Well, here’s something predictable and not so predictable. Bob Smizik thinks Pitt can make the Sweet 16. Of course, he must preface it thusly,
I am not a huge fan of this Pitt team. I think coach Jamie Dixon has done the best job of his stellar career in getting this team to where it is. It does not have great talent.
But the Panthers are capable of winning two games and get to the round of 16. If they can do that, what already has been season of unexpected highs will become a truly remarkable one.
I could be being sensitive, but it is typical Smizik to denigrate while complimenting. No one, even when Pitt was surging into the top-10 nationally, has claimed that this team has “great” talent. It has good talent that works hard and is well coached. The potentially “great” talent on the team is inexperienced, raw or redshirting (or coming next year).
Meanwhile Ron Cook says the obvious — while pretending others are saying otherwise — that Pitt has to win their first round game.
A lot of people around here will tell you that the Panthers don’t have to beat Oakland for this to be regarded as a successful season. They will point out, quite correctly, that Pitt didn’t look much like a tournament team at the start of the season after losing four starters to the pros from a team that went 31-5 and made it to the final eight in 2009. They will argue that its marvelous regular-season success — including a tie for second place in the powerful Big East Conference and wins against then-Top 5 opponents Syracuse, West Virginia and Villanova — assures that this will be remembered as a great year.
Sorry, I’m not among those people.
What? Who, outside of the Pete would claim that losing to Oakland in the first round wouldn’t be a huge disappointment and put a bad taste in everyone’s mouth and discolor the accomplishments of the entire season? I mean, did you not notice the reactions when Pitt went down in their first game of the Big East Tournament to a hot Notre Dame team? You would have thought that Pitt played itself completely out of the Tournament.
Even the players are aware and think it would make the season a disappointment. You don’t think that goes for every team that is on the first four lines? It’s brutal when you are a #5 seed and it happens — and most people are conditioned now to expect 5-12 upsets.
Pitt is under no more or less pressure to win that game than any other team on those 4 lines. Get over the myopia.
Since the field expanded to 64/65, the #3 seed has been upset 15 times out of 100 opportunities.
The Golden Grizzlies of Oakland are looking for things to motivate and give them a chip-on-the-shoulder. Since they only have to go to Milwaukee, they are going with the seeding.
Oakland also played a tough schedule, featuring the likes of No. 1 seeds Kansas and Syracuse, Michigan State and Wisconsin.
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Yet it’ll face Pittsburgh (24-8), the regional’s No. 3 seed.
“It’s mixed emotion,” Kampe said. “I’m happy we’re not going to Spokane or San Jose. It gives our fans a chance to come and see us. We’ll have five or six busloads going there.
“I’m real unhappy with the seed. I don’t know how we got a 14th seed. Our RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) was 51 this morning. Maybe we’re new to it. Maybe we need to win. Maybe it’s our league.”
Kampe pointed out New Mexico State has an RPI of 91, but the Western Athletic Conference tournament champion got a No. 12 seed and will open against No. 5 seed Michigan State in the Midwest Region.
And their closest loss to those other BCS teams was 16 to Wisconsin (the other three were an average of 31 point losses). They also lost by 12 to Oregon and 31 to Memphis.
Oakland to their credit, did play a load of tough games. They went 6-7 in their non-con with 8 road games. Granted, as guarantee games, they probably made up the bulk of the basketball team’s budget, but that also gave them their surprisingly high RPI number despite the losses.
It’s about a seven hour drive to Milwaukee for Oakland, so they should have a decent contingent make the trip.
Pitt does have some extra scouting information via Chase Adams.
ll they have to do is turn to senior guard Chase Adams, who faced Oakland for the past three seasons when he was at Centenary College in the Summit League.
“They’re definitely a veteran team,” Adams said. “They’re a complete team. They have an inside game and they have shooters. It’s going to be a good matchup.”
I’m going to assume that he’s going into more detail for the coaches and teammates.
Like most fans, there isn’t a lot of complaining from Pitt players about things.
“We’ve got a favorable draw,” junior forward Gilbert Brown said. “We just have to try to make the most of it.”
…The Pitt players, however, couldn’t resist at least taking a peak at what might lay ahead.
…
“I know who’s possibly the next two teams,” senior guard Jermaine Dixon said, “but that’s something we’re not thinking about now.”
Added Brown: “You see the potential games that you could play, but your main objective is to focus on this first game.”
Come on, get those cliches going.
Look back to this blog if we see some magic!
Why is Oakland upset by having a 14 seed?
I think the Panthers will have any easy time in the opener unless they take the path of “looking ahead to their next opponent”!!
IMHO, Smizass and Beano Junior are incapable.
Basketball is still a team game, they can go far if they play stellar defense, rebound and distribute the ball!!!
1) We had a short and uneventful run in the BET. The shine from the BET is wearing off, and we can get some more data points to compare whether or not a long run in the BE helps or hurts us come wins in March/April (not in recruting and all of that…)
2) We actually got a good top 4 line seed. And let’s face it, you need to be in this line to have a shot (statistically).
3) NOBODY is talking about us to make a long run. Queue up karma and some chip on our shoulders speeches, and this team seems to respond to being the underdog.
4) Aside from the Oakland coach, we will likely not play less tenured coaches (unless Tubby or Donovan pull off upsets). Read– JD won’t run into an Izzo or Howland or Sutton en route. And that always bodes well, IMHO.
5) Ease up on Oakland and the upset, we are going to beat these guys because we are a better team. Even with our perceived warts, we are head shoulders better than 12 of the 15 teams in our bracket. And this year, we will exploit that.
6) Logistically, we know Milwaukee and the Bradley center. We have played there this year. Routine should be there, and that is helpful to get us to Utah.
7) Karma police- We are due a tourney upset in our favor for the gut wreching, kick-in-the-balls loss to Villanova. Or as Omar puts it, luck has to come our way on something (FT night where we shoot 95% as a team, we rain 3’s at a 70% clip, role player turns in 20+ points)… we’re effin’ due for one of these…
8) Jermaine Dixon. The best all-around player and leader on our team is playing his last games as a college player. Always good to have a senior playing his last games in the tourney. Why? There is no next year, and you can best your ass that he will be on everyone to play like it. Plus, deep his mind, right/wrong/or indifferent, he felt that he blew that VU game last year. Now is the time to atone.
9) FT Shooting. When tourney games get called tight, I like the team that shoots better at the line. And, this team, for the most part, is the best FT% team (and best individual FT% player) than any of the Howland/Dixon era.
10) Utah– To counter the ass kicking we took at the hands of Utah in 2005’s Fiesta, the state of Utah owes us a strong ass kicking in our favor (ties into the karma factor). NOTE: if this comes to fruition, expect the great wins wo be balanced with a Pitt FB loss at the hands of the Utes in September.
Hail to Pitt!
He’s just being realistic. Pitt and the teams fans should feel fortunate that it received a #3 seed, considering how up and down the team has been this season. And his main point seems to be that Pitt is going to have to have a long “up” run to make noise in the tourney. I actually think that’s a pretty good possibility considering the expectations for the squad are considerably lessened compared to last year.
Dan 72: Like your thought about “gettng hot.” Pitt had two 5-game streaks where they played pretty solid on both ends. The first rocketed them into BE contention and national attention. The second locked up the tourney berth and probably made the difference in getting the #3 seeding. One more 5-game streak puts Pitt in the final. Likely? Probably not. Impossible?
Pitt wasn’t “lucky” to be a #3 seed. Pitt earned a #3 seed. They won 24 games, finished second in the big east, and beat 3 teams seeded higher than them. There isn’t anything “lucky” about that.
I guess Villanova didn’t have any talent last year either. Consider the fact that not one player from that Final 4 team will be drafted in the 1st round of the NBA draft. Pitt might not win a game in the NCAA tournament, but it certainaly won’t be because they don’t have any talent.
“Lucky” was perhaps a poor choice of word. “Fortunate” is better. Finishing the season, Pitt’s most lasting impressions were getting blown out by a Notre Dame team in South Bend, but without its All-American forward who is one of the school’s best players of all time and a future lottery pick. They also needed a last-second trey by Gibbs to beat a mediocre Providence squad AT HOME. And, they bow out in the first round of the Big East Tourney to that same Notre Dame squad minus Harangody. Not exactly a strong finish, which is often vital to a team’s seeding.
So … I still maintain Pitt was fortunate to get a #3 seed. Could have easily been a #4, and I was not going to be surprised if Pitt got a #5. Yes. Pitt finished tied for second in the BE regular season, but Georgetown, Syracuse, ‘Nova, and WVU were all going to be seeded higher than Pitt. That the fifth-seeded team in the BE got a #3 is a pleasant surprise, but should not have been a given.
Pitt wasn’t the fifth best team in the Big East considering they played, and beat, 4 of the 5 teams you mentioned.
Pitt will win this one!!