** Despite our exciting start, deep down we all knew our trip to Brooklyn was going to begin to tell the tale of how real it really was. Unfortunately, this first lesson was not a good one.
** Like most, I was hoping for the Panthers to make a statement. But what the game told us is there’s work to be done.
** I think the reality for this game is that it probably felt a little worse than it actually was, mostly because our expectations may have been a bit too high.
** Although Florida was clearly the better team, I do believe on a better shooting night we could have been right there with them. I’m also of the belief that this is pretty darn good Florida team. Finally, you could also make the case that we played with them for all but two deadly stretches, one in each half.
** Annoying as he may have been, Walter Clayton seems like a really legit talent to me. And Tyrese Samuel is no slouch either.
** But this isn’t to say we don’t have issues. Most notably, our post defense was simply atrocious. Fede was not good and GDiaz was worse actually. It’s been several games now where they haven’t responded well to physical bigs posting them up on the blocks.
** Over the past two years, both have used their athleticism well to hedge and recover. But without a double team, Florida was almost certain to score. I think we saw much of the same from that other Florida team we played a few days ago.
** And when we double in the post, it tends to leave guys like Clayton open to fire away. 86 points later, this all added up to our Panthers first loss.
** What bothered me most about our defense was later in the second half when we seemed to settle down offensively, we seemed almost completely powerless to string together stops to make any kind of run.
** But what made our Panthers so exciting in our first four contests was our free flowing, some times effortless offense. Tonight, there were plenty of times when points weren’t coming so easily.
** To my eye the biggest problem with the Panther offense this night was we allowed ourselves to be almost completely a jump shooting team. I will generally exclude Ish from this comment as was attacking the rim with regularity.
** Most everyone else, notably Bub and Blake, were settling for jump shots on a night when they weren’t hitting at a high rate.
** Allow me to note that 17 assists on 24 baskets is not a bad number. But most of these assists were passes on the perimeter for jumpers.
** The number that really should matter is zero. Not just zero points for Fede. He didn’t even get a shot. And GDiaz didn’t score inside either.
** Capel’s offense works best when it’s opening things up inside and out. That wasn’t the case this night.
** What we do know is the Capel wants his players to shoot very confidently. His challenge this year will be what to do when they are shooting a bit too confidently. I don’t think it will ever be a good idea to try to reel them in per se.
** Unfortunately for Jeff, he didn’t have too many options to turn to against the Gators. This might have been a game where later in the year, perhaps Jaland will be a better choice off the bench. But not yet.
** I’d also like to think that there is more we can get out of Zach Austin. This isn’t to say that his 10 and 9 point effort should be viewed as a poor night. And he works very hard on both ends of court. But he might be a key to getting some post points. He’s got to start hitting some threes as well. He wasn’t even close on his three tries tonight.
** Beyond that, I don’t know there’s much more that can be added consistently to the offensive end. This is a much bigger issue if we don’t make progress defensively and will need to score well over 80 to win many of our games against tougher foes.
** I don’t know if Oregon State qualifies as a tougher foe. But we need a win on Friday. This season was never going to be an easy run to the Final Four, even if we had made a statement with a win against the Gators.
** But our guys need to show themselves that they can win in a place like Brooklyn doing what they do.
** Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans.
** Like most, I was hoping for the Panthers to make a statement. But what the game told us is there’s work to be done.
** I think the reality for this game is that it probably felt a little worse than it actually was, mostly because our expectations may have been a bit too high.
** Although Florida was clearly the better team, I do believe on a better shooting night we could have been right there with them. I’m also of the belief that this is pretty darn good Florida team. Finally, you could also make the case that we played with them for all but two deadly stretches, one in each half.
** Annoying as he may have been, Walter Clayton seems like a really legit talent to me. And Tyrese Samuel is no slouch either.
** But this isn’t to say we don’t have issues. Most notably, our post defense was simply atrocious. Fede was not good and GDiaz was worse actually. It’s been several games now where they haven’t responded well to physical bigs posting them up on the blocks.
** Over the past two years, both have used their athleticism well to hedge and recover. But without a double team, Florida was almost certain to score. I think we saw much of the same from that other Florida team we played a few days ago.
** And when we double in the post, it tends to leave guys like Clayton open to fire away. 86 points later, this all added up to our Panthers first loss.
** What bothered me most about our defense was later in the second half when we seemed to settle down offensively, we seemed almost completely powerless to string together stops to make any kind of run.
** But what made our Panthers so exciting in our first four contests was our free flowing, some times effortless offense. Tonight, there were plenty of times when points weren’t coming so easily.
** To my eye the biggest problem with the Panther offense this night was we allowed ourselves to be almost completely a jump shooting team. I will generally exclude Ish from this comment as was attacking the rim with regularity.
** Most everyone else, notably Bub and Blake, were settling for jump shots on a night when they weren’t hitting at a high rate.
** Allow me to note that 17 assists on 24 baskets is not a bad number. But most of these assists were passes on the perimeter for jumpers.
** The number that really should matter is zero. Not just zero points for Fede. He didn’t even get a shot. And GDiaz didn’t score inside either.
** Capel’s offense works best when it’s opening things up inside and out. That wasn’t the case this night.
** What we do know is the Capel wants his players to shoot very confidently. His challenge this year will be what to do when they are shooting a bit too confidently. I don’t think it will ever be a good idea to try to reel them in per se.
** Unfortunately for Jeff, he didn’t have too many options to turn to against the Gators. This might have been a game where later in the year, perhaps Jaland will be a better choice off the bench. But not yet.
** I’d also like to think that there is more we can get out of Zach Austin. This isn’t to say that his 10 and 9 point effort should be viewed as a poor night. And he works very hard on both ends of court. But he might be a key to getting some post points. He’s got to start hitting some threes as well. He wasn’t even close on his three tries tonight.
** Beyond that, I don’t know there’s much more that can be added consistently to the offensive end. This is a much bigger issue if we don’t make progress defensively and will need to score well over 80 to win many of our games against tougher foes.
** I don’t know if Oregon State qualifies as a tougher foe. But we need a win on Friday. This season was never going to be an easy run to the Final Four, even if we had made a statement with a win against the Gators.
** But our guys need to show themselves that they can win in a place like Brooklyn doing what they do.
** Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans.
