Pitt Panther Prowl

Some [Pitt] Things to Consider

Here are some random things I was thinking about as I sit in my hotel still strung out from the redbull[s] I had to drink to get through the 7 hour drive to Kansas City tonight.

In regards to just how far this Pitt team has come, I submit the following: Doug Gottlieb has been the one hater at ESPN over the last several years who invariably talked down about the Big East in general and Pitt in particular. He is, by and large, a Big 12 homer and clearly resents the Big East for being a much deeper and more competitive conference. The item worth noting is that the Pitt hating Gottlieb has had some pretty kind words this past week, culminating in his words last night on College Game Night. He said that Pitt, right now, should be penciled into your Sweet 16 and that if Mike Cook hadn’t gotten hurt, they would be a lock for an Elite 8 and a serious contender for a Final Four. This is all speculation and I don’t take his words as meaning Pitt will make the Sweet 16. What I am pointing to is that if Doug Gottlieb is giving Pitt that kind of love, then they are seriously doing something right.

On the other hand, to keep us grounded a bit, we should consider how far they still have to go. I just watched Sportscenter and they did a several minute “analysis” package with Jay Bilas and Bob Knight. The storyline about Pitt making its 7th BE title game in 8 years wasn’t even mentioned. What was mentioned was how good Georgetown is; how big of an upset St. Joe’s had against Xavier; and, of course, the talk about the Duke/NC title game matchup (even though they each have to win 1 more game to make it to the championship). This isn’t a gripe but simply a point of interest. While Pitt is converting even the biggest skeptics such as Gottlieb, they still don’t make it as a national headline compared to Duke/NC or even Georgetown (because of their storied history). So the program is coming a long way, but still has some work to do.

The downside to Pitt’s success in the BET and Sam Young’s contribution to it is that Young will undoubtedly be getting more and more attention from agents who don’t have his best interest at heart. I sure hope he is smart enough to see what he is doing this year and realizes that he can dramatically up his NBA stock if he works on his game some more next season. Let’s get real about this. Defense in the NBA is only for the benchwarmers and the non-stars. If Sam Young can improve his 1-on-1 game to the point where he is a real threat off the drive, he won’t ever need to learn how to play defense. The only thing teams care about in the NBA (for the most part) is scoring. If he can prove he can do that, he will get picked up by someone.

There is also a downside to Pitt making the BET championship game. If the season were over tonight, I think Pitt would legitimately be a 6 seed. They have won 7 of their last 8 games and the last two were to ranked opponents. The loss to WVU doesn’t hurt Pitt but helps WVU a lot. Since that game was the only loss in the last 8 games, it won’t affect anything for Pitt. Even if they had won it I don’t think it would have changed things much. At the point they played Pitt was already being called a tourney lock. It is the wins here in the BET that are affecting everything. But Pitt has one more game to play. If they win, they are almost definitely a 6 seed, and maybe a 5 depending on how other tourneys pan out. If they lose, on the other hand, they go into selection Sunday with that loss being the most recent thing on the committee’s mind, nullifying much of the good will they have earned the last 3 games. So a win against Georgetown is huge for seeding purposes. I seriously think that if they lose the championship game they will be put right back at a 7 seed.

WVU blew their chance at making the championship a Brawl rubber match. I, for one, am glad. First of all, I love seeing WVU lose. More than that, I think they still have more at stake in this rivalry at the moment. That 13-9 football win is going to be a sore spot for a while and beating Pitt in the BET championship would go a long way to heal the wound. I am not sure Pitt would have beat them and the last thing I want to think about going into the NCAA tourney is how Pitt lost to WVU in the BET.