This is our national celebration and Pitt is right in the middle of it.
Once again, the greatest event in sports has delivered from the opening tip.
Yesterday was Movie Day and it was a double feature. The opening drama will stay with Kehei Clark for a long time. Up two, having just missed a foul shot that would have helped a lot, and trapped in the corner with 8 seconds to go, Clark eschewed the timeout he had available to him (as did everyone on Virginia) in favor of a blind halfcourt pass. As soon as Furman easily intercepted it, anyone who has ever seen Hoosiers knew for an absolute certainty that Furman was going to get a wide open three pointer and that it was going to go in.
Like all Shakespearean tragedies, this one was foreshadowed. Shortly before halftime of Virginia’s impressive thrashing of Clemson in the ACC Tournament last week, the announcers made a thing out of Clark and Tony Bennett, alone, huddling over strategy during a timeout. It was a nice moment, teacher and student in total synch after years of study together. A few minutes later, Clark failed to realize the clock was winding down and failed to get off a shot. Bennett was funny about it at halftime, saying that he thought about stealing the ball from Clark and shooting it himself, and that “I guess he needed six years” to learn that one. It was funny then.
Hopefully, Clark will take comfort in an honorable career and the knowledge that he quarterbacked Virginia to a national championship as a lightly recruited freshman point guard. But this one is always going to sting.
Soon after Furman pulled off this stunner, Princeton became the second number 15 seed to beat Arizona. I remember the first one, by Santa Clara well after midnight about 30 years ago. I recall wondering why Arizona was having trouble with a skinny freshman guard from Canada with bad skin. Turns out it was the young Steve Nash. There probably was no Steve Nash on Princeton, but they did have a player from Newcastle England with a name that can barely be spelled much less pronounced, Tosan Evboumwan, and a game that was equally challenging to Arizona. Princeton also had karma on its side, after Arizona center Oumar Ballo told defeated Stanford last week that they should go home and “study some science.” Anyone who has seen Revenge of the Nerds knew exactly how this one was going to turn out.
Things seemed calmer this afternoon, with form holding, except in Greensboro, North Carolina, as we will get to below, and even there it was more the margin and the way it went down than the result.
Then, tonight, if you stayed up late enough you saw a couple of stirring finishes, Florida Atlantic scoring at the wire to take down the fighting Little Penny’s of Memphis and then our old and dear friend Jamie Dixon and Mike Miles coaxing TCU back to a last second comeback win over a good Arizona State team. But the coup de grace was in Columbus, Ohio where, for the second year in a row, a wildly undersized bunch of bad-asses from a tiny school in Jersey tore the roof off the NCAA tournament, taking down Number 1 seed Purdue in the heart of Big Ten country.
It is reminder that, as Pete Axthelm wrote in a classic ode to the world of Earl Manigault, Pee Wee Kirkland and Herman “Helicopter” Knowings, basketball is The City Game. That is still true. But one thing that has changed since Axthelm wrote The City Game 50 years ago is that basketball also is now The International Game.
Which is as good a place as any to begin to talk about The Twins. Guillermo and Jorge Diaz-Graham, two delightful young men who are teetering on becoming a national story in addition to, I am sure, being the bomb in the Canary Islands.
Last summer, Chris Peak did a great interview with The Twins, one I suggest that Chris re-post, in which they discussed happy they were to be here, how they were adjusting, and how nervous they were to meet with Coach O’Toole because this was their big chance to play college basketball.
That innocence, youthful enthusiasm and what in a simpler time they used to call “team spirit” has been a huge part of the feel good story that has been the now-memorable 2022-2023 Pitt basketball season. Until today, and maybe still, the play of the season was Aidan Fisch’s crossover layup at the end of the Syracuse game. And an indelible part of that special moment was the sight of Jorge Diaz-Graham skipping and hopping like a small child in pure joy for his teammate.
It was equally clear from the start that the Twins were a lot more than likeable and entertaining mascots. My reaction from the first time I saw them was “these guys are going to be players and if they can gain weight they are going to be great players someday. I just hope it isn’t at Kentucky.”
While the Twins remain delightfully innocent and unaffected, if you listen closely, they also are very interesting at times. There was an interview a few weeks ago where one of them twins basically said they were nervous about coming to the United States because so many U.S. players did not play the game the right way. They are right of course but they have had the good fortune, along with another lean and talented young international big man, Federiko Federiko, to be joined with a veteran core of guards, grown men who have learned the hard way how to play the game the right way.
All of which was on display this afternoon in Greensboro when our Pitt Panthers rediscovered the defense that had gone missing and dismantled Iowa State from the esteemed Big 12 and, not insignificantly, last year’s Sweet 16. As Coach Capel said hilariously on TV after the game, “we’ve had a really good defense all year, except for the month of February.”
The biggest part of that was Guillermo Diaz-Graham, who was the best player on the court this afternoon, and it wasn’t really close. It was no coincidence that Iowa State got back in the game when Guillermo went out with two fouls in the first half, and went back to its sub-20% shooting when Guillermo re-entered the game to start the second half. And when Pitt was straining to find the play that would break Iowa State’s back, The Twins found it, with a stunningly gorgeous brother-to-brother back door pass by Jorge for the slam by Guillermo that, from a pure basketball standpoint, was the play of the season for me.
Although the Twins were the big story today, they were not the only story. The defense was team defense, the rebounding was gang rebounding. Federiko gave it all he had, in tough circumstances. All of the veterans made key plays at key times and the foul shooting, which almost cost them everything against Mississippi State, was brilliant today, especially by Jamarious Burton and Greg Elliott.
So now they get Xavier and Sean Miller. Xavier was lucky to win today but they are a dangerous team with a much better offense than either Mississippi State or Iowa State. Pitt is a dangerous team, too.
Pitt has played Xavier twice in the NCAA Tournament, winning in Boston over Sean Miller to reach the Elite Eight in 2009 in a game best remembered for Levance Fields’ “Onions” shot but which I also remember for Pat Driscoll hustling 94 feet to catch a Xavier player just barely out of bounds at a crucial moment. And then a tough 3 point loss in Milwaukee against a Chris Mack coached Xavier team with a player, Jordan Crawford, that Pitt struggled to contain.
While they are a part of the fabric of my life, those games are in the past. This Pitt team is writing its own story, a big part of it in Spanish. Knocking out Sean Miller and Xavier would be a compelling chapter.
Let’s Go Pitt.
Once again, the greatest event in sports has delivered from the opening tip.
Yesterday was Movie Day and it was a double feature. The opening drama will stay with Kehei Clark for a long time. Up two, having just missed a foul shot that would have helped a lot, and trapped in the corner with 8 seconds to go, Clark eschewed the timeout he had available to him (as did everyone on Virginia) in favor of a blind halfcourt pass. As soon as Furman easily intercepted it, anyone who has ever seen Hoosiers knew for an absolute certainty that Furman was going to get a wide open three pointer and that it was going to go in.
Like all Shakespearean tragedies, this one was foreshadowed. Shortly before halftime of Virginia’s impressive thrashing of Clemson in the ACC Tournament last week, the announcers made a thing out of Clark and Tony Bennett, alone, huddling over strategy during a timeout. It was a nice moment, teacher and student in total synch after years of study together. A few minutes later, Clark failed to realize the clock was winding down and failed to get off a shot. Bennett was funny about it at halftime, saying that he thought about stealing the ball from Clark and shooting it himself, and that “I guess he needed six years” to learn that one. It was funny then.
Hopefully, Clark will take comfort in an honorable career and the knowledge that he quarterbacked Virginia to a national championship as a lightly recruited freshman point guard. But this one is always going to sting.
Soon after Furman pulled off this stunner, Princeton became the second number 15 seed to beat Arizona. I remember the first one, by Santa Clara well after midnight about 30 years ago. I recall wondering why Arizona was having trouble with a skinny freshman guard from Canada with bad skin. Turns out it was the young Steve Nash. There probably was no Steve Nash on Princeton, but they did have a player from Newcastle England with a name that can barely be spelled much less pronounced, Tosan Evboumwan, and a game that was equally challenging to Arizona. Princeton also had karma on its side, after Arizona center Oumar Ballo told defeated Stanford last week that they should go home and “study some science.” Anyone who has seen Revenge of the Nerds knew exactly how this one was going to turn out.
Things seemed calmer this afternoon, with form holding, except in Greensboro, North Carolina, as we will get to below, and even there it was more the margin and the way it went down than the result.
Then, tonight, if you stayed up late enough you saw a couple of stirring finishes, Florida Atlantic scoring at the wire to take down the fighting Little Penny’s of Memphis and then our old and dear friend Jamie Dixon and Mike Miles coaxing TCU back to a last second comeback win over a good Arizona State team. But the coup de grace was in Columbus, Ohio where, for the second year in a row, a wildly undersized bunch of bad-asses from a tiny school in Jersey tore the roof off the NCAA tournament, taking down Number 1 seed Purdue in the heart of Big Ten country.
It is reminder that, as Pete Axthelm wrote in a classic ode to the world of Earl Manigault, Pee Wee Kirkland and Herman “Helicopter” Knowings, basketball is The City Game. That is still true. But one thing that has changed since Axthelm wrote The City Game 50 years ago is that basketball also is now The International Game.
Which is as good a place as any to begin to talk about The Twins. Guillermo and Jorge Diaz-Graham, two delightful young men who are teetering on becoming a national story in addition to, I am sure, being the bomb in the Canary Islands.
Last summer, Chris Peak did a great interview with The Twins, one I suggest that Chris re-post, in which they discussed happy they were to be here, how they were adjusting, and how nervous they were to meet with Coach O’Toole because this was their big chance to play college basketball.
That innocence, youthful enthusiasm and what in a simpler time they used to call “team spirit” has been a huge part of the feel good story that has been the now-memorable 2022-2023 Pitt basketball season. Until today, and maybe still, the play of the season was Aidan Fisch’s crossover layup at the end of the Syracuse game. And an indelible part of that special moment was the sight of Jorge Diaz-Graham skipping and hopping like a small child in pure joy for his teammate.
It was equally clear from the start that the Twins were a lot more than likeable and entertaining mascots. My reaction from the first time I saw them was “these guys are going to be players and if they can gain weight they are going to be great players someday. I just hope it isn’t at Kentucky.”
While the Twins remain delightfully innocent and unaffected, if you listen closely, they also are very interesting at times. There was an interview a few weeks ago where one of them twins basically said they were nervous about coming to the United States because so many U.S. players did not play the game the right way. They are right of course but they have had the good fortune, along with another lean and talented young international big man, Federiko Federiko, to be joined with a veteran core of guards, grown men who have learned the hard way how to play the game the right way.
All of which was on display this afternoon in Greensboro when our Pitt Panthers rediscovered the defense that had gone missing and dismantled Iowa State from the esteemed Big 12 and, not insignificantly, last year’s Sweet 16. As Coach Capel said hilariously on TV after the game, “we’ve had a really good defense all year, except for the month of February.”
The biggest part of that was Guillermo Diaz-Graham, who was the best player on the court this afternoon, and it wasn’t really close. It was no coincidence that Iowa State got back in the game when Guillermo went out with two fouls in the first half, and went back to its sub-20% shooting when Guillermo re-entered the game to start the second half. And when Pitt was straining to find the play that would break Iowa State’s back, The Twins found it, with a stunningly gorgeous brother-to-brother back door pass by Jorge for the slam by Guillermo that, from a pure basketball standpoint, was the play of the season for me.
Although the Twins were the big story today, they were not the only story. The defense was team defense, the rebounding was gang rebounding. Federiko gave it all he had, in tough circumstances. All of the veterans made key plays at key times and the foul shooting, which almost cost them everything against Mississippi State, was brilliant today, especially by Jamarious Burton and Greg Elliott.
So now they get Xavier and Sean Miller. Xavier was lucky to win today but they are a dangerous team with a much better offense than either Mississippi State or Iowa State. Pitt is a dangerous team, too.
Pitt has played Xavier twice in the NCAA Tournament, winning in Boston over Sean Miller to reach the Elite Eight in 2009 in a game best remembered for Levance Fields’ “Onions” shot but which I also remember for Pat Driscoll hustling 94 feet to catch a Xavier player just barely out of bounds at a crucial moment. And then a tough 3 point loss in Milwaukee against a Chris Mack coached Xavier team with a player, Jordan Crawford, that Pitt struggled to contain.
While they are a part of the fabric of my life, those games are in the past. This Pitt team is writing its own story, a big part of it in Spanish. Knocking out Sean Miller and Xavier would be a compelling chapter.
Let’s Go Pitt.
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