Oh, the loss was obvious for at least the last 10 minutes of the game. Pitt just could not get their outside shot to fall. Another guard named Scottie was just too fast and too on to stop.
Still when the game ended. The realization starts to hit. No more games for Pitt this year. The season is over. It’s cliche to say that there’s only one team that is happy at the end of the season. There’s plenty of truth in it, though. Every game watched over the weekend you could see it in the looks, covered faces and tears on the losing end.
When the game ended, and they started doing the post-game interviews and studio work, I quickly paid my tab at the bar. The bartender said sorry. The other bartender who before the game had happily told me how about he used to party in Oakland while attending the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Sciences glanced at me and said, “Dude…”
I got out and just walked a bit. It was cold and a bit breezy. It encouraged me to walk at a brisk pace rather than some slow mope. It probably helped to be moving faster. It’s a little harder to stew in the self-pity when you don’t sit still or wander.
I couldn’t be angry like the Butler loss. Nor could I feel the frustration when they were pummeled by Wichita State. This game was a steady second-half wearing down of Pitt by a superior team.
Sure there is the decrying of Chris Jones letting Wilbeken getting past him to take a three before the half that may have further lifted Florida and deflated Pitt. And of course it went, because every one of those shots has gone this year it seems. Just as seeing Tyler Ennis miss that final 3-point shot against Dayton later that night was an eye-rolling moment where I muttered, “Of course… Now.”
I just felt kind of tired. This felt like a season that was an uphill slog for the last few months. Like this team was trying to overcome too much. Not just limitations of talent. Not just injuries. But the frustrations of past years being piled on them. Every game seemed to be treated as a referendum on the team and the program overall. Progress, regress, getting passed?
Even in the last couple weeks when it seemed to be coming together, Pitt got the “luck” of being made an #9 seed rather than a #10 seed. Setting Pitt up to meet the best team right now, rather than any one of the much more vulnerable #2 seeds. And again, watching so much of the Tournament this weekend reminds me of how much making the Sweet 16 is about getting the right match-up at the right time.
But that is it for the wallowing self-pity. Because what quickly happens. What happens everytime. No matter what. I can’t help but start to think about what next year holds.
And the irrational optimism slowly begins again.
Since college players are now considered employees, is tuition and room and board considered income, do they now pay income tax? Some private school tuition and room and board is over $50,000.
Baseball message.
We lost to WVU? And, play today at home against Georgia Tech. Give us some insight. You have to feel good about the recent record.
And, I am so sorry that the girls at Twin Peaks will not get to learn some new moves from Dr Tom and me. But, thanks for planning on us being there if our boys had made it to the Final Four.
H2P
If a team beat Farrell at Farrell, they had done something. Between the crowd and the refs they didn’t leave much room for error.
In the day we used to listen to the away games on the radio. The announcer was Fred Cole on WFAR, and road games in section 3 were all played in jammed gyms with lots of home cookin’.
Sadly, he died a couple years ago playing pick up hoops in a south hills gym. He was only in his late 40’s.
Coach Paul Chryst and the 2014 Panthers will close spring drills with “Pitt Football Field Pass,” a special event for fans that will provide an insiders’ view of the program on Sunday, April 13, from 2 to 4 p.m.
link to pittsburghpanthers.com
(yea I know there were more)
Sam Werner ?@SWernerPG ·9 mins
#Pitt releases statement saying it is opposed to idea of treating student-athletes as employees.
Sam Werner ?@SWernerPG ·3m
Sort of a moot point, because Northwestern NLRB ruling wouldn’t apply to #Pitt, a (semi-)public institution.
Tyler Ennis (yea him) declared for NBA.
Live ACC Press conference. Announcing future ACC Tourney Sites of Charlotte & yes your favorite, Greensboro.
2015 – Greensboro
2016 – DC
2017 – Brooklyn
2018 – Brooklyn
2019 – Charlotte
2020 – Greensboro
Kinda funny they didn’t announce all of them at same time. Cause it caused a lot of teeth gnawing on Tobacco Road.
Senior QB wants his playing time, for a shot at the NFL.
Coach starts sophomore. Senior files grievance?
Vote here:
The ironic thing was…we called him “Berkowitz” because he was a NYC guy and the Son of Sam (Berkowitz) was on a killing spree during our days at Pitt…
Kent St.
Marquette
Bradley
Xavier
Pacific
Butler
ALL were lower seeds than us…
You are a miserable human being. Why don’t you go ruin a Penn State blog site. Seriously, you make me want to cancel my Internet and cable. Sell my house. Move to a cabin in the woods. And spend the rest of my life avoiding your type of negativity.
I get a little sad just seeing your name underneath a post. You should start snorting Prozac. God, go hug a stranger.
The direction is fine and especially considering loss of DJ and Adams and transition to ACC this year. I am OK with seeing how the next 3 to 4 years plays out before I consider moving on from JD.
If we are not making the tournament AND recruiting isn’t improving, I would start to look for options. If we are winning 25 games and making the Big Dance, then I think it is just a matter of time before we break through.
UPitt, please comment on baseball. You know nothing of basketball.
Not sure if anyone has brought this up, but Tom Herrion was fired at Marshall. I would really like to see him back on our sideline. Ive been kinda disappointed in some of our assistants over the last few years. There was a 3-4 year period where we were losing guys like Herrian, Rohrsen (sp?) To head coaching jobs. With those guys on the bench and recruiting i felt much, much better about the state of the program, our recruiting abilities, as well as player development.
That is all. Goodnight.
UPitt, please comment on baseball. You know nothing of basketball.
Not sure if anyone has brought this up, but Tom Herrion was fired at Marshall. I would really like to see him back on our sideline. Ive been kinda disappointed in some of our assistants over the last few years. There was a 3-4 year period where we were losing guys like Herrian, Rohrsen (sp?) To head coaching jobs. With those guys on the bench and recruiting i felt much, much better about the state of the program, our recruiting abilities, as well as player development.
That is all. Goodnight.
I understand the frustration of our record in the NCAA’s. I want us to win like everyone else, but I’ll take the coach that gets us there every year. Gotta win in your league to get there and Jamie consistently does this. In two years we have the pieces in place to be great.
First trip for Bo Ryan to the elite 8 and Wisconsin is always a powerhouse. All great coaches have this struggle.
@ TVax – I think the same… only a matter of time before we break through. We need to keep winning our league, something all the JD haters keep forgetting. It all starts there.
I would never want you to cancel your internet or cable..then you’d never see all the JD lead CHOKE jobs in the tourney…
But you are right about something…I am miserable..I’m miserable watching JD troll along the sidlines looking constipated as his tight as hell offensive schemes flounder..
You should be happy to see my name…I give all you unicorn, rainbow happy ppl a dose of reality…When JD gets us to a final four and win games he’s not suppose to in the tourney then i’ll eat crow……so far I’m pretty safe
Plus the local ACC blog in really narrow minded. The people are way too provincial. Greensboro is the only true home for the ACC? Do you think a spouse or two would enjoy a long weekend in NYC; some shopping, a broadway play, maybe a meal or two at good restaurants, a little site seeing. I could go on and on.
When ESPN showed the Greensboro area around the arena, it showed a telephone pole!
I can see the Big Ten using NYC for their tournament location.
I fear the ACC may not be the right place for us long range.
Yeah, the Millers are the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are absolutely no other good coaches in the world. Until a Miller wins a national championship and matches Dixon’s incredible record over a decade in a top conference they are not better than Dixon.
Dixon is incredibly successful and is going no where.
– neither Dayton or Stanford is known for ist defense, but Stanford’s defense was downright pathetic (now I know why Pitt looked so good against them)
– Both Arizona and SDSU are known for their defenses and AZ defense prevailed in the end
– UF held UCLA to 17 points under its scoring average
– Wisonsin had wide opne shots all night against Baylor’s zone, and the Bears were clueless when they tried man-to-man
When did you attend Pitt, UPitt? Because when I was there in the early 90’s both Pitt Basketball (and Football) SUUuuucckked!! They could not even SNIFF the tournament. Now they make it nearly every year. Do I want more than that? Sure. Dixon can do better, and by all accounts he has some great players coming in to help that along. But, my goodness, at least appreciate what you have!
I do drink the kool aid when it comes to coach Chryst but I will admit he is approaching the years he needs to start putting up better numbers. If he improves a win a year I would take it.
Same goes for Jordano. The teams record usually hovers around 500 but the last 5 years have been pretty good. They made the BE tournament but have not won it. He needs to keep improving.
As for tourney success… I think of Jimmy B’s success at Cuse. He doesn’t have a NCAA championship without Carmelo and he didn’t get to the tourney the year before (01′) and he didn’t get there in 07′ and 08. He’s a hall of fame coach and has he been successful every year? Expectations are high at Cuse as well, their just not unreasonable.
Making the tourney is an accomplishment and it starts with league success. Expectations are not low by achieving this… this is the foundation needed for success. This is common sense uPitt. I agree with you JCE, grass always seems greener to some.
I guess Upitt did not watch the Syracuse game, The Cuse literally gave the game to Dayton. They did not make one three, let alone a half court shot. Uncharacteristically, Fair threw up more clankers than I have ever seen. I don’t know what happened but Syracuse went down hill and was a much different team than when we played them. Ennis missed his two last shots to win the game against Dayton. Maybe he had already moved on to the NBA.
Didn’t we also beat Stanford rather handily?
Archie will get a nice paying job somewhere next year, it won’t be at Pitt, and that is fine with 99% of us.
Cuse looked like a different team after they beat us at the Pete…their season seem to fade with that 40 footer.
I agree gc, congrats to Dayton and Archie.
Please, speak in the present. Or speak in the future.
The same belated points are ridiculous and really quite obnoxious to have to see over and over and over again. Seriously.
***We know Smug Smilin’ Steve blew it by not hiring the Millers or some other Godsend. We know that. We gotcha. Got it.****
***Dixon sucks until he gets to a Final Four. Got that too. Your opinion. Every right too it. Most of us have read that thousands of times. We got ya again with that too.***
We all understand that, as we’ve seen some of you post the same thing, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over AGAIN!!!
Now, let’s start posting about the present and future, and there are a few parameters that some need to understand, going forward. This may even help your stress levels once you understand some cold hard facts. Really, if you come from these angles, it really may help you.
1. Steve Pederson is not getting fired or going anywhere.
2. Jamie Dixon is not getting fired or going anywhere.
Now, let’s have some productive conversations and enjoyable dialogue knowing these two facts.
Even good rugged debate is fantastic.
Debating about something that shoulda, woulda, coulda happened, borders on the insane, after the points have been made several thousand times.
I mean, the two groups that would troll Pitt, would be Morganhole and Pedophile State.
Why would they troll us, with Morganhole’s football and hoops in disarray, and having to travel 1500 miles for their closet rival??
Not to mention Molestation Valley, which they will be forever connected too, let alone a non-existant basketball program.
I don’t know a Pitt fan in their right mind who would trade places with either one of these two
dung heeps.
So, I doubt any trolling.
My reaction to Keith’s posting @ 9:55 last night is:
I see you failed to mention that Butler and Marquette made it to the Final 4, and further, Marquette (who had a guy named D Wade) beat us by 3 and then 2 days later, beat the #1 seedin the entire tourney by 23. Also, 2 days after beating us, Bradley beat 2 seed Kansas.
In other words, these teams were juggernauts
1). How do they replace the production of the two leaving fifth year seniors? They were the two leading scorers and rebounders. They averaged over 30 points and nearly 15 rebounds per game. No heir apparent for either player.
2). How will Durand Johnson recover? When will he back and where will he be in his development. He made huge strides last year, how far was he set back?
3). Who will play center and how well? Four centers on the roster (right now at least) none of them are sure things.
4). How will the rotation shake out? 5 of the 6 best healthy players to start the season play either PG or PF. Young, Jeter and Artis all are stretch fours. Can either Artis or Jeter play SF? Or does Pitt go small and play Young at C? And who starts at PG, Robinson or Newkirk? Dixon will start Robinson, but that is not as easy decision as some would have you believe. They did play some together and that might work. So can, would, Jamie go with a 3-PF, 2-PG lineup? These guys are versatile, so it would be interesting.
5). Who is going to knock down threes?
What are the restrictions for practicing as a team with coaches? I know there is a summer league which just seem to be glorified pick-up games.
I guess the players are given assignments for skills they should work on in the off season.
The skills Patterson and Zanna had in passing the ball back and forth, mostly Patterson to Zanna take a lot of practice.
I would like to see the recruiting improve. Had a look at the ESPN top 100 recruits – we don’t have any. I keep hearing that Pitt will never be a Kansas/Duke/Kentucky/UCLA./etc. That’s fine. Could we at least be a VCU? A Wichita State? How about Ohio State? Maryland? Creighton? I’m not trying to be a jerk; is there some secret sauce that prevents us from getting better players? How are these guys getting better recruits? Two things stand out to me with the current field of 8: you need talent, and you need coaching. It helps to have both. I guess this is obvious, but it’s obviously really difficult to “coach up” players past the Sweet Sixteen. More so into the Final Four. Dayton appears to be this years “juggernaut” – I suspect their luck runs out today. Archie seems like a pretty good coach – he’s just running into better coaching/talent with Florida. There’s always a team or two that seems to squeak into the Elite 8 – sometimes it’s the Final Four – but by and large it’s the usual suspects. the ones that have coaching and big talent.
Again, obvious statements, but my real question is: am I being unrealistic about Pitt making a final four run? To it seems more and more like we were that team that squeaked through a few years back. With our talent level and our coaching, I’m starting to think I can’t expect much more than a Sweet Sixteen run, with a shot at the elite 8 every once in a while.
Here’s to better recruiting moving forward – I’d like to see just what JD can do with a team with blue chip talent – that might be a pipe dream, but hopefully things improve regardless.
We would all appreciate some great talent influx as long as it doesn’t screw up the quality program JD has in place.
When you look at the quality and depth on Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan St, FL, Arizona, we have never been even close.
In the ACC, SYR, NC, Duke, Louisville will have better talent than us every year. Jamie will have guys that can compete and win on any given day, but in a one and done tournament, you need talent, and a good seed to make a long run.
It does look like Slice is going to improve recruiting. It sure would be nice to get Herrion back. It is about time Knight gets a head coaching job. We need to recruit a dominate big man in the worst way.
Our sophomore transfer from Vanderbilt Tyrone Jeter is a 40% three-point shooter. Then there’s Johnson, Artis, and possibly Mostella.
I suspect that next year’s team will actually be a much better shooting team than this year’s team was after Johnson and Patterson got injured.
He, I like the Miller’s, Sean’s a Pitt hero.
But, if we’re gonna be fair, guess the Miller’s can’t cut it, eh???
Another miss at a Final Four. Shame.
What excuses shall be posted for this flagrant violation of what should happen???
Especially Sean, with all of that talent, should have been a walk in the park????
Ha Ha Ha, Fire Both Miller’s Now!!!!!!!!
Over the years we have seen several centers emerge that we didn’t anticipate would be so good. I’m hopeful about Haughton,
