Part of me couldn’t help but feel that it was fitting for Pitt to lose the final game of 2012. Overall, it wasn’t a good year for Pitt. So much crap. So much that went wrong. How else could that year end, but with a loss?
That didn’t help my mood. A bit fouler than I wanted the rest of the evening.
Cinci made this a brutal game. And I say that in a complimentary way. They are not a particularly skilled team. They struggle on offense, and win by making the game ugly. They play defense extremely tough. They will force the officials to call fouls. They painfully reminded many Pitt fans of the Ben Howland and beginning of the Jamie Dixon time.
The romantics, will be upset about the loss because “that used to be the way Pitt played.” That somehow Pitt should still be playing that way. That, despite the obvious shortcomings of that approach. They will see the quote from Cashmere Wright and be saying, “that should be us!”
Wright said the constant pressure the Bearcats used took a toll on Pitt’s players in the second half.
“The first 30 minutes we’re going to try to wear you out as much as we can,” Wright said. “The last 10 minutes we want you to be as tired as possible so you can’t make those same decisions and free throws and shots that you made at the beginning of the game.
“We just keep pushing and keep grinding. Most teams don’t play how we play. Most teams, sooner or later, will get tired, will start making bad decisions and their shots will stop falling.”
How limited that approach can be in a season and especially in the NCAA Tournament. When the fouls really get called, you still don’t make your own shots, and the other team is still making shots — and especially free throws.
There was a reason everyone wanted to see the offensive talent improved. That fans wanted to move away from just ugly defense to win games.
But, that’s not enough, reasons must be found for the loss. Cue blaming the non-con for not getting the team ready.
Well, Dixon’s demeanor quickly soured when he was asked about Pitt’s absurdly weak non-conference schedule. Specifically, he was asked how so many games against North Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Delaware State and Kennesaw State get Pitt ready for strong Big East teams such as Cincinnati.
“That question has been asked every year of every team in our league for the past 10 years,” Dixon fairly growled. “We’ve had the best record in conference play over those 10 years so that should tell you something. When you win, no one says anything. When you lose, it’s easy to find reasons. But it’s hard for me to say what happened a month-and-a-half ago had anything to do with today. I don’t think it caused us to miss free throws or be outrebounded. We just didn’t get it done.”
I beg to disagree.
No proof is offered, because when it comes to non-con schedules it is not there. It’s all about the “gut” or some other nebulous standard about how the team is prepared. Teams win playing a strong non-con. Teams lose. Then they play the conference slate.
Before embarking on their Big East Conference schedule in the 2002-03 basketball season, the Pitt Panthers faced a non-league schedule ranked 227th in the nation. They challenged themselves against St. Francis (Pa.), Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Southeast Louisiana. After all that heavy lifting, they went out and won the Big East regular season championship.
In 2003-04, they faced the 234th-ranked schedule, with games against Chicago State, New Hampshire and, again, St. Francis. And the Panthers won the league again.
I favor a stronger non-con because I like to see good games. I thought this non-con schedule was garbage and boring to watch most of the time.
It’s one of those losses that have people casting about for reasons. Cahsmere Wright offered a corollary as to why Pitt wilted down the stretch against their defense.
But Bearcats guard Cashmere Wright hinted that it was a major reason in the Bearcats’ ability to wear down the Panthers in the second half of Monday’s 70-61 loss at the Petersen Events Center.
“After those long breaks it’s hard to play to your full potential, especially when someone is coming at you for full throttle for 40 minutes,” Wright said afterward.
Pitt played Kennesaw State Dec. 23 and then had three days off before reporting back to campus. The players were to report back to late on Dec. 26, but at least two players had travel problems and could not get back until Dec. 27, when the Panthers began preparations for Cincinnati.
Cinci lost on December 27, and never left their campus. Was that a factor? I don’t know. Maybe, but who cares.
I’m still annoyed about the loss because it was to a good team, and since it was the opener of Big East play, it becomes that much more magnified.
The officiating didn’t help for Pitt. While the officials called a lot of fouls, rather than call it consistently, they tried to call it “fair and balanced.” By which, I mean they tried to keep the number of fouls on both sides about even. That led to some really strange — and phantom — calls going against Pitt at times. It also played a role in the second half struggles. It isn’t the reason Pitt, lost but it played a role.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon called the loss “disappointing in every way.”
“The rebounding, defense, missed free throws while they made theirs,” Dixon said of Cincinnati making 25 of 35 free throws to Pitt‘s 15 of 25. “It just kind of all added up, and they came out with the win.”
Pitt shot 10-14 on FTs in the first half, 5-11 in the second. That, really was the most inexplicable difference from the first half. Cinci flipped it the other way. 9-16 in the first half and going 16-19 in the second half of FTs (including 8-10 in the final minute plus)
Pitt was 12-25 shooting in the first half, and 11-27 in the second half. Not a huge change, just a couple shots. Rebounding came mainly on the defensive end. Pitt was outrebounded on the defensive end 15-6 in the second half. Not too shocking since Cinci was 15-25 shooting in the second half (8-27 in the first half). Coupled with not missing many FTs. There weren’t many opportunities to get rebounds on defense.
Add in, that Pitt played a significant amount of zone in the second half because of foul issues, then you are also going to give up rebounds. Especially Steven Adams, who only played 10 minutes in the second half. In fact, when you look at the volume of missed shots and FTs in the first half, the first half rebounding really was inflated and masked the problems. Pitt was not strong in rebounding the entire game.
I would go so far as to say, that Pitt is probably average, maybe slightly above average on rebounds this year. The team wins with its offensive efficiency. Something that it had except for one glaring part of the game on Monday. Pitt went 0-10 on 3s. Nothing went from outside, despite shooting well inside the arc. In fact, far better than most opponents did against Cinci.
Opponents were making just 36.6 percent on 2-point shots [against Cinci], the lowest inside-the-arc figure of any defense in the country.
In other words, it was a bad day for Pitt to go 0-for-10 from beyond the arc. Actually, it is never a good time to go 0-for-10 from beyond the arc. The Panthers aren’t a bad 3-point shooting team — they make about 36 percent of their threes — but they don’t take many. Per the usual, Pitt’s strength lies on the interior, where the Bearcats are at their defensive best. So when the Panthers went 23-of-42 from 2, well, fine. You’ll take that. Assuming, of course, that you also don’t go 0-for-10 from 3. Yikes.
Like I said, frustrating.
This team has not played well in the 2nd half against the 2 best teams on the schedule. Maybe it’s inexperience or nerves, but it has to be overcome. As soon as Cincy took a 2nd half lead, I was convinced Pitt would lose. That’s not good.
The offensive sets in the last 10 minutes were very poorly executed. This is why we had Woodall trying to go 1-on-1 after the center sets a pick at the end of the clock. Woodall usually settles for a three, long-2, or drives and turns it over. That play doesn’t work unless you have an excellent guard like Fields or Wannamaker. Perhaps Pitt should let Robinson run that play at the end of the shot clock.
players in the rotation. That said have faith
in the coach. Also Cincy is a very good team.
Ziegler has been a disappointment. How
did this guy score 500 points LY in the
MAC? Worse than lack of production
is his erratic floor play.
Adams is a talent however the guys need to
get him the ball occasionally. He will
be back next year if he has any sense.
Robinson is a stud however he was
worn down by the the full court
pressure. The fatigue effected his
shooting. Dixon asks a lot of this kid.
Big fan of Dixons.
Disagree with his comment.
We had home and homes against Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Washington (who was a top 10 team at the time), over the last 10 years.
I don’t know the years, nor am I going to look it up, best guess, 06′, 07′, 08′?????
Fans deserve better non-conf schedule than what is offered.
***Everyone does it*** That is false. Perhaps, “many” do it. There are also quite a few BCS conference teams that have home and homes with each other.
I’m not saying the non-con has to be loaded.
You can’t schedule one respectable friggin’ non-con for the fans???
Love Dixon, his non-con is embarrassing, especially for what is now known as a “power” team and a top basketball program.
I came away wondering if this squad was just extremely over rated in the first place. I hope that Rutgers doesn’t put another hurt on us on Saturday.
The soft schedule let us win without doing these things for long stretches. We are conditioned to expect to win without 40 minutes of hard work.
Losing is the natural order of things when conditioned this way.
Breaking a full-court press is not that difficult unless one depends on one player to bring the ball down court. Again, fundamentals are hurting Pitt this season. Even in the games they won by double figures, Pitt had mental lapses in ball handling.
Let’s hope Jamie can rectify Pitt’s shooting and ball handling issues before the Big East conference season progresses.
his final 3 are Pitt, Kentucky, and Tennessee
Saturday is going to be interesting..HTP
Clearly the plan was to be patient against the pressure and not turn it over. And while they were successful in breaking the press and limiting TO’s, they never made Cinci pay for over playing. There were plenty of opportunities to push it after beating the initial pressure but Pitt decided to slow it down and run the half-court offense. They could have gotten a few easy baskets and MAYBE backed Cinci off a little if they had attacked the press when the opportunities presented themselves.
Robinson is the guy who controls the pace of Pitt’s offense and he played it too carefully. Certainly that could have been Dixon’s instruction. Regardless it emboldened Cinci’s defense and they clearly controlled the pace of the second half.
And by not being more aggressive, Pitt didn’t force the refs to make more calls on Cinci. The more aggressive team, the Bearcats, got and made 10 more free throws and won by 9.
While Adams grabbed 9 boards, he played much too tentatively. Maybe he was concerned about fouls or making a mistake, whatever the reason, he needs to be much more assertive on offense. Zero points and only a couple attempts is inexcusable. He has to give Pitt more. Jamie has to get more out of him.
Wright and Zanna were really the only two who played with any confidence on the offensive end. Patterson passing up a wide open look at a three when the team desperately needed it was a defining moment in the game.
Maybe playing a few tougher non-cons would have helped the new guys (Adams, Robinson and Zeigler). But Woodall and Patterson have played in plenty of tough games, no excuse for them being tight. Both of them could have done more.
did this guy score 500 points LY in the
MAC?
Comment by JR 01.03.13 @ 11:29 am
Since he hasn’t shown much, maybe cause his father was the Head Coach at Central Michigan.
Besides, Pitt didn’t lose leads in the second half because of lack of prep. They lost because they were playing really good teams. FYI Michigan is the number 2 team in the nation. No shame in barely losing to them. And Cinci is a dirty grimey team that is ranked pretty high and plays really good D. Give the opposition some credit fellas.
Complete and total BS to suggest the team layed down in the game or did not hustle or isn’t conditioned to win. They battled the entire game and had the lead down to 3 with free throws. Sometimes shots aren’t going down and you are going to lose to good teams. The offense is 6th in the nation in efficiency, the missed threes are an aberation and not what the team is.
I’m not one to blame the officials, but that game was horribly called. I am still trying to figure out how Woodall only gets a 1-1 when the team was down 3 in the last minute-ish, while a minute or two back Cinci got two shots when the guy wasn’t even close to shooting.
Give Cincy credit, though — I really did think their constant pressure in the full and half court wore on Pitt. I can think of a few instances when Patterson, in particular, missed woefully on open shots (not to mention his hesitation several times earlier to even shoot).
I think their biggest issue in these games remains identifying a “go-to” playmaker when a basket is needed. I think Patterson could be the guy but does not always seem mentally ready to do that. Otherwise, I want the ball in Robinson’s hands as much as possible — run Woodall’s sets for him.
In both losses when the other team turned it up a notch on the boards in the 2nd half, we had nothing. Strangely we snuck to within striking range of a basket or so around the 1 minute mark in both losses as well. So it’s easy to say we came close and your tempted to think we’re not far away. Maybe we aren’t.
None of our big guys play physical pure & simple.
Except against over matched rent-a-win teams.
And even against some of them they struggle on occasion. They are finesse players which is why I suggested they speed up the tempo of the game and get Adams upcourt for easier looks before the defense gets entrenched. Sleepy plays better this way as well.
It’s either that or live & die with the halfcourt offense which gets minimal points from the 5 spot and from the 1 spot.
With this scenario you better hope the other 3 players manning the, 2 3 & 4 spots score enough points to carry the team.
We’ll know much more about this team in 10 days.
Not only are those games a good test, they generate buzz for the program which ultimately helps with how the program is perceived nationally and with recruiting. Sure it doesn’t help as much as a Final Four appearance, but it is another way to promote your program, win or lose.
Comment by Dr. Tom 01.03.13 @ 11:39 am
If we lose to Butgers, that would be a definite downward trend indicator. For they got manhandled last night up at Cuse.
Comment by boubacar aw 01.03.13 @ 12:16 pm
Good analysis boubacar.
Did anyone hear why JJ Moore (who was/is the 3rd leading scorer on team) only played 10 minutes?
He only had 1 foul.
Did any of the esteemed Burg sportswriters ask this of Coach?
Don’t we know. 🙂
A coworker is retiring at the end of the month and he is a WVU alum. We banter back/forth all the time, but I want to frame a picture of the scoreboard from 2007 showing Pitt-13 and WVU-9 to give him as he walks out the door. I have scoured the internet and cant find anything. Any ideas or help?
Its pretty clear across the NCAA that there is nothing relevant about non-conf SOS. The issue should be dropped other than to mention you wanna see better games for your own viewing pleasure.
The game was lost simply because we couldn’t hit threes and we missed the few minor chances to make up some ground elsewhere, particularly at the stripe. Adam’s foul trouble didn’t help but he wasn’t rebounding very well, still doing the one-hand stabs. Anyway, the lack of any go-to 3pt shooter is currently our biggest weakness and maybe the only one worth any concern.
link to cbssports.com
Hope we get him, he would be a prime addition to this recruiting class. I have good vibes with Boyd coming to Pitt as well. I think that Boyd “wants” to be “da man” at Pitt, unlike Foster, who seemed to shy away from that immediate limelight, IMO. Boyd also, probably won’t have the same issues with qualifying academically that was a question mark with Foster. We’ll know soon enough come Saturday on both of these guys.
Am I wrong, or does Pitt play in a bowl game this Saturday? CRICKETS from Chas and Reed on the subject though up to this point.
HTP
Also, to clarify, I guess non-conf SOS is relevant if a team is on the bubble. But it doesn’t lead to good or bad performances in conference play and also can cut the wrong way (ie losing to the good teams you play which can be worse than not playing them at all)
I’m willing to just tip my hat to Cinci for playing a better 40 minutes of ball. This team will have to learn that’s what it takes for real success.
Especially with Clemson beating LSU and new ACC members Louisville and Syracuse beating Florida and WVU, I think it would just add to help bolster the ACC’s image.
Yes, Ole Miss 6-6, doesn’t matter, beating an SEC team anytime is a good thing.
Also, think it would be a nice springboard and give momentum to spring football.
I myself am pumped, and I hope Coach Chryst has the team pumped.
At least it will be our last time with Tino.
Anyone seriously take Jamie Dixon over Sean Miller right now, even up? Did anyone watch the AU game tonight? Miller coached the last three minutes, behind by 9 points, brilliantly. I suppose it helps, also, that AU has recruited and plays real Division 1 basketball players.
Sean Miller is a hell of a coach. It is totally fitting that Pitt would hire the Carl DePasquas, the Tim Grgurichs, the Foge Fazios, and the Dave Wannstedts of the alumni world, and perhaps the best coach Pitt has ever produced (maybe Mike Ditka aside) is sitting in Tuscon, Arizona. And we sit with a coach that, even with a great team and a No. 1 seed, cannot get past the Sweet 16.
But, of course, no basketball coach in the country knows how to red shirt like Jamie Dixon.
Secondly, Jamie is our tradition of competitive if not great basketball. He is the horse that brought us out of the wilderness. He at the very least deserves the opportunity to put us back in the top 10. Any change is fraught with risk. How long did it take Georgetown after Thompson, Arizona after Olsen, Indiana after Knight, St. Johns after Carnesecca, will UConn, maintain after Calhoun?
How did Pitt do after Wanny? There are two ways to go when a successful coach leaves, most go down.
Pitt didn’t “choke” against Villanova. It was a
tightly contested (and officiated) game which came down to the last play. Unfortunately we didn’t have the ball last and we had an SOL conundrum about about defending vs. fouling.
I’m with @Omar — and I wouldn’t take Dixon for anyone. Pitt hasn’t needed to shop for a coach in nearly a decade. I find it funny how many commenters on this board assume Pitt even WANTS Miller, or if Miller even WANTS Pitt. It’s all speculation, and more importantly irrelevant as Dixon will likely be our coach until he decides when or if to move on.
With the holiday season behind us, there must be at least some of us (or our kids) who REALLY wanted some gift badly yet it turned out to be less of a big deal once in hand. That’s kind of how I look at Miller. Good coach, but there are a lot of those to be had. We already have a good one.
Like was said above, you can’t stab the guy in the back after building the best era of Pitt B-ball history and declining offers to go elsewhere.
Was there any point at which it made sense to switch Dixon for Miller? Miller hadn’t fully proved himself until that Xavier year when Pitt beat them to play ‘Nova. Prior to that, it would still have been a bad gamble to trade the sturdy, steadily improving Dixon for Miller. And at that point, Pitt had just had its most successful season in its modern history.
If — a big if — Dixon doesn’t get us past the Sweet 16 or in the final 4 in the next say 3-4 yrs, AND Miller remains successful at Arizona and yet is somehow willing to move back to Pittsburgh around that time, then maybe its worth considering. Until then, forget about it.
For now he’s respected across the NCAA and continues to get better and better recruits. And lets not forget that’s hes gotten more from less almost any coach (what, 3 NBA players in his tenure), whereas Miller has had NBA players at his disposal.
Are you serious? I have witnessed so many Pitt comebacks similar to Arizona that I can’t even count them. Did you see the Oakland game this season? How about the triple OT win against WVU? Or the Louisville game that same season? What about the Syracuse game at the Dome when Pitt came back from 12 with 2 minutes left?
Many of you can pine over Miller if you want, but Jamie Dixon is clearly one of the best coaches in the USA. He isn’t perfect, but he is way above average.
All I wanted was Pitt to the FF. I think we would have beaten UNC.
In my dark moments I think that was our one shot and we’ll never make it back.
