Just a comment from Greensboro

[JS School]

My seats at the ACC Tournament were much closer to the court than my seats at the Pete. From a few rows behind the band along the baseline, I was struck by how physically unimposing the Pitt players looked, aside from Burton and Hinson.

Obviously, our three guys with height are skinny to the point of being scrawny. They give away 40 or more pounds to most of the better teams' big men. But the fact that most of those teams have two, three, even four guys that are roughly 6'8" and 230 lbs to provide interior defense and offensive rebounding and Pitt really has none was noticeable. Despite his size Hinson is more of a perimeter player than one of those guys.

We often blame the lack of rebounding and defense on coaching, but I don't think we have the physicality to do it well consistently. I sometimes complained that Pitt sometimes seemed trigger happy, but Capel probably deserved Coach of the Year just for his patience with this team. They were built to shoot the ball.

Hopefully we don't run into a team in the NCAAs with a defender big and strong enough to keep Burton in front of him and hamper his game. We need him to draw double teams and allow the shooters to get free and let the 3s fly. I'd love to see all of them get hot at once.

 

[PittMan 72]

My seats at the ACC Tournament were much closer to the court than my seats at the Pete. From a few rows behind the band along the baseline, I was struck by how physically unimposing the Pitt players looked, aside from Burton and Hinson.

Obviously, our three guys with height are skinny to the point of being scrawny. They give away 40 or more pounds to most of the better teams' big men. But the fact that most of those teams have two, three, even four guys that are roughly 6'8" and 230 lbs to provide interior defense and offensive rebounding and Pitt really has none was noticeable. Despite his size Hinson is more of a perimeter player than one of those guys.

We often blame the lack of rebounding and defense on coaching, but I don't think we have the physicality to do it well consistently. I sometimes complained that Pitt sometimes seemed trigger happy, but Capel probably deserved Coach of the Year just for his patience with this team. They were built to shoot the ball.

Hopefully we don't run into a team in the NCAAs with a defender big and strong enough to keep Burton in front of him and hamper his game. We need him to draw double teams and allow the shooters to get free and let the 3s fly. I'd love to see all of them get hot at once.

Pitt is not a physically imposing team. No doubt. But at least some of that can be overcome w/r/t rebounding by doing the right things fundamentally.

Defensively they really need to box out. Get their body between the offensive player and the rim. Make the opponent have to go around them or over the top of them. Doing that can help overcome some physical disadvantages on the glass. But guys need to constantly be aware and find their box out responsibilities immediately. Can’t give the opponents a free path to run at the offensive glass.

Offensively it can depend on approach. How many guys are the Panthers willing to send to the offensive glass? Because the more guys you send, the greater the risk that you can be beat down court by the opponent with numbers and give up easy scores. Then offensive rebounding is also about anticipation and getting to the spots where the ball is most apt to come off.

Staying in front of dribblers on D and rebounding should be very important against a team like MS St. that has not typically shot a high percentage. There ought to be misses to rebound.

Pitt needs to hold their own in those areas and then make shots. Value the ball. Really limit turnovers. Especially live ball ones. Quick and accurate ball & player movement. We’ve seen them do it and know they can.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

there is a reason we shoot 30+ 3 point attempts a game.. Our post players are Federiko and well, federiko.

 

[Fredact]

there is a reason we shoot 30+ 3 point attempts a game.. Our post players are Federiko and well, federiko.

I see what you did there. Nice!

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

I see what you did there. Nice!

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

I don’t think it’s lack of coaching knowledge. It’s a bunch of rag tag guys who like to chuck the ball. That’s not damming our guys specifically. Nobody likes to play defense and rebound. But nobody likes getting benched either. Problem is with only 6 guys decent enough to play most of the game, nobody can afford to be benched for not playing defense or rebounding. Our players know this. On great teams with lots of options, the coach can bench their tails for not doing that. But ours can’t.

It’s just how it is with a team of transfers. You are getting flawed guys. This is where they happen to be flawed. Again, not damming them. Most guys who don’t play D or rebound also don’t score very well either, but at least our guys can do that most of the time.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

We don't have that kind of talent and we certainly don't have any Sam Youngs out there. These guys, all of them, need a better conditioning program with weights and some serious bulk and muscle added. With the portal, you don't know what you're getting with how well a guy is conditioned. If he hasn't been in your program, it's a crap shoot. We got lucky this year. There are no indications it will happen again.

 

[PittMan 72]

I don’t think it’s lack of coaching knowledge. It’s a bunch of rag tag guys who like to chuck the ball. That’s not damming our guys specifically. Nobody likes to play defense and rebound. But nobody likes getting benched either. Problem is with only 6 guys decent enough to play most of the game, nobody can afford to be benched for not playing defense or rebounding. Our players know this. On great teams with lots of options, the coach can bench their tails for not doing that. But ours can’t.

It’s just how it is with a team of transfers. You are getting flawed guys. This is where they happen to be flawed. Again, not damming them. Most guys who don’t play D or rebound also don’t score very well either, but at least our guys can do that most of the time.

Losing 4 scholarship players when it was too late to do anything about it was an unanticipated situation that HCJC could do nothing about. 2 of them could have helped on the inside, particularly with rebounding. And WJ was a pretty solid defender at 6’7”.

So I think Pitt has gone to playing a more perimeter oriented offense that best suits the 7 guys that play the vast proportion of the minutes. They involved FF more on O in the ACCT game vs GT because GT pushed their 5 (an undersized Franklin) out further to help on the perimeter. That gave FF room down low. Pitt adjusted well.

How MS St. will play it is TBD. But would imagine they’ll play more conventionally and keep a big closer to FF on the inside defensively.

 

[wbrpanther]

My seats at the ACC Tournament were much closer to the court than my seats at the Pete. From a few rows behind the band along the baseline, I was struck by how physically unimposing the Pitt players looked, aside from Burton and Hinson.

Obviously, our three guys with height are skinny to the point of being scrawny. They give away 40 or more pounds to most of the better teams' big men. But the fact that most of those teams have two, three, even four guys that are roughly 6'8" and 230 lbs to provide interior defense and offensive rebounding and Pitt really has none was noticeable. Despite his size Hinson is more of a perimeter player than one of those guys.

We often blame the lack of rebounding and defense on coaching, but I don't think we have the physicality to do it well consistently. I sometimes complained that Pitt sometimes seemed trigger happy, but Capel probably deserved Coach of the Year just for his patience with this team. They were built to shoot the ball.

Hopefully we don't run into a team in the NCAAs with a defender big and strong enough to keep Burton in front of him and hamper his game. We need him to draw double teams and allow the shooters to get free and let the 3s fly. I'd love to see all of them get hot at once.

We’ve always known our problem is physicality. That’s not a secret. How Fede and the twins attack the off season will be huge for the advancement of the program.

 

[JS School]

We’ve always known our problem is physicality. That’s not a secret. How Fede and the twins attack the off season will be huge for the advancement of the program.

They can get stronger, but they don't look like they could bulk up too much. Capel needs to find a Troutman or Lett type player in the portal. Failing that, and if Hugley somehow comes back, might have to find a way to alternate Hugley/Guillermo and Federico/Jorge tandems. That would be a challenge for any coach, however.

 

[TD_6082]

The Greensboro Coliseum is the MSG of Greensboro!

Apparently Pitt fans don't want to travel to Greensboro for the ACC tourney. Will they show up in better numbers for a NCAA Tournament game? (assuming a win over Miss St)

 

[JS School]

The Greensboro Coliseum is the MSG of Greensboro!

Apparently Pitt fans don't want to travel to Greensboro for the ACC tourney. Will they show up in better numbers for a NCAA Tournament game? (assuming a win over Miss St)

I was told that it's actually one of the largest basketball arenas in the country. Not sure how accurate that is, didn't think to research it.

 

[TD_6082]

I was told that it's actually one of the largest basketball arenas in the country. Not sure how accurate that is, didn't think to research it.

It definitely was at one time. I think it seats 20,000 for basketball. That's still probably one of the largest, but most of the new arenas seat between 17 & 19K. Not near the difference that it once was. The old Charlotte Coliseum actually seated more at 24,000. (not the tin-roof dome, but the one where Scotty Thurman drilled his jumper in Antonio Lang's face)

Greensboro is just really the heart of the ACC. It's really a neat set up to host a conference tourney. It's steeped in ACC/college basketball tradition. Tailgating, Food trucks, the convention center complex surrounding the arena. The tourney is the big fish in the small pond and the only game in town there. They do a great job as host.

 

[Dointhatrag]

I'll be there if we are playing Friday for session 1 and hopefully back again for session 3 on Sunday. Being an hour and a half away has its advantages.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

i've always disliked watching games at dayton on TV. something with the camera angle. It's almost like duke where the cameras are up in the rafters, looking straight down.

anyone know what im talking about? also comes off as dark on tv, like the lights are low or something. i'll admit, i recall one or two times pitt played dayton so i could be off. didnt one of our players step on a cheerleader and get hurt?

 

[TD_6082]

i've always disliked watching games at dayton on TV. something with the camera angle. It's almost like duke where the cameras are up in the rafters, looking straight down.

anyone know what im talking about? also comes off as dark on tv, like the lights are low or something. i'll admit, i recall one or two times pitt played dayton so i could be off. didnt one of our players step on a cheerleader and get hurt?

I feel like that watching Vandy play at Memorial gym. The only thing worse than watching a game at Memorial Gym on TV is watching a game at Memorial Gym in person.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

I feel like that watching Vandy play at Memorial gym. The only thing worse than watching a game at Memorial Gym on TV is watching a game at Memorial Gym in person.

vandy is the worst.

not sure about it being dark, but it has that "Duke" camera angle of up in rafters, just annoys me. This was a long time ago though so maybe it's changed.

 

[sonofabit]

vandy is the worst.

not sure about it being dark, but it has that "Duke" camera angle of up in rafters, just annoys me. This was a long time ago though so maybe it's changed.

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Indiana was like that as well. IU. Assembly Hall? Bobby K. days.

 

[UPitt '89]

It definitely was at one time. I think it seats 20,000 for basketball. That's still probably one of the largest, but most of the new arenas seat between 17 & 19K. Not near the difference that it once was. The old Charlotte Coliseum actually seated more at 24,000. (not the tin-roof dome, but the one where Scotty Thurman drilled his jumper in Antonio Lang's face)

Greensboro is just really the heart of the ACC. It's really a neat set up to host a conference tourney. It's steeped in ACC/college basketball tradition. Tailgating, Food trucks, the convention center complex surrounding the arena. The tourney is the big fish in the small pond and the only game in town there. They do a great job as host.

Greensboro is Erie with better weather.

 

[UPitt '89]

vandy is the worst.

not sure about it being dark, but it has that "Duke" camera angle of up in rafters, just annoys me. This was a long time ago though so maybe it's changed.

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My OCD causes me to hate watching games on TV that are in Cameron. I can't stand that the camera isn't centered with the mid-court line.

WTF is up with that?

 

[docpanther26]

there is a reason we shoot 30+ 3 point attempts a game.. Our post players are Federiko and well, federiko.

Well then…I’ll have a steak sandwich and a…steak sandwich!

For those who love Fletch…

 

[TD_6082]

Well then…I’ll have a steak sandwich and a…steak sandwich!

For those who love Fletch…

Who doesn't love Fletch? Fletch is a classic.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

The camera angle stinks. The Pete’s after the court flip not that good either.

 

[UPitt '89]

Who doesn't love Fletch? Fletch is a classic.

oh... you said "Fletch".