What’s that smell? I think its burning couches!
February 7th, 2008 | by The Prowler |Life isn’t fair. We all learned that earlier this season, when in consecutive games we lost starters to injury. Despite that, WVU has been on the receiving end of just how cruel fate can be. First it was the football Brawl. Then there was tonight. With a 2 point lead and time expiring, fate slapped WVU like a Morgantown girl trying to stop the advances of her brother on prom night. Whap!! 3 pointer from way down town as time expires. And Ronald Ramon gets the celebration, the redemption that he has needed, and that he has deserved.
For anyone who is a fan of Pitt basketball, you are probably aware of the difficulties Ramon has had of late. He has been running the point very efficiently. But when a shot is needed with time expiring, Ramon has been less than impressive. He has been anti-clutch to Field’s uber-clutch shot to beat Duke. It isn’t that Ramon is to blame for the recent difficulties, though he has been credited with much of it. But getting a good look at the basket as time is expiring is different from running a motion offense for 39.5 minutes. Getting an open shot depends on several things all clicking. First, you need a ball handler to create. If there is a point guard who is a threat with the ball, that sets up the defense to have to respect the fact that he might drive. Then you have to have the rest of the players on the floor doing one of two things. You have those players who are not involved in the play, and their job is to keep their defender as far away from the play as possible. Then there are the players involved in the play. They have to be in the right position, set their screens, and make sure that the defenders bite on the penetration enough to leave the intended shooter open.
Then the shot has to be made.
All of that happened tonight. With four seconds on the clock, Ramon passed to Keith Benjamin, who penetrated past the foul line, drawing Ramon’s defender. Benjamin kicked the ball to Ramon, who drained it.
All WVU could do is this:
Ramon deserves this. He has worked very hard for Pitt. He has done an amazing job playing out of position. He has never publicly complained about his responsibilities. And many of us have been hard on his end-game struggles. This shot doesn’t change how much we need Levance Fields. It doesn’t change that Ramon isn’t a point guard. But it does take away that sick feeling in our stomachs when the game is close at the end. It gives that hope that we can get it done.
Great job Ron.
For you hoopies, I believe you play our archery team in a few weeks. I am sure there is something you can beat us at.
7 Responses to “What’s that smell? I think its burning couches!”
By WVU_ftw on Feb 7, 2008 | Reply
First let me say how disgusted I am with this WVU team and their apparent inability to finish… when you have the game won, and you are sitting on a 2 point lead, please guard the 3 point arc. Give them the drive to the lane, just don’t lose the game on ANOTHER last second, wide open 3 (aka, a prayer).
Other than the loss of focus in the final 9 seconds of big games, WVU is an NIT team because of its terrible foul shooting. Even if the ‘Eers did get into the NCAAs, which is extremely unlikely at this point, let’s be real: WVU players can’t make a free throw to save their lives. They would be one and done in the tourney because refs are very finicky about fouls in the post-season and here in the Big East a normal pull-of-the-jersey or elbow-to-the-jaw won’t get called. Ruoff walked off the floor with a bloody nose tonight and no one even reached for a whistle, much less called a foul. In the NCAAs, they call a foul if you give someone a nasty look and cough on him accidently.
That being said, WVU played the watered down version of Pitt, sans Fields and Cook, and still got beat. It’s sad because we are 2 buzzer beaters and 2 points away from having two marquee wins: 1 point loss to #6 Georgetown and 1 point loss to #21 Pitt. But to be honest, I am sick and tired of watching my team play like a NCAA tournament-caliber squad for only 39 mins and 51 seconds. The last 9 seconds matter and these idiots don’t seem to realize that, as defense broke down against the Hoyas and Panthers…
Great game regardless, and I’m sure it’s a great night for Panther fans. Relish in this win, because there won’t be many more if they play like they did tonight (needing a last second 3 at home to win over an average Big East team). If the opponent had been Louisville or Marquette, they would nail those free throws and its a 7 point game leading up to Ramon’s prayer.
Does anyone know if the ref’s broke the rules by taking away those 2 points Joe Alexander scored at the free throw line? I’ve never seen that before. Its like a football team scoring a touchdown, and successfully completing a two point coversion, and then the refs say “Hey, there was holding on that touchdown! it doesnt count”… I honestly think the refs were either A) paid off, or B) WVU haters. There are a lot of both varieties in this league, so it doesn’t suprise me. Despite the Referee Mafia that apparently destroys the hopes of every Mountaineer fan in the world, we had so many chances, 10 in fact, to beat Pitt tonight (missed 10 free throws, 7 of 17 from the line). I’ve seen middle school teams that make more free throws than WVU
By Reed on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
Hey, thanks for the nice Blog - the time and effort you put into it is evident. Us PITT fans appreciate it.
WVU_ftw: I’ve actually been in a game in HS where the refs did the exact same thing, and saw it once again a few years ago when watching college ball. It is surprising when it happens, but when I saw it happen the refs themselves caught the error. That was a heads up play by Dixon’s staff, and a stoke of luck the Huggins called a TO when he did. IMO Huggins should have realized what was happening and let some time run off the clock so the play wouldn’t have been reviewable.
By WVU_ftw on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
Reed: thanks for clearing that up, I hadn’t seen it called before but you’re right, Huggins should have let the clock run a bit..
that picture of wellington smith says it all. he looks like he didnt know someone was going to try to hoist up a 3 to win the game. And he was the defender that left his man, leaving Ramon wide open.
By The Prowler on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
The worst part about the situation is, looking at the replay, Blair didn’t foul either guy. One guy came over his back and the other guy was pulling his arm. Yet the refs found a way to call him for a foul. Big East refs are bad this year. I have seen very few well called Big East games.
Thanks Reed for the complements on the site. As long as people like you keep coming back, we will keep it going.
Hail to Pitt!!
By TMGPanther on Feb 9, 2008 | Reply
Prowler, look at the replay again. I think you will see Blair pushed off before the picture you posted.
By Greg in Columbia on Feb 10, 2008 | Reply
Anyone notice the guy behind the CSG security guard? He made his own WVU shirt…. looks like it reads “F*CK YOU WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY”, which is pretty awesome. That photo never gets old. Thanks for the blog Prowler and keep the game photos coming, as that’s something different that I enjoy.
By The Prowler on Feb 10, 2008 | Reply
I didn’t notice that tshirt until you pointed it out, but man that is great. Only college students can get away with that kind of stuff.