When I watch this team, I am torn. I really am. Amongst other thoughts, I just feel general sadness. This one was obviously decided before the teams got off the bus. It is a group that plays hard and seems to get along and play together. The talent just isn't there. The troubling part of it is that it's not a large freshmen class figuring it out together. The team is inexperienced overall, but technically not young. One of the issues is that the seniors have not been here and have no experience in the ACC. When there is limited time in the program, it is so hard to pass that culture on. The whole culture aspect of it has been gone for some time now.
32 turnovers. I can't say I have ever seen a game approach that number. 32 turnovers in a 40 minute game. That is extremely difficult to do. And really, I am not sure how you can even be mad at most of them. The majority were just from being overmatched. These turnovers this year are different than Xavier and Trey turning it over nonstop. They literally just don't have guards to bring the ball up the floor. I know that Femi was the lead culprit last night and it was a brutal game, but I knew early on that he had no chance last night. He was completely taken out of his comfort zone due to several toss up situations. It got him out of his game and he never recovered. Femi has some things to work on, but I don't think last night was him. Just an uncharacteristic night that got completely out of control. He also has no help alongside him in the back court. So I do think that his turnovers will be higher than you would like all season. No one will be happier to see Burton back than Femi.
Needless to say, this team will not beat anyone when Femi plays like that. And when I say anyone, I mean anyone. This team needs Femi and John to both play well in order to win games. There is just so much riding on those two. Burton can take a little bit of the pressure off, but there are still so many holes. The amount of pressure on the offensive end is just incredible when there is no outside threat. Three made threes in the game and one was banked in by your center. It is so hard to win games like that.
With all that being said, I felt like they actually fought as much as they can. It was basically a 12 point game before that last WVU three. To turn it over that many times, they actually found some offense when they could hang onto the ball. I am not sure how good this WVU team is, but they always have athletes and play a very difficult style to play. For this Pitt team, I don't think there could be a worse matchup stylistically.
As far as the positives, I thought Hugley played fairly well. Mo Gueye flashes so much at times, but there seems to be a negative play as soon he does flash. If he was like 18 years old right now, you would be incredibly excited about his potential. I thought Nate Santos played well, mixing it up and showing toughness. He should not be starting, but I like his form and he plays within himself. He is a kid that can have a role on a winning team at some point. I also thought it Oladapo was solid. He has looked overmatched since arriving, but he produced last night.
Don't have a ton of other thoughts right now. I think they can build off of this, as ugly as it was. There aren't many environments like that. Not a lot of teams that apply ball pressure in that manner. So if they can learn from it and stay as optimistic as possible, they can grow from it a little bit while Burton gets back. There is no upside to fix it for good or solve these issues, but it can be incremental. The challenge for the staff is to keep everyone together and positive. It is easy to say that you have to learn and improve, but it is another challenge to keep the attention and confidence. That will be the biggest challenge of all. Again, it is not really the fault of these kids. It is just such a tough ask of them right now.
32 turnovers. I can't say I have ever seen a game approach that number. 32 turnovers in a 40 minute game. That is extremely difficult to do. And really, I am not sure how you can even be mad at most of them. The majority were just from being overmatched. These turnovers this year are different than Xavier and Trey turning it over nonstop. They literally just don't have guards to bring the ball up the floor. I know that Femi was the lead culprit last night and it was a brutal game, but I knew early on that he had no chance last night. He was completely taken out of his comfort zone due to several toss up situations. It got him out of his game and he never recovered. Femi has some things to work on, but I don't think last night was him. Just an uncharacteristic night that got completely out of control. He also has no help alongside him in the back court. So I do think that his turnovers will be higher than you would like all season. No one will be happier to see Burton back than Femi.
Needless to say, this team will not beat anyone when Femi plays like that. And when I say anyone, I mean anyone. This team needs Femi and John to both play well in order to win games. There is just so much riding on those two. Burton can take a little bit of the pressure off, but there are still so many holes. The amount of pressure on the offensive end is just incredible when there is no outside threat. Three made threes in the game and one was banked in by your center. It is so hard to win games like that.
With all that being said, I felt like they actually fought as much as they can. It was basically a 12 point game before that last WVU three. To turn it over that many times, they actually found some offense when they could hang onto the ball. I am not sure how good this WVU team is, but they always have athletes and play a very difficult style to play. For this Pitt team, I don't think there could be a worse matchup stylistically.
As far as the positives, I thought Hugley played fairly well. Mo Gueye flashes so much at times, but there seems to be a negative play as soon he does flash. If he was like 18 years old right now, you would be incredibly excited about his potential. I thought Nate Santos played well, mixing it up and showing toughness. He should not be starting, but I like his form and he plays within himself. He is a kid that can have a role on a winning team at some point. I also thought it Oladapo was solid. He has looked overmatched since arriving, but he produced last night.
Don't have a ton of other thoughts right now. I think they can build off of this, as ugly as it was. There aren't many environments like that. Not a lot of teams that apply ball pressure in that manner. So if they can learn from it and stay as optimistic as possible, they can grow from it a little bit while Burton gets back. There is no upside to fix it for good or solve these issues, but it can be incremental. The challenge for the staff is to keep everyone together and positive. It is easy to say that you have to learn and improve, but it is another challenge to keep the attention and confidence. That will be the biggest challenge of all. Again, it is not really the fault of these kids. It is just such a tough ask of them right now.
