When the Legends Classic field was announced, this was the presumed finals match-up. Pitt did its part with some ease. Stanford had a little more work against Houston. Never fully shaking the Cougars in the second half — but seemingly never in real danger.

Stanford is easily the best team Pitt will have faced to this point. They play an uptempo offense, but are very vulnerable on defense. They are also not particularly deep. They go maybe 7 deep — depending on foul trouble in the frontcourt.

(more…)

The U comes to town the day after Thanksgiving hoping to end their season on a high note after a disappointing few weeks. Miami was looking great; they were a top 10 team with BCS aspirations and even after the beat down by FSU they still had a lot to play for. Then they lost to VT and Duke, dropped out of the rankings, and faded into obscurity. However, a victory over Pitt and in a bowl game will give Miami a ten win season that will probably enable them to finish ranked.

Pitt clinched bowl eligibility with a win over Syracuse last week and will go to a bowl for the sixth straight season (which is a miracle given all of the turmoil in that time frame). I don’t want to say a loss is acceptable, but with a bowl game clinched and a highly talented team coming to town, it won’t be a disaster unless it’s an ass-kicking. Let’s look at The U. (more…)

It was close for a few minutes. No really. It was only a 4-2 game nearly five minutes in. I’m sure no one was panicking, though. As for my expectation of poor shooting in the beginning. Eh, not so much.

Pitt needed only six minutes to take a double-digit lead and just 13 to push the lead to 20 en route to an easy 76-53 win at the Barclays Center in a Progressive Legend’s Classic semifinals.

The Panthers advanced to the championship game at 9:30 p.m. today and will play Stanford or Houston.

Pitt (5-0) got off to another fast start shooting as it was 6 of 14 from the 3-point in the first half (43 percent) and led at halftime, 41-18.

Leading that barrage was senior Lamar Patterson, who hit three 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a career-high 23 points and a career-high five steals.

Cameron Wright added 12 points, and the Panthers finished 25 of 53 from the field (47.2 percent) and 10 for 24 from the 3-point line (42 percent).

Texas Tech never seemed to know what hit them. They were unable on defense to handle the ball movement by Pitt. And on defense, Pitt dominated them.

(more…)