Better for Pitt if Syracuse wins or loses tonight at Louisville?

[UPitt '89]

We've seen how Louisville in the Yum Center can discombobulate a team and sometimes that carries over into the next couple games.

We've also seen a team on winning streak get too big of a head, expect to beat a struggling team at home, and then get beat.

So I can see it both ways. If Louisville gets inside Syracuse's heads (like they do to us and lots of other teams), does that carry over into Syracuse's play on Saturday? If Syracuse beats Louisville and enters Saturday on a 6-game winning streak, will they be overconfident and take a struggling Pitt team lightly?

In a way, since Louisville can't go anywhere this year, every win they get in conference is bad for the conference because it hurts a team that has a chance to dance. So it is better for the ACC if Louisville loses every remaining game. Also, a few discouraging losses by Louisville might make them more likely to mail in their remaining games - including next week at the Pete.

I think I'm leaning toward wanted a hard-fought, double-OT Syracuse win tonight. Pitt usually has an answer for the Syracuse zone, usually has no problem playing at the Dome, and Syracuse only goes 6 deep.

 

[Pitt79]

We beat Syracuse last month, so we have the same players, I assume they do, so why can't we beat them again?

 

[NCanton Panther]

When we get down to the end of the season, Syracuse more than likely is going to have a very similar resume to Pitt, particularly if we end up winning only 2 of the last 5. I think a number of posters have suggested if we do that, ending up 9-9 in the conference, there's a good chance we will make the tournament.

I'm not sure how good our chances may be if that happens. I think we'll be in that bubble group but on which side of the line I don't know (last 4 in, first 4 out, etc.). As noted, I think Syracuse will very likely end up with a similar resume to ours and will also be in that group. Who knows, it could come down to only 1 of the 2 making the cut, depending on how a host of other teams finish up the season as well. So from that perspective, anything that would make our resume look better than Syracuse's will help. Beating them up at the dome in a few days would definitely go a long way to taking care of that. If that doesn't happen, Syracuse losing to Louisville would definitely improve our chances more so than the other way around.

 

[UPitt '89]

We beat Syracuse last month, so we have the same players, I assume they do, so why can't we beat them again?

Who says we can't?

But here are some reasons why we might not:

1. We aren't playing as good as we were 5 weeks ago.
2. Syracuse is playing much better than they were 5 weeks ago.
3. 5 weeks ago the game was at home. This time it is at Syracuse.
4. Mike Hopkins was coaching Syracuse at the time, not hall-of-famer Jim Boeheim.

 

[NTOP]

We've seen how Louisville in the Yum Center can discombobulate a team and sometimes that carries over into the next couple games.

We've also seen a team on winning streak get too big of a head, expect to beat a struggling team at home, and then get beat.

So I can see it both ways. If Louisville gets inside Syracuse's heads (like they do to us and lots of other teams), does that carry over into Syracuse's play on Saturday? If Syracuse beats Louisville and enters Saturday on a 6-game winning streak, will they be overconfident and take a struggling Pitt team lightly?

In a way, since Louisville can't go anywhere this year, every win they get in conference is bad for the conference because it hurts a team that has a chance to dance. So it is better for the ACC if Louisville loses every remaining game. Also, a few discouraging losses by Louisville might make them more likely to mail in their remaining games - including next week at the Pete.

I think I'm leaning toward wanted a hard-fought, double-OT Syracuse win tonight. Pitt usually has an answer for the Syracuse zone, usually has no problem playing at the Dome, and Syracuse only goes 6 deep.

There's a dark side of me who want Gbinije to turn an ankle making a buzzer-beating shot to win.

 

[gary2]

There's a dark side of me who want Gbinije to turn an ankle making a buzzer-beating shot to win.

The only 2 ACC teams Pitt has any realistic chances of moving ahead of are Syracuse and possibly Duke. The 7 line in the ACC tourney is light years better than the 8 Line. Root for Louisville,

 

[Franb]

The only 2 ACC teams Pitt has any realistic chances of moving ahead of are Syracuse and possibly Duke. The 7 line in the ACC tourney is light years better than the 8 Line. Root for Louisville,

Since Louisville is ineligible for the post-season, it makes sense to root for them to win every game, other than when they play Pitt.

On the other hand, I can't bring myself to root for Pitino and his sleazy program. I'd like to see him lose every game until he leaves coaching.

Of course, it hardly matters who any of us roots for.

 

[Piranha]

Tough call, but it does not matter if we take care of our own business.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I hope the right answer was for Louisville to win, because that game got out of hand.