Hate to drudge it up...

[Protes]

I was watching the interview here with Jermaine Dixon and the replay of the Scottie Reynolds drive. I could have sworn Nova took a TO and Jay Wright drew up that play. I think it was a play they had worked on for end of game. Anyway, it was interesting to hear Jermaine say that we never really pressed but, in that situation, Jamie decided to. So, my question is, was that last play really on our coach? Should we have just thrown token pressure and then defended the half-court. It obviously opened the whole floor and allowed Reynolds to drive all the way to the basket.

WATCH: Former Pitt Player Jermaine Dixon Reminisces on 2008-09 Elite Eight Run

PITTSBURGH — It’s been nearly 15 years since Pitt’s hearts were broken in the 2009 Elite Eight on Scottie Reynolds’ buzzer-beating game winner. The 2009 Pitt basketball team — which finished 31-5 and 15-3 in Big East play — is back in town for the weekend, celebrating Alumni Night alongside the...

pittsburghsportsnow.com

 

[Parkview57]

If this were a poll, I would vote "Let it go"

 

[MorningCoffee13]

We pressed? Lol. You sure as hell couldn’t tell. All I can see in my mind is Sam half assing it coming down the court behind he who shall not be named. I kept thinking damn our best athlete could surely have made a game saving block from behind there. Plenty of blame to go around on that play.

 

[wbrpanther]

I was watching the interview here with Jermaine Dixon and the replay of the Scottie Reynolds drive. I could have sworn Nova took a TO and Jay Wright drew up that play. I think it was a play they had worked on for end of game. Anyway, it was interesting to hear Jermaine say that we never really pressed but, in that situation, Jamie decided to. So, my question is, was that last play really on our coach? Should we have just thrown token pressure and then defended the half-court. It obviously opened the whole floor and allowed Reynolds to drive all the way to the basket.

WATCH: Former Pitt Player Jermaine Dixon Reminisces on 2008-09 Elite Eight Run

PITTSBURGH — It’s been nearly 15 years since Pitt’s hearts were broken in the 2009 Elite Eight on Scottie Reynolds’ buzzer-beating game winner. The 2009 Pitt basketball team — which finished 31-5 and 15-3 in Big East play — is back in town for the weekend, celebrating Alumni Night alongside the...

pittsburghsportsnow.com

That loss is all Jermaine. The inexcusable drive into a trap then the foul. And playing Reynolds on the wrong side. Stay between him and the basket when he took the pass and he never gets all the way down the court. Of course Fella didn't try to cut him off and Gil Brown should have tried to block the shot.

 

[Protes]

That loss is all Jermaine. The inexcusable drive into a trap then the foul. And playing Reynolds on the wrong side. Stay between him and the basket when he took the pass and he never gets all the way down the court. Of course Fella didn't try to cut him off and Gil Brown should have tried to block the shot.

Yeah, rewatching a bit here -

Bad turnover by Jermaine up 67-63. Somehow, Nova scored 15 points in the last 3 minutes too starting with that play.

That last play will always stick out most, but Nova basically had to be perfect to beat us, including their 19-20 from the free throw line. We deserved a better fate.

 

[KennyHeisman8]

Yeah, rewatching a bit here -

View embedded media

Bad turnover by Jermaine up 67-63. Somehow, Nova scored 15 points in the last 3 minutes too starting with that play.

That last play will always stick out most, but Nova basically had to be perfect to beat us, including their 19-20 from the free throw line. We deserved a better fate.

We ran into a ton of bad luck in the tournament, whether it was dudes going off or terrible matchups against underseeded teams. The nova matchup might have been about the worst one we could have got.

The butler game too. I just remember the butler game too, a stretch where we pulled up by five points and it could have been ten but there were several questionable calls in a short span that gave butler points and took points off the board for us…mainly Matt Howard getting the benefits of flopping

 

[TD_6082]

Yeah, rewatching a bit here -

View embedded media

Bad turnover by Jermaine up 67-63. Somehow, Nova scored 15 points in the last 3 minutes too starting with that play.

That last play will always stick out most, but Nova basically had to be perfect to beat us, including their 19-20 from the free throw line. We deserved a better fate.

That one hurt the most because a trip to the Final Four was at stake, but 2009 was always going to end badly. UNC was just flat out better & I don't think Pitt would have been much of a challenge for that UNC team.

2011 - That was a favorable bracket, a deeper team with a little more versatility, They could certainly go toe to toe with UCONN. I would have loved to have seen where that team went had they pulled the Butler game out.

 

[Gep Dawg]

Villanova was our achillies heel that year. We lost to them in the regular season too. Blair and Young couldnt defend Cunningham because he could could hit the high post shot all day. The committee had to know this and decided to force us to prove we deserved our one seed by potentially making us have to be a team we struggled with earlier in the year. I personally believe we would have beaten UNC that year. But we will never know. We certainly matched up better with them than Nova did. I also think Butler was a poor match up for us in 2011. The selection committee never gave us a break back then. Not sure 2011 was a better or deeper team. But I agree if we get past Butler the path was more favorable than the one in 2009..

 

[TD_6082]

Villanova was our achillies heel that year. We lost to them in the regular season too. Blair and Young couldnt defend Cunningham because he could could hit the high post shot all day. The committee had to know those and decided to force us to prove we deserved out one seed. I personally believe we would have beaten UNC that year. But we will never know. We certainly matched up better with them than Nova did. I also think Butler was a poor match up for us in 2011. The selection committee never gave us a break back then. Not sure 2011 was a better or deeper team. But I agree if we get past Butler the path was more favorable than the one in 2009..

UNC was loaded that year. I think they would have walked the dog on Pitt. Hansbrough, Ellington, Lawson, Green, Davis, Thompson.... but as you said, we will never know.

Despite making the Elite 8, every game in that tourney was a struggle. ETSU, OK State (even when Sam Young went off for 30) and Xavier. Every game went right down to the last couple minutes.

 

[maxxwell]

We had the bad luck of having our best team of the Howland-Dixon Era in a rather deep year. Capel last week on his radio show said that when he started watching other top teams that year, Pitt was one he hoped to avoid. Also heard on radio today that Reynolds was supposed to go to Capel’s Oklahoma team but changed his mind, last minute.