30 years ago...

[HOF Coach]

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Best collection of talent on any Pitt team that I've ever seen. Amazing to look at that roster and think they couldn't get to the BE tournament final and lost in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.

Paul Evans was a bozo.

 

[BFo8]

Of course we all remember the brutal loss to Vanderbilt, but the Oklahoma game the year before was a total heartbreaker as well.

 

[bwh05]

Best collection of talent on any Pitt team that I've ever seen. Amazing to look at that roster and think they couldn't get to the BE tournament final and lost in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.

Paul Evans was a bozo.

We’ve had some really good teams since then but that was a GREAT team that just didn’t win the big games.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

We’ve had some really good teams since then but that was a GREAT team that just didn’t win the big games.

Quibbling just a bit--depends on the definition of "team." "Team" includes coaching and cohesion. A geatly talented roster most certainly--but not a great "team." If it were a great team it would not have so often failed to win those big games. My sense of that long ago and far away era (I don't recall it very well) was that those teams scored a lot of points but would lose high scoring games. If my memory is correct about that; then those teams played poor team defense. Bur, as I say, it was so long ago that my memory is very hazy about the specifics.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

I just wonder how good that team could have been with Rod.

As I recall, the next game Evans was completely outcoached by Massimino as Pitt lost a close one. When the stakes became higher Evans' coaching was exposed.

 

[DT_PITT]

I just wonder how good that team could have been with Rod.

As I recall, the next game Evans was completely outcoached by Massimino as Pitt lost a close one. When the stakes became higher Evans' coaching was exposed.

Rod was the lowest piece of low hanging fruit -- but it's also worth wondering what would have happened if Mike Goodson has returned or even if Brian Shorter didn't go Prop 48.

 

[bwh05]

Quibbling just a bit--depends on the definition of "team." "Team" includes coaching and cohesion. A geatly talented roster most certainly--but not a great "team." If it were a great team it would not have so often failed to win those big games. My sense of that long ago and far away era (I don't recall it very well) was that those teams scored a lot of points but would lose high scoring games. If my memory is correct about that; then those teams played poor team defense. Bur, as I say, it was so long ago that my memory is very hazy about the specifics.

I mean it was the best roster we put together. So many talented players.

 

[thebadby2]

Best collection of talent on any Pitt team that I've ever seen. Amazing to look at that roster and think they couldn't get to the BE tournament final and lost in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.

Paul Evans was a bozo.

Agree strongly with every word of this post.

I'd like to see what Howland or Dixon would have done with that group of players. Final Four at a minimum. Probably the most talented team in the country that year from a personnel standpoint. They had it all-inside scorers, outside scorers, ballhandlers, and everything in between.

Jerome Lane remains my all-time favorite Panther, and not because of The Dunk. He was just a F'in man out there.

 

[thebadby2]

Rod was the lowest piece of low hanging fruit -- but it's also worth wondering what would have happened if Mike Goodson has returned or even if Brian Shorter didn't go Prop 48.

I'll be honest--I really miss the days when we as Pitt fans had something to get really excited about on LOI day. I know it wasn't all on the up and up, but it sure made the offseason more fun.

"If we don't get to the final eight or the Final Four, there definitely is something wrong."
~Jerome Lane, 1987-88