Pitt Game Thread ... Rico's Gone

[SaltLakeOrange]

And G actually needs to wait for the screen to get there to start. He was terrible today in those situations.

He was terrible period

 

[Dave85]

How many points did we score today?

52

 

[Dave85]

I am shocked by the result today. I must have really bought into the fool's gold of the home winning streak, even though we were lucky to win against VT and ND was playing short-handed. I don't think Pitt is that physical anymore, at least not like the Pitt teams of a decade ago. And to read their Boards, Dixon is getting as much criticism as Roy Williams. Man, I didn't see this one coming.

I honestly think every game we are going to win. And every time we lose for me it feels like losing to Vermont or Dayton.

Dixon and Pitino have played us for years. They know how to prepare to beat our zone. I feel your pain and frustration. But think of it this way. Every time we lose think of it has happy fuel to heighten the experience for when we do win.

 

[orangenirvana]

52

You aren't going to win many games scoring 52 points and being beaten on the boards by 20.

You don't think those two are bigger problems than the opposition "spanking our zone"? I sure as hell do.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

You aren't going to win many games scoring 52 points and being beaten on the boards by 20.

You don't think those two are bigger problems than the opposition "spanking our zone"? I sure as hell do.

In spite of our horrendous offense, had we rebounded the ball at all, we win yesterday...

 

[Dave85]

You aren't going to win many games scoring 52 points and being beaten on the boards by 20.

You don't think those two are bigger problems than the opposition "spanking our zone"? I sure as hell do.

Dixon and Pitino just know how to prepare their teams to beat our zone. JB switched to only playing 2-3 zone 100% five years ago. He's not going to prepare a custom defensive scheme for two games.

I think JB believes in the 2-3 zone live or die. It's just the way it is. You can beat the 2-3 zone if you are good at playing team offense and making lots of passes into and out of the key. Once good passes are made the zone collapses and shots are opened up. That's the negative. The positive is you get lots of steals and hopefully transition offense. Good transition offense is very exciting to watch!

I don't know. I hate it when we lose. But you can hardly expect to win every game all the time. We won at Cameron. We won Atlantis. If we do not close out with 5 straight loses I think we have a good chance to get into the NCAA tournament. I had such low expectations for this team going into this year. For me, winning Atlantis and winning at Cameron pretty much make it a successful season. I really did not think we would have a chance to make the NCAA tournament. If we do, it's pure icing on the cake.

It terms of scoring 52 points, this team has been amazing on offense at times. We were out-played the last two games. All we have to do is win one or two more games in the last 4 and we make the NCAA for sure. I think this team is capable of beating any team on any given night. But the stars have to align. There's just no margin for error with the players we have.

I'm still hopeful we make the NCAA tournament but bleeding Orange over the last two games.

 

[orangefan13]

Guys it isn't like Pitt lit us up. With 3 min left we were stuck on 45 points while they were turning it over and giving us the ball back with empty possessions. We were also stuck on 40 for what felt like an eternity! It's the offense. Almost always is with this team last few years, imo.

imo. defense has been the issue this year.
since the miami game this game and virginia tech were alittle shaky offensively, however defense has been teh issue this year.

you need to practice both in practice though and keep them fresh in your mind can't win with just one of them.

what killed us against pitt is we couldn't get 2nd and 3rd options in the flow of the game. Hence they were 4th options. gbinije, cooney, dajuan had alittle bit going but no second third option your going to lose. same thing happened to us when malachi and lydon hit rock bottom from wisky-miami. the 8 field goals from everyone not named malachi at miami rings a bell.

We have had years with no 3rd 4th 5th options like last year. this year we got a true first second third option and three guys rolling the dice for 4th and roberson on the glass.

Just one of those games with no offensive flow,that has got to be frustrating no wonder we got killed on the boards. we will never beat pitt without 2nd 3rd options they are to good of a team to do that against.

this team is fun to watch offensively over all you just get the feeling dajuan roberson, lydon malachi cooney can get hot any given night.

Bballs a funny game. I think back to the louisville lost the defense was atrocious, now I think back to this loss and our offense wasn't fresh. This team has to keep both fresh in their mind in practice, especially defense. let this be a lesson to the kids they need to keep defense and offense fresh every game or they will lose espeically going into march.

 

[SoBeCuse]

imo. defense has been the issue this year.
since the miami game this game and virginia tech were alittle shaky offensively, however defense has been teh issue this year.

you need to practice both in practice though and keep them fresh in your mind can't win with just one of them.

what killed us against pitt is we couldn't get 2nd and 3rd options in the flow of the game. Hence they were 4th options. gbinije, cooney, dajuan had alittle bit going but no second third option your going to lose. same thing happened to us when malachi and lydon hit rock bottom from wisky-miami. the 8 field goals from everyone not named malachi at miami rings a bell.

We have had years with no 3rd 4th 5th options like last year. this year we got a true first second third option and three guys rolling the dice for 4th and roberson on the glass.

Just one of those games with no offensive flow,that has got to be frustrating no wonder we got killed on the boards. we will never beat pitt without 2nd 3rd options they are to good of a team to do that against.

this team is fun to watch offensively over all you just get the feeling dajuan roberson, lydon malachi cooney can get hot any given night.

Bballs a funny game. I think back to the louisville lost the defense was atrocious, now I think back to this loss and our offense wasn't fresh. This team has to keep both fresh in their mind in practice, especially defense. let this be a lesson to the kids they need to keep defense and offense fresh every game or they will lose espeically going into march.

I agree with much of this. But, go back and listen to JB's presser post UL. He felt the offense was to blame more if I remember correctly. The D held up quite well most of the game. Rebounding was a problem sure. But we went through big scoring droughts there too. Then we took some horrendous shots and UL went fastbreak on us or got more dunks at the end with our 'keystone cops' press.

Not saying the D wasn't a factor also. Frankly, the fact that many of us have these debates isn't a good thing. Just proves that the margin for error is so thin against better teams and that we leak oil on both sides of the ball.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I honestly think every game we are going to win. And every time we lose for me it feels like losing to Vermont or Dayton.

Dixon and Pitino have played us for years. They know how to prepare to beat our zone. I feel your pain and frustration. But think of it this way. Every time we lose think of it has happy fuel to heighten the experience for when we do win.

True. Nobody picked us to lose to Vermont. However, a few on this board and myself included picked Dayton to win. We weren't playing well and Dayton was a bad matchup.

 

[Dave85]

True. Nobody picked us to lose to Vermont. However, a few on this board and myself included picked Dayton to win. We weren't playing well and Dayton was a bad matchup.

Yeah, that was sketchy going in. The A-10 in my mind has actually been much better conference over the years than they are given credit for having. Anytime we lose it hurts. Vermont loss hurt more but if I remember correctly I think we played in the BE final on Monday and then played on Wednesday or Thursday after a really big late game followed the 4 hour bus ride back. I think at the time I was thinking being in the BE final game stinks because of the turnaround. I think after that they changed the schedule. That was another year we could have had a deep run. We get bad luck and screwed a lot on scheduling. The one that gets me the most was the one year we played in the east, traveled to the west coast, change 3 time zones, and the other team had an extra day of rest. That one drove me absolutely nuts! At some point the luck is going to flow Orange and we are going to get some tournament wins our way. Getting to the final game with John Wallace was a banner year.