the NC State game

[Sean Miller Fan]

Gottfried has won 3 in a row against Jamie and Cat Barber will be very difficult to hold under 25. NC State will be 0-5 coming in but with a lot of talent. Its an obvious must-win for NC State. Lose and they are finished. No way they go 10-2 the rest of the way to make the NCAAT. I think this is going to be a very tough game. We need to win to go 5-1 in the first 3rd of our schedule, which is by far the easiest "third" of our ACC schedule.

The next "third" is
@ FSU
@Clemson
VT
UVa
@ Miami
@ UNC

That's pretty brutal. Clemson is very good and FSU has a lot of talent (but terrible coach). 2-4 in that stretch is certainly possible. We really need to be 5-1 going into that. I think we need 11 ACC wins including the ACCT to get in.

 

[JD1976]

Louisville is no good though, right?

 

[UPitt '89]

No team in the league plays defense like what we saw tonight from Louisville.

Barber might go off for 25 against us.... but there's no reason to think Pitt can't get near 80 against them. They don't defend.

That's the best part of the rest of the schedule... none of them except UVa defend like that.

And we'll likely not have another game where the whistles are THAT loose, not with the new rules. Tonight's officials will get a very poor grade in their evaluations for this game.

 

[PittPoker]

Look for more teams to start pressing us that's for sure.

 

[whirlybird optio]

I agree. Given our pretty strong RPI, I think 10-8 in league, and 1 win in ACCT should be enough, probably would put us on the 8-9 line. 11 wins in league, 1 or 2 in the ACCT, I think we could be as high as a 6 seed.

The NCST game will be tough, but I expect us to win. I go back to the GT game. GT literally did everything they could, and we still beat them at the Pete.

Also, I'm not saying we will, but I could definitely imagine scenarios where Pitt goes 5-1 or 4-2 in the above stretch. I'd sell all my Clemson stock if I owned it right now, and I think we can play with FSU. UVA at home would be a nice win, but we are due against them. Can we split a Miami/UNC road trip...I dunno? Maybe.

 

[PittPoker]

Duke not a good matchup, UNC isn't, Clemson isn't and NC State

Still though, whatever seed we get in the ncaa's if we don't get favorable matchups we'll be out early. Certain teams such as Louisville we just have no answers and can't adjust.

 

[UPitt '89]

Look for more teams to start pressing us that's for sure.

Most teams can't press like Louisville.

Not all presses are equal.

Most of the turnovers came during the half court, not the press anyway.

 

[UPitt '89]

Duke not a good matchup, UNC isn't, Clemson isn't and NC State

Still though, whatever seed we get in the ncaa's if we don't get favorable matchups we'll be out early. Certain teams such as Louisville we just have no answers and can't adjust.

Duke is not a bad matchup for us. Very similar to ND in style this year. Especially at the Pete.

And UNC isn't a bad matchup for us either. They don't defend. That's going to be a 90-85 game.

NC State is a dumpster fire. They're not a bad matchup for anybody right now.

Clemson is playing well lately, but has 6 losses... including to some very poor teams. We'll see how the teams are playing when that game rolls around.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Plenty of teams have pressed us.
Typically it fails as Robinson is a one man press break...
Notice how Louisville fell back once James gained control?

Our main problems with turnovers were in our half court offense...
Not live ball turn overs before half court.

 

[KiwiJeff]

Look for more teams to start pressing us that's for sure.

I doubt it. Teams generally run their stuff. If they don't have the personnel to press or it's not what they do, it's unlikely they change it. I welcome teams to press us.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

They scored 59 points against a bad defensive team. I think they proved they arent "that" good. Their stifling half-court defense won that game.

If I would have said Louisville's press would only generate 2 turnovers and they would only score 59 points, most of us would have expected a 10-15 point win. They never play half court D like that and probably never will. I've never seen anything like that.

But yea, they arent "that" good. 6/7 NCAA seed type of team.