Just said during the VT game that they're probably in, but it might be scary (paraphrasing) if they get blown out by 30 or something tomorrow. Also said Pitt people won't like their seed because they did nothing outside conference. Geez.......
Lunardi doing his best to try to force Pitt out
- Thread starter California Panther
- Start date
Pay him no mind, most of the time he is wrong and way off the mark.
It's likely that someone on the committee is "feeding him" info.
Maybe he's right. Maybe we'll be a 10 seed, which could be better than a 9 seed anyway.
LaPhonso Ellis is a jackass. Kara Lawson and Seth are the only ones that know what they are talking about.
Pitt is good enough to keep the game close and even win if everything aligns. If they get blown out it will not be because of North Carolina. It will be because Pitt stops playing defense, stops making shots and gets down on themselves.
LaPhonso sure loves to watch the closeup of the JRob travel and make cute remarks, doesn't he? Jerk!
I feel like he has to be getting info, he's really diverged from a lot of colleagues and peers with his brackets, and seems pretty confident in doing it.
Guys like Katz and Greenberg at ESPN, plus just about the whole CBS team (including Palm), were considering Pitt "IN" regardless of the Cuse outcome.
He's pretty adamant that Wichita State is safely in, as well. Lots of people are thinking they're out and he doesn't even have them near the bubble.
It was "probably" a travel, but I've seen dozens of worse travels not called. There were a few in this game alone.
I've always thought Seth Davis was the one who was fed info, if anyone was. He's one of the few who said Pitt was in win or lose, but that was prior to some of the upsets this week so he may have changed his tune more recently.
I think I'd prefer a 10 seed. if you get through the first game, it's a definite advantage and there's really no difference between a 7 and 8 anyway.
No, but the resume compares favorably if not better to most other bubble teams.
Also, if Wichita st is in because of accounting for the van fleet injury, the committee better damn well account for the gonzaga game.
I agree. I wish they would show Cam's drive down the lane where he got mugged and they called a Jump ball. Much more egregious in my opinion.
Or the fact that on J-Rob's late steal and score he was hacked and it should have also been an "and 1".. the narrative is a disgrace..
Here is what I am not getting about Lunardi.
He has Butler two whole lines ahead of us...remember, we are 9-8 vs the top 100...Butler is 6-8.
Wichita is 4-7 against the top 100..again, ahead of us.
VCU, 6-7, ahead of us.
St Joseph;s, 5-6, ahead of us.
USC is 11-11 against the top 100 but has all those above mentioned teams ahead.
And the one I really don't get is South Carolina.
He has them slotted before getting destroyed by UK at an 8. Fine. However, they only played three games until tonight against the top 50. They did go 2-1 to their credit.
When you look down the resume though, it isn't great. 6-3 vs 51-100, which is good, but they have three losses to Miss St, Tennessee, and Missouri that are by far worse than any loss we had.
Also, we get blasted for a bad non conference, but South Carolina's was equally bad and probably worse as their best two non con games were Tulsa and Hofstra.
Another thing I don't get is that teams seem to get credit for scheduling and losing a tough non conference game, but if you have a ton of top 50 games in conference (7 of Pitt's 18 conference games were top 50), you get little credit for that, at least that is what I gather when I see lunardi putting teams like Cincy, Wichita, and VCU ahead of us.
He has Butler two whole lines ahead of us...remember, we are 9-8 vs the top 100...Butler is 6-8.
Wichita is 4-7 against the top 100..again, ahead of us.
VCU, 6-7, ahead of us.
St Joseph;s, 5-6, ahead of us.
USC is 11-11 against the top 100 but has all those above mentioned teams ahead.
And the one I really don't get is South Carolina.
He has them slotted before getting destroyed by UK at an 8. Fine. However, they only played three games until tonight against the top 50. They did go 2-1 to their credit.
When you look down the resume though, it isn't great. 6-3 vs 51-100, which is good, but they have three losses to Miss St, Tennessee, and Missouri that are by far worse than any loss we had.
Also, we get blasted for a bad non conference, but South Carolina's was equally bad and probably worse as their best two non con games were Tulsa and Hofstra.
Another thing I don't get is that teams seem to get credit for scheduling and losing a tough non conference game, but if you have a ton of top 50 games in conference (7 of Pitt's 18 conference games were top 50), you get little credit for that, at least that is what I gather when I see lunardi putting teams like Cincy, Wichita, and VCU ahead of us.
By the time all is said and done the vast majority of "experts" will all get the same 65-66 correct that they always do.
So would you and the majority of any casual fans that bothered to attempt it.
That was awful - where in the hell did they see a held ball????? That possession arrow change could have cost us the game. Although JRob made the steal and layup on that possession.
St Joseph's is sinking faster than the Andrea Doria, and if the season had another 2 weeks left you can guarantee they would be playing their way out of the tournament. Of course since Lunardi works for St. Joes I doubt you will hear him mention their ongoing tank job.
Maybe he's being fed info from a middle of the pack committee member?
Note to Jamie: If you lose, bitch in the post game media session about how tired your team is and that you are just glad they could finish the game.. This worked for Mike K to perfection.
Someone should offer him a ride up the incline which could stop halfway up, or a "boat ride" on the Yankee Clipper.
We have rivers!
We have rivers!
I'm convinced they swallowed the whistle on that walk because they inadvertently swallowed the whistle on the lay up after his steal.
So you think it was a make-up call? Fair enough--happens all the time in basketball.
Interesting stats--Sagarin's are similar for Pitt. 1-6 vs top 25 (all 6 losses to top 15 in actuality) and 6-6 vs top 50 with an overall ranking as the #33 team. No way any team with those results should be left out or even be close to being left out unless the selection criteria are deeply flawed.
They are flawed actually.
Just look at the pitt cuse situation. The only reason cuse is outside the top 50 is because we beat them 3 times.
Yea, what is it with this idiot? While talking heads like him don't control the committee, I still don't like his constantly downplaying Pitt's credentials when folks on the Committee are exposed to his BS.
You guys complaining about what Lunardi said are obviously doing so just because you don't like him. I don't have any thoughts on him one way or the other but I do know that he continuously stated throughout all the telecasts last night that Pitt was now in the tournament. He then throws out a comment that they shouldn't lose by 30 or more to UNC so as to not give the committee something to think about and you jump all over him. Get real. He for all intents and purposes said they are in.
The complaints about the calls during the game are also not very objective. C'mon DT, calling the JRob play 'probably a travel'????? There was nothing probable about that, it was a definite travel regardless of how loosely they do or don't call traveling. And it isn't usually plays like that where refs are loose in their travel calls. Just be happy that they didn't call the travel there because it sure was.
The complaints about the calls during the game are also not very objective. C'mon DT, calling the JRob play 'probably a travel'????? There was nothing probable about that, it was a definite travel regardless of how loosely they do or don't call traveling. And it isn't usually plays like that where refs are loose in their travel calls. Just be happy that they didn't call the travel there because it sure was.
I've never liked Lunardi, even when I was much younger and Pitt didn't have to worry about being on the bubble. ESPN trots him out there on every damn telecast and take his word as gospel, and he comes off as too self important for me to like him. Jerry Palm is weird and quirky but he doesn't come off as God's gift to basketball reporting. Also, yesterday Lunardi said Cuse would possibly still be in with a loss but Pitt was definitely out, yet before the game Pitt was a 9 seed and Cuse was a 10 or 11. That doesn't even make sense.
Sorry I didn't try to cover everything in one reply for you. I actually commented about that in another thread/reply. I agree that was a hack there but it is also a 'hack' call, the type of call that may or may not get called depending on how close or loose the game is being called. Somewhat the same with the travel call to a lesser extent, it may or may not get called. But my main point - anyone complaining about someone in the media focusing on it isn't being very objective because it most definitely was a travel and, IMHO, not one of the typical travel calls that refs usually let get away w/o calling. In fact, that was the type that refs usually always call.
Guys, again, our OOC is ridiculous. Don't blame Lunardi for that. Jamie tries too hard to play the RPI game.
Well, you cant say Pitt is a "lock" yet because to me, a lock is 100%. Duke is a lock. Virginia is a lock. Pitt isn't because its not absolutely guaranteed. However, even if we lose by 50 today, I'd put our chances at 90%.
Can you imagine the ACC getting a 1, 2, 3, 4, and only 1 more team? That would make no sense. You cant say the league is so strong at the top but the mid-level teams are NIT level. They're not.
GT and VT make me a little nervous. Wins tonight put them on the discussion board and wins Friday (as long as its not over each other) probably put them in. We still have to root for some teams to lose.
Dayton is also very much in play. That wouldn't be the end of the world as in many cases, its better than 8/9. The 8/9 in Brooklyn with Nova is cool but other than that I'd rather be in Dayton than 8/9.
Can you imagine the ACC getting a 1, 2, 3, 4, and only 1 more team? That would make no sense. You cant say the league is so strong at the top but the mid-level teams are NIT level. They're not.
GT and VT make me a little nervous. Wins tonight put them on the discussion board and wins Friday (as long as its not over each other) probably put them in. We still have to root for some teams to lose.
Dayton is also very much in play. That wouldn't be the end of the world as in many cases, its better than 8/9. The 8/9 in Brooklyn with Nova is cool but other than that I'd rather be in Dayton than 8/9.
Maybe a loss would've given us two more top 50 RPI wins rather than one more top 75 RPI win?
