UC Santa Barbara Game & Other Dribbles ...
- Thread starter DT_PITT
- Start date
DT - I know you were worried about the team offensively - thinking it might be hard to score over 60 points
After 3 games where are you at regarding this? More optimistic, less optimistic or the same?
I know that horrendous 10 minute stretch is in there.
Thanks
And straight forward. I think that might be one of the aspects about Stallings that irritates some people - he seems to be pretty direct describing players at points.
Still worried. Maybe a little more now than before.
These have been pretty small teams who aren't very good defensively.
I'm worried that our guards can be pressured more and turned over.
I'm also worried that some scoring has come from Shamiels drives, and I'm worried he won't get this as easily against ACC team (or will get called for more charges).
I'll think we will know more after next Tuesday night.
Thanks DT. And Atch!
BTW, there’s a great photo in the hard-copy PG this morning by Matt Freed. Shows the Pitt bench — must be when JWF hit the 3 near the end of the game.
Shows pure joy on the faces of 2 leaping-for-joy Pitt players and a coach as the ref signals a 3-pointer....
And a few fans in the background reflect the same joy in their faces and in their arms raised in triumph...
Also shows a reason to go support and root for this team thru the rough times that lie ahead...
Go Pitt.
BTW, there’s a great photo in the hard-copy PG this morning by Matt Freed. Shows the Pitt bench — must be when JWF hit the 3 near the end of the game.
Shows pure joy on the faces of 2 leaping-for-joy Pitt players and a coach as the ref signals a 3-pointer....
And a few fans in the background reflect the same joy in their faces and in their arms raised in triumph...
Also shows a reason to go support and root for this team thru the rough times that lie ahead...
Go Pitt.
Before my daughters were old enough to play organized sports, I wondered how I was going to be able to sit through the mess of little girls playing basketball and softball. Then when they started to play, I was greatly surprised by how much I enjoyed watching their little victories and improvement.
They are in their late 20s now, but last night at The Pete I had a small touch of that old feeling from long ago. It's going to be a rough season, but I'll enjoy the small good moments.
What a bizarre time where people claim Pitt last beat a "horrendous" Colorado in the NCAA tournament, yet we are supposed to leap from our seats after hitting a shot against UCSB...
When I walked out of Fitzgerald that February night in 1970 after we beat Syracuse by the score of 127 to 108, it felt like we had just won the national championship.
It's what I do.
4-20 in 68-69 would be the low water mark. 6-21 in 76-77 and 6-19 in 66-67 come in for dishonorable mention. I assume we are excluding the 5-17 in 65-66.
Good lord, what an awful stretch in the mid to late 60s. 7-16, 5-17, 6-19, 7-15, 4-20. That 12-12 in 69-70 must have felt like winning the national championship!
We have to remember that Carr is only a freshman playing arguably the the most important position on the team. I have a great deal of confidence that he is going to be a good one in the very near future.
What is it that you don’t get , this is not that team anymore . This is the team Pitt has right now , it will be a challenging season most likely two and if your so constantly offended stop watching and stop being so frickin negative all the time . These kids are working hard and you think they live in a vacuum ? They won a game ,be happy for them , if you can’t celebrate a victory why are you watching .
I posted the same thought a few nights ago on here about the perimeter-motion offense
that left nobody in the lane for an offensive rebound. That was after the first two games.
The last game the perimeter offense at least allowed some of our players to end up
inside. That doesn't mean they rebounded though LOL. I see this as "baby steps."
These things can be corrected in practice. One thing I'm seeing is Luther actually
looking for and taking his shot when open. I'm certain that's happening because
of what Stallings is doing in practice.
Basically I agree with your post in total.
You said the people on this board were making it "utterly miserable" for anyone who wants to be a fan of these kids. It is possible that you didn't mean what you actually wrote, but my comprehension of it is just fine.
And of course since you completely changed what you were saying from the post that I supposedly don't understand to this post I think it's obvious which of the two it is.
Late to the party, but work gets in the way of the important things in life
I had some trouble following the game because my streaming was being very jerky. Or maybe that is just how Pitt really looks. There really is not a lot of smoothness to anything they do at this point in time. I'm really not sure what offense is trying to do. They seem to run a three man weave around the perimeter and then hope someone can get free enough off of a screen to put up a shot. There seems to be little off the ball movement to get anyone free, no back screens, no moving the ball into the post to kick it back out, even when there is penetration is doesn't seem that it disrupts the defense to open anyone up for a pass so the ballhandler has to finish the drive or try a pull-up jumper. Maybe it will improve with experience, but I just don't see a plan. You knew with Dixon teams that when the shot clock got to 10, the best player would get the ball at the wing, wait for the big man to set a screen and then drive to the middle to shoot or kick out a pass. I have no idea what these guys are going to do.
Defense seemed more effective in the second half, but still looks a bit frantic at times, which I guess is to be expected. Usually you have several upperclassmen who understand the defensive concepts and are only trying to break in two or three new players. Trying to get basically 11 new guys to mesh is asking a lot. But unless they catch on quickly, good teams will pick us apart for easy layups and wide open threes. Add in the fact that we have little size to combat some of the bigs in the ACC, and you may see some volume scoring by opponents. I watched a little of FSU and we have nothing that can combat their 7'4" center.I gave some thought to suggesting a zone, but these guys have enough to learn as it is without trying to teach a whole new team the concepts needed to run an effective zone. And the rebounding issue...yuck.
On the plus side, Milligan played the game of his life. It would seem that the logical thing to do a point guard is to see who is playing the best on particular night and give that guy the most minutes. Luther is doing all he can and we really can't ask for more from him. Hopefully his attitude compared with the Seniors last year will not be lost on these Freshmen. I was really glad to see Wilson-Frame take over at the end and show real emotion. That kind of answered some of the concern I had in the post from the last game. Stewart showed some progress, and it seems that if this teams can ever get some leads late, he and Carr can hit free throws. Not much has changed on my opinions of the other players, Brown and Davis are works in progress, Stevenson is going to be just fine, and Chukwuka and Boykins should rarely see the floor.
DT, I agree that busting on Stallings is a waste of time. He will either get it done or he won't, and all the complaining in the world will not change that. It will be a rough year, but let's hope that a few of these kids grow into players and that we can add two or three more next year.
I had some trouble following the game because my streaming was being very jerky. Or maybe that is just how Pitt really looks. There really is not a lot of smoothness to anything they do at this point in time. I'm really not sure what offense is trying to do. They seem to run a three man weave around the perimeter and then hope someone can get free enough off of a screen to put up a shot. There seems to be little off the ball movement to get anyone free, no back screens, no moving the ball into the post to kick it back out, even when there is penetration is doesn't seem that it disrupts the defense to open anyone up for a pass so the ballhandler has to finish the drive or try a pull-up jumper. Maybe it will improve with experience, but I just don't see a plan. You knew with Dixon teams that when the shot clock got to 10, the best player would get the ball at the wing, wait for the big man to set a screen and then drive to the middle to shoot or kick out a pass. I have no idea what these guys are going to do.
Defense seemed more effective in the second half, but still looks a bit frantic at times, which I guess is to be expected. Usually you have several upperclassmen who understand the defensive concepts and are only trying to break in two or three new players. Trying to get basically 11 new guys to mesh is asking a lot. But unless they catch on quickly, good teams will pick us apart for easy layups and wide open threes. Add in the fact that we have little size to combat some of the bigs in the ACC, and you may see some volume scoring by opponents. I watched a little of FSU and we have nothing that can combat their 7'4" center.I gave some thought to suggesting a zone, but these guys have enough to learn as it is without trying to teach a whole new team the concepts needed to run an effective zone. And the rebounding issue...yuck.
On the plus side, Milligan played the game of his life. It would seem that the logical thing to do a point guard is to see who is playing the best on particular night and give that guy the most minutes. Luther is doing all he can and we really can't ask for more from him. Hopefully his attitude compared with the Seniors last year will not be lost on these Freshmen. I was really glad to see Wilson-Frame take over at the end and show real emotion. That kind of answered some of the concern I had in the post from the last game. Stewart showed some progress, and it seems that if this teams can ever get some leads late, he and Carr can hit free throws. Not much has changed on my opinions of the other players, Brown and Davis are works in progress, Stevenson is going to be just fine, and Chukwuka and Boykins should rarely see the floor.
DT, I agree that busting on Stallings is a waste of time. He will either get it done or he won't, and all the complaining in the world will not change that. It will be a rough year, but let's hope that a few of these kids grow into players and that we can add two or three more next year.
That pretty much sums up my statement. During that 4 win season, I can remember walking out of Fitzgerald and feeling elated because we had just beaten Carnegie Tech (yes, for you young ones out there, it was Carnegie Tech), and going to the old Pitt Tavern to celebrate.
Agree...these young guys aren't the problem. I hope they win plenty and prove me wrong. I've never rooted against a Pitt team.....won't start now.
Well when Frame hit the 3 to pretty much ice the game there were 3 possible reactions. You could be happy. You could be indifferent. You could be pissed off.
I was the first. How bout you?
I was happy that he hit the shot, but I did not leap from my seat with excitement. I have seen Pitt players hit thousands of shots with more significance than that one.
You are comparing finding a penny in the parking lot with winning the lottery.
I have been happy many times when we hit a shot near the end, only to have the other team come right back down the floor and win at the buzzer. Does Nova come to mind? Barry Goheen? Warren Baker?
That would be more on you than on Frame's shot. It was a great moment for a bunch of kid's who are trying very hard. Too bad you couldn't find more excitement in it.
I could not find more excitement in beating UCSB, a caliber of program we have beaten hundreds of times in the last decade, and one that should never even come close to our own.
Shame on you. You should be more excited that we beat UCSB than when we beat a horrendous Colorado team in the tournament.
Or you could be excited for both. But you wouldn't understand that. 'Cause you are too busy being miserable.
For years we were lectured about how we couldn’t get excited about crap non conference games. Do not tell me I need to be excited about beating UCSB.
Some people choose never to be happy and always compare any achievement to another one that they deem was better . I’d agree this wasn’t the winning shot at the final four , but you weren’t at that game you were at the Pitt UCSB game and that was the winning shot at that game . Your like the guy who hit a great golf shot and someone says that was nothing I saw Tiger hit .....learn to live in the moment and learn to enjoy you’ll live longer .
Shhh, sometimes it's better to keep certain advice to yourself. Not everyone is meant to live more than 60 years, thank god.
So far Pitt has played 3 teams. And so far there have been posts on this board about how bad those 3 teams have been beaten by someone else. I suspect this will go on all year with everyone we play.
But what is the point. Nobody is arguing that Pitt will be world beaters this year. This is classic beating of the dead horse.
Honestly, I just can’t understand the disconnect in people constantly railing on things like dixon’s ACC record, which was two games over .500, but at the same time defending what the results will be this year and also for last year’s team.
I was told time and time again here that games from November to February aren’t worth celebrating. All that matters is what happens in March, right?
You are conflating two separate issues in an attempt to further your Eyore-esque perspective.
And for the record, yes...what happens in March IS what matters. But that doesn't mean a win in November can't be enjoyed.
Hey, perhaps you don't know this but we might actually play Texas A&M in a couple of days as well. I mean I get that we probably aren't going to beat the nitters, but if Oklahoma State upsets A&M on Monday you get that we'd play A&M on Tuesday, right?
But no, I get it. We shouldn't talk about any teams that we've played or any teams that we might be playing in the future. Why on earth would any of that be of any interest to any Pitt fans?
I know that it's not really accurate to try and compare 2 teams by how each performed against the same opponent and then comparing final scores. But this does at least give an indication of the vast difference between this Pitt team and a decent college basketball team anywhere. If we can somehow lose by less than 20 points to any opponent this year, it will be progress. This is what we have turned into now in one short year.
If you think we are where we are due to "one short year" you are blind, naive, or both.
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