I know its been a while but I've had time to digest this team from a far and give an honest look at what this squad is all about. While DT's game by game analysis is great, as in basketball there are so many ebbs and flows in a season that its impossible to truly evaluate the team when simply analyzing each game individually.
The Good
1) Artis and Young are legit upper tier ACC players. Each has his flaws no doubt however each provides a difficult mismatch with their skillset that has led Pitt to wins such as the one at ND.
2) Increased aggressiveness - There's no doubt that we are much less worried about passing the ball 10x on each posession and if one of our top guns has an open shot they feel free to take it. This didn't used to be the case and I can only assume the shorter shot clock may have poked Jamie to implement this
3) Foul Shooting - What else can I say? We were #1 in the COUNTRY in FT shooting a few games back. That's almost impossible with our history here. It can't be a coincidence and I'm assuming Jamie and staff brought in a FT shooting guru to work on this. Either that or a hypnotist.
The Bad
1) James Robinson still cannot defend a quick PG. You can throw out A to TO ratios all you want but most top teams have a PG with ball handling and penetration skills. James simply cannot stay in front of these players, causing a #s game once they get by him. If that team also has an interior presence a la NC State, Pitt will rarely win those games unless it shoots lights out (see ND game). ND and Louisville both have this type of makeup and Pitt got extremely lucky to win the ND game because of padding a huge lead with amazing shooting.
2) Lack of size and skill inside. Maya and the other fellow are barely acceptable in ACC play. Nix would have been nice to have there but oh well.
The Ugly
1) The schedule. Pathetic once again and once again it limits our team's ability to truly see where it stands and where we need to improve heading into ACC play. Pitt got the break of the century starting out with Syracuse and Georgia Tech to start ACC play to boost our confidence. I'm pretty sure LVille and NC State brought us back to earth and even the AP voters aren't fooled by our gaudy record, dropping Pitt from the Top 25.
2) Jamie's in-game decorum. We're down 20 to NC State in the first half and he's screaming at the officials regarding pointless things. Might want to divert that attention to the guys wearing the script Pitt jerseys next time.
Prediction: With a very tough schedule ahead of us, I see pitt going .500 in the remaining schedule at best and sweating it out on Selection Sunday. I don't think that big Gotham Classic victory is going to impress the committee.
The Good
1) Artis and Young are legit upper tier ACC players. Each has his flaws no doubt however each provides a difficult mismatch with their skillset that has led Pitt to wins such as the one at ND.
2) Increased aggressiveness - There's no doubt that we are much less worried about passing the ball 10x on each posession and if one of our top guns has an open shot they feel free to take it. This didn't used to be the case and I can only assume the shorter shot clock may have poked Jamie to implement this
3) Foul Shooting - What else can I say? We were #1 in the COUNTRY in FT shooting a few games back. That's almost impossible with our history here. It can't be a coincidence and I'm assuming Jamie and staff brought in a FT shooting guru to work on this. Either that or a hypnotist.
The Bad
1) James Robinson still cannot defend a quick PG. You can throw out A to TO ratios all you want but most top teams have a PG with ball handling and penetration skills. James simply cannot stay in front of these players, causing a #s game once they get by him. If that team also has an interior presence a la NC State, Pitt will rarely win those games unless it shoots lights out (see ND game). ND and Louisville both have this type of makeup and Pitt got extremely lucky to win the ND game because of padding a huge lead with amazing shooting.
2) Lack of size and skill inside. Maya and the other fellow are barely acceptable in ACC play. Nix would have been nice to have there but oh well.
The Ugly
1) The schedule. Pathetic once again and once again it limits our team's ability to truly see where it stands and where we need to improve heading into ACC play. Pitt got the break of the century starting out with Syracuse and Georgia Tech to start ACC play to boost our confidence. I'm pretty sure LVille and NC State brought us back to earth and even the AP voters aren't fooled by our gaudy record, dropping Pitt from the Top 25.
2) Jamie's in-game decorum. We're down 20 to NC State in the first half and he's screaming at the officials regarding pointless things. Might want to divert that attention to the guys wearing the script Pitt jerseys next time.
Prediction: With a very tough schedule ahead of us, I see pitt going .500 in the remaining schedule at best and sweating it out on Selection Sunday. I don't think that big Gotham Classic victory is going to impress the committee.
