If you live in the Philly area and/or are planning to go to the Pitt-Nova game on Saturday, you need to go to the Official Pitt Alumni Game Watch at Kelly’s. Or at least stop by and have a beer.

Normally I don’t go out of my way to promote these, but I have to make an exception when the Nova Blog is treating this as a treasonous act. Apparently the fact that the owner is a Nova alum makes it worse. The bar, also happens to be the closest bar to the campus, so by extension to the Pavilion.

Show up, take over the place, and make the economic impact that can only make it worse for the Nova kids.

I was somewhat taken aback with the gushing from punditry and others both on Twitter and ESPN following Pitt beating the Hoopies in Morgantown. Yes, Pitt was down Ashton Gibbs and it was in Morgantown, but largely this is what Pitt does when a starter goes down. Don’t freak out, play their game and gut it out.

We’ve seen it in the past when Levance Fields was hurt and the team lacked any sort of true point guard. The team, adjusted to the circumstances and still played their game. It may have been a little harder, and uglier but Pitt would get through those spells still winning more than they lost. Why, then should this be any different?

Pitt started out struggling in the first half. Trying to find the right spacing. Some surprising line-ups on the floor at points (Patterson, Zanna and Moore out there at the same time?). Essentially, a bit of experimenting on the fly.

(more…)

Ah, some good and proper hate. I’m assuming that Hoopie fans will be themselves and provide plenty of reason to be condescending and insulting in their general direction.

The game starts at 7pm on ESPN. It’s the good crew of Raftery, Bilas and McDonough.

(more…)

Between Thanksgiving and despondence over the football team, I didn’t look too closely at some of the Pitt materials of the Backyard Brawl. So I didn’t know that Pitt (and/or maybe the Big East or WVU) spent money on a logo.

Not sure it captures the hate or really evokes much other than raindrops? Tears?

(more…)

During the Pitt cruising over Cinci, Ashton Gibbs came up limping. He gutted out the rest of the game, so most of us hoped/assumed it was just a charley horse or some sort of minor issue. Well, compared to a torn ACL, it is still minor, but it isn’t a cramp.

Pitt men’s basketball junior guard Ashton Gibbs is sidelined with a left knee MCL injury and will not play at West Virginia on Monday.

Gibbs, the team’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game, was injured in Pitt’s 71-59 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday. Team officials have not put a timetable on his return, but it’s expected he will be out 10-14 days.

That’s at least two big road games — at the Hoopies tomorrow and at Villanova for the marquee ESPN College GameDay night game.

Best case would be him coming back in time for the home game with USF before the road game at St. John’s. Otherwise, Gibbs might not be back until the home game with WVU.

Regardless, Travon Woodall has to slide into the starting role and more minutes. He and Brad Wanamaker have to pick-up a bit as both have been slumping lately.

The risk/reward of this is the potential for Lamar Patterson and J.J. Moore to see more minutes as well. The two bring more size, length and athleticism on the perimeter. Potentially creating better attacking of the basket along with Gil Brown.

While Gibbs isn’t Pitt’s best defender, he is consistent and does know where to be. Patterson and Moore will have to play tougher, better on the defensive end.

The funny thing about Big East regional games, is who ends up televising these things. Here’s the official TV syndication for the game:

Pittsburgh (FSN Pittsburgh), New York (SportnetNY), Washington D.C. (MASN), Baltimore, Md. (MASN), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (Brighthouse), Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne (Brighthouse-O), Hartford-New Haven, Conn. (SNY-CT), Cincinnati, Ohio (FSN-Ohio), Milwaukee, Wis. (TW-WI), San Antonio-Austin, Texas (KCWX), Providence-New Bedford, R.I. (Cox-NE), Green Bay-Appleton, Wis. (TW-WI2), ESPN3.com, ESPN Full Court.

San Antonio-Austin, Texas? Okay. Guess that TCU to the Big East thing might be paying off.

Oh, and let me offer a fine eff you to Fox Sports Pittsburgh, ESPN regional, the Big East or whoever is responsible for not having HD cameras at this game. Get this shit together.

(more…)

Liveblog tonight at 6pm. Post for that will be up later.

The Bearcats were one of the premier regular season teams in the 90s. The way Pitt seems to be on ESPN all the time these days. That was Cinci back in the 90s. I was able to get the girl who is now my wife back to my place early in our dating, with the lure of cable and being able to watch her Bearcats play that night. Needless to say, the Bearcats no longer enjoy that lofty reputation or status on ESPN. Pitt on the other hand…

The Pittsburgh Panthers have what the University of Cincinnati used to have and desperately wants to get back.

While the Bearcats are striving to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005, at Pitt there’s little doubt that the Panthers will make their 10th straight appearance come March.

Not long ago, that’s how it was at UC.

“It’s what I call standard of excellence,” said UC coach Mick Cronin. “You don’t want to be the team that doesn’t live up to the tradition of the teams before you. That was stripped away here and that has been the hardest thing to rebuild.”

UC (18-4 overall, 5-4 Big East) could take a huge step toward returning to the tournament by beating No. 4 Pitt (20-2, 8-1) Saturday night at the Petersen Events Center, where the Panthers have won 51 of their last 53 games.

Cronin was on UC’s staff from 1996 to 2001 when the Bearcats were dominating Conference USA in the midst of a run of 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

That streak ended in 2006. Getting a new one started has been the final piece of the rebuilding effort for Cronin.

And as mentioned yesterday. Getting back there in the Big East is not easy.

(more…)

Well another National Letter of Intent day has come and gone. We’ve made our snap reactions on 17 years olds who we’ve never watched play, we’ve successfully ignored the moralists telling us how it’s a disgrace that we give these kids so much attention at such a young age and we’ve talked ourselves into the fact that the previously mentioned 17 year olds will fit our system perfectly. Now its time to turn our attention back to the hardwood.

Welcome back to Pitt by Numbers; the tempo-free statistical post that spent the last month and a half blaming itself for the Tennessee loss.

Lets talk about points per weighted shot. To put it simply, this stat measures how many points a player takes per field goal attempt (PPWS = Points/(FGA + .0475FTA)). I also included field goal rate which measures the percentage of offensive possessions a player plays that involve him taking a shot from the field.

(Note: My original chart had more categories but wouldn’t fit in the post horizontally. You probably need to maximize your browser to view everything that I was able to fit.)

Much has been made about Pitt’s nation leading offensive efficiency and with good reason, the Panthers have done an unbelievable job at putting points on the board while controlling the tempo of the game. Most seem to attribute this mainly to Pitt’s phenomenal offensive rebounding ability coupled with the Panther’s team-wide ability to find the open man and these two factors are undeniably important.

But there is also something to be said for simply making sure that the best shooters are taking the lion’s share of the shots. Gibbs, Wannamaker and Brown are shooting more often than any of the other regulars and for good reason. They’re probably the three best shooters.

This graph is a solid statistical illustration of how good Jamie Dixon is at his job because with the possible exception of JJ Moore, nobody is shooting more frequently than they should be. It’s also a credit to the team for buying into the greater good since it appears everyone is self-aware enough to know their limitations and simply do what is asked of them.

Here some other quick thoughts on these numbers:

1) Gilbert Brown really doesn’t attack the rim enough. I know this isn‘t breaking news but its good to know the numbers back up what we‘ve been watching. His .41:1 FTA to FGA is below the team average of .425:1 and just above the national average of .38:1. There is no excuse for Brown to be shooting less than one free throw for every two field goal attempts.

2) I have no idea what to make of Dante Taylor’s shooting numbers. It’s obvious that McGee starts over Taylor for defensive purposes but I didn’t expect there to be a large gap between Taylor and McGee’s numbers here. When I saw Taylor’s PPWS my first thought was “that’s what happens when you don’t have a post move and get all your points on dunks that happen all too infrequently” but his FG frequency dispels that myth a bit. The only thing that makes sense is that Dante had some mammoth games against cupcakes early in the year that skew his numbers but even that doesn’t seem like enough to make Taylor’s numbers what they are. Could we possibly be underrating Taylor’s offensive abilities?

3) JJ Moore and Lamar Patterson have been in direct competition for playing time all year and JJ Moore shooting the ball in over 27% of his offensive possessions could provide some insight as to why he hasn’t seen meaningful minutes in a long time (Even if Moore was making shots at a decent rate). But if Lamar Patterson doesn’t start making more buckets it wouldn’t be surprising to see Moore get some of those minutes back.

I know when I posted the first Pitt by Numbers back in December I said it would be a regular thing, this time I mean it. Unfortunately it’s hard to come up with too many opinions on this team other than “Pitt is really good” so if you have any topics you would like me to explore in future posts please leave them in the comments section for me and I’ll see what I can do with them.

Until next time…Hail to Pitt.

Also known as, “We don’t need no stinkin’ rankings.”

The snap judgments are out. Good news. Pitt wasn’t the worst recruiting class in the Big East.

Scout.com, put Pitt’s at 6th (55th nationally), ahead of USF and UConn. Rivals.com said 5th ahead of USF, UConn and Syracuse. UConn’s recruiting class was last in all rankings. This, despite losing only one good player (to Penn State) after Edsall departed. Given the position of UConn’s class, there might be a correlation to that.

(more…)

The Bearcats are better than they were last year. They have slowly, painfully, grudgingly gotten a little better every year since Mick Cronin took over the team. The talent has improved. They have gotten a touch more consistent. Yet, they remain mired somewhere in the middle of the Big East. Somewhere in that 7th-12th best team.

Some of that is certainly attributable to the fact that the Big East is so tough and strong, and that teams at the top (and even upper-middle) just haven’t budged much.

“I refer to the situation that Mick went into as being about as close to a death penalty as there was in college basketball,” Dixon said, “because they really had no players at all once he got the job. They have gotten better every year and that is more than you can ask. Getting better every year is another rare and nearly impossible feat to do in our conference because, you need some teams to take a step backward.

“There have been a lot of teams in our league waiting for teams to take a step backward and there haven’t been too many of those.”

This year, especially, the wide swath of the middle. That encompasses the 5th to 12th teams looks so much stronger. Cinci, St. John’s, WVU, Marquette, Syracuse, Georgetown, UConn, Seton Hall. Heck Providence and Rutgers at 13th and 14th. A lot of improved teams that give tough conference battles, but don’t still find themselves near their usual spots in the conference.

(more…)

One of the things often forgotten when it comes to recruiting classes, are the individual players. This is one of the high points in their life. When so much is actually centered on them. Right after they sign, it is quickly over. They are part of the class. They now have to get back to their regular lives and finish high school. Then they become another body in their college, and have to prove themselves to the new coaches.

This is their big decision that plays a major influence on the rest of their life. Choosing the school and place where you intend to get your education and finish the transition to becoming an adult.

As for us, many are turning attention to the Spring practice or to recruits in the next cycle. For the most part, there will be little thought of them until they start in the training camp in August.

So before they are mostly forgotten for a while, here are some of the stories from their local papers.

(more…)

So, who else is planning ahead for the spring scrimmage on April 16?

I have to admit. I’m a little fried after the day. Between the kids being home for two straight snow days and being glued to the computer all day. Well, the Scotch feels real nice right now.

Still a couple things to pass along.

All told, I was pleasantly surprised at the end result of the recruiting class. After all the insanity, I was ready to concede this class as being mostly lost. Instead, it was reasonably respectable. Heck, given the circumstances, I think it’s rather impressive. Yeah, Pitt lost some good recruits, but there is more optimism and hope around the program.

Bleed Black and Gold Blog has a solid little capsule review of all the Pitt commits. Good read.

(more…)

Welcome to Signing Day. Outside of up to six other recruits who will be announcing today, the biggest question will be the weather? Will kids be able to get to a fax machine, have school, and just be able to send in the NLI today?

For those unfamiliar how this works. This post will be updated all day with signings. How?

Well Pitt’s GoPittFootball twitter will be announcing signings as they come in. Scout.com and Rivals.com commit lists will also indicate when they receive word from recruits or sources inside the athletic department when kids have signed.

When they list a signing, I’ll update the list below.

Pitt will be having a live streaming press conference with Todd Graham to announce the class at 3:30 today. You can watch that here.

Here we go.

[7:40] Artie Rowell is the first one out of the fax machine.

One guy that won’t be signing with Pitt. Massillon WR Justin Olack. He’s going to Toledo.

[8:15] Ronald Jones has sent in his NLI.

[8:38] Darius Patton faxed in. Here’s an article from his local paper today. Just a little optimistic on his immediate impact.

(more…)

There are five WPIAL signings tomorrow that will be watched closely by Pitt fans:

McKeesport’s Delvon Simmons and Branden Jackson, Clairton’s Desimon Green, and Woodland Hills’ Lafayette Pitts and Ejuan Price.

It seems there is a sense Pitt is close with at least three of them.

(more…)

For whatever it is worth, ESPN.com recently updated their basketball recruiting rankings and Pitt is now ranked 14th.

Jamie Dixon is one of the best coaches in the country at recruiting to his personality and style of play. Originally, we didn’t think Malcolm Gilbert (Philadelphia/Academy of New Church) had the right makeup to play for Dixon, but as his game and personality evolved we’ve come full circle. Gilbert is now an ESPNU 100 prospect and a big reason for the Panthers ascent in the rankings. This class is highlighted by five-star PF Khem Birch (Montreal/Notre Dame Prep), who reclassified to the 2011 class and signed with Dixon a year early. Birch is an off-the-charts athlete who can change the game on the defensive end of the floor with his ability to block shots and rebound. He is a big-time, clear-path finisher, and when his offense catches up to his defense his game will go to the next level. Gilbert is a rare player who can change a game without having to score a point, and he has all the physical tools needed to play the game at the highest levels. Jaylen Bond (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh Sr.) is a blossoming frontcourt player with good athleticism, while SGs John Johnson (Philadelphia/Life Center Academy) and Durand Johnson (Baltimore/Brewster Academy) round out this class.

What should speak volumes about how tough it is in the Big East. Pitt’s recruiting class is only 4th best in the Big East. St. John’s (#2), Syracuse (#8) and Louisville (#9) are ahead of Pitt.

(more…)