Here’s the setup. Comments are generally moderated, unless you are a trusted commenter. Keep the language somewhat in check.
Let’s get a big win.
Nah, it’s time to play Blairsketball!
Bilas is indeed a jerk and a loudmouth. Agreed Blake Edwards is a great player but if OK played in the Big East they would have 5 losses by now.
Pitt will own them in a 1/1 match up.
Now for the officials…what a strangely called game…muggings going on for a while, then chippy fouls called in a row, then more muggings..
I do not know how much everyone can appreciate how much Coach Dixon has improved as a game strategist. Only way to learn how to coach is to do so…HAIL TO PITT>..everyone have a wonderful night and week!
But enuff with the negatives — great win at #1 on national TV. Was ESPECIALLY pleased how Pitt played better at crunch time — with 3:30 left it was tied and it was UConn’s turn to miss the shots
Hail to PITT!
-al-
Also, keep in mind the new format for the BE tourney…If Pitt finishes in the top 4 it only takes 3 games to win this year, which is a little easier on the legs.
Solid win over UClown. Time to finish off the season strong.
HTP!
He couldnt help himself but look like the biggest crybaby. Saying it wasnt basketball out there and telling reporters, “You know what you saw”. If you didnt watch the game and just listened to him , you would of thought Jonathan was out there skating in Rollerball! He then says the referees should of told him before the game that this was how they were going to call the game. Ive never coached college basketball , but I never heard of a coach being told what type of game is going to be called before it starts by the referees. My one question to him, if I could of been in that press conference, “Coach Calhoun, isnt it well known that the good coaches in this game are the ones who are able to get their team to adapt to how it is being called and played?” Did I mention how much of an A-hole he is. Anyways, great game Pitt! This is getting exciting!
I Tivo’ed the game and ran back a number of plays. I am glad the refs called it as they did, but there is no question that Blair should have fouled out. Many “non calls” were not even questionable. We got a major break.
Pitt won the game fair and square. Do you ever hear Jamie Dixon complain about the officiating after the game? I’ll answer it for you, no. Thabeet was owned by Blair last night. OWNED. He made him look like a ragdoll.
Also regarding the foul situation, Pitt was in foul trouble the whole first half. Biggs and Young each had two fouls. Young got called for his third early in the second and Biggs got called for 3 and 4 early in the second as well. Blair got the calls yesterday because he played aggressively and took the ball right at Thabeet and Adrien. That is how it works. Period.
We didn’t get any breaks, except maybe the 4th foul on Thabeet, but that’s tough to say since Blair went out with the elbow to the face immediatley after. Fouls near the end of the first half were 9 on Pitt and 2 on Uconn, so don’t tell me we got a break.
It goes both ways. I thought the officiating was inconsistent in that you didn’t know what you were going to get on a given set…but it was inconsistent both ways. Also, as Doug Gottlieb pointed out, the game was tied at 61 with every big player in the game. Pitt then ripped off a couple Levance field’s threes and it was game over.
We play a physical style of basketball better than they do, but it went both ways so I don’t think we caught any breaks and I certainly don’t think Blair should have fouled out. Great game.
Strangely officiated game to say the least, and what I mean by that is that Pitt got some calls (and non-calls) that you don’t expect to get on the road, especially in Calhoun territory. Blair definitely got away with some unbelievable body blocks posting up and there were some touch fouls called on UConn’s guards in the 2nd half, but Omar has a point in that the aggressive player going to the hoop often gets the call and Blair took it to those guys all night and Fields was trying to penetrate when the refs blew the whistles.
Hope the refs don’t favor the visitor on March 7th…
Pitt’s defense on Uconn’s guards really intensified in the 2nd half as well. Dixon was tough. Price couldn’t find those open 3s and he’s not a threat to get to the hoop like Dyson was.
Unless Walker really comes on, UConn’s perimeter offense is going to struggle against good defensive teams the rest of the season.
When a team is down by 6 with seven minutes left and wins the game by 8, the officiating has nothing to do with it. Pitt hit big shots and UCONN couldn’t match them. Calhoun and everybody else can cry all they want, but Pitt’s players won the game, not the officials.
Hmmm. I remember one play in particular: Blair had the ball underneath, guarded by Thabeet. Blair put his shoulde down and used it to push Thabeet away. Thabeet was still not far enough away so Blair had to push him further away with his shoulder. Finally after the third push Blair figured he had cleared enough room and went up and made the layup. I got to believe (based on decades of watching basketball) that some refs may have called a foul after the first shoulder push.
I don’t really think the officiating was any different than any other game. Any game is going to have its share of bad calls, but to attribute this great win to officiating is a discredit to this team and how they played last night.
It goes both ways. I mean I could sit here and pick and choose plays on which UConn should have been called for fouls too (and wasn’t). Bottom line is that officiating wasn’t the reason Pitt won the game, they won because as Omar mentioned, they played tough and executed down the stretch.
Have you ever watched Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Shaq or Tim Duncan play? They do this thousands of times a year or over the course of their careers. Maybe basketball isn’t a sport you should watch because backing down a defender is part of the game in the post. Get a clue.
Sharty, are you suggesting that I suggested we won the game because of officiating??? My original post:
“When the head of the BE officials reviews the game film, I have a feeling he is going to raise some hell. I quetion whether Blair will be permitted to make the moves on March 7 that he made tonight.”
The refs made questionable calls and non-calls on both sides. That has always been the way it’s been in basketball. Generally, there are some games a player may get into foul trouble and some games a player doesn’t foul out. Now take the WVA game…oh, well.
“Have you ever watched Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Shaq or Tim Duncan play? ”
Omar, do you mean in college or the pros??? Is it your argument that whether it is high school, college or the pros, basketball is basketball and ref calls are ref calls? No difference because of the venue? I trust that is not what you are trying to convey.
Omar, I am suggesting that some refs may call a foul on an offensive player with ball in hand who drops his shoulder and uses it to ram a defender away, not once, but three times on the same play and then takes a shot after he has then created sufficient space to enable a shot. I am also suggesting that should a player on March 7 do this, irrespective of whether he plays for Pitt or for UConn, the player may get called for a foul. Apparently there is a fair amount of disagreement concerning my suggestion.
My apologies for any miscommunications.
I was inferring from this statement that Pitt didn’t deserve to win or rather was able to win because of officiating. My bad if I misinterpreted that.
My point is Blair finished with 2 fouls. Of course more fouls could have been called on him, but by the same token more fouls probably could have been called on Thabeet earlier in the game. Basketball is probably the only game where you could call a foul on every play if you really wanted to. So I don’t think its fair to say that Blair should have fouled out. Its not like the officials were only calling fouls on Thabeet and not on Blair. In fact, at the half Pitt had racked up 9 fouls while UConn had only two. The officiating was erratic, but fair in that it went both ways.
Sharty, I understand your viewpoint. We have a topic for discussion since I am not in agreement.
“Its not like the officials were only calling fouls on Thabeet and not on Blair”
Here we are in agreement.
Calhoun’s baloney about that not being basketball only tells part of the story. He also said that it was actually a lot like the Big East of the 1990s — a great ERA of ball — and that his team has “scholarship athletes” who get a full ride of “$37,000 a year for out of state guys” and that they should thus be able to execute plays better. I’ve never really seen a coach directly refer to scholarship money — almost like, hey, what are we paying you for? — but I love it. He’s right. He had a bunch of kids who didn’t want to play, being led by a point guard who wouldn’t quit. In the end, though, five beats one.
HAIL.
Backing down a defender is done (and Barkley specialized in it) with your back (hence the name). Your posterior, to be more specific. It’s putting your (hopefully big) ass into your man and moving him ever closer to the hoop.
That’s not what Blair was doing on the play in question. Blair was using his shoulder and chest to move Thabeet under the hoop. Completely different circumstance and if the defender plays it right, it will generally result in a foul call against the offense.
Whoever confused what Blair was doing with backing your man down needs to spend some time on the court with Adrian Dantley or Mark Aguirre. They’ll teach you what it is.
The plays that Blair made that I was surprised he got away with were the posting body blocks he threw on Adrien. He absolutely tossed Adrien halfway across the lane to establish position and get a layup at one point. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they let him play that way. I’m just surprised because most of the time that stuff gets called.
