Backyard Brawl, basketball edition. Pitt is banged up. Confidence a little off. At the same time, Pitt has risen to play well against the good teams.
WVU is at home. They have only lost once at home. They have struggled at times, but still pulled out the games.
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Can’t believe two of the top four players on the team didn’t score a point. That is simply amazing.
Sad part is that I really don’t know what Coach Dixon does. What options does he have? I would use Richardson more after he showed at least a little energy tonight, something that Dante Taylor hasn’t shown since the Syracuse game. That’s another amazing development – I cannot believe this kid is as bad as he looks with all of the pub about him.
Realistically, I think Saturday is a must win. 10-8 is probably what it takes, and we already have six losses (counting Nova and WVU). A loss to SHU would be devastating, confidence and record wise.
If we’re not hitting shots, we have to rebound and are just not doing it in the BE with two 6’5 power forwards with no bulk …. it’s as simple as that
Everyone has lost their bravado and confidence.
Have no idea what coach Dixon can do…we simply don’t have the talent of a WVU, Cuse, Nova et al.
NIT might be a push for this team.
He will earn his salary …that’s for sure.
Their fans are IDIOTS and the WVU administration needs to do something about it before someone really gets hurt. A couple of inches the wrong way and Herrion might have lost an eye. Sickening.
Richardson provided a bright spot as noted by others. Maybe he’s played his way into the rotation for McGhee instead of Taylor, which might allow Taylor to move to the 4. Don’t think he’s a bust, rather a guy who’s seriously out of position. He’s a finess player not a banger. Remember, he won the skills competition at the McDonald’s AA weekend. It surely would give us some needed height at PF and allow Brown to move to the 3.
Jamie needs to shake things up somehow. It’s getting scary now. USF now has the mojo we once had and we need to get it back. Otherwise, the “NIT” the hoopie fans were chanting might be our fate. Would hate to see that ending after the way the season started.
Keeping the faith.
Then we just need to squeak out two more wins in conference, get to 10 in conference wins (21 overall because we shouldn’t have much trouble with the guys from Moon… I hope….) and see what happens.
West Virginia is a very good team. We knew they’d be better than us this year. Let’s just get to the dance, get our youngsters the needed experience, and have them come back with more experience (not to mention a great recruiting class) next year.
Remember, it sucks now, and the early BE success raised expectations, but this is pretty much what we were expecting before this season started.
drgags: You can toot your horn but so can others who said much the same on this board. Thing was that when we were shooting >45% from the field and >75% from the line, it wasn’t broke so it didn’t need fixed. Tonight we shot 30% from the field, 20% from behind the arc and 60% from the line. That’s the low point so far of a trend that started with the L’ville game.
Don’t see how Jamie can keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, but he’s a far better coach than I so I’ll trust in his decisions and continue to hope for a Sweet 16 finish when it’s all said and done. (I said HOPE, not expect.)
Like your rotation though.
“After Pitt cut the lead to two points, the Panthers missed their next 10 shots from the field. They did not make a field goal again until 4:47 remained.”
Your rebounding theory is great, but sometimes rebounding is just simple physics, the mass of the rebounders ass. Blair is a great example of what works and Taylor of what doesn’t.
Right on, Shady: Body of a linebacker + wrecking ball for a butt + wingspan of a 7-footer = freak of nature rebounder named Blair.
link to justin.tv