Louisville Game & Other Dribbles ...

[DT_PITT]

** Some wins feel pretty good. Occasionally they can be euphoric.

** Conversely, most losses are disappointing. Some are really disappointing. But for me, I have to confess this one even stings a little more than usual.

** In fact, I’m stinging so much I considered not offering a post game entry today. But I’ve always pledged to write in the good and the bad. So perhaps this won’t be my best effort, but at least hopefully it will be a little bit better of an effort than our Panthers put forward today on the defensive glass.

** But this one stings a little more than usual not because of the loss in itself, but more because this is the first loss that makes me worry that this team isn’t quite the team that I thought they might be.

** I’ll readily acknowledge this could easily be an overreaction.

** So let’s be clear that I’m not yet offering any kind of predictions that our tournament berth is moving toward the bubble.

** And even if this team was most everything we thought they might be, we were always going to lose a minimum of three more ACC games after Duke, and this one was on the list of games we might lose.

** So there’s that.

** But it’s still a game I believed we should win, and I’m a bit troubled that we didn’t.

** Or maybe it’s just as simple as needing to figure out how to improve our defensive rebounding.

** This has been a real problem for us at times this year. This was the first time it cost us a win.

** Also when we needed stops down the stretch, our defense failed us.

** Louisville scored on their final four possessions and 9 of their final 10 possessions. We were up 2 when that streak started. The math is pretty simple. We lost by four.

** What adds to the sting is that we did enough good things offensively to win this. We shot well enough and took care of the ball well enough. And we scored extra points over average on a great night at the foul line.

** On the offensive end down the stretch, we showed enough poise, and truly benefited from the full return of Damian Dunn.

** For whatever reason, Damian was seemingly the only Panther who could be counted on to clear the defensive glass, especially in the second half.

** But all of the Panthers, including Damian made gaffs on the defensive end. Long story short, this team has a long way to go to figure out how to defend ball screens as a team. A couple times we went under the screen without secondary help, leaving Reyne Smith way too much room to torch us.

** Reyne may be a pretty decent player, but he’s not nearly as good as the Panthers allowed him to be today.

** While I don’t necessarily question Capel’s second half strategy to play his main five for all but 2 minutes in the second half, I do wonder exactly what he’s thinking. Has he lost confidence in GDG? And if so, I’m not exactly sure why because it didn’t appear to me to me that his defense or rebounding was particularly worse than that of anyone else.

** And Cam can’t or shouldn’t be considered the main culprit for the Panthers’ defensive struggles. But he had several issues with his own man at times, his help was untimely, and his boxing out on the defensive glass was hard to locate.

** Otherwise, while much of the needed defensive effort was there, communication and attention to detail on that end was not.

** Nonetheless, if you enjoy college hoops as much as most of us do, you know that just a few days after a stinging loss, there’s an opportunity for one of those satisfying wins.

** On the road at Florida State would be one such win. So even if this loss brings some thoughts that maybe the team isn’t quite what we thought they were, a win on Wednesday gets us back on that path.

 

[Chairman Moe]

** Some wins feel pretty good. Occasionally they can be euphoric.

** Conversely, most losses are disappointing. Some are really disappointing. But for me, I have to confess this one even stings a little more than usual.

** In fact, I’m stinging so much I considered not offering a post game entry today. But I’ve always pledged to write in the good and the bad. So perhaps this won’t be my best effort, but at least hopefully it will be a little bit better of an effort than our Panthers put forward today on the defensive glass.

** But this one stings a little more than usual not because of the loss in itself, but more because this is the first loss that makes me worry that this team isn’t quite the team that I thought they might be.

** I’ll readily acknowledge this could easily be an overreaction.

** So let’s be clear that I’m not yet offering any kind of predictions that our tournament berth is moving toward the bubble.

** And even if this team was most everything we thought they might be, we were always going to lose a minimum of three more ACC games after Duke, and this one was on the list of games we might lose.

** So there’s that.

** But it’s still a game I believed we should win, and I’m a bit troubled that we didn’t.

** Or maybe it’s just as simple as needing to figure out how to improve our defensive rebounding.

** This has been a real problem for us at times this year. This was the first time it cost us a win.

** Also when we needed stops down the stretch, our defense failed us.

** Louisville scored on their final four possessions and 9 of their final 10 possessions. We were up 2 when that streak started. The math is pretty simple. We lost by four.

** What adds to the sting is that we did enough good things offensively to win this. We shot well enough and took care of the ball well enough. And we scored extra points over average on a great night at the foul line.

** On the offensive end down the stretch, we showed enough poise, and truly benefited from the full return of Damian Dunn.

** For whatever reason, Damian was seemingly the only Panther who could be counted on to clear the defensive glass, especially in the second half.

** But all of the Panthers, including Damian made gaffs on the defensive end. Long story short, this team has a long way to go to figure out how to defend ball screens as a team. A couple times we went under the screen without secondary help, leaving Reyne Smith way too much room to torch us.

** Reyne may be a pretty decent player, but he’s not nearly as good as the Panthers allowed him to be today.

** While I don’t necessarily question Capel’s second half strategy to play his main five for all but 2 minutes in the second half, I do wonder exactly what he’s thinking. Has he lost confidence in GDG? And if so, I’m not exactly sure why because it didn’t appear to me to me that his defense or rebounding was particularly worse than that of anyone else.

** And Cam can’t or shouldn’t be considered the main culprit for the Panthers’ defensive struggles. But he had several issues with his own man at times, his help was untimely, and his boxing out on the defensive glass was hard to locate.

** Otherwise, while much of the needed defensive effort was there, communication and attention to detail on that end was not.

** Nonetheless, if you enjoy college hoops as much as most of us do, you know that just a few days after a stinging loss, there’s an opportunity for one of those satisfying wins.

** On the road at Florida State would be one such win. So even if this loss brings some thoughts that maybe the team isn’t quite what we thought they were, a win on Wednesday gets us back on that path.

Three key factors to this loss:

1) first four minutes it seemed we were hesitant to shoot; especially threes. IIRC. 5-5 at the first media timeout should've been in our favor

2) the turnover when we were up 18-10 was a killer. Pitt had gone on a run, granted, and was in a position to increase their lead. It quickly faded and they played from behind the rest of the first half

3) rebounds and second chance points. Yes, the defense needs to improve, some, but after stopping your opponent and not securing the rebound makes you have to continue playing defense

It's going to be tough for the remaining 14 games. Got to find the toughness in this group to defend, rebound, and share the ball. And, find a couple of go to guys off the bench that will light a spark. Delalic got no minutes and Beebah very few as well. JDG has been shooting the 3-ball well lately. Where was he?

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Three key factors to this loss:

1) first four minutes it seemed we were hesitant to shoot; especially threes. IIRC. 5-5 at the first media timeout should've been in our favor

2) the turnover when we were up 18-10 was a killer. Pitt had gone on a run, granted, and was in a position to increase their lead. It quickly faded and they played from behind the rest of the first half

3) rebounds and second chance points. Yes, the defense needs to improve, some, but after stopping your opponent and not securing the rebound makes you have to continue playing defense

It's going to be tough for the remaining 14 games. Got to find the toughness in this group to defend, rebound, and share the ball. And, find a couple of go to guys off the bench that will light a spark. Delalic got no minutes and Beebah very few as well. JDG has been shooting the 3-ball well lately. Where was he?

With 14 games remaining, not including the ACCT, it seems to me that we'll need to win 10 of them. And the wins we do get will need to be against the better conference teams. This one hurts because 'Ville was one of the wins we should be counting on at home. How many wins in a row have we had at home before this one? 14?

Rebounding and defense again.

 

[Chairman Moe]

With 14 games remaining, not including the ACCT, it seems to me that we'll need to win 10 of them. And the wins we do get will need to be against the better conference teams. This one hurts because 'Ville was one of the wins we should be counting on at home. How many wins in a row have we had at home before this one? 14?

Rebounding and defense again.

I thought we were on a 15 game home winning streak but I could be wrong

 

[HailToPitt1985]

I thought we were on a 15 game home winning streak but I could be wrong

Maybe it was. 14 or 15, either way that's a nice streak. Too bad we couldn't hold home court today.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

I'd like to add a couple of positives from this stinging loss that I can't help but notice:

1) Lowe. He scored 24 points and 6 assists and was giving an all out effort on offense on every play. Someone need to get him some hip, elbow and shoulder pads. He hits the floor hard a lot.
2) Dunn. He had a slow start but came around with 15 points and 8 rebounds. At least he was rebounding and showing some effort on defense. If it weren't for him and Zack, I hate to think how badly we would have lost.

 

[Protes]

Not much to say. Rebounding has been our Achilles heel. If it doesn't improve, we can kiss any chance of an NCAA-run goodbye, and perhaps any chance of an NCAAT at all.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

This feels like our worst "new year" team of the last three. I still fail to see how people have called it the best. Hinson was a cheat code, and the only way we were ever going to make up for his absence was going to be to improve in other areas: namely, defense and rebounding. Well, we haven't.

And, on a sum of all parts basis, what we gained at the 5 (arguably nothing from an overall standpoint) isn't close to what we lost at the 4. And the bench is only marginally better. I mean, we did have the 6th man of the year twice in a row. I thought we were deeper this season, but apparently Capel doesn't think so.

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

I am not impressed with Lowe's or defense. At all. That white boy from Louisville was hitting wide open set shots. WTH

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Unlike the Duke game this was a game the Panthers should’ve won.

Give Louisville credit they took advantage of their second chances .

A good number of them came after Pitt played good D and to rub salt in the wound they drained a three .

The two teams couldn’t have been more different on the boards . Louisville attacked the boards while Pitt was passive .

So far from the guys who get minutes for the Panthers there’s no natural rebounder among them .

I’d sacrifice some offense and play Papa more and see if he can get it done on the boards .

Complaining about the refs is pointless , but they called so many phantom fouls today it was pathetic.

Tough loss

 

[NCanton Panther]

Three key factors to this loss:

1) first four minutes it seemed we were hesitant to shoot; especially threes. IIRC. 5-5 at the first media timeout should've been in our favor

2) the turnover when we were up 18-10 was a killer. Pitt had gone on a run, granted, and was in a position to increase their lead. It quickly faded and they played from behind the rest of the first half

3) rebounds and second chance points. Yes, the defense needs to improve, some, but after stopping your opponent and not securing the rebound makes you have to continue playing defense

It's going to be tough for the remaining 14 games. Got to find the toughness in this group to defend, rebound, and share the ball. And, find a couple of go to guys off the bench that will light a spark. Delalic got no minutes and Beebah very few as well. JDG has been shooting the 3-ball well lately. Where was he?

If you’re going to mention specific plays, I’ll play along and give you the 2 I thought were the killers, especially considering they gapped at the end of the game when every play was critical.

1. I think we were up 72-70 at the time or it might have been 72-72. Ville inbounding from the baseline to the left of their basket, Leggett defending the inbounds pass and Lowe on Smith. Smith comes around a screen to the bear corner, Lowe loses him big time around the screen, Smith gets an easy inbounds pass in the corner snd drains the 3.

2. Might have been Ville’s very next possession or one later. Smith or Hadley shooting a 3 from the left side with Corhen defending. The shit is short iff the rim and back towards Corhen and the shooter. Corhen just stood there after the shot went up, no attempt to box out or anything. So of course, the shooter steps right around Corhen, collects the easy offensive rebound and. Ille ends up with a critical 2 points they shouldn’t have.

3. I said 2 but can now think of a third one on the offensive side down the stretch. Lowe made a good move to get around his defender and had an easy unrushed bunny on the right side of the basket but unfortunately missed it.

 

[NCanton Panther]

Unlike the Duke game this was a game the Panthers should’ve won.

Give Louisville credit they took advantage of their second chances .

A good number of them came after Pitt played good D and to rub salt in the wound they drained a three .

The two teams couldn’t have been more different on the boards . Louisville attacked the boards while Pitt was passive .

So far from the guys who get minutes for the Panthers there’s no natural rebounder among them .

I’d sacrifice some offense and play Papa more and see if he can get it done on the boards .

Complaining about the refs is pointless , but they called so many phantom fouls today it was pathetic.

Tough loss

I agree there were s lot of phantom goul calks but I don’t think yhey influenced the outcome much.

Seemed like this ref crew called a lot of anticipatory fouls, a guy driving to the hoop and at a defender and the ref just expecting there to be foul worthy contact and blowing the whistle rather than watching yo see if there was any actual contact.

 

[pittbb80]

The top three reasons why Pitt lost are

1. Rebounding
2. Rebounding
3. Rebounding

That’s it. That’s the list. Whether or not they can improve (can’t get much worse). Will determine whether or not they can make the dance To a large extent rebounding is about toughness and want to. If I’m Capel I’m spending at least 50 pct of practice focusing on rebounding

 

[DT_PITT]

If you’re going to mention specific plays, I’ll play along and give you the 2 I thought were the killers, especially considering they gapped at the end of the game when every play was critical.

1. I think we were up 72-70 at the time or it might have been 72-72. Ville inbounding from the baseline to the left of their basket, Leggett defending the inbounds pass and Lowe on Smith. Smith comes around a screen to the bear corner, Lowe loses him big time around the screen, Smith gets an easy inbounds pass in the corner snd drains the 3.

2. Might have been Ville’s very next possession or one later. Smith or Hadley shooting a 3 from the left side with Corhen defending. The shit is short iff the rim and back towards Corhen and the shooter. Corhen just stood there after the shot went up, no attempt to box out or anything. So of course, the shooter steps right around Corhen, collects the easy offensive rebound and. Ille ends up with a critical 2 points they shouldn’t have.

3. I said 2 but can now think of a third one on the offensive side down the stretch. Lowe made a good move to get around his defender and had an easy unrushed bunny on the right side of the basket but unfortunately missed it.

All good observations. Especially #2 - a bad play by Cam. On #1, I kinda tipped my cap to Smith. That was a tough shot, but by that point we had already given him all the confidence in the world he could make that.

 

[PittAU]

This was a terrible loss and I don’t mean because Louisville isn’t any good. It’s because we were out worked.

As others have said, rebounding is a “want to” part of basketball. Cam is 6’10”, he’s got to get more than four or five rebounds. Being obliterated on the offensive boards was embarrassing. It led to Louisville having 13 shots more than our guys. The guys were gassed, too. The Spaniards have to start playing better.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

This is as good a place as any to throw this in, but what in the heck were we thinking at the end of the game? Down two and Louisville gets an offensive rebound with 37 seconds left. We have a foul to give.

There are two choices here. We have a foul to give, so you either foul twice quickly, putting them on the line with something around 32 seconds left and you see what happens. Or you don't foul, you buckle down on defense, you get a stop and somehow manage to get a defensive rebound with around 18-20 seconds on the clock and you see if you can hit a tying or winning shot at the end.

Instead, we do the absolutely stupidest thing possible. We let 8-9 seconds go off the clock, and then we foul. But we don't foul twice to put them on the line, we foul once so they can run and extra 8 or 9 seconds off the clock. Meaning when they finally shoot the ball there are now only 8 seconds left. And when the make the shot the game is all but over and you lose.

For the record, I would have fouled twice and tried to extend the game. But you only have two choices there. And somehow, idiotically, we didn't pick either one of them.

 

[Franb]

This is as good a place as any to throw this in, but what in the heck were we thinking at the end of the game? Down two and Louisville gets an offensive rebound with 37 seconds left. We have a foul to give.

There are two choices here. We have a foul to give, so you either foul twice quickly, putting them on the line with something around 32 seconds left and you see what happens. Or you don't foul, you buckle down on defense, you get a stop and somehow manage to get a defensive rebound with around 18-20 seconds on the clock and you see if you can hit a tying or winning shot at the end.

Instead, we do the absolutely stupidest thing possible. We let 8-9 seconds go off the clock, and then we foul. But we don't foul twice to put them on the line, we foul once so they can run and extra 8 or 9 seconds off the clock. Meaning when they finally shoot the ball there are now only 8 seconds left. And when the make the shot the game is all but over and you lose.

For the record, I would have fouled twice and tried to extend the game. But you only have two choices there. And somehow, idiotically, we didn't pick either one of them.

Especially with as poorly as they shot free throws, fouling twice seems like the best choice there.

 

[PittHOFs]

This is as good a place as any to throw this in, but what in the heck were we thinking at the end of the game? Down two and Louisville gets an offensive rebound with 37 seconds left. We have a foul to give.

There are two choices here. We have a foul to give, so you either foul twice quickly, putting them on the line with something around 32 seconds left and you see what happens. Or you don't foul, you buckle down on defense, you get a stop and somehow manage to get a defensive rebound with around 18-20 seconds on the clock and you see if you can hit a tying or winning shot at the end.

Instead, we do the absolutely stupidest thing possible. We let 8-9 seconds go off the clock, and then we foul. But we don't foul twice to put them on the line, we foul once so they can run and extra 8 or 9 seconds off the clock. Meaning when they finally shoot the ball there are now only 8 seconds left. And when the make the shot the game is all but over and you lose.

For the record, I would have fouled twice and tried to extend the game. But you only have two choices there. And somehow, idiotically, we didn't pick either one of them.

Amen! Pitt has a tendency of dumbness in all sports. Not sure what the deal is with this.