Happy New Year's Eve Day, Panther-Lair fans! It's your old buddy Moe, draggin' his sorry butt out of semi-retirement to offer the first of ? "Moe-Ments" for the 2015-2016 Pitt Panther BB campaign. I've been lurking here occasionally, but honestly haven't been as active as I've wanted to; I hope that my "time management" with regard to NCAAMB improves over the next three+ months . . .
I read both the Cliff Notes and Dribbles - not much more that I can offer to those well-scribed reports. Hope that both NTOP and DT continue these through the ACC Season - thanks, guys!
With regard to this year's Pitt team, I've only been able to watch the Purdue, Davidson and Syracuse games so far. Three completely different "looks" at our 2015-2016 Pitt team, and not sure how representative these three games were as we wonder what to expect for the year ahead? Not sure that we'll be as completely "dominated" by another team (ala Purdue), and with the exception of a few cupcake games, I doubt we'll dominate another team as we did Davidson. I think we'll have a lot more "Syracuse" style games this year, so keep your seat belts securely fastened when watching!
Two positive elements from last night:
1. Great "atmosphere" from the crowd (I watched the game on TV) - even when we fell behind in the 2nd half, the noise and "encouragement" continued to build; as others have commented, it was at times difficult to hear the ESPN commentators over the noise from the ZOO. I do think the crowd was "the 6th man" last night, especially in the last few minutes
2. Artis "walked the walk" - it's one thing to brag or boast or be confident, but when you back it up like he did, it's real. He is one exciting player, and will be fun to watch as the ACC regular season continues
Two "not-so-positive" elements from last night:
1. Sterling Smith offense - hoping he's just in a bit of a slump; his defense does matter, and is a plus, but we might need more scoring from the backcourt over the course of the next 17+ games
2. Artis' defense - OK, may be a minor point, but it "appears" that he avoids a lot of physical defense, maybe to avoid getting in foul trouble? His offense more than contributes to his lack of defense, but I doubt that if he's having an "off night" offensively, that his defense will pick up
Looking forward to a great season! HTP!
I read both the Cliff Notes and Dribbles - not much more that I can offer to those well-scribed reports. Hope that both NTOP and DT continue these through the ACC Season - thanks, guys!
With regard to this year's Pitt team, I've only been able to watch the Purdue, Davidson and Syracuse games so far. Three completely different "looks" at our 2015-2016 Pitt team, and not sure how representative these three games were as we wonder what to expect for the year ahead? Not sure that we'll be as completely "dominated" by another team (ala Purdue), and with the exception of a few cupcake games, I doubt we'll dominate another team as we did Davidson. I think we'll have a lot more "Syracuse" style games this year, so keep your seat belts securely fastened when watching!
Two positive elements from last night:
1. Great "atmosphere" from the crowd (I watched the game on TV) - even when we fell behind in the 2nd half, the noise and "encouragement" continued to build; as others have commented, it was at times difficult to hear the ESPN commentators over the noise from the ZOO. I do think the crowd was "the 6th man" last night, especially in the last few minutes
2. Artis "walked the walk" - it's one thing to brag or boast or be confident, but when you back it up like he did, it's real. He is one exciting player, and will be fun to watch as the ACC regular season continues
Two "not-so-positive" elements from last night:
1. Sterling Smith offense - hoping he's just in a bit of a slump; his defense does matter, and is a plus, but we might need more scoring from the backcourt over the course of the next 17+ games
2. Artis' defense - OK, may be a minor point, but it "appears" that he avoids a lot of physical defense, maybe to avoid getting in foul trouble? His offense more than contributes to his lack of defense, but I doubt that if he's having an "off night" offensively, that his defense will pick up
Looking forward to a great season! HTP!
