So, the P-G is changing the online Q&A format to try and get more daily eyeballs to their site. Pitt football beat writer Paul Zeise will have smaller, daily weekday Q&As rather than once a week Q&As along with a weekly chat. Considering that the Trib has their Pitt football beat writer doing a blog, they needed to do something in response. Zeise’s Q&A have been one of his stronger features

[Brief tangent — Really, blogging isn’t necessarily for everyone — especially reporters. The Trib’s Kevin Gorman gets it, as a beat writer. He doesn’t need to do linking and posts, per say. He can just use it as carryover of more information from stories published and emptying out his notebook of things that don’t make it into the regular article. It’s extra information fans want and he isn’t really doing that much extra work — aside from just putting it in the computer.]

Back to the Q&A, his first was this past Friday.

Q: Do you think there will be any freshman starters for this upcoming football season and if so, who?

Zeise: Dave Wannstedt has begun to build enough depth in the program that relying on freshman to start is likely going to be a thing of the past. Pat Bostick could win the starting quarterback job and LeSean McCoy could emerge as the starter at tailback but they have a lot of work to do in a short period of time and I just don’t see it happening. I could see a situation where both are starters by midseason, but I’d be surprised if either is the starter on opening day. Tommie Duhart isn’t a freshman but he is a newcomer (JC transfer) and he should win a starting job at either defensive end or tackle. The other newcomer I expect to make an impact – at least as a returner – is Aundre Wright, who is said to be the team’s fastest player, while Dom DeCicco will likely have a chance at some early playing time at safety as well. The Panthers are also thin at linebacker so one or two of the freshman linebackers will likely be forced into action.

Essentially he’s projecting 3-5 players from the 2007 recruiting class (not necessarily freshmen) to make the early impact.

Actually I have to disagree with his opening assumption. That there is enough depth that freshmen starting won’t be a common occurrence. First, I thought part of Coach Wannstedt’s pitch was that the best player will start. Next, there is only solid depth at just a few positions — WR, RB and CB. And at RB, everyone expects McCoy to at least jump to the number 2 back.
Both lines may be mostly set as far as who the starters are, but there is little depth after that. Injuries have to be expected, and that will be when the freshmen will really be needed. Even with two recruiting classes, I don’t really feel great about the lines. The drop-off seems steep, and I’m not sold on how good the starting units are.
The linebacking corp is a complete toss-up. I have no idea what the actual depth chart will look like. I am sure, though, that it won’t be very different by week 7. (Tommie Campbell, by the way, appears to be transferring to Edinboro.)
Safety, Elijah Fields out for the season really hurts. Mike Phillips, who could have lost the starting job to Fields, even knows that.

“We need every guy we’ve got. When you lose anyone, it’s a big blow,” said Phillips, a fifth-year senior who started five games last season. “He can really do some things. Just his athleticism and speed, he can really have advantages over other players that we can use. It’s going to be a big loss.”

Phillips is going to be needed to be as healthy and mentally ready as he says he is. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lowell Robinson get another shot at playing time at Safety.

Ugly game last night. Chalk it up to Georgetown simply being better than us or it “just wasn’t our night” or whatever you want. I’m not here to tell you what to believe in that respect and I don’t want this to turn into a game that makes us hang our heads and completely forget about beating Marquette and Louisville.

The offense wasn’t there on many different levels.

The 42 points were the fewest points scored in a Big East championship game and were the fewest for a Pitt team since the Panthers scored 30 against Temple on Jan. 15, 1969. The 23-point margin of defeat was the most since Pitt lost to St. John’s by 24 in 2000.

The most notable was Gray, however.

Here’s all you need to know about the Big East championship game Saturday night:

Roy Hibbert had more dunks than Aaron Gray had points.

Kind of hard to place the entirety of blame on him though. It’s also too bad this was one of the games where Roy Hibbert came to play. He’s been a nonfactor more times than Hoya fans would have liked this year but last night he came to play.

Life goes on though towards the NCAA Tournament. When it comes to seeding, to me it’s always been match ups and location over actual seed number. We obviously will want to play our first round games in either Buffalo or Columbus (I’ve heard the athletic department wants to go to Buffalo rather than Columbus). We also want to play against teams who our strengths match up well against — once again, if it means we drop a seed line to play teams we can beat easier in the first and second rounds then I’m all for it.

If you like to listen to Joe Lunardi, he has Pitt at a #3 seed (in Buffalo). There’s no way we’ll move any higher and I can’t see us moving lower unless the Committee takes the Pitt hate to an extreme level.

I don’t know if you’ve watched the SportsCenter Highlights or the same thing on College Gamenight. It’s kind of funny to see the analysis of the game essentially be that Pitt did a better job of defending the 3 in the second half than in the first; and that was the difference defensively.

To support the claim, they showed Ramon and Benjamin late getting out on a shooter in a couple made 3s in the first half. Then they showed Pitt getting a hand in the face of shooters in the second half. Now, try and forget that cherry-picking some plays as illustration does not prove anything. It’s the boxscore that points out the silliness. WVU shot 4-12 on 3s in the first half and 7-21 in the second half. The exact same shooting percentage from outside.

That wasn’t the area they played significantly better defense. They played a little better on defending outside, but the big shift was denying the lanes to try and go in off the dribble and not allowing cuts to get easier baskets. Yes, as a general rule, the Mountaineers live and die on 3s, but they weren’t particularly far from their normal shooting on 3s. What killed them, was that Pitt stopped letting them find space for other shots (only 2-10 from the rest of the floor in the second half versus 9-12 in the first). That’s where they win a lot more games, by shooting at least 50% from spots inside the arc. They are going to have more games shooting in the 30-40% range from outside then they are shooting better than that.

I’m very glad we swept the Hoopies this year. Not just because it’s always a good thing and we can also enjoy the idea that Pitt probably knocked their hopes of making the NCAA out cold. The other reason is that WVU is going to be very good next year, so get some licks in now. Considering how much they lost from last year’s team — Herber, Gansey, Pittsnogle — that they are this good already is kind of scary.

I have noticed several comments about getting the ball to Gray more — a constant complaint all season — that he is getting open and they just aren’t passing to him. For this particular game, I’m not so sure that would be the best thing. WVU’s defense is very good at jumping the lanes and getting a hand on the ball where it looks like an easy pass. It’s part of the nature of the 1-3-1.

Generally, this is the area of the game where Carl Krauser is really missed. Say what you want about his game and everything else (and I know everyone has), but Krauser was one of the best inside passers. It was his biggest strength that he could get the ball inside with such ease and consistency. He did it with Troutman and Taft. Then he did last year with Gray. All players that don’t exactly move a lot once they get/got into the post area, so it’s not like they could lose their man. Part of that was because Krauser was always a threat to drive the lane and penetrate. It created space for him to pass.

Fields is getting better, but he is nowhere near as good as Krauser was with that part of the game. Considering Pitt can’t afford to give away too many possessions, it’s arguably good that he doesn’t force that too many times a game.

Mike Cook is a talker and a woofer. I know it bothers a lot of people but I think it gets made into something that it isn’t. It’s part of how he gets himself going, and motivated. He gets a little hyper and emotional. I also think Dixon, the coaches and even the other players know that, and generally let it go. Pitt has been on TV all season. They have had national coverage and media attention. It’s been a non-story. Now, maybe everyone is missing this story — and if it was just the local media I might be more inclined to agree. I’m just more of the opinion he’s kind of like Brett Hull was. Always talking, and his teammates and coaches just ignore it. The only way I can put it is this, until he’s sitting on the floor with his shoes off or undone that’s not going to be a big issue for me

Has anyone noticed that Ronald Ramon has been in a shooting slump? No. Really. Here are his shooting numbers in total and then on 3-pointers.

Louisville: 1-6 — 1-6

Providence: 0-4 — 0-3

West Virginia: 2-2 — 2-2

Villanova: 0-3 — 0-3

St. John’s: 2-5 — 1-4

Total: 5-20 — 4-18

Obviously no one was complaining or really noticing since Pitt had won the prior 4 games. Besides, he hasn’t been the lightning rod for criticism the way Levon Kendall (as much a reaction to constant media puffery) or Mike Cook (in a slump starting from the ‘Nova game) have become.

I think part of the reason for the slump is that Ramon is now struggling to get open as teams are much more aware of what he can do — and can’t do — so they are playing a lot tighter on him and making it harder for him to get a good look. As we all know, he is not the kind of guard that can create his own space. The other part, of course, is he is just missing shots. Even when he is coming off the screens, lately, the shots just aren’t going. Hopefully that will change — soon.

Do I and all the other fans want more? You bet. Does every loss fill my mouth with ashes and doubts? Of course. Let’s take a moment though to enjoy some of this.
Last night was an important win for Pitt over Villanova. (more about the actual game in a later post) They are on a 9 day layoff, without having to dwell on a loss or missed opportunities.
In an 8-day, 4 game stretch with road and home alternating games, Pitt was 3-1

Pitt is now 4-0 in the Big East on the road and 8-1 overall, and in sole possession of 1st place. Whether the conference is down or not (and it is), that is still a great start. Pitt started the 03-04 season 8-1 in conference, to match the best ever start.

Pitt has already won 20 games this season — the first time a Pitt coach has ever won 20 games in 4 straight years.

The sixth straight year Pitt has won 20 or more game — an ongoing record. The first time, in this era that Pitt has done it with a solid non-con.
Pitt has spent the entire season ranked in the top-10.

We are watching a team that prefers to control and slow down the pace, but is capable of playing just fine at a faster pace. Able to make adjustments.

Another Monday has arrived (and it’s a “Big Monday” for the Panthers tonight on ESPN) which means all kinds of different polls and numbers can be seen left and right. First we start with the two Top 25 polls, both of which bumped Pitt up to 7th in the nation. The six teams in front of Pitt are the same and in a matching order in both polls with teams such as Duke (who had a win handed to them last week), Oregon, and Texas A&M.

Next we get something interesting from the Big East Basketball Report: RPI ratings for Big East teams composed of stats just from conference games. From that, here’s what we get through yesterday’s game.

….TEAM………..CONFERENCE RPI………CONF SOS….SOS RANK
Marquette—————.5846——————.5218———–4
Pittsburgh—————.5594——————.4709———-13
Louisville—————-.5508——————.5020———-9
Villanova—————-.5418——————.5507———–2
Syracuse—————–.5368——————.5137———–7
Notre Dame————-.5268——————.4941————11
Georgetown————-.5260——————.4690———–14
West Virginia———–.5069——————.4676———-15
DePaul——————.4973——————.5215———–5
Connecticut————.4946——————.5584————1
Providence————–.4940——————.4748———-12
St. John’s—————-.4653——————.5133———-8
Seton Hall—————.4516——————.4949———10
South Florida———–.4446——————.5303———-3
Cincinnati—————.4181——————.5191———–6
Rutgers——————.4019——————.4525———-16

I don’t think it would be expected to see Pitt at anywhere but the top two or three slots at this point through conference play.

The weekly conference poll they run there also came out for the new week with Pitt checking in at number one. The top five looks like so:

1) Pittsburgh (16): 286 pts.
2) Marquette (2): 269 pts.
3) Georgetown: 245 pts.
4) Notre Dame: 228 pts.
5) Louisville: 208 pts.

I found it a bit surprising that more voters did not give their first place vote to Marquette and the voting followed how things have gone the past few weeks.

Also following suit from last week were the player of the week, Dominic James, and freshman of the week, Scottie Reynolds from a ‘Nova team we’ll see tonight, both of which were voted into those spots for the second straight week.
Also a few notes from ESPN Insider who now have Aaron Gray as their #22 draft prospect.

Positives: Gray is a legit 7-footer, and he has the girth (he weighs in at 270) to handle the middle full time. He’s a good rebounder, especially on the offensive boards. Excellent hands. Good lower body strength helps him hold position in the paint. Nice baby hook. Good perimeter shooter.

Negatives: He’s not a very good athlete, and weight has been an issue in the past. With the NBA moving toward an up-tempo style, Gray’s type of game is less valued than it’s been in the past. Not much of a shot blocker. Poor free throw shooter.

Summary: For a second straight season, Gray continues to prove that he’s a legit NBA center prospect, despite scouts’ misgivings. He’s moved from the first round bubble to a pretty firm first round pick.

Two freshmen, Texas’ Kevin Durant and OSU’s Greg Oden, are battling it out to be in the #1 spot according to both ESPN and anyone who has eyes and has seen either of them play.

Jay Bilas also has Gray as his Big East Player of the Year so far (Insider subs.).

Big East
Aaron Gray, Pittsburgh: The most productive player on the top team in the league. Gray stands just above the rest in a season when there is no signature player or team, at least by traditional Big East standards. Gray is having a great season, averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds and shooting just under 60 percent from the field.

Fran Fraschilla and Doug Gottlieb both took Dominic James over Gray.

All of the questions surrounding LeSean McCoy, that is. His high school coach confirmed what we already knew and then were told not to believe: Shady is Pittsburgh bound.

“I deal with all the Division I-A schools in the country and I have to say, without a doubt, Pitt recruited really hard,” McCoy’s Milford Academy coach Ben Chaplick told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I guess it paid off in the end. He clicked with Coach (Dave) Wannstedt and that’s who he’ll be playing for.”

McCoy reportedly committed to Pitt this weekend after a visit, but the report was not confirmed until today. He is expected to make an official announcement later today.

The official announcement is expected tonight, even with the collective thoughts of Pitt fans focused on the Pitt-UConn match up. And in case you missed the recruiting video of McCoy posted in the comments section, I gladly present it (Video Link).

Other Pitt football news is the news of Chris Ball being hired as the new secondary coach. Even though it’s a few days old it is still important to note.

Or at least it would be if we had a somewhat competent defensive coordinator.

Wannstedt, as any smart coach would do, praises him quite a bit.

“In Chris Ball we have added an exceptional football coach and recruiter,” Wannstedt said. “Chris has been an integral part of some of the top defenses in the country. We expect his experience and knowledge to be a major asset for our program.”

He comes from Alabama where he had some good defensive backfields under his watch. Over the past few years the numbers of his defenses have looked good. In 2004 they ranked first nationally in pass defense and second in pass efficiency defense allowing just 113.1 yards per game through the air and limited opposing quarterbacks to a 92.8 rating. 2005 saw them ranked as fifth nationally in pass defense and yards per game.

All kinds of numbers after the last night’s game. Among them:

Pitt had made at least nine 3-pointers in each of its past three games, but the Panthers stayed inside the the arc against DePaul. Pitt attempted a season-low eight shots from behind the 3-point line Wednesday night, making three.

That kind of thing will happen when Aaron Gray is getting the ball more. If he gets to the hoop and makes his shots inside then we won’t need to try as many treys.

Levance Fields finished with eight points, snapping his streak of consecutive double-digit scoring games at seven. But the sophomore point guard contributed in other ways, finishing with seven assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Basically the same thing as above. If he didn’t need to take the shots and could get it into Gray for a higher percentage shot then why not? If he only needs to take seven shots (as opposed to the 15 he took against Syracuse) and Gray is scoring then having Fields score in that 7-10 point range is fine.

Pitt, which has struggled at the free-throw line this season, made them down the stretch. The Panthers converted 9-of-10 free-throw attempts in the final 5 minutes, 24 seconds to seal the win. Pitt entered the game shooting 66.3 percent from the foul-line — 11th in the Big East.

Any time the other team gives us free points we need to convert them.

Other funs stats include:

The Big East season is only a week old, but Pitt (15-2, 3-0) and Providence remain the only unbeaten teams in league play. Providence (12-3, 2-0) plays at Louisville on Saturday. Pitt gets ready for Georgetown, Connecticut and Marquette — all at home — in a nine-day span beginning Saturday.

There were only 10,479 fans in attendance at the Allstate Arena, which seats 18,500.

You know, this was only the second game all season that Pitt’s effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was below 50%. Ken Pomeroy has has added a very useful new feature to his already invaluable site. It’s called the Game Plan. Not only does it chart key tempo-free stats from each game for easy comparison, it looks for correlations to certain stats and how a team does in a game. Something of an explanation about the Game Plan is here. Very intriguing.

It’s kind of funny to read the DePaul players such as Sammy Mejia complain that DePaul didn’t play their own pace. That they let Pitt dictate the tempo.

“We were terrible offensively,” DePaul guard Sammy Mejia said. “We weren’t moving the ball the way we usually do. We played to their pace. We just weren’t the same team we have been in the last month.”

The pace of the game was not particularly fast. Only about 62 possessions/40 minutes for each team. The funny thing about Mejia’s comments is that DePaul plays at nearly the same pace as Pitt. DePaul’s pace is 64.1 (291th) and Pitt’s is 63.7 (298th). It’s not like their pace was significantly slower.

What did happen is that Pitt’s defense kept them from running the offense the way they wanted.

Last night up in the Air Conditioning dome looked like we were going down do the wire for a long time and yet we pulled away in the final few minutes. The first half almost got ugly for us at points but the way we finished the half, combined with the quick start at the beginning of the second half, got us back on track quickly.

Most of this was thanks to Levance Fields carrying us through. 24 points, 3-7 on three pointers, and a handful of assists to go along with those. So far he’s filled the Krauser role well and leading us to a win over Syracuse up at their place, no matter how good or bad they are, is a breakout type of win.

Two worst stats of the game?

Free throw shooting was 9 of 17. As a ton of commenters asked, “Do we even practice foul shots?” Big Aaron Gray missing one or two in a double overtime is different since he can barely pick up his feet, let alone concentrate and shoot a good foul shot. Missing them in the first and second half (not just Gray, all players) is inexcusable. Thankfully, Fields and Ramon did a good job making most of them when they were intentionally fouling us in the last minute but missing on that many free points that they’re handing to us is not going to take us to the Final Four. Maybe not even the Sweet Sixteen.

Aaron Gray scored 9 points. The main focus of your offense needs to get the ball more than he did last night. Terrence Roberts sat out for a while and we still couldn’t feed it into him. If Levance wasn’t hitting shots like that (which I guarantee won’t happen every night) and teams keep the ball from getting inside then we might as well not expect a win. Forget the fact that they were changing defenses and packing the middle. We had plenty of time to prepare and still they held him in single digits.

Complaining after a win is hard because, after all, we won. A tournament game played like this is going to send us home though and we’ll know exactly why.

An amusing mailbag thread has been going through SI.com’s Grant Wahl column. He wrote a piece lauding Ben Howland for bringing East Coast toughness to the West Coast and UCLA. Someone countered that Howland is from Cali and got his fundamentals at UC-Santa Barbara. Wahl, conceded the point and then went further to point out that in the early ’90s the great defense came out of the West with UNLV and Jerry Tarkanian. This led to yet another point.

I find it interesting that in your answer about Ben Howland and “East Coast” basketball that you mention as the best defensive team of the last two decades Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV running the “amoeba” defense in the early ’90s. To close the loop the whole way, the assistant coach that brought the amoeba to UNLV was Tim Grgurich. Grgurich learned the amoeba defense while a young assistant (he was also later the head coach) at, you guessed it, Pitt in the early 70s. The head coach at Pitt then was a classy gentleman by the name of Buzz Ridl. I don’t know if the amoeba defense was Ridl’s invention, but his teams used it extensively.
— Joe Smith, North Huntingdon, Pa.

Great stuff, Joe, and thanks for the amplification. The man known affectionately as Timgurg is another highly regarded hoops mind among the cognoscenti who deserves more widespread attention. Strange thing: when you do a Google search of “amoeba defense grgurich ridl” you get one result, which happens to be in … Italian. We aren’t the greatest Italian reader, but there’s some useful stuff in here if you’re curious, including an origin citation to a 1971-72 Pitt game that will serve as our Hoops Lingo item of the week.

I keep hoping that Pitt will make a better effort to reach Grgurich, to come back and talk to the basketball team. Maybe even give some advice and some tips. Grgurich is a great basketball mind and one of the best career assistants — he was never one for the rubber chicken circuit and gladhanding portion.
Luke Winn was looking at the Pomeroy stats and sees concern for Pitt because of the defense.

Pitt is both highest-ranked team on the list and the most surprising inclusion. Just a year ago the Panthers finished 12th in the nation in defensive efficiency with a rating of 89.8 — and despite losing only one major player, Carl Krauser, have slipped to 115th. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon is a disciple of UCLA’s Ben Howland (their teams were Nos. 1 and 2 in the country earlier this month) but the Panthers have turned very un-Howland-like in 2006-07, riskily relying on an elite offense to make up for an average D. It’s easy to blame the lapse on Krauser’s absence, but Pitt is also giving up more offensive boards: The Panthers ranked sixth in the nation in 2005-06 in percentage of offensive rebounds allowed (26.3), while in ’06-07 they’re 69th (30.7 percent).

I honestly think the defense and rebounding will be tightening up soon. It’s not going to reach last year’s numbers, but it will improve.

So, Pitt fell 5 spots in a blowout road loss in the polls. Not surprising, not disappointing (in the poll result). Essentially Pitt gets the spot previously held by Wisconsin.

The papers all asked “what happened to the defense?” They do so in a dumb way.

There was a time when a suffocating defense was the trademark of the Pitt basketball program, when opponents were lucky to break the 60-point barrier.

That is becoming a bygone era for the Panthers, who have allowed 60 or more points six times already this season and are coming off an 89-75 loss Saturday at Wisconsin.

Last year, when Pitt was holding non-con opponents to under 60, it had as much to do with the quality of the opponent. Only Auburn and Penn State were the only opponents that Pitt held to under 60 and blew out with an RPI even near 100. Pitt held South Carolina to 51, but only had 58 themselves. The non-con was filled with bad teams to allow Pitt to pad the record and stats.

Look at the Big East portion — you know the real challenges — in 8 of Pitt’s 10 wins last year the BE opponent scored 60 or more. And in those two wins where Pitt held them to under 60 (57 and 53 against Louisville and WVU), Pitt only scored 61 and 57.

It goes on with the, um, revelations:

What’s even more alarming is that Pitt’s man-to-man defense, formerly its forte, was exposed as one that has no answer for athletic swingmen or big men who can shoot from long range.

Um, that isn’t new. Kevin Pitsnogle and Jeff Green (as two painful examples) exposed that problem the last couple of years.
Pitt was last truly dominant on defense back in the 2003-04 season.

Here’s what Pitt’s defense has been doing each of the last two years and this year with opponent shooting percentages:

year ———– 3FG% ———– 2FG% ————– eFG%

2004-05 —— 33.9 ————- 44.0 ————— 46.5
2005-06 —— 34.6 ————- 42.9 ————— 46.1
2006-07 —— 32.1 ————- 45.4 ————— 46.4

In looking at a lot of the numbers, it seems very little variance on the defensive numbers. Yet, I don’t think our eyes are completely deceiving us about the defense looking a little off, a step behind at times and obviously giving up more scores.

So, here’s a theory to posit, and consider. Pitt is now struggling to control the tempo of the game on defense. Pitt’s overall tempo — especially on offense — has not changed. It is still the methodical, make the extra pass and get to best look approach. The offense hasn’t been the big problem (heck, turnovers are way down from the last two years).

The problem as I’m seeing it, is that teams are getting more opportunities if they push the ball. Pitt is not getting back and set on defense. Too often, players are just out of position to cut off the lane for a drive or pass. You give a team more opportunities to score, and even if the percentages stay the same, the scoring will go up.

I’m a big fan of Ken Pomeroy, and the work he does. The numbers and statistical analysis he provides can be quite illuminating. They are, however, just numbers. Here’s an important link to explaining what his numbers are and the formulas used and this one. I’ve noticed some complaints about the Pomerory Ratings because Pitt is listed 43 (hey, Omar).

The ratings are based on an order using a pythagorean winning percentage. It is not some secret formula that only Pomeroy knows. It combines the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency into an expected winning percentage. Pitt suffers in part because a lot of the teams it has faced so far are down in the RPI, bringing down the SOS at the moment. 7 opponents have RPIs in the 100s, plus Duquesne is near the very bottom, in the 300s. It will change as the season goes on. It is not a planned attack on Pitt.

Right now, the best numbers to look at are not in some ratings, but in the scouting reports for teams. Like say to compare Pitt and Wisconsin for tomorrow.

Both teams try to keep the tempo slowed to their liking. Pitt’s adjusted pace is about 3 possessions slower (63.0 to 66.1). As to their efficiencies on offense and defense, Pitt has been a bit better on offense (118.5 to 113.9) while Wisconsin has been a little better on defense (90.5 to 96.0). The edge in defense can be attributed to two areas where Wisconsin holds a noticeable edge. Forcing turnovers and 3-point defense.

Pitt, admits to not being a team that stresses the turnovers on defense.

“We’re a very solid defensive team, we don’t gamble much,” said Antonio Graves laughing when he was asked about the Panthers relative lack of steals. “We are willing to be patient and let the offense run down the shot clock and take a bad shot. We are a very structured defense. We have rules in our defense and if we stick to those we can get a lot of things done.”

That in part is also why Pitt has great rebounding numbers, as well. Letting teams get bad shots and cleaning them up. As for 3-point defense, well Mr. Pomeroy had a great piece on ESPN.com this week talking about how overrated 3-point defense can be (subs. only).

This can be taken one step further by invoking the constant battle between offense and defense. It seems like a hot 3-point shooting team can be immune to a good defense, to some extent. Likewise, a poor 3-point shooting is not helped so much by playing a poor perimeter defense.

Fortunately, long-term data tends to confirm this notion when looking at the variance of team 3-point percentages. Year in and year out, offensive 3-point shooting has more variation than defensive 3-point shooting. For example, last season, 14 offenses finished with a 3-point accuracy less than 30 percent, while only three defenses did. That effect doesn’t exist in 2-point accuracy, where the variance among teams is almost exactly the same on offense and defense.

This tells me that the defense has as much control over the opponents shooting inside the arc as the opposing offense does. But outside the arc, the offense has slightly more influence than the defense. When we only look at a few games, that effect can be exaggerated. How can we use this information to our advantage in mid-December? I’ve got a couple of examples.

The examples he cites are Oregon and Michigan State. Thinking about Pitt, I think we can agree that a poor shooting night by the offense — how about 2-17 on 3s versus Robert Morris — can be a bigger impact than the perimeter defense.

From the Ray Fittipaldo B-Ball Q&A today.

Q: I am concerned that Pitt is not beating teams badly enough. Sure, there have been plenty of comfortable 15- and 20-point victories, but where are the full-fledged blowouts? Florida beat Southern by 56 points and North Florida by 46 points. North Carolina won a game by 46 points. Ohio State has a number of 30-point victories this season. Shouldn’t Pitt be dominating lesser competition in the same fashion? Maybe I am just being crazy. Please put my mind at ease and tell me this isn’t something to worry about.FITTIPALDO: Some of its has to do with the caliber of competition Pitt is playing and some of it has to do with the fact that Pitt, by its nature, tends to play in a lot of low-scoring, close games. You mentioned Florida beating Southern by 46 points. Well, Southern is 0-9 and is ranked No. 302 in the RPI. Pitt’s non-conference games have been against tougher competition. Let’s say Delaware State is Pitt’s worst non-conference opponent. Delaware State is 1-8 but its RPI is No. 117. That’s a huge difference, and it shows the difference between scheduling for Florida and Pitt this season.

But I’m not going to put your mind at east completely, Jason. Pitt does play a lot of teams closer then it should, and one of these times it’s going to come back to bite the Panthers. I’ll put it this way: If Pitt plays the way it did against Buffalo, the Panthers will lose by double digits to Wisconsin and Oklahoma State.

Records matter at this point, RPI not so much. The sample sizes are too small and one game creates a wild fluctuation. We’ve seen in the past how games that look like big wins early become meaningless later if that team is a disappointment. What is a big difference in why Pitt doesn’t blow out teams is that Pitt is playing one of the slowest tempos in all of basketball. While many teams are playing at a faster pace, Pitt isn’t.

Taking a look at Ken Pomeroy’s stat page, Pitt’s adjusted tempo is for 63.0 possessions/game. 313th slowest. By comparison, North Carolina is averaging 74.5 poss/game (21st). Both teams are playing teams are very efficient in their offenses, but if you are getting more opportunities and converting them, you will score a lot more and make the wins look that much bigger.

A Q&A with Aaron Gray on SportingNews.com. It’s rather fluffy, but he admits he can’t wait to face Roy Hibbert and G-town.

Seth Davis at SI.com lists 10 Sophomores ready to make the leap in impact this season.

LEVANCE FIELDS
5-10, G, Pittsburgh
2005-06: 21.7 minutes, 6.8 pts, 2.2 assists, 1.97 assist to turnover ratio
2006-07: 25.3 minutes, 5.8 pts, 6.3 assists, 4.22 assist to turnover ratio

Skinny: I could have gone with either of Fields’ classmates, forwards Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs, but I went with Fields because he has picked up the lead guard mantle left behind by Carl Krauser‘s graduation. Though he is actually scoring less than he did last season (largely because his shooting percentages have declined), Fields’ role on the team has been dramatically enhanced because he is the only true point guard on the roster. He is also the closest thing Pitt has to a vocal leader.

The points will go up, maybe not quite to 10 or so. There are just so many scoring options. But that assist and A/TO ratio is excellent so far.