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NC State Game & Other Dribbles ...

Burton attempted 122 free throws last year and was Pitt's go to leader, captain, and best player last year.




Judah Mintz specialty is driving to the rim and getting to the rim. Bub is a jump shooter, he isn't Carl Krauser. Mintz is also going to be 1st team all acc and going to the NBA. He's a stud as I hyped him to be.






He's an 18 year old freshmen. LOL

We have won 5 or our last 6 acc games including beating Duke at Cameron Indoor with 2 freshmen starting in the backcourt. You are throwing out 24 year old 5th year seniors and suggesting to me I am cherry picking stats when Bub is already going to overtake 2 5th year senior starters on an NCAA tournament team last year with free throw attempts. You want him to be Carl Krauser and drive when he is a jump shooter. Rip Hamilton aint Chris Paul. Bub is a shooter, not a penetrator.

And he still gets to the line more than enough as a freshmen which is the entire point.

Now you're injecting emotion into analytics. It might get you some likes, but it's dumb.

For the 100th time, he's a good player. You keep trying to paint me into a corner and misconstrue my words. Just can't help but wonder if we could be even better/more efficient with a 2 who shoots like 39% from three, instead of 39% overall.

I'm glad that he gets to the line more than Greg Elliot, though, who took 69.86% of his shot attempts from 3.
 
Now you're injecting emotion into analytics. It might get you some likes, but it's dumb.

For the 100th time, he's a good player. You keep trying to paint me into a corner and misconstrue my words. Just can't help but wonder if we could be even better/more efficient with a 2 who shoots like 39% from three, instead of 39% overall.

I'm glad that he gets to the line more than Greg Elliot, though, who took 69.86% of his shot attempts from 3.


No. Im calling out people that want to try to get rid of our players thinking we are going to upgrade them in the offseason. And Im especially doing it against people complaining about freshmen, in your case, which is absolutely ridiculous. We are competing for an NCAA tournament bid with 8 players with an all freshmen backcourt. Think about that.


We are down to 8 scholarship players and are winning ACC games with these 8 players. I should pull a bballinsider and start bumping threads of all the experts on here that threw the towel in 6 games ago suggesting we would finish at the bottom of the ACC this year. In 6 short games those comments now look ridiculous.

We are winning with an all freshmen backcourt. There is zero need to call for change until this group of players start losing again.
 
No. Im calling out people that want to try to get rid of our players thinking we are going to upgrade them in the offseason. And Im especially doing it against people complaining about freshmen, in your case, which is absolutely ridiculous. We are competing for an NCAA tournament bid with 8 players with an all freshmen backcourt. Think about that.


We are down to 8 scholarship players and are winning ACC games with these 8 players. I should pull a bballinsider and start bumping threads of all the experts on here that threw the towel in 6 games ago suggesting we would finish at the bottom of the ACC this year. In 6 short games those comments now look ridiculous.

We are winning with an all freshmen backcourt. There is zero need to call for change until this group of players start losing again.

Again, I'm not calling for change. I'm saying that we can survive/thrive in spite of losing Bub. No one is pushing him out the door.

And we're not competing for an NCAAT bid yet, honestly. There's a lot of work to be done.

Also, if you want to bump threads... I called for more Lowe and for him to run the point back in November. Not saying you disagreed, because I honestly don't remember.
 
No. Im calling out people that want to try to get rid of our players thinking we are going to upgrade them in the offseason. And Im especially doing it against people complaining about freshmen, in your case, which is absolutely ridiculous. We are competing for an NCAA tournament bid with 8 players with an all freshmen backcourt. Think about that.


We are down to 8 scholarship players and are winning ACC games with these 8 players. I should pull a bballinsider and start bumping threads of all the experts on here that threw the towel in 6 games ago suggesting we would finish at the bottom of the ACC this year. In 6 short games those comments now look ridiculous.

We are winning with an all freshmen backcourt. There is zero need to call for change until this group of players start losing again.
If he was shooting 40% from three he’d be a lottery pick !

I‘d bet my house on him and Lowe working their butts off this off season on their 3 Pt shooting and if they’d get someone down low who could make the defense collapse a little their looks will get better . The best is yet to come with both !
 
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Again, I'm not calling for change. I'm saying that we can survive/thrive in spite of losing Bub. No one is pushing him out the door.

And we're not competing for an NCAAT bid yet, honestly. There's a lot of work to be done.

Also, if you want to bump threads... I called for more Lowe and for him to run the point back in November. Not saying you disagreed, because I honestly don't remember.


Bub last 6 games

14 points per game
4.9 rebounds per game
2.8 assists per game
1.6 turnovers per game
40% shooting percentage
89% free throw percentage

Record- 5-1, with a 3-1 road record


This is a player you think we are going to "upgrade" next year. And this is an 18 year old and one of the youngest players in all of D1 basketball. All because he doesn't shoot the 3 good enough for you as a freshmen.

Good riddance.
 
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Bub last 6 games

14 points per game
4.9 rebounds per game
2.8 assists per game
1.6 turnovers per game
40% shooting percentage
89% free throw percentage

Record- 5-1, with a 3-1 road record


This is a player you think we are going to "upgrade" next year. And this is an 18 year old and one of the youngest players in all of D1 basketball. All because he doesn't shoot the 3 good enough for you as a freshmen.

Good riddance.

It's about team efficiency. We're losing Hinson. Hugley put up prettier stats two years ago than Fede ever will, yet Fede was closer to what we needed as a team last season.

But if we lose him, you'll declare the sky to be falling, right? Let's keep it consistent here.
 
Lots of talk about the freshmen guards, but let's not overlook Leggett. He's a good all around player and tough. He often provides what is needed. I thought he made some nice inbounds passes against the press last night. He didn't hang his head after missing two important wide open threes, but got an even more important offensive rebound and putback. I also assume he's a steadying influence on Bub and Lowe.
 
I think Pitt's win at Duke is going to carry a lot more weight at tournament time.
 
I think Pitt's win at Duke is going to carry a lot more weight at tournament time.
It’ll be mixed because the committee will take into account the fact that Duke was out two starters.

But I think on the other side, if Pitt is able to rack up enough sheer road wins (they’ve got five now) by Selection Sunday, the thought could very well be, “okay, Duke was missing some guys, but Pitt played teams really well on the road all year.”
 
Lots of talk about the freshmen guards, but let's not overlook Leggett. He's a good all around player and tough. He often provides what is needed. I thought he made some nice inbounds passes against the press last night. He didn't hang his head after missing two important wide open threes, but got an even more important offensive rebound and putback. I also assume he's a steadying influence on Bub and Lowe.

Leggett has kept things together when no one else could generate anything a number of times this season. Even early in the ND game... we eventually got it together as a team, but he kept the deficit at a reasonable distance.
 
It’ll be mixed because the committee will take into account the fact that Duke was out two starters.

But I think on the other side, if Pitt is able to rack up enough sheer road wins (they’ve got five now) by Selection Sunday, the thought could very well be, “okay, Duke was missing some guys, but Pitt played teams really well on the road all year.”
Currently still a 5 seed in the NIT. A ton of work to do, still.
 
It's about team efficiency. We're losing Hinson. Hugley put up prettier stats two years ago than Fede ever will, yet Fede was closer to what we needed as a team last season.

But if we lose him, you'll declare the sky to be falling, right? Let's keep it consistent here.

Its about winning. Period. I don't care if we win pretty or ugly, its about winning.


And with all due respect to Blake Hinson, he is certainly

1) Replaceable, at least to an extent. In fact, because he is significantly below average on defense and on the glass and well below average as a passer, I don't think he is going to be this monster loss in the offseason. He is also very inconsistent as a shooter. I like Hinson. But because he is so weak in other areas besides 3 point shooting, I dont even consider him an all league player.



2) The most important player on this entire team is Jaland Lowe. With all due respect to everyone else, Lowe IS the reason this entire season turned around. He is the future captain of this team in the future. Hell, Id argue he is the captain of this team right now.
 
Its about winning. Period. I don't care if we win pretty or ugly, its about winning.


And with all due respect to Blake Hinson, he is certainly

1) Replaceable, at least to an extent. In fact, because he is significantly below average on defense and on the glass and well below average as a passer, I don't think he is going to be this monster loss in the offseason. He is also very inconsistent as a shooter. I like Hinson. But because he is so weak in other areas besides 3 point shooting, I dont even consider him an all league player.



2) The most important player on this entire team is Jaland Lowe. With all due respect to everyone else, Lowe IS the reason this entire season turned around. He is the future captain of this team in the future. Hell, Id argue he is the captain of this team right now.

Uh, no. Hinson is the captain right now. Since these last 6 matter to you so much...


17.33 ppg
5.5 rebounds/game
48.83% 3-point shooting
50.74% FG overall

This while being the primary focus by defenses, of course. If we start adding degree of difficulty into the mix, this becomes more impressive. And yeah - he does have some frustrating elements to his game. But... he's the captain.
 
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Its about winning. Period. I don't care if we win pretty or ugly, its about winning.


And with all due respect to Blake Hinson, he is certainly

1) Replaceable, at least to an extent. In fact, because he is significantly below average on defense and on the glass and well below average as a passer, I don't think he is going to be this monster loss in the offseason. He is also very inconsistent as a shooter. I like Hinson. But because he is so weak in other areas besides 3 point shooting, I dont even consider him an all league player.



2) The most important player on this entire team is Jaland Lowe. With all due respect to everyone else, Lowe IS the reason this entire season turned around. He is the future captain of this team in the future. Hell, Id argue he is the captain of this team right now.

Indeed, Lowe is the MVP on this team this year. It's absolutely necessary we keep him for next year at a minimum and longer if we can. It won't be easy.
 
It’ll be mixed because the committee will take into account the fact that Duke was out two starters.

But I think on the other side, if Pitt is able to rack up enough sheer road wins (they’ve got five now) by Selection Sunday, the thought could very well be, “okay, Duke was missing some guys, but Pitt played teams really well on the road all year.”
Will they?

I don't see how the committee can sit around and evaluate each game by who was actually on the court that night.
 
Will they?

I don't see how the committee can sit around and evaluate each game by who was actually on the court that night.


Its pretty rare that any team in all of D1 can get through an entire season without some kind of injury somewhere along the line. In other words, there are injuries all over the place throughout the season and its almost impossible to keep up with all of them from team to team.


If a player misses like 10 games then comes back and the team rapidly improves because of that 1 player, that case is different. Something like that could effect a bubble team or seed lines.


In our case where we won at Duke, I highly doubt anyone on the committee is going to look at that and say, Pitt won that game when Duke was short handed, it doesn't count. Winning at Duke is a huge deal, regardless of who was missing. Duke is Duke with all their 5 star players.
 
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Lots of teams with similar resumes. Only the 1 Q1 win + 2 Q2 losses really hurting this team. If Wake gets to Q1 and Syr to Q2, that helps tremendously without us even doing anything
Mizzou being terrible really hurts. UVA may be the make or break game for whether or not it’s NIT or NCAA
 
Mizzou being terrible really hurts. UVA may be the make or break game for whether or not it’s NIT or NCAA

It may be. But just to game this out, lets say we lose to UVa and drop another Q2 game (@ BC or home vs VT). That would give us 3 Q1s (@ Duke, @ Clem, @ Wake) and 4 Q2s. Also we'd have a NET probably in the high 40s, low 50s with 7 road wins. Now, lets look at last year:

NET 67
Q1: 4-4
Q2: 3-5
A Q3 loss and a Q4 loss.

If we lose 2 more of the "right games," our resume would be better than last year. That doesn't mean we'd get in though.
 
Is there any talk about moving back? I mean it seems pretty silly to be playing weeknight or less appealing games off campus. On TV, the place looked empty a d it sounded like a neutral site game because there was no noise. I think it was a good idea at the time to move there but attendance is trending down all the time now. They can renovate Reynolds as Cincy, Nova, Duquesne, ND, Clemson, etc have done. This arena is perfect for modern-day college basketball.


They can play Duke, UNC, and maybe a few other Saturday games off campus as Nova does.
zero plans to move back.
 
It may be. But just to game this out, lets say we lose to UVa and drop another Q2 game (@ BC or home vs VT). That would give us 3 Q1s (@ Duke, @ Clem, @ Wake) and 4 Q2s. Also we'd have a NET probably in the high 40s, low 50s with 7 road wins. Now, lets look at last year:

NET 67
Q1: 4-4
Q2: 3-5
A Q3 loss and a Q4 loss.

If we lose 2 more of the "right games," our resume would be better than last year. That doesn't mean we'd get in though.
I know you have to know this by now, but the Net is used for one thing and that’s determining quads. It doesn’t matter on selection Sunday what our net is
 
** I hate clichés. Still, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

** As the beholders of a gritty 3 point ACC road win for our Panthers, and now a 6-6 ACC record, I think this game was pretty damn gorgeous.

** More than once this year, I’ve quoted another adage which is “shoot good, look good.”

** Well, we didn’t shoot good on the Raleigh court, nor did we at all look good. In fact, offensively in the second half we looked bad. But, aren’t these exactly the kinds of games we used to cherish when we ruled the Big East?

** There is one difference though. I can’t remember many times, even in our Top 10 days, when the foul line was our shining star, instead of our Achilles Heel.

** For all of the times I’ve rallied against those who complain about missed free throws when our team has shot something like 75% for the game, I’ll offer another simpleton. It sure is nicer to make them than miss them. Especially making 18 of 20 of them.

** Considering we really couldn’t even figure out how to make many baskets in the second half tonight, outscoring the Wolfpack by a dozen at the foul line was maybe the only reason we moved to the middle of the ACC pack.

** There’s another reason we came away victorious though. And this reason is something that was more a staple of our Big East days. We won the glass.

** More importantly, it was our 9 offensive rebounds, many of which were very timely, that added up to our 3 point final difference.

** Let’s go to the three offensive rebounds that made the most difference. First after the Wolfpack cut our early second half 13 point lead to 5, Zack Austin corralled a Blake Hinson missed three and turned it into one of his own. Big.

** With under 4 minutes to go, Blake missed a three which was rebounded by Bub, who tossed back to Blake for another missed three. But this one was cleaned up by Ish (one of his 6 caroms) who laid it back in to put the Panthers back up by 2. Bigger.

** Finally, with just 30 second to go, Fede followed up Bub’s miss with one of his 10 rebounds for the points that would give the Panthers their winning number. Biggest.

** Back in the glory days of the early 2000’s, Jay Bilas would often left handedly compliment our Panthers by suggesting our “best offense was a missed shot.” In the second half when we only deposited eight field goals (only 6 in the final 19 minutes) and no three pointers, Jay’s former words about our Panthers would seem to be appropriate.

** One of the reason’s I used to think our Panther Rock Fight games were so beautiful was how well we played defense.

** I’m not going to try to suggest that what the Panthers offered tonight was a "defense wins championships" kind of game. This is especially true when we were torched from deep by Horne and devastated down low by Burns.

** But it is worth pointing out that after these two guys, the entire remainder of the Wolfpack scored 20 points and shot 6-20 from the floor. A fair rebuttal could be that with the success of Horne and Burns, NC State didn’t need anyone else. Perhaps. But we won on their court so obviously they needed something more. And we kept that from happening.

** Earlier this year, we often wondered if the Panthers could win a close tough game against a good opponent when they weren’t shooting the ball well.

** It can’t say it was necessary by the Panther’s design, but we won this one by winning ugly. That's something we couldn't do in December.

** So I’ll toss out one more. I’d rather win ugly than lose beautifully.

** And with this now proven-to-be gorgeous win, our Pomeroy rises to #64, our NET will go higher than that, and our ACC record evens at .500.

** Most importantly, our NCAA tournament bid hopes still have a pulse. The situation is going forward is still critical. But it’s no longer on life support like it was just three weeks ago.
-The FT’s is all about who shoots them. If we have put guards shoot them, we are going to make them at about an 85% clip.
-Great points about the offensive rebounds. Those 3 were all huge plays.
-The other thing that continues to materialize, is that every time we really need a basket after a drought or to stop an opponent run at an important part of the game, Ish is usually the guy to make that play. Both of his buckets, along with Fede’s follow up make were huge.
-This team is definitely in the running now. If we can end up 6-2, we will have ourselves right there for a bid.
 
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Why does former Clemson center Middlebrook look 100% like PJ Hall and that Schifflein dude? Seriously, they look like triplets. I wonder if that's why he transferred. Reminds me of Luke Harangody and Jack Cooley.
He’s not nearly as good as those 2 though.
 
Will they?

I don't see how the committee can sit around and evaluate each game by who was actually on the court that night.
No, they will not. You can’t go back and account for all of that. At the end of the day, it was a great road win.
 
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They probably need 2 of Wake, Clemson or UVA. Go 2-1 there, figure in one WTF and you’re in a good spot. 1-2 gets dicey, 0-3 no shot
Feels like 1-2 in that group means that you’ve gotta have the other five, and even then it’s dicey and you’d hope for a win against a good Q1 in the tournament opener, if not make a little run.
 
That's the killer. That team is so bad that while it's certainly not likely yet, there is a realistic chance that they are going to pull a Stallings in the SEC this year.
Does the timing of that loss matter to the committee? It was pre-ACC conference play; J Lowe was not our starting PG; and if we are 7-3 or better the last 10 games the Missou loss may be forgiven
 
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Does the timing of that loss matter to the committee? It was pre-ACC conference play; J Lowe was not our starting PG; and if we are 7-3 or better the last 10 games the Missou loss may be forgiven


Not really. The NCAA keeps saying that all games count the same. They don't want early season games to be discounted, because early season games are the only chances that the mid-majors have to play P6 teams.
 
Not really. The NCAA keeps saying that all games count the same. They don't want early season games to be discounted, because early season games are the only chances that the mid-majors have to play P6 teams.

Right. Clemson didnt make it because they lost a neutral site game to Loyola, who may have been pretty close to a favorite at the time, on Halloween.
 
They probably need 2 of Wake, Clemson or UVA. Go 2-1 there, figure in one WTF and you’re in a good spot. 1-2 gets dicey, 0-3 no shot
I can see the 2-1 with Wake and Clemson, but not UVA as one of the 2. We
haven't seen a D like UVA strangled Miami with the other night. On the other
hand beating UVA would give us a shot at an unmentioned 3-0. Crazy? yup, it
sure as hell is, but we beat UVA and anything is possible. Unfortunately UVA is
hot right now, and winning in Charlottesville is damn near impossile,
 
I can see the 2-1 with Wake and Clemson, but not UVA as one of the 2. We
haven't seen a D like UVA strangled Miami with the other night. On the other
hand beating UVA would give us a shot at an unmentioned 3-0. Crazy? yup, it
sure as hell is, but we beat UVA and anything is possible. Unfortunately UVA is
hot right now, and winning in Charlottesville is damn near impossile,
FWIW, UVA is #7 in defensive efficiency on kenpom. UNC is #8.

Before that, the most similar defenses from an efficiency perspective that Pitt has played are last year’s Iowa State and Mississippi State teams, who were #7 and #8 in the rankings last year.
 
FWIW, UVA is #7 in defensive efficiency on kenpom. UNC is #8.

Before that, the most similar defenses from an efficiency perspective that Pitt has played are last year’s Iowa State and Mississippi State teams, who were #7 and #8 in the rankings last year.
Good info,, thanks. As far as UVA's D, I know the #'s. I was going on the few
times Ive seen UVA on tv. What I saw the other night against Miami was pure
strangulation. I haven't seen D like that from UNC or for that matter anyone
else this year. We're getting them at a bad time. I like our frosh guards, and
think Lowe is not only playing great, but is still improving. This will be his
toughest test IMO.
 
Right. Clemson didnt make it because they lost a neutral site game to Loyola, who may have been pretty close to a favorite at the time, on Halloween.


Clemson was a 4.5 point favorite.

That game didn't help, but it really wasn't much worse than them losing to South Carolina or Louisville. And losing to Boston College wasn't much better.

Other than the fact that Loyola really bitch-slapped them.
 
Clemson was a 4.5 point favorite.

That game didn't help, but it really wasn't much worse than them losing to South Carolina or Louisville. And losing to Boston College wasn't much better.

Other than the fact that Loyola really bitch-slapped them.

Right. So at the time, there wasn't thought to be much difference between the teams. Loyola was coming off an NCAAT appearance and was thought to be one of the better teams in the A10. The game was early in the season and Clemson wasnt the team they became. That single game, a Q4 blowout, cost them the NCAAT bid
 
Mizzou being terrible really hurts. UVA may be the make or break game for whether or not it’s NIT or NCAA
UVA is getting a lot of mileage from their blowout win over Miami. Way too much, imo. I can easily see the Hoos losing 4, 5, or even 6 more games.

Definitely a game both teams need.
Good info,, thanks. As far as UVA's D, I know the #'s. I was going on the few
times Ive seen UVA on tv. What I saw the other night against Miami was pure
strangulation. I haven't seen D like that from UNC or for that matter anyone
else this year. We're getting them at a bad time. I like our frosh guards, and
think Lowe is not only playing great, but is still improving. This will be his
toughest test IMO.
I watched that UVA/Miami twice. Miami actually got several open looks in the first 10 minutes. They just couldn't knock them down. A lot of shots weren't close. As the UVA lead grew, Miami played into their hands, dribbling too much, bad shot selection, etc.

Not UVA's best defensive team overall, but they have really improved. Beekman & Dunn are both excellent defenders, & Dunn is a freak athlete.

Hoos have a tough one this Saturday at FSU.
 
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