This team is good

[Sean Miller Fan]

We've all been watched a ton of Pitt basketball over the years and I can usually handicap a team's chances early on just by seeing the first few games. The only one I was dead wrong about was the out-of-nowhere 3 seed team that lost to Xavier. Early, I thought they were NIT.

I posted on this board early that the 2 teams that would miss the NCAAT would miss it. They didnt pass my eye test early.

This team does. If Robinson is going to shoot like this and score like this, I honestly think we are one of the best middle tier teams and could be looking at 13-5, 12-6. Artis and Young are elite offensive players. You throw Robinson in there along with deadeye Sterling Smith and this team reminds me a little of last year's ND. No D but man can we score.

Bottom line is even with subpar D, it will be impossible to miss the NCAAT with 3 big-time offensive weapons.

 

[Pittx9]

I think other than '09 and '11, this is our best chance to make a deep tourney run. '03 and '04 teams were better overall more than likely, but this team is so much more athletic and worlds better at shooting. The Purdue game was a fluke in the sense of how bad we shot. We will almost always shoot a whole lot better than that. A bad shooting night in the Early Dixon years would've been much worse, as those teams on their best nights were not good shooting teams. This could be a great year for Pitt!

 

[TiredRam97]

I'd love to know the team's plus/minus with Jeter in the game this season. He struggles on defense.

The only time Duquesne seemed to have any offensive consistency last night was when he was in the game.

 

[MajorMajors]

I'd love to know the team's plus/minus with Jeter in the game this season. He struggles on defense.

The only time Duquesne seemed to have any offensive consistency last night was when he was in the game.

SJ is also prone to taking tough shots. Taking ill-advised shots and struggling on defense is not a good combo with Coach D.

I guess because SJ is so athletic, and has been good offensively in spurts, Coach D. keeps giving him opportunities.

Go Pitt.

 

[ameoba defense]

I found this post after the game on one of the Duq boards. Sums it up very well, and nice to hear it from an outsider; "Pitt's better than a lot of people realize and deserve credit for rebounding and taking it to Duquesne early. Not great, but to me, the Panthers a pretty clear 7/8/9 seed with the potential to finish a little higher. The way their fans and the media treat them, you'd think they were CBI bound."

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I think other than '09 and '11, this is our best chance to make a deep tourney run. '03 and '04 teams were better overall more than likely, but this team is so much more athletic and worlds better at shooting. The Purdue game was a fluke in the sense of how bad we shot. We will almost always shoot a whole lot better than that. A bad shooting night in the Early Dixon years would've been much worse, as those teams on their best nights were not good shooting teams. This could be a great year for Pitt!

Ponder this question:

If you take offensive rebouding out of the equation (for the purposes of this question only), is this our best offensive team? I think it is. Blair/Young/Fields was the best offensively overall but that was largely due to offensive rebounding. This team is not a good offensive rebounding team but in terms of first shot at the basket, this team is better.

 

[Pittx9]

Ponder this question:

If you take offensive rebouding out of the equation (for the purposes of this question only), is this our best offensive team? I think it is. Blair/Young/Fields was the best offensively overall but that was largely due to offensive rebounding. This team is not a good offensive rebounding team but in terms of first shot at the basket, this team is better.

I was thinking this the other day. I don't know about best offensive team overall, even discounting rebounding. But by far this is our best shooting team.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Sagarin's computer has us back at #30 (6th ACC) today. We had slipped to #36 or #37 after the Purdue loss.

They still have Purdue as the #2 team nationally, by the way.

#30 is in theory a #8 seed (#s 29-30-31-32).

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

I still think this team, unlike typical Pitt teams of the past, will get better rather than stay the same or regress over the course of the season.

Unlike veteran Pitt teams with a solid starting five and rotations at the beginning of the season; this team's new players and rotations aren't fully gelled yet with Dixon still experimenting a bit.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

Ponder this question:

If you take offensive rebouding out of the equation (for the purposes of this question only), is this our best offensive team? I think it is. Blair/Young/Fields was the best offensively overall but that was largely due to offensive rebounding. This team is not a good offensive rebounding team but in terms of first shot at the basket, this team is better.

It's so hard to tell because of the NCAA doubling down on the freedom of movement initiative. Teams can get shots more easily within the offense, create off the dribble more easily, get to the rim/draw a foul more easily, etc..

I'm really happy that people are seeing how damn good this base offense is and how it's actually NOT about running the clock down, but it's really hard to do cross comparisons at this point because the fluidity on offense in college basketball this season is unmatched.

I mean, if you just ran offense and let Sam Young physically beat guys to a spot or off the dribble in 2008-09, who's to say that offense isn't way better? Or, if you could run Gibbs through the paint on a cut parallel to the baseline without him getting bumped or grabbed in the painted area, who's to say that he wouldn't have had way more open/uncontested looks?

This has always been an offense that helps guys perform better than they are because of its flexibility and ability to get open shots (even if it sometimes takes a large chunk of the shot clock). To me, that is just augmented with these new rules.