Hoopies Tonight
March 3rd, 2008 | by The Prowler |Tonight is a big game for Pitt, and a bigger game for WVU. It is big for Pitt because they have a chance to keep their win streak going and to finish the regular season on a roll (pending a home victory against Depaul on Sunday). If they could win their final four regular season games, it would give them great confidence heading into the Big East and NCAA tournaments. More than that, every win they can get at this point helps their resume for seeding in the NCAA tourney.
It is a bigger game for the Hoopies because if they lose tonight, they likely go to the NIT. For most of us, getting invited to the NIT is like getting to marry your sister. But for WVU, getting into the NCAA tournament is like that… and that is why they want to make it so badly. The last thing WVU needs, especially after not making the BCS championship game, is to have to print t-shirts again that read “NIT Champions”.
There is something much bigger at stake than tournament berths and seeding, however. Pitt has recently delighted in using the Hoopies as their personal whipping post. Pitt would love to be responsible for WVU missing the NCAA tourney. That would mean that Pitt effectively ended WVU’s shot at a meaningful post season for the second time this school year. Don’t doubt that Pitt is excited to have this opportunity.
Don’t doubt that WVU will do everything they can to keep that from happening as well. If WVU beats Pitt tonight, Hoopies everywhere will swear it is revenge for that 13-9 football loss. We all know that there are really no significant post season implications in this game for Pitt. Pitt is the only one who can really strike a meaningful blow tonight. But that won’t stop the Hoopies from giving this one everything they have. Couches are already lining the streets of Morgantown in preparation for a big win tonight. The fans will come and be as brutal as Pitt has ever seen. The players will come with a memory of
and will want revenge. They will no doubt want revenge for
. They may even have
in the back of their heads. They will be ready to play and Pitt has to come into this game knowing the full implications to WVU’s season and just how much the Hoopies will want this game. I can’t see Pitt getting away with a win if they play a sloppy game and let the Hoopies shoot 58.8% from the floor (like Syracuse did).
This game is going to come down to who wants it more. It will come down to whether Pitt enjoys destroying WVU’s seasons more or if WVU wants revenge more.
It may also come down to whether WVU shoots 20% from the floor a la the Cincinnati game.
Let’s hope they do.
6 Responses to “Hoopies Tonight”
By colt_convert on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
I read on Blather, where someone said that 18-22 year-old kids shouldn’t be mentally and physically exhausted, but at this point in the season, I certainly have no other excuse for how Pitt is playing. Having to storm back from deficits in the three previous wins was too much for the Panthers, and Coach Dixon couldn’t use the same line he used at Syracuse; i.e., “we may lose, but we’re not going to quit!”
There is a vicious cycle going on with the Panthers, and I can’t tell where it starts. They’re struggling offensively, and the missed shots seem to stay on their minds when playing defense. Defensively, they’re pretty much letting teams do what they want. Aside from Syracuse, I can’t remember the last time the Panthers forced a team into a scoring drought. So in the end, teams score on easy back door passes; they drive in for layups; and they bomb threes from all over. Pitt sees this, and feels an even more urgent need to score, and they go back to struggling.
I’m going to single out DeJuan Blair. How many times has Blair missed an easy layup under the basket? How many times has he been blocked or forced to take awful shots? Where are all his power moves from earlier in the season, when the announcers couldn’t stop gushing about how Blair “smiles all the time?” I think Blair’s been exposed, and teams seem to have figured him out. The bottom line is that they need some balance in their offense–if their perimeter game isn’t working, they need to be able to get sure points inside. Knowing they can get these points in the paint will take some pressure off the guards.
By WVU_ftw on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
Pitt’s one point victory at the Pete where WVU missed all of their free throws, is not as convincing as WVU’s 14 point blowout in Morgantown (it was a 23 point lead before the backups came in). The record in the Big East shows it, also. 11-7 in the Big East is greater than 9-9, or 10-8, whichever Pitt makes it to.
WVU basketball > Pitt basketball
By colt_convert on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
WVU, you would think that having been on the low end of a 13-9 score in football, and experiencing the heartbreak of having a basketball victory taken away from you at the last tenth of a second, you’d realize a loss is a loss.
What is your point?
By The Prowler on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
I said in my post that this game came down to who wanted the win more and that WVU had much more to play for than Pitt. I am not surprised by the outcome of the game. WVU played the better game. I anticipated this kind of loss just because WVU had so much to prove.
Beyond that, I am not sure how this game proves that WVU basketball is greater than Pitt basketball. WVU has to win its last game to finish with a better record in the conference than Pitt. WVU has no wins against good Big East teams (and a beat up Pitt team doesn’t count as a good win at this point). WVU and Pitt split the season series. And Pitt has wins against Duke and Georgetown. Who is WVU’s big win against? Oh, that’s right. They have none. If WVU basketball is greater than Pitt basketball (a statement that says more than our team is better than your team, but that says our program is better than your program), then why is WVU on the bubble of the tournament, being told they still need at least a win in the BE tourney to assure a spot in the NCAA’s? Pitt, on the other hand, is being called a lock because of their tough schedule, quality wins, and even a few good road wins.
Its all good because WVU beat the pants off Pitt last night and there is no denying that. But last I checked, it didn’t knock us out of the national championship game and it didn’t cause our coach to resign.
By WVU_ftw on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
we beat marquette. more than pitt can say
By The Prowler on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
Beating Marquette is more than beating Duke and Georgetown? Interesting perspective.