Let’s Go Pitt! A win is a win is a win!

Great afternoon so far…was there a Pitt football game earlier?? Will not watch a Tino led team again. But congrats to Pitt for the W and especially to the seniors who have lead this team amongst the toughest times in rememberence.

Suprised at the Vegas line going in Pitt’s favor. Was Pitt by 1,now Pitt by 2. Are we that good?
Is Tennessee that bad? Really looking forward to seeing what this team is made of with JJ at the point.

Wow.

This gamethread had 2 posts as of 6:07pm..?

ahhhhh, 6-6.

this is pretty bad so far. i hope this team gets warmed up for the 2nd half.

How’s the D this evening, omar?

Pitt was obviously the better team and it showed in the 2nd half.

But wow did they try to blow it in the last minute.

That foul on Gibbs? Inbounding the ball to a center up by two with under 10 seconds?

Anyone else notice that when Tenn started making those easy baskets inside, Jamie put Birch in and it quickly came to a halt?

Ashton needs to start trusting everyone else, especially Khem who seems to have a few post moves. Gibbs was trying too hard to do everything himself and had a bad shooting night because of it.

Pitt did everything to lose this game at the end, but won anyway. So that’s a good sign.

Pitt gets two Orange Crush servings today. yum yum.

We want more Orange colored teams.

Birch owns the middle.

Anyone else notice that when Tenn started making those easy baskets inside, Jamie put Birch in and it quickly came to a halt?
Comment by Jimbo Covert’s My Dad 12.03.11 @ 7:17 pm

Yep, noticed that Jimbo, same thing happened against Duquesne when Sleepy was in the game.
The guy is dreadful on defense.

Pitt was up by 8 had the ball, Taylor gets blocked.
Next Pitt possession, Pitt still up by 8, Sleepy misses a layup.

Sleepy goes to foul line twice in last 2 minutes misses both free throws, gives Tenn. 2 more chances. As did Patterson, however Lamar made a couple key baskets in the last 4 minutes or so.

Birch stops most of these easy layups and dunks very obviously.

Sleepy did fine. I still want to see both him and Birch out there together.

You can’t get enough offensively from Sleepy to make up for all the easy baskets, layups and dunks, guards driving to the lane and down the lane.

Zanna did alot of watching as well today. Zanna plays alot better with Birch. He’s almost useless on the floor with Sleepy.

If I can see this sure Coach can.

On a positive note, John Johnson continues to develop very nicely. Couple nice 3’s, the layup PLUS the Free Throw to ICE the game. Looks like he’s going to be a real nice player.

Announcer, “i’m not sure he wants to go to the line, kind of sauntering to the line with his head down”!!!

Ha ha, no Mr. Announcer, that’s just
our good ol’ Sleepy!!!

Good day to be a Pitt fan. 6-6 way better than 5-7

Defense saves the day. Great day for the seniors.

Beating an SEC team on their home court without Woodall feels pretty good. Younger guys getting important minutes. Hopefully pays dividends in March.

Glad we won. Also glad Big East is down this season.

Tennessee was not that good but Pitt played very well the last 10 minutes (save for the last 59 seconds). JJ is our new point guard. Even Dixon sees it as he commented post game. Khem is the man inside but they all need a good schooling on their responsibilities on help- side defense.

Again, an official tried to hand the game to the other team, and Pitt did not respond well. I see a huge difference in everyone’s foul shooting form but that was the first time under pressure, and it almost cost us the game.

Loved watching Golden commit the mortal sin (in basketball) of picking up his dribble in traffic and bringing the ball up chest high. Gibbs did it earlier and it always ends up in a steal. Every high school and college team has that inbound play Pitt used at the end, but JD called a TO and they ran it flawlessly.

Coach Dixon, as it has been said by many, will earn his pay this year. This may end up being a very good team and we fans will get the privelege of watching them grow. HTP

Every high school and college team has that inbound play Pitt used at the end, but JD called a TO and they ran it flawlessly.

Yes Dan 72, that was the Picket Fence. Just like in ‘Hoosiers’. All we needed was Dennis Hopper dialing it up! RIP

On a Football Note:

ACC Championship Game is a sellout in Charlotte.
Unlike Jacksonville. Might be the matchup since Clemson is pretty close. But a sellout nonetheless. And the ACC didn’t have to hire people to seat in the seats like the lame Little 11 did.

Hey Despite, the elbow and the resulting points that made the end closer than it should have been,
Ashton made the big defensive play. They did a good job in the 2nd half.

This team is by no means great right now, but they certainly look a lot better than they did 2 weeks ago. They are playing hard and tough. They made the plays that they needed to make to win the game today. It won’t be pretty, but this team is gonna be in every game. The improvement is evident in the young guys and I believe this team is good enough to win the Big East. This team could be very, very good come March.

P.S. I wonder if Seth Davis still thinks Pitt is soft. 17 offensive rebounds would suggest otherwise.

I’ll take 2 offensively challenged injury-limited wins in 1 day! HTP!

When was the last time Pitt basketball & football teams both beat BCS teams on the same day?

Handled the ball fairly well today, all things considered. Offense looked disjointed, especially for first 25-30 minutes, but that isn’t much different from usual — they aren’t the crispest, most visually pleasing offense out there.
Patterson is turning into that guy who drives me nuts: atrocious on defense, slow and poor technique, has me yelling at Jamie to get him out of the game, and then he nails a clutch shot. One thing’s for sure: when Patterson and Taylor are in there together it is a HUGE liability defensively.
One more thing: John Johnson needs to play/start, bring Wright off bench, maybe even let us see Epps. Wright is very poor offensively. It’s like having four guys out there.

It’s the complete opposite. Patterson is a solid defensive player. He has excellent footwork, understands the switching, and generally keeps his man in front of him and boxes out. On offense, he understands spacing, has a good feel for passing, and is knocking down open shots. He’s an unspectacular, but physical athlete and more of a catalyst than a direct threat. Which is fine. But he’ll basically play 30 minutes a game until JJ Moore gets out of the doghouse- as Moore is clueless on both ends of the floor.

Sorry but I strongly disagree — Patterson more often than not lets his man go right by, both on and off the ball. Slow, poor technique. Offensively I agree he is effective.

Khem Birch’s hair is also awesome.

He looks like a giant Wiz Khalifa out there!

I’ve enjoyed watching the progression of Ashton Gibbs.

It started two years ago as a hot shooting sophomore.

Now he’s developed into a senior, who will do anything it takes to win, and a true leader. The kid has swagger for days out on the court. One of the best Panthers of the last decade for sure.

JC’s my dad, I agree with you. For much of the game it seemed as if Gibbs was pressing and trying to do a little too much. Then when it came to crunch time he took charge and made shot after shot, both from outside and off the dribble. The elbowing call was a tough break and made the game closer that it should have been. It was fitting that made up the play to tie up the ball at the end. I also thought that Patterson played well, even with a couple nice looking 3s that rimmed out.

Last night was an overall team win..no way to dispute it.

Great wi after a slow start(to the year)

Congrats to the Ballers ad Footballers

Ashton has shown that he can create for himself and get in the lane, which is huge. khem is gonna be a great college player. within a few years he’ll be a double double machine and him and Steven Adams sarting together is a scary thought

I just hope the team grows…and we have it together in march… And April 🙂

The defense was better yesterday. Not great, but better.

Birch is a stud.

Cam Wright still has not shown anything to make me believe he deserves the minutes he is getting and deserves to be playing at all. Get Johnny Johnson needs more minutes, he can play. Wright could come in at times for a spell.

I did not like the starting lineup at all, not a single player who could create their own shot, Wright, Gibbs, Patterson, Nasir, and Khem.

“Creating own shot” is an overused cliche here. The offense doesn’t work like that. But anyway, that’s what Gibbs does constantly. He’ll work off of screens, he’ll work off of picks, and he’ll create. He just doesn’t look dynamic doing it. Other then him, no one else on the team is capable at this point, except maybe Robinson if given a few steps from the basket against slower foes. Johnson seems to have the quickness, but he did not demonstrate the ability to make space or alter the defense. And Moore has the athletic ability, but little else. The rest of the players are position players. That’s who we have…Wright missed his open looks, sometimes badly, but he didn’t play poorly. He moved well without the ball and was a little more assertive with his passing. You can see he is a very good athlete. With Woodall out, there are plenty of minutes to go around for Johnson and Wright….Johnson looks good. He read the high screen and roll well a couple of times, handled the ball alright, and seems to be a better shooter than advertised. He plays older than he is- kind of like Fields when he was a frosh…Birch is going to be a star. Wonder why he got sat most of the second half? Was it because he was getting pushed around?…In the end, we saw lots of underclassmen minutes, but Robinson and Gibbs won the game for us. I’m fine with that.

3 coaches going back with Dick Rod.

What a great Pittsburgh weekend, two Pitt wins, Pens win, Steelers crush, and I broke 80 for the first time all year on December 4th. Gotta love global warming, just kidding, no politics on this site.

Looks like the BBVA Compass Bowl
Pittsburgh vs. Southern Miss

3 coaches heading out. Looks like I need to find a new name for posting here.

gc very jealous. My days of breaking 80 have come and (long) gone. Now I’m happy to break 100 in the few times a year that I do play

Thanks wbb, this one came out of the blue. Shooting high eighties low nineties all year and losing a lot of money.

oops

BBVA Compass Bowl
SMU vs. Pittsburgh

Chris Dokish in Panthers Prey, comments,

“The fact that they were clearly using Pitt as a paycheck until Rodriguez got a job, yet still recruited Michigan transfers to join them, is all you need to know about the character of the three.”

He also comments that losing them is not a big deal because there are a lot of good coached available, particularily if Pitt keeps the checkbook open for assistants.

I was at the game yesterday, maybe 40 Pitt fans in total. Sat in 12th row behind Pitt bench. Watched Birch, he has IT. He has great feet, hustle, natural positioning. Made some youthful mistakes but he’s going to be a great player. He’s learning, bet he attacks the rim next time he’s on a break. Can’t wait to see him with Adams. Taylor is lost on D, when he jump outs he has no idea what’s going on behind him, it creates mismatches that teams better than the Vols will exploit. An insider told me Birch doesn’t know all the schemes yet but he’s learning fast.

If Woodall was healthy we would have blown them out. Nasir was gold, smart & tough. Watched from the floor the 2nd half warmups and we couldn’t hit then, I could see they hadn’t adjusted to that basket. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about Thompson Boling, KY players hate the place. First three attempts in the 2nd half were rattle outs, just wouldn’t drop. Even Gibbs missed his first of 2 free throws on that basket, but then they adjusted until crunch time.at the line. The melt down was sickening, thankfully Maymon sealed Golden so Gibbs could tie him up.

The overall toughness, backdoor seals, stuff that’s Pitt trademarks isn’t there with this group, yet. Talented PG’s could give us trouble.

Woodall is in a lot of discomfort just trying to walk around. Could take a long time.

Shocked that Vol fans left down by 8 with 3 mins left. Don’t think any Pitt fans left when we were down by 5 to Syracuse last year.

When I say creating his own shot I mean being able to take someone off the dribble, something that Gibbs is not capable of, and exactly why Pitt looks terrible in situations when the clock is running down. Travon is capable of this. John Johnson has shown flashes of it. It necessitates having a quick first step and acceleration, which Gibbs is lacking. This is not a knock on him, he’s a terrific player but not capable of that. This and his D will keep him from the NBA I believe.

I disagree on Wright he will miss open shots because he is a horrendous shooter at this point in his career and is a complete hindrance on the offensive end. Any shot may as well be a turnover because he struggles so much. He may be a decent athlete but is not a good basketball player right now.

some good news .. link to usatoday.com

Chris Dokish in Panthers Prey, comments,

“The fact that they were clearly using Pitt as a paycheck until Rodriguez got a job, yet still recruited Michigan transfers to join them, is all you need to know about the character of the three.”
—————
What a fucking asshole comment!! like these guys knew this past summer that RichRod would be hired again in the near future

Gibbs created shots yesterday and all last year. He’s bailed us out countless times late in the shot clock and pretty much put us on his shoulder late yesterday. He is an all conference college player but clearly not an NBA caliber slashing 2-guard. Bu he’s scoring 20 pts a game on screens, hesitation, change of direction, and other things that players who lack quickness can get away with to create their own shot… John Johnson tried to create twice. Once he bricked a layup and the second time he got stuffed. But it’s good to see him being aggressive…Wright has improved in a short time. He’s a good physical defender and he’s strong and will eventually be able to take it to the rack once he gets more experience. He’s struggling with his shot but at least taking good shots. I re-watched the game and didn’t see him make too many mistakes. I think he’s basically going to be Brad Wanamaker Part II. Cameron has certainly looked better in his first few games than Wanamaker did.

I tivo’ed the Memphis v. Tenn game. It was interesting watching Tenn play Memphis, then play Pitt back to back. Tenn looked MUCH BETTER against Memphis.

We have been FAIRLY criticizing Pitt’s defense and toughness.

Pitt was much better defensively than Memphis. A lot had to do with the pace of play. Memphis likes to speed it up and as a result they gave Tenn some easy transition baskets. Pitt never let Tenn get comfortable on offense. Maymon killed Memphis inside, but did very little against Pitt. Pitt did a good job on the high ball screen. Pitt always had the third guy in position to defend the screener rolling to the hoop and/or their third man. Credit to Dixon’s coaching.

He has gotten a bunch of players who are not good individual defenders to play decent team defense.

By far the biggest reason Pitt won the game was second chance points. Pitt KILLED tenn on the boards. And turned a bunch of the offensive rebounds into points. It was really encouraging tto see Pitt rebound so well against a big strong front court like Tenn’s. Tennessee did not look like the TOUGHER team to me.

I hope Dixon takes that Seth Davis quote about their lack of toughness, makes a poster out of it and hangs it in the locker room.

Gotta get Johnson more time at the point. Having Gibbs play point hurts Pitt in two spots (the two guard play is worse and the point play is worse). Worst case, having Johnson at the point, as inexperienced as he is, still only hurts one spot.

There are only two “losable” games between now and when Woodall comes back, ND in South Bend and Oklahoma State in MSG. Both games are winnable, and Pitt could even be favored in both. Getting Johnson minutes at point now will pay off in March. Again, by all accounts he has a great attitude, work ethic and basketball IQ. He needs experience. Make lemonaid from the Woodall injury lemons.

Wright is just not the answer, unless the question is “who should be the fourth guard or third three man?” He is nowhere near the play maker, shooter or defender that Wanamaker was. He might get to Wanamaker’s level on D someday, but that’s it.

Would like to see Johnson and Wright swap minutes in Woodall’s absence. Johnson should get 25+ and Wright 18-.

Yes, agree. Wright will earn his minutes as a defender and occassional slasher. Certainly not the “playmaker” that Wanamaker was. It will be nice to have a taller, physical defender in the backcourt. Both Johnson and Woodall are 5’11”, so there is a potential role for him if he can handle it. Perhaps more of a Jermaine Dixon…I like that breakdown in minutes you suggest.

Wright is a decent defender, has awareness and slides & switches. Dixon is a cautious coach and might feel that Johnson is a liability on D so Wright gets the start. I hate that Gibbs was required to play almost the entire game, they can’t keep that up or his legs will be shot by March. Wright and Johnson in the backcourt at the same time is a concern, Wright can’t shoot and Johnson gives up too much to physical guards.