SMF's Bounces

[Sean Miller Fan]

- To borrow a popular meme saying and adjust it for Pitt Basketball: Pitt will not tell you they are medicore this season but there will be signs.

- Defense has been a problem. This goes without saying. For long stretches, the D is as bad as it can get. Pitt was up 27-13 vs Wisconsin with 6 minutes to go in the 1st Half and I'm honestly thinking, shit, we might be a 2 or 3 seed. To give up 68 points in the last 26 minutes of that game is as bad as it can possibly get. I mean they scored on almost every trip to reach that level. That was a sign.

- First 24 minutes at OSU, we give up 57 points. They are shooting more than 60%. Another sign

- Mississippi State was a sign

- At VT, we are down 8 in the 2nd Half against a team who might have the lowest talent level in the league. Giving up 38 points in the 1st Half is too many. Escaping with our lives against a really bad team was a sign.

- Against Cal, we are down 16 with 4 minutes left in the 1st Half. 39 points scored in first 16 minutes. Really bad team. Another sign.

- Against Stanford, we are down 9 in the 1st Half.

- Against Duke, 18-0 run to finish the game.

- Against Louisville up 18-10 and feeling really good, 14-0 run and we have to play from behind the whole game. Up 1 with 8 minutes left, Louisville scored on 11 of its final 13 possessions. Hard to do worse than that.

- At FSU: 54 points surrendered in the 2nd Half. Down 1 with the ball, Ewin runs over Dunn and they score on 10 of 11 possessions to build a 14 point lead.

- Vs Clemson, they score on 17 of 20 possessions to build a big lead.

- Defense and Rebounding. This team simply cant defend. We went zone today for a little bit to throw them off their rhythm because they were getting anything they wanted against our man. The only positive thing I could say is we have at least done a good job on eliminating the layup lines that Wis, OSU, and Miss St ran against us. Instead, now we just give up uncontested 3s and offensive rebounds.

- Not sure what the answer is defensively. Defense wasnt the whole reason we lost today because we did step it up and got back in the game but you cant allow the opposing team to come into your gym and score on 17 of 20 possessions. This team is just too slow in rotations, which leads me to question if we should even be playing help defense. In the NBA, everyone shoots top well, so they dont help. In college, everyone still plays help defense, but I'm not sure they should. Every time we help, we get lost in rotations and its an easy 3. The problem if we dont help is that we dont have a rim protector so the fear is giving up easy 2s. There's no easy answer.

- Offensively, I dont know what we are doing. At times, we do run a structured offense but it seems more often than not its just NBA freelance with Lowe or Leggett trying to get into the lane and make a play. After tying the game at 57, our next 3 possessions resulted in missed 3s out of no offense. Clemson comes back and go up 4, we then go on a 7-0 run to go up 3. I think most of us thought it was our game. Next 3 possessions: missed 3, missed 3, missed 3. No offense. No easy shots.

- So what we have is a medicore basketball team. That said, mediocre can still get you to the NCAAT with some luck and we got lucky that Darian Devries is probably National Coach of the Year. Took down #2 Iowa State today, winning all these games without his son and with straight-up bums. I cant begin to tell you how much more talented we are.

 

[PittPoker]

- To borrow a popular meme saying and adjust it for Pitt Basketball: Pitt will not tell you they are medicore this season but there will be signs.

- Defense has been a problem. This goes without saying. For long stretches, the D is as bad as it can get. Pitt was up 27-13 vs Wisconsin with 6 minutes to go in the 1st Half and I'm honestly thinking, shit, we might be a 2 or 3 seed. To give up 68 points in the last 26 minutes of that game is as bad as it can possibly get. I mean they scored on almost every trip to reach that level. That was a sign.

- First 24 minutes at OSU, we give up 57 points. They are shooting more than 60%. Another sign

- Mississippi State was a sign

- At VT, we are down 8 in the 2nd Half against a team who might have the lowest talent level in the league. Giving up 38 points in the 1st Half is too many. Escaping with our lives against a really bad team was a sign.

- Against Cal, we are down 16 with 4 minutes left in the 1st Half. 39 points scored in first 16 minutes. Really bad team. Another sign.

- Against Stanford, we are down 9 in the 1st Half.

- Against Duke, 18-0 run to finish the game.

- Against Louisville up 18-10 and feeling really good, 14-0 run and we have to play from behind the whole game. Up 1 with 8 minutes left, Louisville scored on 11 of its final 13 possessions. Hard to do worse than that.

- At FSU: 54 points surrendered in the 2nd Half. Down 1 with the ball, Ewin runs over Dunn and they score on 10 of 11 possessions to build a 14 point lead.

- Vs Clemson, they score on 17 of 20 possessions to build a big lead.

- Defense and Rebounding. This team simply cant defend. We went zone today for a little bit to throw them off their rhythm because they were getting anything they wanted against our man. The only positive thing I could say is we have at least done a good job on eliminating the layup lines that Wis, OSU, and Miss St ran against us. Instead, now we just give up uncontested 3s and offensive rebounds.

- Not sure what the answer is defensively. Defense wasnt the whole reason we lost today because we did step it up and got back in the game but you cant allow the opposing team to come into your gym and score on 17 of 20 possessions. This team is just too slow in rotations, which leads me to question if we should even be playing help defense. In the NBA, everyone shoots top well, so they dont help. In college, everyone still plays help defense, but I'm not sure they should. Every time we help, we get lost in rotations and its an easy 3. The problem if we dont help is that we dont have a rim protector so the fear is giving up easy 2s. There's no easy answer.

- Offensively, I dont know what we are doing. At times, we do run a structured offense but it seems more often than not its just NBA freelance with Lowe or Leggett trying to get into the lane and make a play. After tying the game at 57, our next 3 possessions resulted in missed 3s out of no offense. Clemson comes back and go up 4, we then go on a 7-0 run to go up 3. I think most of us thought it was our game. Next 3 possessions: missed 3, missed 3, missed 3. No offense. No easy shots.

- So what we have is a medicore basketball team. That said, mediocre can still get you to the NCAAT with some luck and we got lucky that Darian Devries is probably National Coach of the Year. Took down #2 Iowa State today, winning all these games without his son and with straight-up bums. I cant begin to tell you how much more talented we are.

Yeah 1 thing that was super frustrating was how wide open Clemson was shooting 3's in the 1st half. I'd say on 75% of their shots they had no Pitt player anywhere close. Can't win games playing defense like that.

Also Jeff Capel needs to have a heart to heart talk with Jaland. Right now this is easily the worst stretch of basketball by him and he is hurting Pitt way more than helping. He hasn't had 10 or more assists in a game since Sam Houston. It seems to me he just wants to "be the man" and that is leading to awful shot selection, selfish play and turnovers.

Also I will keep harping on this but Jorge should be getting at least 15 minutes a game for the foreseeable future. When you have a guy shooting over 60% from 3 he needs to be in the game more than friggin 2 minutes.

I also don't see this team righting the ship to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament either. I just think they are not playing as a team and they have no senior leader like Blake was or Burton.

Lastly I really think next season Pitt is literally gonna have to start over. 8 years by then with Capel that is not good at all. I see Lowe leaving as well as the twins and Delalic and imo even Corhen will leave. The only 2 players I feel confident will stay is Cummings and Papa.

We all expected so much more from what was billed on here as Capel' best team since he arrived. Unfortunately it's not even close to that.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

The extent of the optimism before the season never made sense to me. We lost a lottery pick and one of the best players to ever wear a Pitt uniform in Hinson. If we wanted to be as good as last year's flawed but solid team, Amsal had to be one of our best 2-3 players. Instead, he's 10th.

Basketball-first fans have become about annoying as Pitate fans when it comes to paralysis by analysis of stats and how everyone is going to fit in perfectly to create this great whole. We don't have enough talent.

 

[SteelBowl70]

The extent of the optimism before the season never made sense to me. We lost a lottery pick and one of the best players to ever wear a Pitt uniform in Hinson. If we wanted to be as good as last year's flawed but solid team, Amsal had to be one of our best 2-3 players. Instead, he's 10th.

Basketball-first fans have become about annoying as Pitate fans when it comes to paralysis by analysis of stats and how everyone is going to fit in perfectly to create this great whole. We don't have enough talent.

The returning guys haven’t improved that much and the new guys haven’t contributed as much as expected.

- To borrow a popular meme saying and adjust it for Pitt Basketball: Pitt will not tell you they are medicore this season but there will be signs.

- Defense has been a problem. This goes without saying. For long stretches, the D is as bad as it can get. Pitt was up 27-13 vs Wisconsin with 6 minutes to go in the 1st Half and I'm honestly thinking, shit, we might be a 2 or 3 seed. To give up 68 points in the last 26 minutes of that game is as bad as it can possibly get. I mean they scored on almost every trip to reach that level. That was a sign.

- First 24 minutes at OSU, we give up 57 points. They are shooting more than 60%. Another sign

- Mississippi State was a sign

- At VT, we are down 8 in the 2nd Half against a team who might have the lowest talent level in the league. Giving up 38 points in the 1st Half is too many. Escaping with our lives against a really bad team was a sign.

- Against Cal, we are down 16 with 4 minutes left in the 1st Half. 39 points scored in first 16 minutes. Really bad team. Another sign.

- Against Stanford, we are down 9 in the 1st Half.

- Against Duke, 18-0 run to finish the game.

- Against Louisville up 18-10 and feeling really good, 14-0 run and we have to play from behind the whole game. Up 1 with 8 minutes left, Louisville scored on 11 of its final 13 possessions. Hard to do worse than that.

- At FSU: 54 points surrendered in the 2nd Half. Down 1 with the ball, Ewin runs over Dunn and they score on 10 of 11 possessions to build a 14 point lead.

- Vs Clemson, they score on 17 of 20 possessions to build a big lead.

- Defense and Rebounding. This team simply cant defend. We went zone today for a little bit to throw them off their rhythm because they were getting anything they wanted against our man. The only positive thing I could say is we have at least done a good job on eliminating the layup lines that Wis, OSU, and Miss St ran against us. Instead, now we just give up uncontested 3s and offensive rebounds.

- Not sure what the answer is defensively. Defense wasnt the whole reason we lost today because we did step it up and got back in the game but you cant allow the opposing team to come into your gym and score on 17 of 20 possessions. This team is just too slow in rotations, which leads me to question if we should even be playing help defense. In the NBA, everyone shoots top well, so they dont help. In college, everyone still plays help defense, but I'm not sure they should. Every time we help, we get lost in rotations and its an easy 3. The problem if we dont help is that we dont have a rim protector so the fear is giving up easy 2s. There's no easy answer.

- Offensively, I dont know what we are doing. At times, we do run a structured offense but it seems more often than not its just NBA freelance with Lowe or Leggett trying to get into the lane and make a play. After tying the game at 57, our next 3 possessions resulted in missed 3s out of no offense. Clemson comes back and go up 4, we then go on a 7-0 run to go up 3. I think most of us thought it was our game. Next 3 possessions: missed 3, missed 3, missed 3. No offense. No easy shots.

- So what we have is a medicore basketball team. That said, mediocre can still get you to the NCAAT with some luck and we got lucky that Darian Devries is probably National Coach of the Year. Took down #2 Iowa State today, winning all these games without his son and with straight-up bums. I cant begin to tell you how much more talented we are.

They look to struggle to finish 10-10 and they don’t have a miracle NC State run in them. Worse there has been very little development of the bench players and next year looks dire. Like football, I guess we had a nice 2 year run which makes last year’s snub even harder to stomach. We had Adams and Bub and did nothing with them.

 

[MorningCoffee13]

Accountability. There seems to be little to no accountability from the team or coaches.

And listen I have no problem with Capel saying it his best team. As a coach in any sport at any level you can tell when your team has more talent than you are used to. The problem becomes how to mesh that talent into a winning team.

It would take an incredible turn around for this team to go to tourney. But they have one of those crazy week offs to really get ready. If the team on Saturday doesn’t play almost entirely different than what we have been seeing then you can just mail it in the rest of the year.

On defense they just need to do basics. It was disappointing seeing Fede dominate the boards in the Texas Tech-UA game.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

They look to struggle to finish 10-10 and they don’t have a miracle NC State run in them. Worse there has been very little development of the bench players and next year looks dire. Like football, I guess we had a nice 2 year run which makes last year’s snub even harder to stomach. We had Adams and Bub and did nothing with them.

Next season is kind of scary to think about. It's why, after our big portal "gets" this year were Dunn and Cohren, I'm amazed that people continue to suggest not recruiting high school players anymore. It's like a dog with no foresight continuing to fall for the same trick. We absolutely need to be taking 3ish high school recruits every year. They can be bench players while they develop, and then we may or may not elect to bring them back. But these guys take a discount to stay. As we have seen, we can't afford to build a team strictly via the portal. Nor can we afford top talent from the portal.

We'll see what Cumming develops into. Wish we had two more of him (at various positions, obviously), because the chances of at least 1-2 players around that level panning out would be decent.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

The extent of the optimism before the season never made sense to me. We lost a lottery pick and one of the best players to ever wear a Pitt uniform in Hinson. If we wanted to be as good as last year's flawed but solid team, Amsal had to be one of our best 2-3 players. Instead, he's 10th.

Basketball-first fans have become about annoying as Pitate fans when it comes to paralysis by analysis of stats and how everyone is going to fit in perfectly to create this great whole. We don't have enough talent.

Well, was anyone thinking that the loss of Bub and Hinson would hurt our defense and rebounding? Forget the Duke and Miss St losses. Defense and rebounding were the reasons we lost to Wis, FSU, Lou, Clem. The offense isnt perfect but its good enough.

 

[pittizit]

Accountability. There seems to be little to no accountability from the team or coaches.

And listen I have no problem with Capel saying it his best team. As a coach in any sport at any level you can tell when your team has more talent than you are used to. The problem becomes how to mesh that talent into a winning team.

It would take an incredible turn around for this team to go to tourney. But they have one of those crazy week offs to really get ready. If the team on Saturday doesn’t play almost entirely different than what we have been seeing then you can just mail it in the rest of the year.

On defense they just need to do basics. It was disappointing seeing Fede dominate the boards in the Texas Tech-UA game.

 

[pittizit]

Listen no reason to wait til Saturday…season is over…this team suxx and all the time in the world ain’t gonna change that

An AD with guts would get the money to whack this guy and do it now to save a fan base that’s given up but we are Pitt so we won’t so we live with it

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

This is a pretty good post. The “slow starts” really isn’t a lack of effort or focus to starts the game, it’s just bad defense. Hard to build a lead when teams score on 80% or more of their possessions

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

This is a pretty good post. The “slow starts” really isn’t a lack of effort or focus to starts the game, it’s just bad defense. Hard to build a lead when teams score on 80% or more of their possessions

In basketball practices, teams sometimes run through their offense 5 on 0. If Clemson was doing this drill but you told them that they couldnt shoot layups, they may not score on 17 of 20 vs no defense. Some of these stretches, its like the offense is indeed playing vs no defense. Its open shot vs open shot.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Well, was anyone thinking that the loss of Bub and Hinson would hurt our defense and rebounding? Forget the Duke and Miss St losses. Defense and rebounding were the reasons we lost to Wis, FSU, Lou, Clem. The offense isnt perfect but its good enough.

Wisconsin and Louisville, yes. Florida State - we basically did nothing well. Clemson I'm putting on the offense above all else. We held them to 66 points in regulation, didn't exactly get bullied on the glass, and stepped up on D when we needed to (three shot clock violations, a couple blocks/steals, etc.). Had an awful defensive stretch, but I would call it close to average on the whole in regulation.

The defense and rebounding on the whole, season-wise, suck, though; that much is true. But was it reasonable to expect otherwise? I guess the guards' defense has been disappointing. Other than that, though, it's pretty much what I expected.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Austin comes off his man more than anyone in the history of organized basketball. Help defense is one thing, but this feels like stat chasing. Lowe and Leggett probably spoil him in practice, because he likely just swats them to the moon every time they drive, as opposed to them recognizing it and initiating some ball movement that culminates in someone being wide open for a shot.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Wisconsin and Louisville, yes. Florida State - we basically did nothing well. Clemson I'm putting on the offense above all else. We held them to 66 points in regulation, didn't exactly get bullied on the glass, and stepped up on D when we needed to (three shot clock violations, a couple blocks/steals, etc.). Had an awful defensive stretch, but I would call it close to average on the whole in regulation.

The defense and rebounding on the whole, season-wise, suck, though; that much is true. But was it reasonable to expect otherwise? I guess the guards' defense has been disappointing. Other than that, though, it's pretty much what I expected.

I get what you are saying about Clem and FSU but you cant allow 56 points in a half to an FSU team, which doesnt even have good offense. That should have been a game we won ugly. You know, didnt play offensively ver well but won 66-62.

Clemson - we played defense well at times but you just cant allow them to score 17 times in 20 possessions and go down 14. They arent the Celtics

 

[Pittisit4me]

I get what you are saying about Clem and FSU but you cant allow 56 points in a half to an FSU team, which doesnt even have good offense. That should have been a game we won ugly. You know, didnt play offensively ver well but won 66-62.

Clemson - we played defense well at times but you just cant allow them to score 17 times in 20 possessions and go down 14. They arent the Celtics

There is a reason they shoot better from 3 against us. We leave them wide open. Our 1st half defense was piss poor. They had no P. J. Hall this year, a paper thin Wiggins, and Sheffelin who likes to at least occasionally drift to the perimeter. What does Capel do in response? Instead of instructing the team to run them off the 3 point line, he has them helping off shooters to keep them out of the lane. As a result, they go off from 3 and get a big lead. This is an example of poor coaching strategy. We do have a couple guys capable of blocking shots when smaller guards get to the goal on us.

They figured this out in the 2nd half, but if we don't go down 14, we probably don't lose. Capel just has to be better. This team has been close against the Ville and Clemson, but, the FSU game was an abortion. I don't know what the hell happened there. I just know this team is close and a little strategy, better game plan, and team communication, all fostered by Capel could be enough to turn close losses into wins.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

There is a reason they shoot better from 3 against us. We leave them wide open. Our 1st half defense was piss poor. They had no P. J. Hall this year, a paper thin Wiggins, and Sheffelin who likes to at least occasionally drift to the perimeter. What does Capel do in response? Instead of instructing the team to run them off the 3 point line, he has them helping off shooters to keep them out of the lane. As a result, they go off from 3 and get a big lead. This is an example of poor coaching strategy. We do have a couple guys capable of blocking shots when smaller guards get to the goal on us.

They figured this out in the 2nd half, but if we don't go down 14, we probably don't lose. Capel just has to be better. This team has been close against the Ville and Clemson, but, the FSU game was an abortion. I don't know what the hell happened there. I just know this team is close and a little strategy, better game plan, and team communication, all fostered by Capel could be enough to turn close losses into wins.

Every team helps off shooters. I dont understand why though. I'd play "no help" and take away 3 point shooting. Beat us from 2.....well, which is what Wisconsin did.

 

[Pittisit4me]

Every team helps off shooters. I dont understand why though. I'd play "no help" and take away 3 point shooting. Beat us from 2.....well, which is what Wisconsin did.

It makes even less sense to help off shooters when the other team is not as strong or as dangerous as usual inside.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

It makes even less sense to help off shooters when the other team is not as strong or as dangerous as usual inside.

No college team is "strong inside." Ok, maybe 5. Scheffelin is as good of a big as there is but I'd be much more concerned about raining 3s than Scheffelin beating us from 2.