few of those so let’s let it go.
Blair is a monster…hope he comes back. Hail to Pitt and all you fans out there!
1. Why full court press and let the guy sprint all the way up the court for a layup.STUPID CALL. should have had one man play ball full court and pick up man to man at half court. Nova would have to have made a long 3pter to win. We were goin to overtime. UNBELEIVABy STUPID COACHING decision.
2. From the 5 minute mark Wannamaker could not play defense. He gave up 5 layups and fouls and didnt stop the guy driving down the middle on the fast break to win the game. Coach should have taken his ass out of the game and played dixon or gibbs. Im Pissed as hell. Hate to lose because of coaching mistakes.
1. I have wrote on here after many games that Pitts style of handling pressure is terrible. I even wrote that the first rule in teaching 3rd graders in how to break pressure is DO NOT GO ACROSS HALF COURT AND PICK UP YOUR DRIBBLE! Now it would be easy to blame Jermaine Dixon for this tonight, but I have to go a little deeper. They do this all the time! Sometimes they get away with it , others they dont. This tells me these players are not getting coached.
2. With five seconds left on the clock, the #1 rule should be, dont let your player get behind you. Just like a Hail Mary in football. Keep in front of you and play defense. Now I can understand you want to keep the ball out of Reynolds hands, but not if he wants to catch it in his own corner and have to go 90 feet in 5 seconds. Jermaine Dixon got caught denying him the ball and was left flat footed when he took off down the sideline. I realize its hard instruct all five players what to do in such a short period of time and I realize the player could have just blown the assignment, BUT what really pisses me off is this. Pitt hasent pressured ANYONE all year long. We played 10 cupcakes in November that we could of practiced full court pressure , but didnt. Now with 5 seconds left and your season on the line, we decide to deny inbounds passses 95 feet away from the basket. We all of a sudden decide to throw full court pressure on. Im not sure that is the time to experiment. This blows my mind!!!
Some other observations: The only thing that makes me feel a little better is knowing that those Philly fans went through a little agony watching their player throw a bomb 90 feet to a guy that wasnt even open, when all they had to do was inbound it and the game would have been over.
Secondly, as nice a kid as Brad Wannemaker is , he would have a hard time breaking the lineup for Depaul, Seton Hall, South Florida. I realize we dont have too many other options (I would of liked to see more Gilbert Brown), but I hope Coach Dixon used this seasons recognition to potential get some future stars who can come in right away and play.
When it does go in, it’s a miracle.
Now is not the time …they are who they are…
2. Blair was standing around more than playing.
3. I’ve never seen a Pitt team that can shoot free throws
With that being said, we were still in it until just about the end. It was a great year. Now I don’t have anymore excuses to delay the yard work.
See you all in Red 7C in August!
Hail to Pitt!
With the talent the team has, to be considered only one of the best eight teams in the nation is an underachievement.
As fans, we have the future. As players, they have to live with the failure forever.
Bottom line: you win on the court.
They didn’t.
It was a great season, and hopefully another step toward building a first rate program. We’re going to truly miss our Seniors who played with heart and class throughout their tenure at Pitt. I thank the whole team for many great moments this year. Finishing Number 4 in the polls and at the least Number 8 in the Tournament ain’t so bad.
If Blair stay next year we will be fine especially with Dante Taylor coming in. Point guard will be a major question mark and we need someone to step up at SF.
Jesus this just sucks. Losing levance and sam is like losing family members.
If Blair stay next year we will be fine especially with Dante Taylor coming in. Point guard will be a major question mark and we need someone to step up at SF.
Jesus this just sucks. Losing levance and sam is like losing family members.
Regarding Dixon, the kid was great all year and just SUCKED in the tournament.
I do agree, though, with the great year comment.
Give Reynolds credit for making a play–and criticize #3 for a few lax moments in the final 3 mins.
But this one will last a long time. A long long time.
Kicked a toy clear across the room at the end of the game. It belongs to my 10 month old son and my wife couldn’t reconcile my feelings. Wanted to be able to go shop for a final four tshirt for my son that had Pitt proudly displayed. Instead, (living in Philly burbs) I have to spend the next week hearing about how wonderful vnova is. F nova.
At the end of the day…Great year. Great coach. Great team. Thanks to Young for coming back for his senior year. I hope that Blair comes back, but doubt it.
One thing is clear (to me)…we will only be this good or better as long as we have Jamie Dixon.
The thing we have to remember is this: we got past the Sweet 16 barrier, and that was the biggest concern. And this team played a hell of a lot better tonight after getting past that barrier. But only one team wins it all. We would all be hurting if it was a loss in the next game or the next game after that too.
This hurts because the season is over. But this is a team to be very, very proud of- every single player on the team. It is a sign of the next step for this program. And even if next year we don’t think we have a Final Four team, we also know that our recruiting has stepped up and we will only see better things down the road.
It is hard to say goodbye to Fields and Young, though. The person who said it is like losing family is dead on. I love those guys and am going to miss seeing their sheer guts out there every night.
Thanks guys for a wonderful year.