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

It’s almost unfair to pick on the articles in both papers about how Pitt’s flaws were exposed by the Louisville loss. How teams will study the tape and use it as a blueprint from here on out against Pitt. I mean, my first thought was, “Duh.”

Of course teams are going to look at the tapes and see stuff on there. Once again, though, few teams can do it like that. Generally speaking, the press is very effective at creating turnovers against a lot of teams. It’s not used by a lot of teams because it is also very difficult to execute well and consistently. Not to mention personnel issues. Not every team can play as deep as Louisville did — and space out the fouling.

It’s like asking Pitt to try and create more turnovers on defense faster. Pressing and going for the steals. It isn’t to the players’ and team’s strength. I was always a fan of the Richardson-Arkansas “40 minutes of hell” style of defense, but that was not nearly so effective when the wrong players were trying to play in it.

I’m not dismissing the articles out of hand. There is stuff in there that makes good points.

The Huskies will pay extra attention to the Louisville tape. They will notice how Louisville switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man whenever Pitt got the ball inside the foul line. The objective was to prevent Gray from passing to a perimeter shooter for a 3-point attempt.

It effectively neutralized Gray’s ability to find the open shooter, one of his strengths.

The strategy worked. Pitt, the Big East’s top 3-point shooting team, was a season-worst 3 of 21.

“When the ball goes inside, they are very smart finding their shooters,” Pitino said. “So, once it went inside, we weren’t going to let it go outside to a shooter.”

But the counter-point is that Pitt will be working on solving that issues. Starting with the next opponent, Washington, you are also talking about a team with players that size and style-wise aren’t anything like the Cardinals.

Still, there were some amusing things.

Pitt has proven in the past that it is more than capable of coming back from seven or nine points down. Once the deficit reaches double digits, however, the Panthers have a hard time getting back into games.

Louisville jumped on Pitt early and led, 13-2, before the game was five minutes old. The Cardinals led by as many as 19 in the first half and 20 in the second half, forcing Pitt into a catch-up mode, something with which the Panthers are neither familiar nor comfortable.

Does the term truism mean anything? It generally doesn’t happen that a team comes back from double-digits. They make a run, they can get close, but it  generally doesn’t happen. That’s why teams don’t like to go down by double-digits. They can comeback, but it ain’t easy.

The Friars out of Providence are tonight’s opponent and the past tells us we’re going to beat them. Last time we played them, February 2005, we won 81-68. We’ve won six in a row against Providence and haven’t lost to the them at home in more than eight years. Get out the magic marker and mark a “W” right?

Well, I would hold off on that just to make sure. The Tribune-Review gives us an article on Providence’s improvement which has been a surprise to Big East teams and coaches who picked them to finish 10th back in the preseason.

Providence is among the top scoring teams in the Big East at 73.8 points per game. When they shoot, good things happen. The Friars rank second in the Big East — and 10th in the nation — in field-goal percentage and No. 4 in the Big East in rebounds.

“They are very good offensively,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They are very skilled. They shoot the ball well with their guards. They have a well-balanced offense.”

Coach, were you taking about us or them?

It is interesting though to see a team that is supposed to play similar to us on the offensive end. They get it inside to senior center Herbert Hill (18.8 ppg) but the guards will take the open shot too, especially Sharaud Curry (16.6 ppg).

Antonio Graves knows that the key to taking a lead will be stopping the other team’s offense.

“You can trade baskets all day,” Graves said. “It come downs to who can make stops.”

Looking over Providence’s schedule, you see wins over Boston College (when BC was ranked 23rd at the time) and a win over Marquette at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on January 4.

As discussed in this post about the possibility of mixing up the starting line up–notably putting Sam Young in and taking out Levon Kendall–well, don’t expect anything to change anytime soon. Even with Young coming off of a great performance over West Virginia and averaging 5.7 points in 14.7 minutes per game, Kendall will continue to get the starting nod (with 5.3 points in 26.2 minutes per game). Dixon is quoted as saying he loves having a new guy who breaks out every game and the writer’s continue to ask if that player will get more minutes. When another guy comes along the next game and puts up a load of points, then he’s the focus of writers who ask about getting more time.

Translation: One 21-point performance will not dictate a change to a system that has proven to be successful the past four years. For the most part, seniors start and underclassmen come off the bench if the competition is close.

If we keep winning then I have no right to complain.

Ray Fittipaldo has his Q&A and chat on Pitt basketball.

Q: You answered a question about Dixon by noting that he is signed through the 2012-13 season. However, as we all know, the contract of a college coach is about as binding as Anthony Morelli’s verbal commitment was to Pitt, right? So what good would that be if Dixon’s dream job comes calling?

FITTIPALDO: You’re absolutely correct, Bob. Coach’s contracts are not worth the paper they are printed on. If it’s any peace of mind, Dixon said all the right things after signing the contract, like how he felt at home and how he wanted to raise his family here. I suppose it’s up to each individual out there to make up their own mind about believing what he said.

I gotta admit, I’m not sweating this issue this year. I don’t sweat it, generally because I think Dixon really wants to stay (based on no actual proof other than my gut); but he will listen periodically to make sure Pitt periodically kicks up the salary.

This year, though, has nothing that really worries me. There are no schools in the other BCS conferences that would have openings this year that are or are potentially near Pitt at this time. The SEC? Maybe Kentucky jettisons Tubby Smith, but I don’t see Coach Dixon as a target. The ACC? Really only Miami and Haith seem to be nearing a split, but that would be a step down. Big 11? I suppose Michigan or even Illinois might make a coaching change, but neither seems particularly attractive at this point by comparison. The Big 12 has Colorado looking for a new coach, but they’ll be going cheap — plus they suck and have no real support. The PAC-10 actually is stable this year.

And from the chat, some questions about Mike Cook and, um, invaluability (yes, I know it isn’t a real word).

PittHoopsatPittBlather: What do you think has been the biggest reason Mike Cook has struggled the past two games (shooting 1-14 from the field). I figured he may have been a bit nervous at Villanova playing in front of his family, but after last night, I’m clueless. Do you think it’s a cause of concern?

Ray Fittipaldo: If it goes into the next game, I’d start getting concerned. He did play well the two games prior to Villanova. Maybe he’s going through a little slump. It happens. If he does continue to struggle, Dixon does not have many options. He could replace Cook with Benjamin, but Benjamin has always been a role player, not a starter. The only other option is Gilbert Brown, but Dixon would have to burn his redshirt if he played him now.

…

wow11: Is it time to sit Mike Cook down? He’s killing us out there right now with too many bad shots, turnovers, careless defense, I think its time for a change …

Ray Fittipaldo: Who plays in his place? I love Benjamin’s game, but he seems to thrive in his reserve role. As I said before, do you want to burn Brown’s redshirt year and hope he can come in and play significant minutes in the NCAA tournament after sitting the bench the whole season? The best bet is to coach Cook up in the next few weeks and try to limit his mistakes.

PittHoopsatPittBlather: While it’s a good thing that Pitt has so many players that can step up and have good games any given night, it seems like because of that, some players completely disappear at other times. After Gray, who in your opinion, is the player we can least afford to have an off night come tournament time?

Ray Fittipaldo: I would say Ramon because of his 3-point shooting ability. He made two big 3-pointers in the second half last night that kept WVU at a comfortable distance. Pitt is going to need someone to step up and make 3s in the tournament. Ramon cannot have a terrible shooting night or it could spell trouble.

The only concern with Ramon even if he’s shooting well. Can he get open? I love seeing Ramon shoot (most of the time), but he is best when he has a chance to spot up or a catch and shoot — preferably off of a screen. The scariest thing when he is shooting, is when he is trying to create his own space for a shot.
While there is some speculation as to whether Young will see more minutes, there is little question that Kendall will continue to start.

Kendall is averaging more rebounds and assists.

“Sam hasn’t been showing as much pain in the past,” senior Antonio Graves said. “In the beginning of the season, that was holding him down. Now he’s a lot more explosive in practice and dunking more in practice. He’s more energetic.

“He’s coming along at the right time. … It adds to our depth and makes us more dangerous. That’s the thing about this team. We are able to make a substitution and not lose anything.”

Young wouldn’t give his perspective. He has barely spoken to the media since an 18-point performance against Dayton two days before Christmas. But history shows that seniors — at least the good ones — almost always start ahead of underclassmen at Pitt. Since October, Big East coaches have said the 6-foot-10, 225-pound Kendall is one of the most underappreciated forwards in the conference.

You know, I do think Kendall does do a lot of little things, and fits well with the team. Still, I can’t help but wonder if the other coaches like to cite Kendall and puff him much the way they do losing coaches from their conference — you know, so they can keep beating a team rather then risk someone competent get the job.

Whether luck or skill, Pitt’s perimeter defense has been much better this year.

Opponents are shooting 29.6 percent from behind the 3-point arc compared to 34.6 percent last season. And those double-digit 3-point barrages have gone by the wayside. Only one team managed to make 10 3-pointers in a game this season, and that happened in the first game against Western Michigan.

“We’re better guarding on the perimeter, there’s no question,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’re better guarding the dribbler as well as getting out on shooters. It’s improved a lot throughout the year. That’s the area where we’ve improved the most and it has to continue.”

…

“Our attitude has changed this year,” sophomore point guard Levance Fields said. “We’re in the gaps more. We’re preparing ahead of time. The one thing coach has stressed to us is communicating. Everyone is talking to each other this year. We’re talking each other through everything.”

Did you know that every time you watch the Pitt Panthers, you might actually be seeing…a NFL team coached by a guy who died over 30 years ago?

“It’s always hard preparing for Pitt because they do such a great job,” said Mountaineer coach John Beilein. “It’s like the Vince Lombardi teams. You know a bit of what they’re going to do but you just can’t stop it and it’s hard to score on them. What this team continues to have is more and more experience playing every single day as a unit with very unselfish players. That’s made them special.”

Jamie Dixon and Vince Lombardi. I’ve never made that connection before. But seriously, Beilein makes a good point. We’re going to try to get it into Gray if they’ll let us but if they want to put extra defenders on him then the guards (Levance and Graves) will do what they’ve done previously: make shots. So in that sense, the ‘Eers know what we want to do. Our execution (mainly making shots) is the key though and it’s usually very good.

They mention WVU’s surprising 18-4 record, something I looked at yesterday.

Each team takes very good care of the rock in the offensive zone and neither team tries forcing the ball through passing lanes that are either too small or don’t exist at all.

Both teams have been extremely adept at handling the basketball. For the style that they play, Pitt has a terrific 435-276 assist-to-turnover ratio. West Virginia’s is nearly as good at 386-253.

“To think that there are two teams that play so well handling the ball and passing the ball it’s pretty unique and rare and doing it in different ways with different styles of play,” said Dixon.

WVU is somewhat downplaying the importance of the game.

“Yes it’s Pitt and it’s a league game,” he said. “But we’ve just got to keep going and plodding through like we have been all year and not put any more importance on one game than another.”

Does Coach Beilein sense a loss and doesn’t want his young team getting too low if they lose to a rival? Actually, the same can be said conversely; if they were to upset us then he doesn’t want his players getting too high going into a non-con game against UCLA on Saturday.

In Philly, while conceding that ‘Nova let the game get away from them mid-way through the second half, what really hurt was Pitt making plays at the end while the Wildcats could not.

With the Wildcats trailing by 54-53 with 2 minutes, 23 seconds remaining, the Villanova student section was urging the rest of the 18,017 fans to rattle the arena. They listened, bringing the decibel to a point louder than the Wachovia Center has heard at any professional sporting event in the building this season.

That’s when Pittsburgh guards Levance Fields and Antonio Graves became game-changers with gigantic three-pointers, surrounding two free throws by Sumpter.

Pittsburgh’s 7-footer Aaron Gray blocked a layup by Sumpter on Villanova’s next possession. Sumpter then fouled Graves, who sank both free throws for a seven-point lead.

“Timely mistakes on our part and timely shots on their part,” Villanova coach Jay Wright explained. “That was the difference.”

Graves (13 points) and Fields (20) accounted for all but 18 of the Panthers’ 42 second-half points, after they combined for only nine points in the first half.

“[Pittsburgh] just kicked it out and they hit huge shots,” Wright said.

After leading by as many as nine points, the Wildcats watched their lead slip away in a five-minute stretch in which they went 0 for 5 and turned the ball over six times. The Panthers (20-3, 8-1) took a 43-37 lead.

While Curtis Sumpter looked fully heeled from the deep bone bruise, Freshman PG Scottie Reynolds didn’t have any energy in the second half. He looked like he didn’t have his legs under him on some shots. There was a good reason.

For the first time in a long time, Reynolds, who had been so terrific, looked like a freshman. He repeatedly tried to force himself into the lane despite the presence of 7-footer Aaron Gray, and committed seven turnovers.

Part of it was legs. He had none. In the past four games, Reynolds played 155 of a possible 160 minutes, including 40 at Providence last Tuesday and 38 at Notre Dame on Saturday. Even for a 19-year-old, that’s a lot.

“It could have been [fatigue],” Wright said. “We tried to rotate the guards a little bit. Mike played 32 and Scottie 26; for those guys that’s like getting a break.”

During the game — especially in the first half — you could see Villanova trying to conserve the guards’ energy. Especially when it became apparent that they wouldn’t have it on the offensive side. There was a lot more switching off on Pitt’s perimeter players to keep from having to continually chase the guards all over the floor. It still took a toll and Reynolds was definitely looking slower and less controlled in the second half. Just like when you should go straight at the guy in foul trouble, you push against the fatigued player. Pitt was doing this.

A good thing about the game being in Philly, a relatively short train ride for the NY Daily News long time college basketball/Big East/NYC hoops writer, Dick Weiss. Usually, knowing his audience, he will pump the NYC connections. To him, the better back story and star was Antonio Graves.

When Graves was a senior at Mansfield (Ohio) High School, he was not highly recruited and seriously considered a postgraduate year at Notre Dame Academy near Boston. But Panthers coach Jamie Dixon, in desperate need of depth in the backcourt, called two days before school started and offered him a scholarship.

Graves gladly accepted and has been paying back Pitt ever since. Last night, he scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half to lead the seventh-ranked Panthers back from a nine-point second-half deficit to defeat Villanova, 65-59, at the Wachovia Center.

“Mansfield is not what you’d call a mainstream school and it was hard to get noticed,” Graves said. “I’m not even sure my high school coach believed in me. But my family did. I had a couple of solid offers after prep school, but I didn’t want to settle for a mid-major. I thought I was better than that.”

Mansfield — like most of Ohio — is all about the football. Part of why he wasn’t highly recruited was because of his academics — a major reason why he was looking at prep school. He was a late academic qualifier. Graves also led Pitt with 7 assists (6 coming in the second half).

Since Gray grew up an hour or so away from Philly, the Allentown paper had a story that was forced to only partially focus on Gray.

Mostly, it was Fields and Graves dropping shots on Villanova from the outside and scoring off knifing drives inside. Both were helped by the fact Villanova had to pay so much attention to Gray, who was guarded by five different players and often double- and triple-teamed when he received a pass.

Gray finished with 14 points (on 6-for-7 shooting), 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. It was his 11th double-double of the season, coming before several family members and friends in attendance.

”Oh, it was great,” said Gray, the 7-foot senior from Emmaus High. ”People were calling me all week, trying to get tickets. Tickets were limited, so people went and bought tickets. Sometimes the cheers were just as loud for us as it was for Villanova.”

…

”This isn’t just a team of Aaron Gray,” Gray said. ”I have so many great players that surround me, and maybe they don’t get a lot of attention, but they definitely should. I would never undervalue them.”

Villanova Viewpoint has an excellent breakdown of the game. Well worth reading in full. Glad to have Dimitri blogging at full steam in the Big East part of the season.

In the P-G, I’m sorry this is a little disingenuous little meme.

Scroll down the Internet message boards or tune into talk radio and you’ll read and hear about how Pitt does not have a go-to player for clutch situations.

The armchair coaches could be right. The Panthers don’t have one guy who can carry the team to victory when it really matters. The have several.

Right, because it’s all driven by clueless fans. Not at all from sportswriters who know better. Not like that question wasn’t being asked in every preview mag.

Back to the story, great quote from Graves.

“Given the right situation, we all can step up and make the plays we make,” Graves said. “Coach [Jaime] Dixon does a great job of preparing us. And when preparation meets opportunity those are the results we get out of our team. All of our guys are great guys, can be starters on any team in the Big East or ACC. We have a collective mind that will do whatever it takes to win.

“It’s a beautiful thing. It gets me emotional when I think about it. I’ve never played for a team that does whatever it takes to win. It doesn’t have to be Aaron [Gray]. It doesn’t have to be Levance. It doesn’t have to be Mike [Cook] or me. We’re like a family. That’s one of the key aspects of our team this year.”

The win was also about making adjustments as a team and individually.

“We learned from our mistakes in the first half,” Graves said. “Once we get settled down and made the adjustments, things turned out the way they did.”

Villanova’s Curtis Sumpter scored a game-high 21 points, but he went 0 for 6 from the floor in the second half. Mike Nardi scored 10 points and Scottie Reynolds, the two-time reigning Big East freshman of the week, missed his first six shots and finished with eight points – and seven turnovers — under steady harassment from Graves.

“It was good for us,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We stayed in it with defense and won it with offense at the end.”

Villanova, playing at home for only the eighth time in 21 games this season, had a six-game winning streak snapped at Wachovia Center.

“It was timely mistakes on our part,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said, “and timely shots on their part.”

Philadelphia native Mike Cook (0 for 7), Sam Young (0 for 4) and Ronald Ramon (0 for 3) didn’t make a field goal, but contributed in other ways. Young had two big steals in the second half, Ramon made three free throws in the final 26 seconds, and Cook had four assists, including one that set up perhaps the game’s biggest basket – Graves’ 3-pointer with 1:46 to play after Villanova had cut the Pitt lead to 54-53.

I admit to being shocked that Young got back in there after the way he looked in the first half. Part of it was that Tyrell Biggs was abused for the minute plus he played (2 fouls).

If Pitt goes up big on Cinci early, it can’t actually be assumed Pitt will coast.

Against Ohio, the University of Cincinnati fell behind 27-13 in the first half, and in the next game, the Bearcats allowed Memphis to run to a 39-12 advantage. South Florida took a 26-15 lead against UC, Syracuse opened the game on a 30-9 run last week and West Virginia got off to a hot start last Saturday, taking a 24-7 advantage in the first half.

In the last two, Syracuse had to hold on pathetically to win by one and WVU had to come back late in the 2nd half to send it to OT where the Mountaineers were blown out.

Pitt apparently does well after home losses.

Since 2001-02, Pitt is 17-7 following a regular-season loss. Under Dixon, the Panthers have never lost a home game and then stumbled on the road in their next game. They are 4-0 during that span.

That’s a statistically useful thing. Gray is back to practicing with the team, which is more important.

Look for Cinci to employ a full-court press — maybe.

When full-court pressure works as well as it did Saturday in UC’s 96-83 overtime victory over West Virginia, the logical question arises: Why don’t the Bearcats do it all the time?

As Cronin explained after the West Virginia game, the press was a perfect tactic to use against the Mountaineers, who like to set up, run their offense and look for 3-point shots or back-door cuts to the basket, but isn’t always a good idea against other teams.

“Certain teams will attack you and make you pay a lot more than a team that really wants to set up,” Cronin said. “If (West Virginia) attacks you, it’s almost what we want because then we don’t have to guard their offensive sets. If you press Syracuse and they attack you it’s an NBA dunk contest.”

I think Pitt will see a good deal of full-court to try and slow Pitt’s offensive sets and cause less passing. Levance Fields is going to have to play a better game. The Bearcats do have an excellent young guard in Deonta Vaughn.

Fascinating.

With about six minutes left in the game, the referees apparently made the decision that they were going to ruin what had been a highly enjoyable half of basketball up to that point. After letting both teams get away with murder in the first half, Tim Higgins, Mike Kitts, and Ted Hillary decided they needed some face time and completely took over the game.

Louisville and Connecticut combined to shoot three free-throws in the first half, and  56 (38 total fouls whistled) in the second. It was an abomination.

Tim Higgins was the lead ref in the Marquette-Pitt game. It wasn’t quite that extreme. 11 in the first half and 57 in the second and OT. The fact is, that Pitt shot more FTs than Marquette — especially in the second half — but didn’t convert.

I guess that’s why I struggled with the article about Pitt struggling in games called tight.

The scenario was similar against Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were called for 24 fouls, but the Panthers were 23 for 34 from the line. Oklahoma State was 32 for 38.

“I thought we’d be a little bit higher at this point,” Dixon said of his team’s percentage at the line. “But our guards are shooting a pretty high percentage. Free-throw percentage oftentimes is who is shooting your free throws.”

Yeah, but Gray going 2-8 really skewed the numbers. It isn’t whether Pitt can handle playing in a tightly called game — they can. Unlike in past years where it killed Pitt because of the number of free throws the other team had, this is about Pitt making their own. It’s about controlling what they do. That’s really all I have left on the Marquette stuff.

Georgetown and John Thompson III has had Pitt’s number the last couple of years. They upset Pitt in January 2005 at the Pete, and beat Pitt last February after Pitt blew a lead in the first half. That second game, JTIII made a bunch of adjustments in the second-half and completely out-coached Jamie Dixon. Hibbert spent the second half on the bench as G-town went smaller and forced Gray to defend further and further from the basket. Not sure we can expect to see G-town go to that tactic again as Hibbert has since improved significantly.
The game notes are available if you want to look back (PDF) on the sub-par history of the Pitt-Georgetown series (29-37).

For Pitt, this is the start of the brutal stretch but also a huge opportunity with the timing of the 3 home games.

“Not only do we have three tough home games coming up, but against three of the best teams in the Big East,” center Aaron Gray said. “We have a little bit of an advantage, having them at home. But at the same time, you’re playing three of the top teams in the Big East in (nine) days.”

The three incoming visitors are off to relatively disappointing starts.

All three have been inconsistent at best in the last couple of weeks, but don’t worry, Aaron Gray isn’t looking ahead. He is armed with the cliches.

“We just have to take it one game at a time, prepare individually for each game and do our best,” Gray said.

Meanwhile Hoya faithful are looking for consistency from their team. Well, that and try to be like Wisconsin.

Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert might want to inquire as to what Wisconsin senior forwards Alando Tucker and Brian Butch had for breakfast the morning of Dec. 16. Whatever the Badger big men ate, it worked. Tucker and Butch scorched Pittsburgh pre-season Big East Player of the Year candidate Aaron Gray and scored season-high point tallies as the Badgers trounced then-No. 2 Panthers 89-75.

While the Georgetown frontcourt tandem may not add Wisconsin cheddar or Milwaukee’s Best to the pre-game spread menu, it couldn’t hurt to try and emulate everything else Tucker and Butch did in the early-season showdown.

Hey, if Hibbert wants to step out for 3s for the first time this season, that is fine by me. This being Georgetown, you knew someone was pining for the old JTII days of thug-ball. Oh, I’m sorry, Mike Graham was merely Patrick Ewing’s protector. Yeah, sure.

Maybe I’ve been wrong all along. Maybe the choice for the Big East Preseason POY was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, it isn’t imperative for Aaron Gray to need to score in double digits for us to win, but instead someone else does. Enter Levance Fields.

He’s now gone for 10+ points in seven straight games while Gray has been held to under 10 for four straight games. In the three games prior to the beginning of this streak, he was within 2 points of hitting double digits. It took Fields a few games to actually get going this year since he was not in any starting situation like this last year. Now he’s broken through as the present and future point guard for the Panthers. He’s shooting well, driving well, he knows when to pull up for the shot, and the quick release on his passes to other guards have lead to a good deal of points. (I wouldn’t mind seeing more passes down low but if it would mean he’s forcing it and turning it over then obviously I’d take the lower risk pass to another guard.)

The combo of Fields and Ramon has looked like pure gold. Fields shoots well (even with that odd over the head shot) but if he’s not shooting, he’s probably finding Ramon lining up for a three pointer.

Ramon touched on that point after yesterday’s game saying:

”When they double-team the big guys, we know it’s going to open up shots for us,” Ronald Ramon said. ”Aaron’s a smart player and he sees the double team coming. The way he passes the ball, that’s going to open up guys on the perimeter.”

Fields and Ramon have capitalized on that very well and it’s hard to ask for much more from those guys.

None of this is to bash Gray and there are probably going to be games when Fields doesn’t shoot lights out or there is a great defensive guard matched up on him. At that point, Gray is going to need to use some more athleticism to get open and get feeds from Mike Cook or Sam Young (but at the same time he probably won’t be double teamed and it’ll be easier to get the ball to him any way). Fields has been a great surprise this season though and if teams are going to do everything to stop us from getting it to Gray then Levance will be glad to take the game into his own hands.

The Panthers have some of the most balanced scoring in the nation so it’s not like there is a ton of pressure put on one player, but as with any point guard, Fields has to know there is probably a little more on him than anyone (even with all of Gray’s expectations) and moving deeper into Big East play it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep up with it all.

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.

So, it’s obvious that Coach Dixon has some personnel juggling to do.

The power forward position is becoming a big issue (to many it is already there). Kendall’s game is suffering right now. Whether it’s purely mental or something else, he is lost out there. Biggs is still a major work in progress. As the competition has dramatically increased, his results have plummeted. The foul issues and struggles in the OSU game, forced Dixon to put Young back at power forward and he responded with his best game. He may be undersized at the spot, but he played bigger than Kendall and Biggs — but even he still made the dumb fouls. It’s going to create a minutes crunch at the PF, but unless Kendall turns it around soon there seems to be little choice.

The problem is that means no back-up for Mike Cook at small forward. I think Dixon is going to have little choice but give up the redshirt on Gilbert Brown to give Cook some breathing room if he doesn’t go with Benjamin more — something that would really mean giving away size for the unit.

Consider what would be seen with Young 6′ 6″ at PF, Benjamin 6’2″ G/SF, Gray 7′ and then 2 of the 3 guards Graves 6′ 3″, Ramon 6′ 1″ and Fields 5′ 10″. Could Pitt, really go that small?

Now here’s the thing about these moves. None of them do anything to really help the defense. Brown is a freshman, he’s not going to provide greater defense than Cook, who is acceptable but much more a scorer. Young is aggressive at power forward, but always wants to do more on the offensive end. That just puts more on Gray to do inside.

The bad news, OK State is also looking to rebound from a tough loss and their first of the year. They are also without freshman guard Obi Muonelo. The kid had been giving them 20+ minutes a night and 11 points/game. He broke his leg in practice over the weekend. This reduces their depth a little, but unless their guards get in foul trouble every game (they did against Tennessee) it won’t be that great of a loss. It’s not like losing a junior and senior who knows the system and provides leadership. He was a freshman, admittedly, a sparkplug type player with a lot of energy, but I’m not going to put that as a major loss for the Cowboys — especially going against Pitt. Yes, they’ve had 7 players foul out in 12 games, but they still can go 7 or 8 deep. It’s not like they are down to 6 bodies.
Both teams have their press releases and game notes — Pitt & OSU (PDF). Obviously, this is the first time the teams have met since the 2004 Sweet 16 meeting that Pitt lost 63-51. I must be a bit out of it, but it just hit me that Pitt will have played Wisconsin and OSU in consecutive games just like in the 2004 NCAA. I mean, I knew that they were two teams that Pitt had faced that year, but it somehow was lost on me until now that it was in the same order.

Vital statistics for Pitt from Pomeroy, Mid-Majority, and traditional.

Vital statistics for OSU from Pomeroy, Mid-Majority, and traditional.

Here’s some of what I get from all the numbers: Oklahoma State likes to play at a faster pace than Pitt, and plays a more aggressive defense. As such, they cause but also have a lot of turnovers. 234 turnovers by opponents, but 210 by OK State. Pitt of course is the opposite. Not a lot of turnovers by the team nor forced by the opponent — 133 coming and going.
They are a decent rebounding team (34.6), but they only outrebound their opponents by an average of 1.8/game. In fact, they tend to be outrebounded on the offensive glass. Pitt rebounding differential against opponents is +7.4.

A lot of that is because they are not particularly tall inside — they leap, are aggressive and get up there; but are not tall — Boggan is 6’7″ playing Forward-Center, Forwards Monds and Dove are 6’8″ and 6’9″. Back-up Center Kenny Cooper is 6’10” but only plays about 13 minutes. Boggan is their leading rebounder with 7/game. Their guards, though, are good at grabbing a lot of rebounds as well, in part because the defense has helped hold opposing teams to only 30% shooting from the 3-point line — lots of long rebounds.

The big danger for Pitt is that this is a team that can go inside and out. Both the forwards and the guards are willing to do that. They like to drive to the basket, and Pitt has struggled so far this year against teams that like to penetrate. They are also an excellent free throw shooting team at 73.4%.

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.

You know, these teams are apparently alike. You might here something about that during the game today. Even similar home court advantages. That theme continues.

The Badgers, like the Panthers, are patient, disciplined and deliberate on offense and rarely take a bad shot. They play tough, hard-nosed defense and are big and physical.

And the two teams’ statistics are similar, too. Pitt is beating its opponents by an average of 15.4 points; Wisconsin by 15.9. The Panthers also generally outrebound their opponents and have an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio as do the Badgers.

The two teams have also played 3 common opponents.

Carter was asked to assess No. 2 Pittsburgh (10-0) and No. 7 Wisconsin (10-1) because the Seminoles lost to both teams earlier this year. The Panthers beat Florida State 88-66 in Pittsburgh on November 24 and Wisconsin beat Florida State 81-66 in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at the Kohl Center on Nov. 28.

“I think Pitt has players 1 through 5 who can score when called upon to score. That’s probably the biggest difference between those two basketball teams,” said Carter, who is a former assistant at Northwestern under Bill Foster and the late Ricky Byrdsong. “When we played Pitt they were just phenomenal. They looked like a pro team that night.”

Delaware State’s assistant Arthur Tyson likes Wisconsin. Auburn Head Coach Jeff Lebo thinks the Wisconsin home court is a big edge, but really likes Aaron Gray.

“It’s going to be a great college basketball game,” Lebo said. “They’re both very good, both well-coached. For Wisconsin, playing at home will be a big thing so they’ll have a great crowd. Rebounding is going to be the key in this game. Both teams are physical.”

…

“He’s [Gray] got great hands. I think right now he is playing with a great amount of confidence,” Lebo said. “He’s shooting the ball. He’s passing it much better because he’s learned to play with double teams. I think his game is well-rounded. He’s very efficient.”

In the three common foes Pitt beat them on average, 76.3-60.7 and Wisconsin was 74-60.3.

The lines are finally being released on this game and Wisconisn is given a 5 point edge. The trends, though, look nicer for Pitt.