Not sure much of an introduction is needed for this. It’s the Backyard Brawl. It’s at the Pete. It doesn’t start until 9pm on ESPN. On a Thursday night. The best thing for public safety in Morgantown may be a TV blackout.
The last 9pm Thursday game was a year and a week ago at Marquette. That worked out rather well, even if I did overdo the Gemini.
I’d like to hope that Pitt wins this one going away, but I think we all know that isn’t going to happen. Dante Taylor will be a game-time decision. If he can’t go, that means Richardson is the primary back-up to McGhee.
Per the usual. A moderated chat to deal with repetitive comments, trolls, insane overreactions, etc.
If you need to break the site out from the blog,Click Here.
Otherwise, the liveblog is just a little lower.
I must say Patterson played great tonight. He simplified is game and made good decisions. Hopefully, something clicked and now he understands what he has to do. Getting production out of Patterson would be huge.
“He (Patterson) got his opportunity after Zanna broke his right thumb after the pre-game meal while, as coach Jamie Dixon put it, he was “messing around” with some teammates while getting into a car. Zanna will have surgery Friday and is expected to miss between three and six weeks.”
*Agree, Patterson was tremendous last night. He’s not an athlete, but he has a nice court sense and gets a lot accomplished with his floor game. Key rebounds, stripping the ball, good cuts to the hoop and a nice long pass on the break. Think he’ll be a key role player in yrs to come.
*Taylor was better last night. Never going to be a banger, but he played hard.
*I knew Gil Brown had been here a long time, but didn’t notice until last night that his hairline is receding. Better get that pro contract signed for Uruguay before anyone asks to see a birth certificate.
*Anyone notice that Pitt’s second half run came with Woodall not playing during the first 12-13 minutes of the second half? I hate watching Gibbs handle it because it takes away from his opportunities to get loose off picks, but maybe they’re better off with him and Wanamaker sharing the ballhandling and Woodall playing very limited minutes for a while. Woodall’s inability to set up his teammates to score makes it tough to justify minutes for him. It’s a dilemma.
*Nice to see Wanamaker going aggressively to the hoop again. Was worried he was hurt; not concerned anymore.
Unfortunately, at no point last night did I think Coach Huggins was going to explode courtside and get gin-pickled guts all over everybody. For him, he was positively mellow. Oh well.
He was positively mellow.
I’ll take his mid range jumper, occassional 3pt, and higher FT% when compared to Zanna’s rebounding, defense, and putbacks. If DT lives up to his billing, we will be on the scrap factor. We need a big in the lineup that can pop up and hit a mid range jumper.
Still frustrated that we refuse to feed the big fella more last night… McGhee was doing an excellent job positioning undersized guys away from the hoop to set up the lob. Fortunately Wanny fed him a couple times, but man…we need to take advantage of these glaring mismatches.
Rest of team is solid, JD does a great job of preparation and different folks step up as needed.
Jimbo, agree. I think that it is influenced by a simple fundamental of the game. Woodall likes to make his bounce pass by using a one-handed push instead of a conventional two-handed bounce pass. The one-hander is not as accurate, has more spin on it, and doesn’t get to the receiver quite as quickly. It’s a small nuance, but it makes a big difference.
Not sure what season you’ve been watching, but I can recall plenty of runs with Woodall in the game. One can find fault with any player on a game-by-game basis, which you seem to do, but I look at a player’s contribution over the season. On that note, Woodall is second only to Wanny in total assists and assists per minute of play. His assist-to-turnover ratio is first at 2.49 to Wanny’s 2.40. This includes his “awful” performance last night of 6 assists to 1 turnover. He’s also second only to Wanny in steals, making up for some of those turnovers.
I’ll admit that he looks to be forcing things a little bit lately, which he wasn’t doing earlier. But I think the reason Jamie plays him is because he contributes more often than not.
He seems to have good skills, but loses focus at times. They really need him to embrace his role going forward.
Rocky, they certainly did pass him the ball and he scored as a result. You may want to watch the entire game next time.
Zanna’s injury was silly and hurts the team, but I think Richardson will fill in ably. “Big Hungry” doesn’t have the upside or athleticism, but he’s a smart, tough kid with a decent mid-range game and can rebound. Both are lost on defense. Richardson less so.
I’m still waiting for Dixon to implement a back-cut. Opponents are *often* anticipating lazy passes at the top of our motion set, overplaying, jumping into passing lanes and forcing turnovers or deflections.
A simple head-and-shoulders fake toward the ball and back-cut towards the hoop would lead to an odd-man scoring opportunity. Think Princeton/Georgetown.
That’s the one part of Dixon’s approach that confuses me. He doesn’t seem interested in making an opponent pay for gambling. Whether it be passively attacking a press or failing to use a defender’s aggressive half-court posture against him, Dixon seems set in his ways and content to leave points on the court. This is particularly frustrating when we’re not shooting well and could use some easy baskets, which wasn’t necessarily the case last night.
That said, Dixon’s on the verge of becoming the fastest college basketball coach to 214 victories – ever – and I’m commenting on an Internet message board…
JD is a rare breed. A teaching coach, nutures his kids, builds them up, gets as much out of his kids as any coach, maybe more. Pitt’s success depends on his kids playing their hearts out together, as a unit and that takes special coaching. That’s why I dislike Huggins, he seems to berate his kids under the guise of coaching them. He tells them, in front of everyone, what they did wrong, what’s wrong with them. Don’t like that style, I think it tears a kid down. Alluding to his first loss to Pitt this year he said disparaging things to the media about his kids in a joking manner. I think he’s a shit coach. I hope he stays at WV for a long time.
It’s a zero sum game. Patterson’s production IS Woodall’s absence. Can’t have one without the other. That’s my whole point about Dixon’s dilemma: he’s got to take minutes away from Woodall because of lack of production (which he obviously realized in the second half last night), but how many minutes do you subtract?
I have been a vocal critic of our guard’s inability to find McGhee when the situation presents itself. Like last night, when Gary has a strong physical presence and the backsidedouble team is not in force, we NEED to feed the position for easy lob layups. I thought the boys did an average job of that last night…and frankly, they did it more than I have seen all year. COuld they have done more? Yes.
But…
the minute that double team arrives, it just doesn’t make sense to force the issue with Gary’s poor FT% and propoensity for TOs.
I stress…”When the situation presents itself”…
and last night, especially in the 2nd half, it did.
The point about the stats was to show Woodall’s contribution over the course of the season. You seem to like to pick specific games. Wasn’t it just a couple of games ago that Patterson didn’t even belong on the floor?
Again, I’ll admit that Woodall’s been forcing things. Overall, he had an off night against St. Johns. Most likely he felt he had something to prove in his hometown against the hometown team. Put a little too much pressure on himself. But, he had the “onions” as Pauly P said to hit the shot that by most accounts should have won the game. Last night may have been an attempt to make up for St. Johns, again forcing it a little. Jamie saw that and sat him. That’s why Jamie knows more about coaching than you, me and this board combined.
And Jamie knows that Woodall positively affects the flow when he’s in there more often than not. That’s why he’s generally first off the bench.
And if you watch Pitt games, you would know Patterson and Woodall don’t play the same position. Is Patterson going to be guarding the other team’s PG or a small quick guard? Woodall didn’t lose time because of his production. He just played about the same number of minutes he was averaging before Gibbs was hurt. You want to know how I know that? By looking at the box score.
I look for Jamie to alter the rotation a bit, and that Gilbert may start at the 3 but also will provide relief for Nasir at the 4 (Gilbert has played there before.) This wil give more minutes for Patterson and possibly JJ Moore
*Hey, I was the first to say last year that Woodall’s minutes were generally positive because they were struggling with Gibbs at PG and needed more speed in the lineup. It just stinks that he’s our only PG alternative. You guys are OK with him because your expectations aren’t high enough. If you’re going to play PG in the best conf in the country, a left hand and an ability to create should be tablestakes.
*If Woodall comes in, Wanamaker moves to the three and Patterson sits. Kind of simple. During last night’s run, Woodall had to sit because Dixon wanted Patterson in the game to start the second half and didn’t want to sit either of his two best players (Gibbs or Wanamaker). Is this rocket science?
*The points I saw Moore score weren’t on Kraft. Kraft was guarding Purdue’s little PG. My advice is, wait and see if that kid has a nice career. Remember, true freshman, not a kid in his 3rd year somewhere.
*I did say Patterson looked unprepared against SJU and Dixon had no choice but to pull him. Yes, with young kids sometimes it’s a game-by-game thing. But I’ve liked his game (which some of my buddies would tell you) from the start.
*And yes, Woodall got his minutes last night. Interestingly enough, they came during periods of the game when Pitt was struggling or had already built the lead. Hmmm……
I hope I’ve been clear. I absolutely think Woodall has to play and I think he has a role on this team and he has hit some big shots. (Nevermind thre are other things I’d much rather get from a PG…..). The fact is, Dixon just doesn’t have any other backcourt options even remotely ready to contribute. So I get it, I have to get over it and hope the kid plays well because he has to play 16-20 mins a game no matter how you cut it.
Still disappointed that we didn’t have a better PG to take the baton from Fields…….
Woodall’s one-handed passes do drive me crazy, but overall he’s had a pretty good year. Not outstanding, but fairly steady, with some games where he stunk and others where he was outstanding. And he’s not afraid to take the big shot and has proven he can make it.
Shame Gil had the foul trouble. Looked like he was headed for a really big night.
As for McGhee, he does get passed up when he has good post position at times, but I’m no longer as upset with it. Unless there is no other defender (than his own, of course) in the immediate vicinity and the pass can be made in the air, not off the bounce, the benefit vs. the risk has just not panned out. He bumbles bounce passes too often and takes longer to make his move, giving the D time to recover and often leading to misses and blocks. The poor FT doesn’t help either.
Lastly on Woodall, sure he has his flaws. I think we’re watching a college team and not the NBA, so all but one or two players are going to have pretty big flaws. IMHO, Woodall has made a lot of progress in his three years and there’s no reason to think he won’t continue. He may always only be a role player, especially if Epps is all that, but his role will be important to the team’s success. Therefore, I’ll support him flaws and all.
Carmen, amen. Towards the end of the ST. John’s game, he fumbled a pass that was a little low, but certainly catchable, out-of-bounds. If McGhee catches the ball and then dunks it, we win and have a lock on at least a tie for 1st place in the BE, and maybe ranked No. 1 in the country.
The problem is not a one vs. two handed bounce pass… a two handed bounce pass is obsolete in today’s game… in fact, I’m not sure that it is even taught once kids get past 4th grade. The one handed pass is meant to get the ball away from your body, and out of reach of the defender.
With the athletes today, there simply is no way to throw a 2 handed bounce pass from point-to-point. If you think Woodall has difficulty completing passes now, your assessment would be much worse if he started tossing the ball around the court like he’s playing in the 1947 NIT…
The problem has actually been “flat” cuts getting open by the wing players, allowing the defender to get in between Woodall and “the receiver”, whether it be Gibbs or Wannamaker… thus causing the pass to be more difficult.
This also has alot to do with scouting, esp in conference games, where all the teams know the sets they will see from each team…
Dave in Orlando.. “Prison Ball”.. I chuckled for 10 minutes. Thanks
Pitt was +14 when Woodall was in the game against WVU. So yeah…. Pitt played so much better when Woodall was on the bench. Pitt was also +6 when Woodall was in the game against St. Johns. Yet another reason why stats are better than what a person “sees” on the court.
Big Bill, no, this is Wanamaker getting the ball to McGhee underneath for a dunk. (BTW, a reason Wanamaker is considered Pitt’s best player by many of the TV commentator/analysts, in my opinion, is because he has the best “old school” fundamentals.
The 2 handed bounce pass comment you directed earlier to Woodall, not Wannamaker… doesn’t matter though. His “old school” approach doesn’t include very many 2 hand bounce passes to the post. You simply CANNOT feed the post in today’s game with a basic, straightforward 2 handed bounce pass.
My original post was about Woodall though, and BlackMagic came through with a hell of stat to prove how valuable Woodall has been.
And, more often than not, Gary was pinning his guy in front as he was being fronted in the post… Can’t throw ANY type of bounce pass in that instance…
On another note, I don’t understand why bounce passes are not made more frequently. I also don’t understand why on a 2 on 1 fast break, the ball is not taken to the middle and why the dribbler does not stop at the foul line to either shoot if the defender wants to pick up the trailer or to bounce pass to the trailer if the defender goes after the dribbler. I refuse to discard old school fundamentals,
You have me on a BB fundamentals kick. I don’t know Wanamaker’s HS coach, but I suspect that he was a great fundamentalist. When Brad gets the ball, he immediately looks to determine if he can drive. If he can, he takes off. Many other guys out front or on the perimeter, when they receive a pass, the first thing they do is bend over and pass the ball from their right hand to their left hand and then back and forth a few more times until they decide what they are going to do. Would not have happened in my day.
My surprising vote: Ashton Gibbs
Might be tough to pick up from the boxscore……
Pitt’s best lineup last night was gibbs/wanamaker/patterson/robinson/mcghee. Something to think about. Or you could just read the boxscore and go back to your coffee.
i could have just checked the boxscore instead of going to Boston a couple yrs back to understand that Nova hit 21-22 free throws. good enough, i guess. great stat. all I should need to know. why worry about the fact that there were multiple opportunities to slow Reynolds down on that fateful last possession?
A favorite Pitt fan whipping boy, Dante Taylor, appeared to be poised and mature last night. Didn’t put up big numbers, but just something about his demeanor and the way he played made me think that this kid’s finally coming around.
I’m a bit more bullish re: Patterson, Woodall and Zanna making a jump next year in their maturation process than DT.
Some things really bother me about DT that I can’t seem to get over…
1) Physicality– To be an effective 5 in the BE he is going to need some mass, strength, and overall improvement in conditioning to front, position, defend/hedge, screen and rebound.
2) Defense– Like most early 5’s in their development, he picks up cheap fouls too quickly and is a non factor for most of a game. I see him having this problem next year.
3) Shooting hitch– I can’t see him ever having an offesive game more than 6′ from the rim with that horrible hitch in his shot; therefore, he is basically a Chris Taft-like player.
4) Attitude– Granted most kids seem to whine on every foul or get easily rattled by an aggressive competitor,but DT seems to have a aura of immaturity when it comes to dealing with the fouls and other rough play that happens in a game. Plus, he needs to get over celebrating after every made shot.
I hope he can be effective…but I just am not reaady to say he has turned the corner…
