It’s been a long few days of watching lots of basketball.
Pitt got the 3 seed. No complaints about that part. I have no explanation how Villanova ended up with a 2 seed. Temple was screwed by 2 lines. I thought they had played to a 3 seed, but ended up with a 5 to face Cornell.
The Big East placed 5 teams on the first 3 lines. Another strong year and respect for the Big East.
As for the first round game with Oakland of the Summit League. I always worry, but this is a good match-up for Pitt.
They are not a strong defensive team. They don’t force turnovers. And they don’t shoot 3s real well. They do try to play more up-tempo than Pitt.
The one thing that they do, do well — or specifically what their center Keith Benson does well — is rebound. Benson. He’s a double-double and does grab offensive boards. He can also hit free throws at a 73% rate. Gary McGhee is going to have to put a lot of effort on the defensive end.
Beyond that I am not sure who Pitt will face after that. I really don’t have a strong impulse.
The Minnesota-Xavier game is close to a toss-up. Minnesota is playing great ball and they have an experienced coach in Tubby Smith. Xavier is just as good.
I’m thinking Coach Dixon should bench Gil Brown for the opening game and save his good game for the second round.
I don’t even know who Pitt would face if they got to the Sweet 16. BYU and K-State could be there. BYU would be having a home game if that happened. K-State has enough talent to win games. The one thing with them is they foul a lot. That could hurt them if they face BYU and the way they shoot.
Pitt really picked up a great seed in a region that they can run through if the chips fall their way.
In the west region the only team that scares me to death is K-State, they shoot free throws extremely well and can hit the three. They are a very tough and a very good team.
I do think at one time they were a possible number 1 seed but they lost their last two games of the season.
Regarding Pitt, the sweet sixteen is a very good possibility and with a little luck maybe much further.
I planning on going to Utah if they make the sweet sixteen.
(They are tied right now)
One game at a time fellows.
I watched a few of the Oakland games online at espn360. Overall, they are an ok team. No super stars but you definitely can’t sleep on them. Their center is very tall but also very slim. McGhee will have to use his body weight to keep him out of the paint from rebounding. Not sure what happened to JJ Richardson as of lately but I’d really like to see him get some mins at the 4. He can provide us with more size down low, esp if we advance into the later rounds.
As we’ve seen all year, this team tends to play to the level of competition. Also, even though the core guys have NCAA experience, this is their first tourney game as starters. Expect some early nerves and playing not to lose rather than to win.
For those reasons, I think Jamie will probably play it close to the vest relying as usual on defense and ball possession – in other words, a grinder. My expectation is a close game through the first 30-35 minutes with Pitt pulling away at the end. I hope I’m wrong and I would certainly enjoy a Rutgers-like game and LiveBlog.
Chas: I can agree on benching Brown to save him for game 2, but I’m not conviced it’s been anything other than pure coincidence, that may now be in his head. I’ll still contend it’s whether or not he hits his first shot until proven otherwise.
As far as the second game and beyond, I’d throw out the Pomeroy and Sagarin stuff. Those measures never favor a team that plays the style that this team plays. They also don’t measure mental toughness and want-to. In the tourney, it comes down to that and the player-by-player match-ups. We’ll have to see who we play before looking at the match-ups and only the game itself will tell us who wants it more. That’s why I’ll have “beverages” and Rolaids on hand.
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Before someone points it out, I know that Jermaine was a starter last year. However, he was a defensive role player and secondary leader. This year he’s the definative leader and more is expected of him on the offensive end. That’s a new role for him in the tourney as well.
I hope Dixon has the team prepped and ready to play hard.
You try shooting a three pointer off a bad foot..
Finally getting to watch some other college basketball over the weekend, though, has made me realize how nice it would be to have a PG who can consistently penetrate. It creates so many scoring opportunities.
Perhaps unlike yourself, when I consistently miss shots, I start looking to pass to open teammates and making cuts to create space for others…not keep clanking them up there for vanity sake. Besides, I complimented Dixon’s strengths and said he was a great kid, so what’s with the anger and agression? –cut by your high school team because you couldn’t shoot either?
Btw, his jump shot formation is really weird. Then again, that’s the case for most of our guys.
