7pm ESPN2.
Small sample size and all, but after six games, Pitt’s tempo is ranked 256th nationally per, KenPom. Maybe — and I’m just spitballing ideas here — the players have as much to do with the pace as the coaching style. The players always say they want to get up-and-down the court. But they also want to score and win.
Pitt can score. The offense is still one of the most efficient nationally. The defense, though, is something else.
I vacillate on Mike Young and Jamel Artis with regards to their all-around game. They are excellent offensive players, but with their best effort they are about average overall on defense. When you look at the rest of the team in terms of consistency in scoring, it does seem a bit unfair to be so harsh on them for not being better at defense.
On an ideal team, they could be the players they are and other players would pick up more of the slack on defense. That isn’t the case with this Pitt squad. The players getting the majority of the playing time — excluding Kithcart — are not much better on defense. (And in the cases of Chris Jones and Sheldon Jeter, arguably worse.)
Maryland is more dependent on just Melo Trimble for their offense, but the rest of the Terrapin team plays better defense around him. Terps are at home and surprisingly only a 5 point favorite.
And #26 in the AP.
So does Pitt winning easily at their place get us ranked ?
Wonderful first half, haven’t seen that nice of a half in a long time
Second half…..eeek, just glad we held on
What has happened to Jeter??, he’s worthless!, he needs to come off the bench
Young and artis will be a great 1-2 punch all year
Let’s keep the momentum going!
H2P!
I still need to be courted before I make a commitment. We have a long season ahead of us.
Impressed with Pitt’s zone adjustments which seemed to cover the perimeter a bit better than against even Morehead State. Offense really spread the court to create opportunities and although I would not have minded them use more of the shot clock later in the game, it seemed the players(Young and Artis) felt free to play their game and did just that throughout – something I never saw with JD.
So end result, biggest margin home loss for Maryland in nearly 5 years.
Only complaint was MY being a little classless both shooting at the end of the game and then shooshing the crowd. Would’ve been real pissed if some knucklehead did THAT to Pitt at the Pete.
Not as big a crowd at the game as I expected for a ranked Maryand team but saw a good number of Pitt jerseys of which we brought 6 locals and 6 from afar.
Maybe Pitt will surprise some in the ACC, especially if they can get any semi-consistent contribution from Jeter or Cam. Wilson looked lost for his few minutes and Kithcart showed flashes.
We learned that when Young and Artis are hot offensively we are pretty good. (probably already knew that)
We learned that our surrounding cast of characters does not contribute a whole lot or at least not consistently. (knew that too)
We learned that we struggle against a full court press (not new)
The defense looked pretty good at times (encouraging)
Jeter and Jones continue to struggle (trouble)
Johnson’s overall game is improving (good)
Kithcart and Wilson contributing very little (bad)
Luther may have reached his ceiling (not sure)
Going to be an up and down season dependent on the play of Young and Artis and if the secondary players get a hot hand once in a while.
Really looking bad for next year unless Stallings can pull a couple recruiting rabbits out of his hat.
We didn’t have a single Panther score 20+ points per game throughout the Howland-Dixon era. But at the moment Young is averaging 23.6 and Artis is averaging 19.7.
Biggest concerns for me coming out of this game: 1) Jeter’s continued lack of any meaningful contributions, aside from an occasional big rebound, and 2) how the rest of the team pretty much put the entire load on Artis and Young in the second half, hardly ever looking to score, instead of just continuing to play within the flow of the offense and look to score when the opportunities presented. After some nice shots and unexpected drives to the hoop in the 1st half, Cam completely disappeared (maybe one 3?). Hopefully that won’t be a trend, because Artis and Young are going to have off games. It’s inevitable.
But, again, nice win and it’s so nice to see little adjustments and different looks. That half-court press that led to a turnover late in the game when MD was pushing to get to single digits was a perfect example. JD would never, ever have done that.
Man does Stalling have to recruit his head off the next couple of yrs.