That was the most disappointed I’ve been with this team all season. Before the season started. Even after Pitt started 5-0 in the Big East, going down to Morgantown was going to be at best 50-50 that Pitt could win there. There was a reason that WVU was right there with ‘Nova for preseason tops of the Big East. Most of their season has not done anything to really dispute that — close games or not.
So losing there was not exactly a shock. Anytime Pitt loses to the ‘Eers is a disappointment and cause for anger, but in this case my frustration and disappointment was with the way Pitt just collapsed in the final 12 minutes or so. The frustration with their own performance on offense seemed to drag them down further. They managed only 10 points over that bit.
As we all know Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown were stunningly MIA. Shooting a combined 0-8, 0-3 on FTs, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 turnovers. For two vital players they may as well have stayed on the bus.
Ashton Gibbs’ struggles continued and even infected his usually flawless FT shooting. 2-13 shooting (2-7 on 3s), and 5-8 on FTs — missing his last 3 attempts.
Pitt hasn’t been able to win games lately if Gibbs is shut down. This time it was the team’s 3 leading scorers. It’s almost a wonder Pitt was able to stay in the game as long as they did.
The box score is a wonder to behold. 6-30 shooting in the second half. Only 5 assists (though, when you keep missing everything assists become even harder to come by).
Only three players effort and performance made me feel good. Jermaine Dixon worked all game and no matter how much better his ankle was feeling, it still had to take a toll to go for 34 minutes. Nasir Robinson was doing everything he could, he was 5-6 at the line. He led the team with 3 assists and just played very solid defense — even when he was being overwhelmed inside. J.J. Richardson decided that he wasn’t going to just be a scrub. He finished his shots more than anyone else. In only 14 minutes he finished with 7 points and 4 rebounds.
Pitt determined to give McGhee a lot more touches. They did, but he had none. 3-11 shooting — 1-7 in the second half. He got 9 boards but he really struggled. He simply cannot be the focal point of the offense.
The Dante Taylor conundrum continues to confound. The debates rage in comments over what to do. I’m just not sure. I have trouble believing he will be playing better defense at the 4 than the 5.
It sure seems like he is almost pouting about playing center now. That he is frustrated and not putting the effort and thought into what he needs to do. If you are a coach, how do you reward that by putting him at his preferred spot? It is a team, and don’t you put some of that at risk? I suppose you can go to him and say, “Okay, I’ll give you a shot at PF tonight. Prove me wrong.”
Overall, it seems like Coach Dixon’s hands are tied. There’s only so much you can do at this point. It’s nice to say, “shake-up the line-up and the rotation.” But how? Gibbs has to play considering the choice is Woodall or Adams behind him. Jermaine Dixon is still the best defensive player. Gilbert Brown has been unpredictable from game-to-game.
The offense is completely struggling right now as the perimeter game has disappeared. Pitt has been attempting to go inside more to open it up, but it hasn’t exactly worked. Now, the entire team seems to be afraid to take a 3.
On the bright side, I do think it will be hard for Pitt to have played much worse than that final 12 minutes. We will see how they respond.
One final thing. Pitt plays WVU at the Pete in 9 days. There’s going to obviously be a lot of hate — on top of the usual. The students and the rest of the fans still need to keep it clean. Stooping to the behavior of the Hoopie fans is not acceptable.
I vehemently disagree with you. Let’s leave it at that.
4 guards + 1 big forward= final four
Villanova
It’s about stockpiling talent and utilizing that talent you have. No combination or big/little players garuntees winning, and I don’t think Pitt should mold themselves after WVU or any team for that matter. Just get the best players and find ways to make them work.
“No combination or big/little players garuntees winning” – that is true but you still need to get the job done. We need a point guard and some help for McGhee underneath.
Stockpiling combo players that are too slow to guard or drive and too small to defend or rebound isn’t the answer, in my opinion. Why are we 3* combo players until we find one that can do the job and ignoring all other needs. If we want to reach the final four we need to do something different.
I think Shady’s point is that we’re playing too small especially since our perimeter game has gone into the crapper. MgGhee is decent but he’s not Blair, so we need more rebounders in there, hence the suggestion of moving Taylor to the 4. (Please don’t start the Taylor bashing again.) Nova wins with 4 guards because they’re great shooters. We have 1 who is in a funk himself. A small team can rebound with a lot of hustle but that takes its toll over the season resulting in flat- footed defense and flat shooting. Seems like we’ve hit that point.
Lastly, I’ve believed in Jamie since he took over and trust he’ll make the right decisions whether I agree with them or not.
Excellent point about Dixon’s unwillingness to experiment.
Yes, that’s my point.
I believe that PITTapotamus was speaking to the point you made about recruiting another wing and stockpiling wing talent:
“too many swing players – excellent pt. I read they looking at another. wtf?”.
I believe he was talking about going forward it doesn’t matter what you recruit, you can make it work as long as you are getting the most talented guys you can. The wings they have coming in seem pretty talented so I can’t disagree. Also, the ones they are looking at are pretty darn talented. That is why Nova was brought up because all they do is bring in the most talented guys they can and then work with it.
I agree with you on the current situation and would love to see Taylor at the 4.
I understand PITTapotamus’ point.
” I believe he was talking about going forward it doesn’t matter what you recruit, you can make it work as long as you are getting the most talented guys you can.”
– That is what he was talking about. And what I think I responded, is that you still need to accomplish some basic basketball functions like get the ball up the floor. You need a point guard and we don’t have one. And we need to get McGhee some help.
None of our combo (swing) players are helping underneath and none of them can shoot from the outside. Our guys have trouble making foul shots. Villanova’s guards are far, far superior (more talented) than our combo players. All WVU’s bigs are quicker than all of our swing players. So guess I just don’t see the talent you see.
I’m not a big fan of the Swiss army knife approach to basketball. I look at combo players as generally too slow and too small and it is rare to find them effective enough to be too big for a guard to handle and too fast for a forward to handle but sure I wish we had one.
Maybe the incoming coming players are more talented but I wasn’t talking about the incoming class, which will add to the pile however. I mean after that we’re looking at more combo players. wtf? We won’t know anything about the incoming guys until they hit BE play next year that is if they don’t redshirt.
What happens when McGhee leaves next year? There is no center on the horizon. That will leave us with a 6’7″ center and a bunch of swing players that can’t rebound, shoot, dribble or finish judging from the product that is on the floor now. I think I’ll puke next time Wanamaker spazes out under the basket. Epps hasn’t been cleared by the NCAA to play yet. I hate to think of what we’re going to be like if he doesn’t show.
4 big forwards + 1 guard = 3 guards + 1 small forward + 1 center + 19 points. How is my math?
Using a symbolic mathematic computer program and a very powerful computer after 12 hours of processing I reduced the above equation to the following simplifcation:
The big guys WVU kicked the little guys (Pitt)asses big time;