To paraphrase a classic scene from a classic movie, Annie Hall, a basketball team must move forward or die. This Pitt team has not been moving forward. It is at best debatable whether they moved forward this afternoon.
Today, the Panthers held Eddie Lampkin to 23 rebounds, only 9 higher than his previous career high. In fairness, he’s only played 124 college games. This resulted in Syracuse outrebounding our Panthers 48-31 and rebounding a staggering 47.6% of their missed shots.
Substitution? No need. Box out? What’s that?
They did play better offense in the second half, albeit against a bad defensive team. And they had three turnovers the entire game, which is impressive, period, and a credit to the guys who handled the ball, especially Jaland Lowe. Damian Dunn had a strong second half. Zack Austin rose from the dead with 10 points in the last 7 minutes after zero in the first 33. Ishmael Leggett was mostly good and at times very good. Jaland Lowe did some terrific things and a few awful ones, but overcame a very unusual case (for him) of the free throw yips to hit the big ones at the end. As he has on many occasions, Cam Corhen looked both reasonably OK and at the same time maddeningly overused and annihilated on the boards. He doesn’t look like a 36-minute player to me, but I don’t put that on him.
That, in this season of the incredible shrinking rotation and the quick hook, is essentially the 2024-25 Pitt Panther team. On the perimeter, Jorge Diaz-Graham is giving them everything they could hope to see from him, but they do not appear to be interested in seeing much. In fairness, JDG is a defensive risk, as are the other perimeter subs, Cummings and Delacic, promising offensive players who, wisely or not, have been de-rotated into losing all offensive confidence.
For all the grievances and fair and unfair criticisms of Jaland Lowe (I love his offensive game and consider most of the criticism unfounded, even if people whose opinion I respect feel otherwise) and the unpleasing aesthetic of Pitt’s one-on-one and at times my turn-nobody under offense, Pitt remains the 19th ranked offense on KenPom. With none of the subs a reliable defender, and Dunn rounding back to good health, I can understand the view that dividing the 120 perimeter minutes (and some at the four) mostly among the four veterans—Austin, Dunn, Leggett and Lowe—makes sense, all things considered.
It is defense and rebounding that is keeping this shark from moving forward. Pitt has steadily slipped on the KenPom defensive metric and now sits at 71 and falling. Rebounding is the big problem, as the coaches have said, and anyone watching this team can readily see. Some of that is on the perimeter players, who need to rebound and defend better. Lowe in particular needs to step it up on the defensive end, or at least return to his prior level, especially on the boards. But the biggest problem is inside.
There are other options in the post, Guillermo Diaz Graham and Papa Amadou Kante. GDG was good enough two years ago to beat Mississippi State and a center, 6-11, 245 pound Tolu Smith, who was at least as good as Eddie Lampkin, and physical 6-seed Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament. Although the fact that GDG is not appreciably stronger two years later is a source of frustration to all, most of all him, I am sure, GDG can rebound, he is a scoring threat, and he knows how to play basketball. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, he was deemed essentially unplayable in the second half. Likewise, in a game when Pitt was being manhandled on the boards, Papa Kante, who is on the raw side but I’ve seen a lot worse, and who unquestionably is physical and willing, was not considered an option to take on the SS Lampkin.
Fortunately, there is a cadre of mature, experienced and in some instances physical options available to give them some serviceable minutes in reserve inside, especially on defense. Federico Federico. Nate Santos. Will Jeffress. Wait…
Nope. Five it is, at least for now, with a few minutes here and there, and an occasional extended term of service such as GDG against Clemson.
Look, they are the coaches. They know X’s and O’s basketball at a level I never will. They see the players every single day at practice and otherwise. They have their finger on the pulse of the team. They scout the opponents closely. If they felt that Cam Corhen for 36 minutes was their best chance to win a game they urgently needed to win, I defer to them.
But I have been following college basketball, closely, probably more closely than is healthy or justifiable, for more than 60 years. I would be very happy to be wrong but, in my opinion, this essentially five-man team is not growing, certainly not the way the last two Pitt teams started growing this time of year, and as presently constructed its horizons are limited at best. Maybe they will eke their way into the tournament, maybe they won’t, but on its current trajectory this season will not end with the joyful feeling of the past two years that Pitt had come pretty darn close to becoming the best team they can be.
Still, a win is a win, and a road win is a road win. Sometimes, you just need to find a way to push off the bottom of the pool and keep from drowning. I hope they can build on this, including, in my view, finding a way to hit the boards and build out the serviceable rotation to a true seven or eight. Or at least six.
In any event, the Panthers live to fight another day. That day is next Tuesday, at 9 pm, against North Carolina, another team that survived a near-death of its season today. A huge game for both teams but, with the return match a road game in Chapel Hill on February 8, Tuesday is a game our Panthers absolutely need to win. I hope they can find a way, some way, any way, to do so, even better if they do it in a way that builds out this team and what it can be. Frankly, I need the distraction the next couple months.
Best regards to all,
17-15
Today, the Panthers held Eddie Lampkin to 23 rebounds, only 9 higher than his previous career high. In fairness, he’s only played 124 college games. This resulted in Syracuse outrebounding our Panthers 48-31 and rebounding a staggering 47.6% of their missed shots.
Substitution? No need. Box out? What’s that?
They did play better offense in the second half, albeit against a bad defensive team. And they had three turnovers the entire game, which is impressive, period, and a credit to the guys who handled the ball, especially Jaland Lowe. Damian Dunn had a strong second half. Zack Austin rose from the dead with 10 points in the last 7 minutes after zero in the first 33. Ishmael Leggett was mostly good and at times very good. Jaland Lowe did some terrific things and a few awful ones, but overcame a very unusual case (for him) of the free throw yips to hit the big ones at the end. As he has on many occasions, Cam Corhen looked both reasonably OK and at the same time maddeningly overused and annihilated on the boards. He doesn’t look like a 36-minute player to me, but I don’t put that on him.
That, in this season of the incredible shrinking rotation and the quick hook, is essentially the 2024-25 Pitt Panther team. On the perimeter, Jorge Diaz-Graham is giving them everything they could hope to see from him, but they do not appear to be interested in seeing much. In fairness, JDG is a defensive risk, as are the other perimeter subs, Cummings and Delacic, promising offensive players who, wisely or not, have been de-rotated into losing all offensive confidence.
For all the grievances and fair and unfair criticisms of Jaland Lowe (I love his offensive game and consider most of the criticism unfounded, even if people whose opinion I respect feel otherwise) and the unpleasing aesthetic of Pitt’s one-on-one and at times my turn-nobody under offense, Pitt remains the 19th ranked offense on KenPom. With none of the subs a reliable defender, and Dunn rounding back to good health, I can understand the view that dividing the 120 perimeter minutes (and some at the four) mostly among the four veterans—Austin, Dunn, Leggett and Lowe—makes sense, all things considered.
It is defense and rebounding that is keeping this shark from moving forward. Pitt has steadily slipped on the KenPom defensive metric and now sits at 71 and falling. Rebounding is the big problem, as the coaches have said, and anyone watching this team can readily see. Some of that is on the perimeter players, who need to rebound and defend better. Lowe in particular needs to step it up on the defensive end, or at least return to his prior level, especially on the boards. But the biggest problem is inside.
There are other options in the post, Guillermo Diaz Graham and Papa Amadou Kante. GDG was good enough two years ago to beat Mississippi State and a center, 6-11, 245 pound Tolu Smith, who was at least as good as Eddie Lampkin, and physical 6-seed Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament. Although the fact that GDG is not appreciably stronger two years later is a source of frustration to all, most of all him, I am sure, GDG can rebound, he is a scoring threat, and he knows how to play basketball. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, he was deemed essentially unplayable in the second half. Likewise, in a game when Pitt was being manhandled on the boards, Papa Kante, who is on the raw side but I’ve seen a lot worse, and who unquestionably is physical and willing, was not considered an option to take on the SS Lampkin.
Fortunately, there is a cadre of mature, experienced and in some instances physical options available to give them some serviceable minutes in reserve inside, especially on defense. Federico Federico. Nate Santos. Will Jeffress. Wait…
Nope. Five it is, at least for now, with a few minutes here and there, and an occasional extended term of service such as GDG against Clemson.
Look, they are the coaches. They know X’s and O’s basketball at a level I never will. They see the players every single day at practice and otherwise. They have their finger on the pulse of the team. They scout the opponents closely. If they felt that Cam Corhen for 36 minutes was their best chance to win a game they urgently needed to win, I defer to them.
But I have been following college basketball, closely, probably more closely than is healthy or justifiable, for more than 60 years. I would be very happy to be wrong but, in my opinion, this essentially five-man team is not growing, certainly not the way the last two Pitt teams started growing this time of year, and as presently constructed its horizons are limited at best. Maybe they will eke their way into the tournament, maybe they won’t, but on its current trajectory this season will not end with the joyful feeling of the past two years that Pitt had come pretty darn close to becoming the best team they can be.
Still, a win is a win, and a road win is a road win. Sometimes, you just need to find a way to push off the bottom of the pool and keep from drowning. I hope they can build on this, including, in my view, finding a way to hit the boards and build out the serviceable rotation to a true seven or eight. Or at least six.
In any event, the Panthers live to fight another day. That day is next Tuesday, at 9 pm, against North Carolina, another team that survived a near-death of its season today. A huge game for both teams but, with the return match a road game in Chapel Hill on February 8, Tuesday is a game our Panthers absolutely need to win. I hope they can find a way, some way, any way, to do so, even better if they do it in a way that builds out this team and what it can be. Frankly, I need the distraction the next couple months.
Best regards to all,
17-15
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