The offense is different

[Sean Miller Fan]

I dont think there's any question that Jamie has changed his offensive philosophy, probably mostly due to the shot clock shortening and maybe also to help with recruiting.

I havent looked at the possession numbers but Pitt looks to be playing a lot faster. Not a ton of transition but more than we're used to. The biggest change is that this team is shooting quicker and taking shots that they wouldn't have taken last year. The shot clock is 5 seconds shorter but I dont remember it going under 5 all year. They are taking the first good shot instead of passing an additional 15 seconds in search of the perfect shot.

For a cupcake game, I gotta say I was entertained. We scored 95 but it wasnt run and gun and throwing up a million bad shots. We seemed to be efficient and ran good offense. I've always said I didnt mind the 52-50 games but maybe the 82-80 games will grow on me if that's what happens.

The shot clock shortening seems to be doing exactly what they wanted it to do. Its making coaches coach offense differently.

 

[KiwiJeff]

I dont think there's any question that Jamie has changed his offensive philosophy, probably mostly due to the shot clock shortening and maybe also to help with recruiting.

I havent looked at the possession numbers but Pitt looks to be playing a lot faster. Not a ton of transition but more than we're used to. The biggest change is that this team is shooting quicker and taking shots that they wouldn't have taken last year. The shot clock is 5 seconds shorter but I dont remember it going under 5 all year. They are taking the first good shot instead of passing an additional 15 seconds in search of the perfect shot.

For a cupcake game, I gotta say I was entertained. We scored 95 but it wasnt run and gun and throwing up a million bad shots. We seemed to be efficient and ran good offense. I've always said I didnt mind the 52-50 games but maybe the 82-80 games will grow on me if that's what happens.

The shot clock shortening seems to be doing exactly what they wanted it to do. Its making coaches coach offense differently.

We have more players, which means we can attack more.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

This happened before with the freedom of movement initiative. The key will be having this carry through to the end of the season. The refs started to not follow through in Conference play and then by Tournament time teams were playing even slower than they had played the season before.

I said this in another thread, but it's true -- crazy how much better a motion offense looks when players can actually move freely.

 

[DT_PITT]

This happened before with the freedom of movement initiative. The key will be having this carry through to the end of the season. The refs started to not follow through in Conference play and then by Tournament time teams were playing even slower than they had played the season before.

I said this in another thread, but it's true -- crazy how much better a motion offense looks when players can actually move freely.

Yes ... the reality is that our offense isn't any different at all.

 

[DT_PITT]

I dont think there's any question that Jamie has changed his offensive philosophy, probably mostly due to the shot clock shortening and maybe also to help with recruiting.

I havent looked at the possession numbers but Pitt looks to be playing a lot faster. Not a ton of transition but more than we're used to. The biggest change is that this team is shooting quicker and taking shots that they wouldn't have taken last year. The shot clock is 5 seconds shorter but I dont remember it going under 5 all year. They are taking the first good shot instead of passing an additional 15 seconds in search of the perfect shot.

For a cupcake game, I gotta say I was entertained. We scored 95 but it wasnt run and gun and throwing up a million bad shots. We seemed to be efficient and ran good offense. I've always said I didnt mind the 52-50 games but maybe the 82-80 games will grow on me if that's what happens.

The shot clock shortening seems to be doing exactly what they wanted it to do. Its making coaches coach offense differently.

The shot clock seems to have little to do with it. It's the freedom of motion. The team is taking the same shots they would get in the past. They are just getting to those shots more easily.

 

[steel_curtain]

Yes ... the reality is that our offense isn't any different at all.

I would beg to differ.

1) Pitt has made 19 three's in 2.5 games this year. 19!!!

Pitt made 25 three's total in its last 5 losses of the season last year.

If no one has noticed, this team is not only letting it rip from three, we are making them. And it isn't Artis and Young making all of them either. We are getting guard and wing contributions.

2) We are getting backcourt contributions scoring the basketball in the first 3 games of the season. No one needs to be told again just how awful our backcourt was in ACC play last year, let alone our last 5 losses in a row to finish the season.

3) And Most importantly, the scoring is balanced and spread out over all 5 positions. We don't have donut wheel positions on this team right now with huge scoring holes to fill by other players. That was noted in the Gonzaga game too where our guards didn't crumble against a good team like they normally do.

-We are averaging 90PPG and shooting almost 50% from the floor as a team. We have 9 players scoring over 5PPG to start the season. Obviously these numbers are going to go down, but it shows balance. We saw it in the Gonzaga game too. My eyes also tell me our offense is going to be really good. I don't need 15 more games to determine that, we have players on this team that can score. And as I said all off season, if we get some help for Artis and Young scoring and some 3 point firepower, we would be a nightmare team to try and guard. It's true thus far, including against Gonzaga. I don't see our offense slowing down all that much. We will outscore people this year and win by doing so.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

I think there's a difference between an offense being different in the sense of the sets they run and basic philosophies and an offense being different in the sense of getting different results.

The offensive sets and philosophies are the same. The results are different because the new rules are allowing players to come open earlier on.

Pitt's offense has always been excellent at getting open shots, now that guys can't clutch and grab on cuts and drives it's just opening things up that much more.

 

[DT_PITT]

I would beg to differ.

1) Pitt has made 19 three's in 2.5 games this year. 19!!!

Pitt made 25 three's total in its last 5 losses of the season last year.

If no one has noticed, this team is not only letting it rip from three, we are making them. And it isn't Artis and Young making all of them either. We are getting guard and wing contributions.

2) We are getting backcourt contributions scoring the basketball in the first 3 games of the season. No one needs to be told again just how awful our backcourt was in ACC play last year, let alone our last 5 losses in a row to finish the season.

3) And Most importantly, the scoring is balanced and spread out over all 5 positions. We don't have donut wheel positions on this team right now with huge scoring holes to fill by other players. That was noted in the Gonzaga game too where our guards didn't crumble against a good team like they normally do.

-We are averaging 90PPG and shooting almost 50% from the floor as a team. We have 9 players scoring over 5PPG to start the season. Obviously these numbers are going to go down, but it shows balance. We saw it in the Gonzaga game too. My eyes also tell me our offense is going to be really good. I don't need 15 more games to determine that, we have players on this team that can score. And as I said all off season, if we get some help for Artis and Young scoring and some 3 point firepower, we would be a nightmare team to try and guard. It's true thus far, including against Gonzaga. I don't see our offense slowing down all that much. We will outscore people this year and win by doing so.

Allow me to clarify...

I agree that our offense is playing well.

But it's the same offensive style and philosophy. We are getting the same shots but getting to them more easily.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Allow me to clarify...

I agree that our offense is playing well.

But it's the same offensive style and philosophy. We are getting the same shots but getting to them more easily.

For Pitt, this result is partly due to the new freedom of movement rules; but, it is also due to having more depth and more shooters. It is a function of both.

IMHO, this freedom of movement thing for all teams will greatly diminish as the season progresses. Either the officiating will back-off or zone defenses and combo defenses will become the norm supplanting straight up man-to-man defense. Coaches aren't going to standby and continue to let their opponents get so freely and easily into the paint and to the hoop as they are able to do now under the new officiating.

Pitt should be positioned well for these eventualities because if there is more and more zone the teams with better outside shooting will have an advantage offensively and teams that have great length and depth will have an advantage defensively. Plus, Dixon's success against the Cuse shows that Dixon knows how to effectively coach a team to attach the zone inside as well.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Yes ... the reality is that our offense isn't any different at all.

Not even a little bit.

 

[Pittx9]

I think top to bottom this team has a chance to be our best yet, at the very least I think we have more talent than almost any other year. We legitimately have near 10 guys who all can play at a pretty good level.