-- Pitt going down 18-3 and 24-7 had me worried. To an extent, you have to wonder if digging themselves that deep of a hole ultimately cost them the game. Yeah they held a lead, but they worked really hard to get it. They seemed to run out of gas with 5 minutes left. Sometimes playing "catch-up" does that to a team.
-- If this game was broken down into quarters, I'd say Pitt certainly won the second and probably won the third. They played mostly even against a quality team. At the very least I was able to take away a lot of positives about this team.
-- James Robinson is really good, I just hope Milligan or Wilson can buy him some minutes. One of those two need to be able to come and be productive.
-- Jamie may lose his hair, but Pitt's a better zone team. Pitt ran some zone last year and it was spotty. It's still not great this year, but they seem to rebound better out of it than last year. They need work on rotations, but it's December 2. There's time.
-- Michael Young is going to make a very intriguing case to be first team All ACC this year. He's better than last year, and that's saying something since he was a very good sophomore.
-- Pitt isn't going to win many games with Artis scoring 8 points, let alone against a quality team. Artis proved last year he can score against good competition, last night was one of those games I think.
-- I know people mention lack of shooters and while I don't think Pitt has a lights-out guy, Jones, Cam, and Smith are better than what they showed last night.
-- Jeter is good, but it seems like he needs confidence to get going. Might be wise to bring him in first off the bench and run a set or two to get him going. If he's playing with energy, Pitt is a different team.
-- Nelson-Ododa isn't impressive at all. He's skinnier than I expected him to be, he just hasn't brought much to the table. Maia showed flashes last night, hopefully he can build off of that . ANO is a better athlete, but Maia has more skill. I still see potential in Luther and he has the chance of scoring some points whereas the other two right now do not.
-- I just re-watched the game, and Pitt got a lot of quality looks and they simply missed a lot of easy looks. If Pitt shoots marginally better it's much closer, not that it was even really a blowout or anything. Purdue is good at what they do, they have a strong inside out game and their big men can score on the block. They aren't a final four team but they are a tough out.
-- Overall I can't say I'm worried or freaking out. It was the fifth some of the season and Pitt was in it until late and some poor uncontested shooting caught up with them. Pitt is better than last year, I went to most of the games last year and there is a different makeup to this team. They have more options overall. It's also early, Pitt is going to get better from now until the end of the year.
--Pitt showed some really good things and some concerns (i.e. Center/outside shooting). But I think Pitt has a number of really good players that can get them back in the tournament. I just don't expect Cam Johnson to miss 4 wide open 3's like that every game is basically the whole point of this rant.
-- If this game was broken down into quarters, I'd say Pitt certainly won the second and probably won the third. They played mostly even against a quality team. At the very least I was able to take away a lot of positives about this team.
-- James Robinson is really good, I just hope Milligan or Wilson can buy him some minutes. One of those two need to be able to come and be productive.
-- Jamie may lose his hair, but Pitt's a better zone team. Pitt ran some zone last year and it was spotty. It's still not great this year, but they seem to rebound better out of it than last year. They need work on rotations, but it's December 2. There's time.
-- Michael Young is going to make a very intriguing case to be first team All ACC this year. He's better than last year, and that's saying something since he was a very good sophomore.
-- Pitt isn't going to win many games with Artis scoring 8 points, let alone against a quality team. Artis proved last year he can score against good competition, last night was one of those games I think.
-- I know people mention lack of shooters and while I don't think Pitt has a lights-out guy, Jones, Cam, and Smith are better than what they showed last night.
-- Jeter is good, but it seems like he needs confidence to get going. Might be wise to bring him in first off the bench and run a set or two to get him going. If he's playing with energy, Pitt is a different team.
-- Nelson-Ododa isn't impressive at all. He's skinnier than I expected him to be, he just hasn't brought much to the table. Maia showed flashes last night, hopefully he can build off of that . ANO is a better athlete, but Maia has more skill. I still see potential in Luther and he has the chance of scoring some points whereas the other two right now do not.
-- I just re-watched the game, and Pitt got a lot of quality looks and they simply missed a lot of easy looks. If Pitt shoots marginally better it's much closer, not that it was even really a blowout or anything. Purdue is good at what they do, they have a strong inside out game and their big men can score on the block. They aren't a final four team but they are a tough out.
-- Overall I can't say I'm worried or freaking out. It was the fifth some of the season and Pitt was in it until late and some poor uncontested shooting caught up with them. Pitt is better than last year, I went to most of the games last year and there is a different makeup to this team. They have more options overall. It's also early, Pitt is going to get better from now until the end of the year.
--Pitt showed some really good things and some concerns (i.e. Center/outside shooting). But I think Pitt has a number of really good players that can get them back in the tournament. I just don't expect Cam Johnson to miss 4 wide open 3's like that every game is basically the whole point of this rant.
