Tomorrow the season ends. Oh, there’s still the Big East Tournament and of of course the NCAA Tournament. It’s the end of the regular season. The conference and non-con games come to an end. It seems too soon.
“You like to sit there and think it is never going to come to an end, but it really is this Saturday,” he said.
Pitt seniors Brown, Gary McGhee and Brad Wanamaker will play their final game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center, when the Panthers (26-4, 14-3) play Villanova.
On the line: A chance to clinch only the school’s third outright Big East regular-season championship in 29 seasons and enter the conference tournament next week as the No. 1 seed.
A loss would mean Pitt may have to settle for co-champion status with Notre Dame.
“We don’t want to share anything,” Brown said.
Brown wants this weekend to be special, something only to share with his teammates.
And of course the fans.
Brown has been steadfast about how winning the conference title in the regular season is important.
“I actually think they should change the NCAA bids and give the automatic to the regular-season champion. Being able to withstand every team in the conference and come out on top is a great feat.
“As a team, you feel more respected winning your regular-season conference championship rather than the league tournament.”
As exciting and great theater the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament are, there is nothing like following a team all season. Living and dying with every game, every half, every possession. I love it. Even as we transition to the interpretation of what it means in the postseason.
“It’s all bull—-,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, and I couldn’t agree more.
It is all complete and utter bull—- even though media members (and fans) routinely draw big meanings from 40-minute basketball games. It doesn’t help that most coaches play along. Somebody asks a leading question. (“Does this comeback win show your team is tough?”) The coach follows the lead. (“My kids really showed how tough they are tonight.”) Then everybody turns off their cameras and goes home, another workday in the books. If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it too many times to count. The next news conference I attend after one team overcomes a halftime deficit to win that doesn’t feature somebody asking the coach what was said at halftime will be the first. But the truth is that a halftime speech is rarely the reason a second half is played differently — just like a close win rarely means you’re prepared to win more close games, just like a tough schedule is rarely the reason a team advances in March.
It’s all bull—-.
Thank you, Coach Boeheim, for pointing it out.
I host a radio show each afternoon and most callers want every game to be a referendum on everything. Each win means the local team is really coming together. Each loss means the coach is in over his head. A win over a Top 50 team suggests a Final Four is possible. A loss to a team outside of the Top 150 means somebody needs to be fired. Why? Because people think everything has to mean something bigger than what it means when basketball is almost always much simpler.
On that note, here’s basketball in a nutshell:
The team with the better players usually wins when said team plays well, executes and makes shots. But the team with the better players doesn’t always play well, execute and make shots. So sometimes the team with the better players loses, and those are what we call upsets. Yes, upsets are a result of masterful “coaching” performances on occasion. But more times than not, upsets are what happens when shots that typically fall for one team don’t fall and shots that typically miss for the other team don’t miss.
That pretty much covers the sport, I think. And I bet Jim Boeheim agrees because he isn’t buying these grand conclusions reporters are trying to force onto his team. What does Syracuse’s overtime win against Rutgers and close win at Villanova mean? It means the Orange played well enough to win when it was time to decide those particular games. It might also mean they got a little lucky. But what it doesn’t mean is that Syracuse is somehow better equipped to win a close game in the NCAA tournament, which Boeheim highlighted, quite colorfully, after this week’s victory at Villanova.
“It’s all bull—-,” he said. “We could get in the same game next week and lose. We could have 10 [close games] in a row and win them, then get in a tournament and have one and lose it. It’s all bull—-. You get in these games, somebody’s got to make a play. Whichever team makes a play …”
Wins!
That’s basketball.
Teams with tough schedules (like Duke last year) and weak schedules (like Butler last year) can both advance deep into March, and teams with tough schedules (like Kansas last year) and weak schedules (like Utah State last year) can both lose early. I could cite 50 more examples that go either way. And yet people still, week after week, suggest one helps and the other hurts.
I excerpted a lot, but go and read the whole thing. It’s good perspective. Especially when you inevitably get the articles stating that Pitt needs to get to the Final Four or further this year. It’s the goal. It’s the hope. I won’t pretend that I haven’t thought a lot about it. But if this is all you want to have to define a team, the coach, the players and the season; then you can never really enjoy the season.
Tomorrow the home crowd says goodbye to the seniors, Gilbert Brown, Gary McGhee and Brad Wanamaker.
“We’re a bunch of guys who work hard,” senior center McGhee said. “Maybe not as many superstars, but guys who work hard, love to play together and go out there and get wins.”
The seniors will be honored Saturday before the regular-season finale against Villanova at Petersen Events Center. Many college programs fall apart when a player leaves early for the NBA, but the Panthers kept rolling with a group of unheralded players who developed into team-oriented leaders.
“It says a lot,” senior forward Gilbert Brown said. “It just shows the quality of players we had and the work we put in. It shows how we were dedicated to overcome adversity, to go out there and fill the shoes that were left for us to step into.”
The 2008-09 senior class of Sam Young, Tyrell Biggs and Levance Fields holds the school record with 112 victories, but the group this season already has done something that class could not — win a regular-season championship. The Panthers earned at least a share of the conference title with a 66-50 victory at South Florida and can win the title outright with a victory against Villanova.
This senior class stands at 109 wins. Four more to break the 2008-09 class. Just as 2008-09 group broke the record set a couple years before them. Here’s hoping that they do it (and more).
The fact that how far a team advances in the big dance has become this insanely lazy metric for defining how good a team is or what kind of season a team had drives me crazy.
This is not to say that I wont be cursing and throwing things if Pitt has a disappointing torney run but a disappointing torney run shouldn’t completely undermind what could be a 30 win year in the best conference in the land.
I’d put a cool grand down if I could, easy money!!
Regarding the NCAA tournament, it is a little lazy to say Pitt has not been that impressive of a team over the last 10 years because they haven’t advanced as far in the tourney as most would expect. I have arguments with friends from Xavier all the time about who’s program is better. They point out that XU has been to 2 Elite Eights and since Pitt has only made one, that is the tiebreaker and Xavier wins. What about constantly being ranked in the top 25 these last ten years, winning multiple conference titles, and making EVERY tourney since 2002. I feel that gets lost on people because Pitt lost to Bradley, Marquette, etc…
It’s going to be a blog centered around interesting stats in sports and just some random commentary…anybody interested please check it out!!
If we win tomorrow to go 15 and 3 to win the Big East this year with all its strong teams I would say it is unequivocally more impressive than winning the NCAA tournament.
Living in Indianapolis, we have the same issue with our Colts football team. They’ve racked up enormous regular season records over the past decade, and Peyton Manning has gaudy numbers, and is considered one of the league’s elite QBs. Unfortunately, the Colts’ record in the playoffs and Super Bowl is underwhelming for a team of their offensive talent. For us here in Indy, the regular season is a given; the playoffs become our measuring stick of a successful season.
I think the same applies to Pitt basketball. I would even say it’s not so much that they have to win a championship outright, but they need to get to the Elite Eight, and if they go out, they better go out playing their best–against another good team playing their best.
Sounds like there could be an arguement for winning tomorrow, but taking an early exit from the BE Tourney. Thoughts?
Brown twisted his ankle about 3 games back I think. At the time I thought he was done for the game but he came back in the second half. He’s shown signs of gimping around a bit since then but he seems to be fighting through it. He’s been sitting more than usual, at least that’s my impression, probably to rest the ankle.
If we make an early exit from the BE tourney, I’ll rationalize that it’s for the best that Gil gets a rest before the NCAA’s.
Also congrats to McGhee for turning into a very solid pivot man. I, for one, never thought he’d play when I saw him as a frosh and wondered why the staff recruited him. Definitely wrong about that; he’s become a very serviceable man in the middle and this team would be hurting without him.
Brown, well, maybe he’ll surprise us in March.
Then he came back in. Wonder if his improved recent play is an ode to how lucky he was?
Since Brown made the statement that he needed to be the one to step up his game, I think he has. He seems much more aggressive on the offensive end. He was looking good against USF in the first half until the 2nd foul, and then he disappeared a little in the 2nd half. Here’s hoping he continues. He’s key to making a big run in the tourney.
Throw in the fact that it means you won a lot of great games on the road (and in our case against top flight competition)…. it is way harder than stringing a few games at the garden.
But let’s not kid ourselves, playing in April is the most important thing for our program right now and that will trump any of these other accomplishments.
Hail to Pitt!