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March 5, 2010

I’m going to go ahead and assume Luke did a fine job with the liveblog. As you can tell from the timestamp, I did not start watching until very late. So, I haven’t looked things over at this point.

Last year, it was a bit simplistic — but not necessarily incorrect to say Pitt was a 3-man team. And that they could win games that way. This year… not so much.

Yet, tonight they pulled it off. Dixon, Wanamaker and Gibbs were essentially the team.

This is one of those games where the box score doesn’t lie.

McGhee had a hideous night. In fact, somehow he manage to get a break by only being dinged with 2 turnovers. I counted 3 by him in the first 3 minutes. He really struggled with the ball tonight. Not squeezing rebounds and getting caught out of position too often.

Gilbert Brown had yet another alternating night and this was the bad one. I want to curse, but find myself laughing at how disturbingly symmetrical he is with one game on, one game off. Scoreless. Minimal rebounding.

Nasir Robinson and Dante Taylor were about what was expected, but that comes off as damning with faint praise. Not sure how Woodall gets credit for 1 assist and 0 turnovers, but he did not handle this game well.

No way in hell, though, am I complaining too hard about Gibbs hitting the gamewinning 3 and Pitt coming away with a 73-71 win after this game.

It bears repeating. This was a 3-man game.

Player      FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Gibbs....... 9-13   6-9     1-1    2  2  4  2  25  3  1  0  0  37
Wanamaker....4-9    2-3     0-1    1  4  5  3  10 13  2  2  1  35
Dixon...... 11-18   0-3     2-5    2 10 12  4  24  4  5  0  2  35

59 of Pitt’s 73 points. 20 of 24 assists. all 3 of a pathetic FT shooting night. All 3 steals and all 8 3s made. Even 21 of the 36 rebounds.

Survived a potentially embarrassing game. Clinched the double bye. Regroup and beat the hell out of Rutgers on Saturday.





this is potentially the worst game we’ve played since indiana…..and we won!

not saying it’s a good thing, but it shows that regardless of the situation, the team keeps fighting…and if ashton gets his shots, he’ll keep us in games that would normally be blowouts (see ND)…….

Comment by schoey 03.05.10 @ 6:18 am

Woodall had one turnover, when he got stripped beneath his hoop bringing the ball up. But I believe that was it. I think the mohawks through people and make them think some of the other ones are Travon.

Also, yes Dixon kept us in with his scoring but…..soft D mostly throughout and costly turnovers (esp. at the end), not to mention the silly foul that almost cost the game. I liked what he did on offense but as much as he helped he also almost cost Pitt the game tonight. Glad they pulled it out.

Comment by OntartioLett'sGoPitt 03.05.10 @ 7:34 am

Spot on, Chas. Only 3 guys showed up on offense last night. No one showed up on defense. Sequences of good stops were consistently followed by sequences poor play. Not sure what the game plan was to defend Providence, but they did not play the ball screens correctly and the Friars got mismatches nearly every trip. The guards were beaten off the dribble – Council schooled Gibbs – and the bigs couldn’t hold on to defensive rebounds. Need to give Providence some credit. They do have some talent. Peterson looked like a shorter D Blair. Good call on being nervous for this one.

Looked at the sequence on our end at the end of the game. Hate to sound like a homer, but the officiating was awful on that. Peterson clearly grabs McGhee’s left arm and then pushes him in the back on the rebound. Then they call a foul on Dixon in the ensuing scrum. It looked like a cheap one to me.

Thank goodness for the Gibbs magic in crunch time. The guy has been clutch since missing those two at Seton Hall. He’s all over Sports Center and probably sealed the Most Improved award last night.

I’ll take this win. On to Rutgers. Will be rooting for WVU (hard to say that) on Saturday to give us a shot at finishing 2nd in the regular season. That would be amazing!

Hail to PITT!

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 7:49 am

My 2cents on the game last night
-Glad to see Dixon driving to the hole again, it is the strength in his game, esp when he is in such a shooting slump
-That being said, I only saw Brown drive to the hole maybe once the entire game. IMO he is a better finisher than Dixon, so why was he settling for jump shots?
-McGhee played as bad last night as I have seen him play all year. Peterson really pushed him (and everyone else on Pitt’s roster) around. I am not looking for McGhee to be the next Blair, but I saw many a def rebound knocked away from him or that he lost out of bounds. McGhee’s role is pretty much get rebounds, play D and block shots. He also missed a few peeps (again) on the offensive end. Although he did have a key block down the stretch.
-FT stats Prov 13-23; Pitt 3-10. Not only a horrid shooting night from the line, but I need to mention-Pitt was the home team and only got to the line 10 times! Pitt played bad enough 2night on their own without blaming the refs, but come on!
-I was at the game last night and everyone was flat, we were lucky to come away with this win. Both teams looked flat during warmups, the crowd was flat, even the Zoo had an off night.
-9pm weeknight hoops games are as bad as 12noon Saturday football games.

Comment by UPDave 03.05.10 @ 8:28 am

While I would love to agree with you Chas on blowing out Rutgers….we have yet to see this team blow anyone out. I think it should be a win, but as this season has shown…the road to that win will be unknown!

Comment by Pendlum 03.05.10 @ 8:39 am

We did actually blow out Seton Hall at home earlier this year, and I hope for a similar performance tomorrow.

Comment by CB 03.05.10 @ 8:48 am

Chas, pretty accurate game summary in that you praised the 3 main reasons for Pitt pulling it out, while also pointing out the bad games from McGhee and Brown, and a few others.

Chas, 2 questions for you however:

1) you did not point out how bad of a game our favorite college BB coach had last night. To see a continuous mismatch with Gibbs or Dixon on Peterson under the boards did not speak well of Coach since he never did seem to adjust. I also didn’t understand the back to back timeouts with about a half minute remaining … while he was bailed out, I bet Coach would have really appreciated having a TO left for the finals seconds.

2) Gil Brown is not a freshman, soph, or natural junior … he is a redshirt junior with loads of natural ability. Is thisinconsistency is wearing pretty thin for you as it is for me? I was patient since he is playing out of position for much of the time, but the fact is that he plays a 3 on offense since he never posts but plays on the perimeter, thus he should be able to take advantage of a mismatch himself by being quicker and more athletic than who is watching him … plus, at this stage in s career,he should be knocking down these wide open looks he gets much more often than he actually does.

One final comment … while Pitt was lucky to win … the final shot had litlle to do with luck. It was taken by an accomplsihed 3 pt shooter, who set his feet and squared up, and hit nothing but net … nothing flukey about t.

Comment by wbb 03.05.10 @ 9:10 am

Judging from their performances this year, Pitt’s toughest games will come in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, when they play against teams seeded lower than them. Make it to the Sweet Sixteen and beyond, and I like their mental chances. How can a team with glimmers of stellar play throughout the season approach what should be “cake walks” with such apathy?

The same holds true for the Big East Tournament. Pitt’s got quite a history there over the past decade, but I don’t see that necessarily inspiring, or translating through to this team. In fact, having two byes might work out better for them, because they’re assured of playing a higher-caliber team for their first game. They’ll be forced to come out with some energy if they want to make it to the semi-final round.

With plans to travel to Vegas for the opening rounds, I know for sure, I will not give a lot of points to whomever Pitt plays–certainly not in the first two rounds!

Comment by Lou 03.05.10 @ 9:13 am

Chas, Great summary but Wanny offset his offense with his unforced errors again. The team definitely plays to the level of its competition. Providence is not a good team. Fifteen turnovers, it looked like a lot more. McGhee getting dunks blocked. Brown is an enigma. A loss would have really hurt. Regarding the refs, Providence 23 free throws, Pitt 10, you be the judge.

The good news, Dixon was a stud, although he might want to ration his outside shots. His drives to the hoop kept us in the game. Taylor is starting to get it. It does appear that his mates don’t have confidence in him, he was wide open at least two times and neglected. I feel some fast break alley-oops are coming. Hopefully this year.It was a hard game to watch, the crowd was quiet. But at the end, What can you say about Gibbs-Money!

Comment by gc 03.05.10 @ 9:23 am

I wouldn’t say Pitt was lucky. Good teams find ways to win, bad teams find ways to lose. Pitt is a good team, Providence is a bad team. Sometimes it is just that simple.

Pitt was terrible last night. No one had a complete game. Gibbs was clutch and Dixon scored a bunch of points. But both guys struggled on defense and Dixon took a lot of bad shots (and missed some open one’s too).

wbb, you are right on the money with your comment about Jamie. Last night was not his finest hour, he even admitted it on the radio post game. Pitt repeatedly switched on the high ball screen, giving PC all kinds of mismatches. Dixon kind of threw his team under the bus claiming that the coaches told them how to handle those situations and they didn’t execute. Regardless, Dixon can’t let that happen, over and over. And the back to back timeouts were RIDICULOUS. Nothing changed, tell the team what you need to tell them in the first timeout.

Pitt got the much needed “W”. Hopefully they will use this as inspiration for a good post season run. The second season starts next week. Jamie was right about one thing, he said the season ticket holders got their money’s worth season. Here, Here!!!!!

For all of us let me say, THANK YOU!!!!!

Comment by Boubacar Aw 03.05.10 @ 9:28 am

Forgot to add this to my earlier post:

Luke did an outstanding job running the LiveBlog last night. He set the bar pretty high for you, Chas. Regulars had avatars, he ran polls on relevant subject matter during the game – OK the poll on Jamie getting a fauxhawk wasn’t that relevant – and he kept updating on participators vs. watchers of the blog to get more to join in.

Thanks for letting him fill in, Chas. The game wouldn’t have been the same without it.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 9:29 am

OK I’m going to defend Jamie on the two points made by wbb and Boubacar.

On defending the ball screens: I’m sure he adjusted. He’s not dumb and you know that. Had to be poor execution. Heck, they executed poorly on defense all night.

On the two timeouts: I was curious so I replayed that last 30 seconds several times. I believe he set up a final play against the zone Providence had played all night. When they came down the floor, the Friars looked like they were going into man-to-man or a matchup zone. You can see guys pointing to Pitt players for defensive assignment. He likely used the 2nd TO to set up an alternative play if they came back out in man-to-man/matchup plus they had the original play for the zone. Smart move IMHO.

Should he have prepared for both originally? Maybe, but they had been playing zone all night because they couldn’t stop Dixon or Wanny from taking them off the dribble. And, they were going for the win in that sequence with no time left, so saving a timeout for Gibbs’ miracle is a moot point.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 9:57 am

Mcghee played better than Robinson, Woodall, and Brown. Aside from some bonehead moves Mcghee made last night he actually had a fairly good game especially on defense. Some bonehead moves stuck out, a bad pass in the first half, saving the ball to the Providence player under their basket, a rebound he let role down his body and a couple of blocked dunks. But arguably he was our fourth best player last night. It wasn’t his best rebounding night. However his defense down the stretch was very good. He picked his man
up on the perimeter and kept him from scoring time after time. But we couldn’t get the
rebound. And if there was any rebounding help at all under the net we win this game going away.

Why can’t we give Mcghee some help under the boards with another big? Just once this season I would like to see two Bigs on the floor at the same time. Why is that so much to ask for with the horrible play of Robinson and Brown.

Brown isn’t symmetrical, he is bipolar. Brown took another game off. Brown’s best play
was his inbounds pass to Gibbs for the winning shot. The lucky part is he didn’t throw it
out of bounds.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 10:04 am

many people have aptly pointed out that Taylor is not ready to defend the 4 position … and I agree. Also, coach has said all along that he didn’t want natural freshmen Taylor and Richardson learning more than one position … I wouldn’t be surprised at all if both of them see playing time at the 4 next year .. especially Taylor.

Nonetheless, I project our downfall in the post-season is when we get outrebounded and don’t have a particluarly good shooting night …. a combination that has been lethal all season. We have done very well with an undersized lineup .. but obviously, we definitely have a weakness.

Comment by wbb 03.05.10 @ 10:45 am

Another weakness is our off and on file shooting. We were three for 10 last night. That could also hurt us in the postseason.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 10:52 am

Correction:
Foul shooting. Damn MS speech recognition software.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 10:56 am

Taylor has been a big diaspointment this year. He doesn’t play defense and gets pushed around under the basket all the time. How was he an All American?

Comment by Step it up Taylor! 03.05.10 @ 11:07 am

Step it up Taylor!:

Who are you? Yet another alias for Jeremy/Jeremey with yet another single, hyperbolic statement?

Chas did a great job last month comparing Taylor to the other top Freshman big men. Go back and read it and you’ll find that Taylor is on par with all but a couple.

Anyone who follows Pitt bball knew he was going to contribute but not star this year. One of the reasons he chose Pitt was because he knew the coaching staff would improve his game and build his strength.

As wbb stated, he belongs at the 4 but Jamie had reasons to play him at the 5. The last few games the light has seemed to go on for him. Yes, his D is still weak, because he gets outmuscled, but his offensive game is looking better. A disappointment he is not.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 11:32 am

The whole atmosphere at the game seemed off last night. There were a good number of no-shows in the stands. The Zoo wasn’t nearly as intense, from the beginning, as I’ve come to expect for a Big East game and it only got worse until the shot was made. The team seemed to be sleep walking through the first 12 minutes and never really got into their game barring a 5 minute spurt in each half. It was just an off not all around it seemed. Whether it be the 9:00 start or an anticipated inferior opponent or just not being focused, the team and the fans didn’t seem to be ready. Reminded me of the WVU game when Ramon hit the game winner a couple years back. It seemed to be the same scenario that night all the way down to pulling it out at the end. All’s well that ends well. I just hope and anticipate the players and coaches know better than to overlook the problems they faced because they won. I have a feeling Rutgers is going to face a serious whooping Saturday.

Comment by Jay 03.05.10 @ 11:50 am

TampaT,
That’s not entirely correct and a bit of revisionism. Before the season began Taylor was expected to start instead of Mcghee, however Mcghee surprised us with his improvement over last season. That expectation proved to be unrealistic and although his performance is on are with a couple of other all-american freshman, it is still disappointing. I attribute most of this to his playing out of position and his learning curve and hope to see a big improvement next year.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 11:54 am

We all expected Taylor to step right in after the 27 points he put up against Slippery Rock. Granted, SRU is a D-II school, but first impressions were very favorable after that performance. Seems light years away now, but I see him coming along subtly. He seems more sure of himself and even stronger physically than November.

Comment by Jay 03.05.10 @ 11:58 am

Don’t think I’m being revisionist at all, Shady. Dokish floated the idea of Taylor starting at the 5 and Pantherlair said he might start at the 4. Pantherlair had McGhee at the 5 from the get-go.

That was in June. Then, he came in out of shape, because of the issue with his mother’s health. That set him back and gave McGhee and Nas their opportunities which they never relinquished. If being revisionist is not paying attention to talk before a guy even starts practicing with the big boys, then I’m guilty.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 12:16 pm

Just to follow up on TampaT’s defense of Coach Dixon – it looked to me like Pitt’s defense did make some late adjustments to the high ball screens, but they did not execute the adjustments very well until the last couple possessions. The strategy seemed to be to double team Peterson if he tried to take advantage of a mismatch after a switch. Unfortunately, Pitt’s rotation was very slow in getting the second defender over to him. I think the plan was to have McGhee double down and have another guard rotate over to the top of the key to pick up the potential shooter (usually Curry) in case of a kick-out. You also have to give the Friars credit for making McGhee (after the switch) guard the little guy so far from the hoop, making it more difficult for him to get back into the key to double team and rebound. If the outside guy penetrates, it takes this advantage away. By keeping McGhee away from the hoop, Peterson was able to dominate against much smaller players.

I would have preferred to see Pitt’s guards fight through the screens and not make the switch 20 feet from the hoop, but I’m guessing Pitt’s coaches were worried about leaving guys open to knock down 3’s (which Providence is usually pretty good at doing).

I thought Providence did a good job of identifying potential mismatches and executing the ball screens. Pitt may not have adjusted quickly enough, and when they did, failed to execute the double team until the last couple possessions.

Comment by Pantherman13 03.05.10 @ 12:19 pm

Please, stop with the Taylor talk. We’ve beaten that horse to death. He’s a bit player on this year’s team and not crucial to their success one way or the other. If you want to talk about next year and beyond, fine. But he’s hardly relevant now.

Speaking of next year…..=Has anyone seen the recent video clips of Isiah Epps? The kid looks like the perfect compliment to Gibbs in the backcourt. He’s tall, a legit 6’2″, strong, quick off the dribble, good passer, good shooter. Hopefully he’ll be able to show Jamie enough DEFENSIVELY to earn some significant PT next year.

link to insider.espn.go.com

In case Woodall needs any extra incentive to step it up, he should check out the clips.

Comment by Boubacar Aw 03.05.10 @ 12:24 pm

Spot on, Pantherman13. You saw it executed perfectly with McGhee and Wanny toward the end. They made the switch, Wanny held ground, McGhee doubled down and Peterson turned it over. A key moment in the game actually.

P.S. Thanks for explaining “sucked into playing a perimeter game” to that knucklehead Jeremy after the ND game. Forgot to give you a hat tip for that one.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 12:28 pm

Taylor has been stepping his play up in the last few games I believe and I don’t think there are many people on here who would rip him at this point. He seems to be getting it so a little surprised by that comment.

gc- how can you say “Dixon was a stud” and then criticize Wannamaker for stupid turnovers.
Wanny had 2. Dixon had 5. One was a bad pass in the last 2 minutes that almost cost the game. I don’t understand how Wanny’s ‘offset his offense’ and Dixon’s didn’t in your mind.

Wanny: 10pts + at least 26 pts in assists (13 assists) – 2 turnovers (let’s say they lead to 4 pts)= 32 pts

Dixon: 24 pts + at least 8 pts in assists (4 assists) – 5 turnovers (again, 2pts per TO (not terribly inaccurate in last nights game) 10pts)= 22pts

We needed both on O

Comment by PITTapotamus 03.05.10 @ 12:35 pm

Spot on, Pantherman13

Keeping McGhee away from the hoop, results in no rebounds for us. A theme that will likely be exploited in the post season. Two bigs on the floor at the same?

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 1:09 pm

Boubacar:

The Woodall/Epps drama is the key to next season IMHO. If it plays out perfectly, we could go from pretender to contender for at least a Final Four appearance. Pretty bold, I know, but in an ideal world, Woodall does step up his game – I think he will – and Epps provides valuable minutes. That puts Gibbs exclusively at the 2, which will help him on both ends. It also gives Jamie a mind boggling number of combinations to counter almost any matchup on the other side. It will be tricky with who starts and how they rotate, but you can never have enough good guards. As most of the real experts say, Guard play wins national championships.

However, I’ll temper the Epps expectation with the same “wait and see how he plays with the big boys” that I applied to Taylor this year.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 1:17 pm

I think you’re being a little overly enthusiastic there. Backcourt defense will be an issue when Jermaine leaves. Gibbs is only an adequate defender and Woodall is undersized. And it’s way too early to assume that Epps will come in and be able to chase around Kemba Walker all over the court. Wanamaker and maybe Patterson will see time at off-guard I’m sure. We had average defenders in Fields and Ramon in the backcourt a couple years ago and that only took us so far against good guard teams.

Comment by SilverPanther in NYC 03.05.10 @ 1:46 pm

since we’re talking about next year, I’m more concerned about Taylor adapting to the 4 … if not, then we will have the same issue as this year, being outrebounded because we will have Nasir there again. No matter what transpires with Epps, we have an overload of talent and experience at 1, 2 and 3 positions … can’t say that at the 4 position

Comment by wbb 03.05.10 @ 1:56 pm

Shady – I don’t disagree with you that rebounding may very well be the eventual downfall of this team in the NCAA’s, but I think most teams are going to have a harder time keeping McGhee that far away from the hoop. Providence has a relatively unique mix of offensive talent – lots of guys that can hit outside shots, plus a “big” man that is effective both inside and out. Additionally, their execution and spacing on offense in the second half was really good (as opposed to the first half, when they looked impatient). I don’t think there are a lot of teams that will be able to pull that off consistently, and even if they can, if Pitt executes better on defense, they should be able to get McGhee back to the hoop more quickly. For example, Pitt dominated the boards in the first half.

All of that being said, consistent rebounding clearly is a problem for this team, and not every team Pitt plays is going to be as poor on the defensive end as Providence (thereby allowing Pitt to match the opposition’s offensive output). I have to say, Providence’s press was probably the worst I have seen in 30+ years of watching college basketball. They did not appear to be pressing for turnovers, but they couldn’t get anybody back once the press was broken either. I also thought it was interesting that their matchup zone was so ineffective against dribble penetration. They couldn’t stop Dixon, which makes Brown’s disappearance all the more baffling.

Tampa – if I was any help in explaining anything, you are most welcome. I suspect that the signal to noise ratio from the “Pitt Sucks” poster a few days ago may have been such that rational analysis was no longer helpful, but it is always worth a shot…

Comment by Pantherman13 03.05.10 @ 2:00 pm

Knew that would bring someone out. Sure I’m enthusiastic. I’m a fan. But re-read what I said before knocking it.

Gibbs at the 2 will benefit on both ends: He’s adequate at defending point guards, who are generally quicker. He’ll face guys more his makeup, and he won’t be as gassed as he gets now from playing so many minutes with the ball. I think his defense improves thanks to that.

Woodall is undersized? He’s 5’11” 190 lbs and can jump as evidenced by his rebounding. Kemba is 6’1″ 175 lbs. 2″ is not that much difference on the perimeter and he’ll have help inside. And being light doesn’t seem to hurt Kemba.

Note: I said “in an ideal world” meaning lots would have to fall into place.

Note: I said “contender” which means you still have to play the games.

Note: I said I’d reserve judgement for Epps until he starts playing.

Just dreaming, that’s all.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 2:14 pm

If it truly becomes a drama between Woodall and Epps, then Pitt won’t be final four contender. Epps needs to win it by a knockout. Woodall has shown me enough to think that he could end up becoming a good player for pitt. But his ceiling is somewhere short of “Final Four Starting Point Guard”.

Epps looks to have a higher ceiling, if for no other reasons than his size and jumper. But you’re absolutely right, none of us have any idea how quickly he’ll adapt to the “big boys”.

The other big question going into next year will be the four spot. I think everyone agrees that Brown and Robinson are playing out of position. Miller, Taylor, Richardson and Zanna weren’t ready. And as a result, Pitt has struggled at times inside, both on the glass and defensively. In a perfect world, the light will go on for Taylor, he’ll get stronger and more confident and he’ll grab that spot. But we don’t live in a perfect world, so we’ll see.

Want to know how far Pitt will go next year? Come to Greentree this summer and watch two guys, Taylor and Epps.

In the meantime, let’s enjoy watching how far they get this year. And that will depend on their draw. If Pitt gets the right matchups, they could do very well. Wrong matchups and the Rutgers game could be the last win of the year. Should be fun!

Comment by Boubacar Aw 03.05.10 @ 2:22 pm

Tampa – Woodall is no where near 5’11 190. I stood next to him in greentree over the summer, 5’9″ TOPS!!!!! Maybe 170. Scottie Reynolds isn’t much bigger than Travon, but is quicker and nova doesn’t need him to play d the way Pitt needs their guards to play.

For the record, being STUPID has been what has hurt Kemba. He is the most infuriating, inconsistent player in the BE. Just watch the tow halves against Texas. He was awful in the first half, turnover, bad shot, no defense machine. Then somehow the light switch went on and he took over the second half. It was unbelievable. All that talent, but no clue. Wouldn’t want that kid on my team.

Comment by Boubacar Aw 03.05.10 @ 2:30 pm

TampaT, it’s cool, you were just thinking/ dreaming out loud. You mentioned contender for a Final Four appearance- which caught my eye….Woodall is listed as 5-11 and 190, which is exactly what the doctor measured me at when I got my physical last month and he’s shorter than I am and definitely slimmer. Anyway, I think he will be a fine defensive player. But he ain’t 5’11” 190 pounds.

Comment by SilverPanther in NYC 03.05.10 @ 2:34 pm

…also, I was suggesting that Epps is a question mark chasing around Walker because Walker is fast, a good ballhandler, and will be a Big East junior….Walker himself as a player is obviously a work in progress.

Comment by SilverPanther in NYC 03.05.10 @ 2:39 pm

All’s cool, SilverPanther. I know you’re a baller and know your stuff. Like I said, just imagining what could be based on what these guys did this year beyond our expectations.

Thanks to you and Boubacar for the eye test on Woodall’s physique. I can only go by what’s published, so someone needs to get on the Media Relations folks about that. He’s listed at that height/weight everywhere. Lies. Lies. Lies.

No need to convince me on Kemba. Anyone who turns down a chance to play for Jamie and represent his country is as dumb as it gets. Turned out good for Gibbs and Pitt though.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 2:54 pm

The incredible shrinking players.

Who measures these guys? Blair went into Pitt 6’8″ and the NBA draft 6’6′. What is going on here?

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 3:09 pm

I’d hold off on salivating over Epps until he is at least NCAA academically cleared to play at Pitt. I wonder how tall he actually is? On the flip-side, can’t wait til he gets here and hope he’s smarter than Walker.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 3:21 pm

Epps is the truth… he will take that job from woodall.

Comment by Snala the Panther 03.05.10 @ 3:50 pm

If we go by bio’s, Scottie Reynolds (6″2″) is 3″ taller than Woodall. I’d say he is much bigger and quicker. We know that Woodall’s bio is inflated, don’t know about Reynolds’ bio. Woodall is supposed to have elite speed, but game in and game out I don’t see it, But I don’t think he’ll ever be tough enough to be a BE guard.

Short, slight, slow, and soft doesn’t a BE guard make.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 4:17 pm

Watching Epps go effortlessy both left and right was exciting.

Comment by steve 03.05.10 @ 5:24 pm

Yeah but, what was Epps’ competition like. It didn’t look like the defense was very good. He is very skinny. Epps is 170 pounds? He needs to gain 30 pounds to be a guard in the big east.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.05.10 @ 5:50 pm

Shady, Woodall definitely has the best speed/quickness on the team. And the kid can leap. His issue isn’t athleticism right now, it is controlling the game. They want him to learn to slow down and play smart which is why he may not appear that quick at times. But, he has certainly turned it on at times and you can see it when he sees a sliver of daylight to the hoop.

Reynolds much quicker than Woodall? Isn’t Woodall the guy that took two charges on Reynolds by beating him to the spot (ok, one was called a block, but it was a bad call). Go ahead and criticize Woodall’s decision making, but questioning his athleticism and toughness makes me wonder what you are watching. The kid gets in the paint and rebounds better than most guards on this team and takes a bunch of charges, displaying his athleticism/toughness at the same time. Questionable decision making/handle at times, but not a questionable athlete.

Also, there is no way in the world that Kemba Walker is breaking 6 feet. Fields was at least his height last year and was listed at 5’10”.

Comment by OntartioLett'sGoPitt 03.05.10 @ 8:01 pm

Woodall took it end to end pretty quickly for that floater against WVU, Shady. Have also seen him blow by plenty of opposing guards. Not sure where you get that he’s slow. Gets a decent amount of boards for his size and considering his personal background, I’d think he’d be pretty tough. Doubt you’d play let alone start for Bob Hurley if you were a wimp.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 8:44 pm

Don’t forget about Cameron Wright coming in to play, what I imagine, will be the 3. He is a long, athletic leaper in the mode of Sam Young. Seeing him live, he is every bit 6’6″, thin, but muscular. Throw in JJ and, wow, look out!

IMHO, this upcoming class may not win as many games as others in the Golden Age, but will take us the farthest in the Tourney.

Comment by Pauly P 03.05.10 @ 8:45 pm

Farther than Elite 8 = Final 4. That’s what I’m sayin’, Pauly. Next year: Possible, if everything falls in place. The year after that: Plausible. The year after that: Probable.

Comment by TampaT 03.05.10 @ 9:00 pm

Agreed TampaT. Now, if we can add a Center somewhere above McGhee’s level of play, we could be really set in 2012.

FWIW Blair started tonight for the Spurs while Thabeet is in the D league. Too funny. I’m going to the game in Cleveland on Monday to see Spurs Cavs. I can’t wait to see the Big Fella live!

Comment by Pauly P 03.05.10 @ 10:02 pm

Thabeet is financially set for life, while Blair is going to have to fight and stay healthy long enough to get that second contract. Just one more reason to despise the NBA.

Comment by Boubacar AW 03.06.10 @ 8:18 am

OntartioLett’sGoPitt & TampaT,

I was watching the Providence game and he was called twice for blocking fouls. He wasn’t moving his feet fast enough to get them set in front of the driver. Blocking fouls are the rule, or do you want to dismiss them all as bad calls? Sure he has had several good games but I said game in and game out. Rebounds? What games have you been watching? Don’t tell me, we all know he played well in the West Virginia game. In the last five games he’s gotten five rebounds. The only guard he has outrebounded is Chase Adams in the last five games even if you correct for the amount of game time per player.

“They want him to learn to slow down and play smart” – Well he certainly learned the slowdown part.

You guys can keep pointing out exceptions, but I’m getting tired of this, only time will tell if he ends up being a good big east guard. I hope he does and makes me eat my words.

Let’s move on to Rutgers and hope that everyone has a good game and we beat the hell out of them for a strong finish to the end of the regular season.

Go Pitt.

Comment by shadyforpresident 03.06.10 @ 10:07 am

Shady,

A lot of folks have their “favorite” player to pick on here, and it appears Woodall is yours. That’s certainly your right to criticize his play if you expect more of him to be a contributor to the team. But, also expect some of us to counter hyperbolic statements like “he’s slow” and “he’s soft” when you make them, because they’re exagerations. You can find times where any player, even our hero du jour Gibbs, underperformed and every player on the team has flaws. Criticize his play, criticize his decision making, but don’t automatically write off a kid as not being BE material in only in his first year of playing big time ball. Jamie obviously has a lot of faith in the kid. He even said that. I think that’s all Ontario and I are trying to say.

OK, now I’m ready to move on to Rutgers.

Comment by TampaT 03.06.10 @ 10:35 am

Just to be clear I was not debating if he will be a good big east guard or not.
Never said he’ll be a good point guard necessarily. I think he has the ability to and hope he does. And, I wasn’t debating whether he has played well or not. It was about athleticism and that is all. He displays it clearly at times. The kid is a RS freshman who has a lot to learn, he isn’t going to be taking people to the hoop every play. But he has blown by people enough, beat people to the spot on D enough, out jumped people for boards enough that he has shown he has pretty stellar athleticism.
This would be like calling Dorin Dickerson not athletic his first two years because he didn’t perform or tally stats his first few years. It was on display when he ran around the field, but he wasn’t really sure where to be, what to do and didn’t seem comfortable.

Don’t get me wrong I agree there is a lot to criticize at times about his play, it athleticism isn’t one of those things.

Comment by OntarioLettsGoPitt 03.06.10 @ 10:39 am

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