Bad trip to Denver
March 23rd, 2008 | by The Prowler |I can’t think of a worse way for Pitt to have ended their season this year. They had a mediocre end of the regular season, causing us to feel like this team would probably win 1 game in the NCAA tournament. Then they tore through the Big East Tournament like crazed animals, convincing us that maybe, just maybe they could make a real deep NCAA run. Then they laid an egg against a very average Michigan St. team in the second round of the NCAA tourney.
I am not trying to downplay Michigan St. I knew they were a tough match-up for Pitt. The combination of quick guards who can shoot the three pointer has been the recipe for beating Pitt the last several years. But with the inspired basketball Pitt played up through the Oral Roberts game, I didn’t expect them to come up so empty against Michigan St.
We drove out to Denver for this game (which is why this post is so late, because we just got back). There were Michigan St. fans aplenty at the game. There were a lot of people rooting for Pitt as well. As far as defense and hustle goes, Pitt really looked good. Pitt forced Michigan St. into a lot of bad shots at the end of shot clocks. Pitt forced a lot of turnovers. According to the score keepers at the Pepsi Center, Pitt had 10 blocks and 8 steals. The problem was that Pitt never got any offense going. This lack of offense is exactly how they have lost the last several times in the tournament. They just didn’t run much of an offense, and they didn’t really do much to even make me feel that they might make a move.
DeJuan Blair missed so many layups I couldn’t keep count. Ronald Ramon laid such an egg it was unbelievable. No one else stepped up and made plays. Levance Fields didn’t have a bad day, but even the shots he made were ones that he never should have took. Sam Young tried to get into the game early by just firing up threes. If it wasn’t for going 19-20 from the foul line, Pitt wouldn’t have even been in the game. Even with all of that, Pitt was one bad call away from taking control of the game. Probably around the four minute mark or so there was a foul called that was originally against Michigan St., but after a conference at mid-court the call was changed to being against Blair. This turned the game from the point where Pitt was down 2 and shooting free throws while the Michigan St. player fouled out to Michigan St. getting the ball, nailing a three, and stretching the lead to five.
Overall, no one play really cost Pitt. The Panthers lost because they didn’t bother to play much offense. It is true that only one team will win the national championship and I never believed that this Pitt team was going to. But even when you expect a loss to end the season it is painful to say, “Maybe next year.”
6 Responses to “Bad trip to Denver”
By TigerPaul on Mar 23, 2008 | Reply
You should shut down this site cause you’re an ass. You have no idea what what it is like to play D! sports> Your insights into the MSU game are risiculous and you should have stayed in Denver.
By colt_convert on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
I disagree, Tiger Paul, and I think you should back off. The Prowler has excellent insight into Pitt basketball, and has produced some great posts throughout the season. Prowler is a passionate Pitt fan, but is objective in his commentary.
Who would’ve thought Pitt would lose a game making all but one of their foul shots? Pitt lost because their offense came up lackluster at the wrong time. Maybe they didn’t adjust at the right time, maybe they didn’t adjust soon enough. Regardless, their season is over, and it’s painful to think of how deep they could’ve gone given how well they did in their season and in the Big East Tournament.
By TigerPaul on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Colt,
Consider these comments. “They didn’t run much of an offense” What does that mean. They created a lot of open looks with the offense that they didn’t run. They created multiple layups for Blair that he didn’t make. Multiple open threes that we didn’t make.
“they didn’t really do much to even make me feel that they might make a move.” They were down by ten and went on a run to go ahead in the game. I guess that wasn’t enough of a “move” for him.
“Levance Fields didn’t have a bad day, but even the shots he made were ones that he never should have took.” he had a great day by my observation and he took some shots he wouldn’t normally take because no one else was making anything. By the wy, he made the shots!! How can he be criticized for making tough shots? Nitwitzel took a nukmber of shots with hnads in his face off a pick and drained it. perhaps he was just ok as well, since he shouldn’t have taken those shots!!
“Sam Young tried to get into the game early by just firing up threes” he was wide open on almost every one of the “early threes” and we celebrated his same shooting in the BET. What, are you only suppose to shoot open threes if you know it will go in! I don’t reacll any “forced thress by Sam early
“The Panthers lost because they didn’t bother to play much offense.” Playing offense and knocking down open shots is two different things. Our offense created many open looks. Our players just didn’t knock down the shots. I don’t know why and i doubt it is because they were tired. this is March and you are not allowed a bad shooting night. it’s pretty simple, we shot 12% from three and many shots weren’t even contested. Shots we made in bunches over the last 8 games.
My last post on this site. That should make you happy.
By WVU_ftw on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
im not even going to respond to this clown. i know from watching it was simple, pitt didn’t make their shots and a lot of teams experienced that this weekend. Pitt went out of the tournament with good company, look at the other names that bowed out this weekend: Georgetown, Duke, Notre Dame, UConn, Marquette, Purdue, Indiana, Vanderbilt, Butler, Gonzaga, etc. The point is, a lot of VERY good teams didn’t make it to the Sweet 16, which proves to me that seeding and matchups determine 25% of the outcome, while luck plays in rouchly 25% (i.e. bad shooting night for Pitt cost them the game), and playing excellent ball accounts for the final 50% of the success equation. For WVU, we had the luck on our side (Duke couldnt hit a 3 to save their lives), and the ‘Eers are playing pretty well.. that being said, I figured the ‘Eers would win one game in the NCAAs and I truly expected Pitt to be in the Elite 8 after what they did in the BET. so my musings are worthless and I am resigned to sitting back and taking it all in just hoping for the best.
By Colt_Convert on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
WVU, you make some good comments. Just imagine if Pitt had played Mich. St. on a night when their offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders…like in their opening round game. Luck of the draw does play a part. I think that’s largely in part why we have Cinderella stories. Good, small-conference teams catch great power-conference teams on a bad night.
As for Tiger Paul, good-bye and good riddance. Prowler has provided a great service for fans of Pitt basketball, and I applaud his work. He’s fair, and let’s face it–he’s not getting paid for this. Tiger, you’re getting your money’s worth and more, just being allowed to read and post to this site.
By The Prowler on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Thanks Colt for the kind words. I am not too concerned what some hater comes on here and says. I didn’t say anything bad or untrue about Pitt in their game against Michigan St. Sure, they missed open shots. But they also did an awful lot of standing around on offense. I was at the game, so I am aware of how it went down. The problem with Levance Fields’ shots that I said he shouldn’t have taken is that he took a lot of step-back or hand in the face kind of shots. They weren’t high percentage shots. Sure, I am thrilled he made them. That doesn’t make them high percentage shots. As for Sam Young, whether he was open for the three pointers he threw up or not, that was pretty much all he did. He threw up threes. The offense, by and large, Sam Young included, did an awful lot of standing around. I am sure the thin air in Denver didn’t help. I am aware that one bad night in the tournament costs a team their season.
I love Pitt and didn’t want their season to end this way. Unfortunately, it did. They came out and laid an egg. They didn’t play much offense. I don’t see how anyone can argue with that. Pitt shot 32.7% from the floor. If that doesn’t sound like poor offense, I don’t know what does. Even when they came back from 10 points down, for those of us at the game, there was a feeling of desperation by the team and it didn’t feel like they were going to go ahead and jump from 10 points down to 10 points up. This was probably due to the fact that even their wide open shots were clanging off the front of the rim. Free throw shooting kept Pitt in the game. If they had any offense against Michigan St. they would be playing Memphis in a few days. Most of the open shots they took were three pointers. If you are coming up short on three after three, then the other team is going to continue to leave you wide open. If you aren’t making them, you need to do something else to get good shots. Down the stretch, when Pitt did try to get some motion on their offense, they got 4 offensive fouls to keep them from getting into the game. Plain and simple, if Pitt had any offense they wouldn’t have lost.
The way they lost against Michigan St. is how they have lost in most of their NCAA tourney losses. I thought it would be different this year with a little more star power than years past. Unfortunately, they didn’t get it done.