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UNC Game & Other Dribbles ...

I wonder if the bad three point shooting and Burton tearing them up inside are related. Pitt legitimately has three 3-point threats for the first time that I can remember. I think Carolina was worried about that and they didn’t collapse when Burton drove.

I can't say it didn't have anything to do with it, but we were missing plenty of open ones we have been hitting over the last few weeks (particularly from Greg and Nelly).
 
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I wonder if the bad three point shooting and Burton tearing them up inside are related. Pitt legitimately has three 3-point threats for the first time that I can remember. I think Carolina was worried about that and they didn’t collapse when Burton drove.
Definitely agree. You could see Carolina was coached to run us off the three pt. Line. We did have our share of open 3's, but couldn't hit them. I think Burton realized we were not hitting and needed to go to the goal. You better believe having shooters is a big part of why Jamarius was able to get to the goal. Teams cannot sag off us near as much as prior years when we had mostly brick layers.

Jamarius was just so damn impressive today. He did most of his damage while being guarded by Leeky Black, perhaps the best defender in the entire ACC. If he can do that against him, he is going to abuse more teams as we go along. It was a great individual effort wrapped up inside of a great team effort. This team is different, it is a complete team for a change. We haven't had that in quite a while.
 
My game watching yesterday was disrupted by routine life and so I did not see the fine details you get when you pay attention or rewatch. After rewatching we certainly did well but I wonder if it was any team but UNC would we have survived? UNC players seem to be believing the hype about who the press say they should be and that arrogance seems to be leading to their current record. I think that Hubert is a decent coach but not great. He will probably have them in good shape by end of year but he does not seem to know how to get those kids to think that they actually have to work to win.

But I do like our Dixon like effort this year. If we had made a few of our shots the game would have never been in question but who knows? Perhaps Jamarius does not have the same kind of game he had if we are draining out threes.

I hated the schedule when it came out and even at this point I do not love the next few games. But quite frankly I would have expected to have five losses by mid January but it is quite possible we will be on the plus side of the ledger when the gauntlet of tough tough games is over.
 
Someone absolutely has to tell Fede that when he gets the ball at the rim nothing but an outright dunk will do. he turned 8 points off 4 dunks into 0 points off blocks. We really needed those points.
I understand why you are saying this, but when FF came over from Finland, all he wanted to do was float around the perimeter and shoot 3’s. Someone told him he needs to be Kevin Durant. And he can’t shoot. He did not want to bang at all!!!

So the way his game has developed with his strength and everything else where he’s trying to cram it every time is something I personally love to see. I don’t want to see him going back to the old scared of contact Fede. Those will become dunks and 2 points next year for sure.
 
I understand why you are saying this, but when FF came over from Finland, all he wanted to do was float around the perimeter and shoot 3’s. Someone told him he needs to be Kevin Durant. And he can’t shoot. He did not want to bang at all!!!

So the way his game has developed with his strength and everything else where he’s trying to cram it every time is something I personally love to see. I don’t want to see him going back to the old scared of contact Fede. Those will become dunks and 2 points next year for sure.
Probably that weird Finnish coach who recorded his entire visit.
 
It still may be early to say this because of how we have finished seasons, but, I think Heather is getting ready to stash away her list of replacement candidates for coach Capel about now. Hopefully the arrow stays upward and she need not revisit it anytime soon.
 
Definitely agree. You could see Carolina was coached to run us off the three pt. Line. We did have our share of open 3's, but couldn't hit them. I think Burton realized we were not hitting and needed to go to the goal. You better believe having shooters is a big part of why Jamarius was able to get to the goal. Teams cannot sag off us near as much as prior years when we had mostly brick layers.

Jamarius was just so damn impressive today. He did most of his damage while being guarded by Leeky Black, perhaps the best defender in the entire ACC. If he can do that against him, he is going to abuse more teams as we go along. It was a great individual effort wrapped up inside of a great team effort. This team is different, it is a complete team for a change. We haven't had that in quite a while.
I wasn't surprised Burton
did what he did. Maybe
surprised at 31 pts, but
he's played like this
before..... St. John's at
the Garden last yr, he
single handidly won
that game.

He's physically strong and
is able to back his man
down. His moves are basic.
As I watch him, he tends
to overpower his man,
not use any fancy one on
one moves. He has a great
pull up, mid range Jumper,
and he's strong going to
the rim. If the D doesn't
stop his penetration out
front, he's a load as he
penetrates backing his
man down.
 
A few thoughts....

1) Mike Sullivan always says of the Penguins, that they need to "play the right way". Pitt basketball is playing the right way. As we said after the Northwestern game, "anyone could win a game when you are shooting like that". But the trick is, to beat teams when you aren't shooting the ball well.

2) 5-25 from 3 point land. If I gave that number before the game, I think all of us would have guessed for 20 point loss. We won. We found a will and a way to win.

3) We got stops when we needed to. My god, how long has that been?? This looked like a Pitt team circa 2002-2010.

4) It is great to have young talent, but sometimes it is better to have men. This is another throwback to the good old days. We got grown men out there making grown men type of plays.

5) It is not just one person either. Yesterday it was Burton's time. Before that Hinson. Sometimes it is Nelly or Greg Elliot or Federico Squared.

6) I know we are at the same point as that Duke game, but this feels much different.

7) It is going to be nice, we are going to start showing up on all of these bracketology projections. Again, how long has that been?

8) If we could win at least 1 against UVa or Duke, we will start being a national story.
 
A few thoughts....

1) Mike Sullivan always says of the Penguins, that they need to "play the right way". Pitt basketball is playing the right way. As we said after the Northwestern game, "anyone could win a game when you are shooting like that". But the trick is, to beat teams when you aren't shooting the ball well.

2) 5-25 from 3 point land. If I gave that number before the game, I think all of us would have guessed for 20 point loss. We won. We found a will and a way to win.

3) We got stops when we needed to. My god, how long has that been?? This looked like a Pitt team circa 2002-2010.

4) It is great to have young talent, but sometimes it is better to have men. This is another throwback to the good old days. We got grown men out there making grown men type of plays.

5) It is not just one person either. Yesterday it was Burton's time. Before that Hinson. Sometimes it is Nelly or Greg Elliot or Federico Squared.

6) I know we are at the same point as that Duke game, but this feels much different.

7) It is going to be nice, we are going to start showing up on all of these bracketology projections. Again, how long has that been?

8) If we could win at least 1 against UVa or Duke, we will start being a national story.
Nellie is piling up assists. Doesnt dominate the ball best point guard in a long time
 
Hey, I go to Vegas for the 1st and/or 2nd weeks of the tourney every year. Wasn’t expecting it but it sure would be nice to see this good play continue and be able to have a rooting interest in my team while out there instead of just the continual parade of bets to root on.
 
The parking situation has been a fiasco all season. They implemented an electronic ticket only “system” at the BST lot that entails a guy standing there checking the ticket on your phone, then manually attaching a sticker to the ticket he prints out from the machine. The lines have backed up and tied up traffic in the exhibition games. With this game they just shut down that lot because they would have tied up traffic all over Oakland, so they sent us all to the OC lot, tying that one up. Thanks Heather.


I was wondering why so many cars ended up at the OC lot. I was there about 40-45 minutes before tip and it was already almost completely full. They ended up parking people everywhere, in places that aren't supposed to be parking spots.

The weird thing with the parking passes being on the phone is that most of the time they don't even bother to scan mine. They look and I assume identify that my pass is actually for that lot for that game and they just wave me in. Yesterday, on the other hand, the women actually took my phone out of my hand and I assume scanned the code inside the little parking shack. But there were other people who were ahead of me who just got waved right in like I normally have.

I guess this is the kind of thing that happens when you schedule a game for a weekday afternoon when a lot of people are actually working so the places that those workers normally park have to make sure those people are accommodated first.
 
** From time to time, I find myself getting into minor quarrels with my fellow posters because of my defense of College Basketball referees.

** A big reason for this defense was a common practice of rewatching most Panther hoops games, and often realizing that critical calls that sometimes looked wrong in the heat of the Pete tended to look a little more right in retrospect.

** In the heat of the Pete today, there were more than a few calls which raised my ire. Still, on this day, I’m looking forward to rewatching the contest to obtain my usual better disposition about the officials.

** But that’s just a side effect actually. The main point is that I’m really just looking forward to just rewatching the game. This was a game that I think most Panther fans should want to watch more than once.

** Sure, had not referees A.J. Desai and Bert Smith rewatched the next to last inbounds play and realized that Tommy Morrisey got it wrong, I might have left the Pete with a totally different disposition about rewatching the game. But they got it right, and UNC didn’t get one last chance.

** Therefore I was able to retain my disposition that the better team won. The Panthers were the better team.

** The Panthers didn’t outshoot the Tar Heels. They just outplayed them. We were the more physical team and were the tougher team too.

** Granted, it took the Panthers a little bit of time to realize they were the better team. In the first few minutes, we looked a little intimidated by UNC’s size and strength.

** Because of that, it’s possible one can site the turning point of the game at the 15:34 mark of the first half when Jamarius took a nice feed from Nike a drove the lane to score among the tall Tar Heel trees.

** It was the first time we were able to see that not only were the Panthers the better team, but Jamarius was the best player on the court.

** This moment marked the first of over a dozen times he took the ball successfully, and actually quite brilliantly, into lane.

** I’m not sure I can remember a game when we have watched a Panther guard who out muscled a bigger opponent like Burton did today. And I’m not sure I can remember a game when we have watched a Panther guard who drove into the lane as fearlessly as Burton did today.

** Because this wasn’t a game when Jamarius was hitting deep bombs, some might not instantly recognize this game among the very few of the best ever (if not even THE best ever) offensive Panther games at the Pete. But it should be.

** This is something I can’t wait to watch several more times starting at the conclusion of Tony’s exhibition.

** Unfortunately, while rewatching Jamarius make magic in the lane, we will have to watch the rest of the Panthers miss a whole bunch of threes for much of the game.

** I’m not sure I thought many, if any, of the threes were bad ones to take. Most were good open shots that have been going down of late.

** Because of this, midway through the second frame, it looked like this might not be the Panthers day despite Jamarius’ magic.

** Then one of Blake’s triples finally fell and we outscored UNC 30-19 the rest of the way.

** Those last 11 minutes were as much fun I’ve had at the Pitt Hoops game since … well it been a while. Maybe since the Panthers beat Virginia in OT in 2017. Not only do I remember that one well, I remember how much I enjoyed rewatching it too.

** Still, with just over a minute to go, the Panthers needed a hero, and Blake was happy to step forward, when most probably thought to look for Burton in the lane. Shooting is confidence, and despite his previous misses, Hinson obviously never lost his.

** The only other single shout out I wanted to add to this game was mention of Nike’s critical 24 minutes. He brought energy, lots of defense, and even some much needed offense too.

** So here it is – one day before the end of 2022, and the Panthers are 3-0 and in second place in the ACC. Like most fans, I’m starting to become pretty optimistic about where this season could go. After all, the Panther prospects look better for this season than I ever thought they would be in September, let alone after our tough trip to Brooklyn.

** But I’ll hold back any predictions or proclamations at this time. We’ve all learned our lessons about that. Instead, I’ll just enjoy another viewing of this wonderful effort today. It’s great to want to do that again!

** Happy New Year to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans!
Agree that this was one of the most impressive individual performances by at Pitt player in a long time by JB. Interesting sequence watching on TV. After JB took it strong a couple times going to his right, the color commentator said, "UNC needs to start forcing him to go to his left cause he's not as good going left". On the very next possession they overplayed him to take away his right and he promptly blew by his defender and went left.
One change I would like to see the coaches make is on the press. We are having problems inbounding the ball cleanly. Would like to see a pick set to free a main target to inbound and in the middle of the floor, not in the corners. Other than that it was a well played, well coached, pretty well officiated game.
 
Agree that this was one of the most impressive individual performances by at Pitt player in a long time by JB. Interesting sequence watching on TV. After JB took it strong a couple times going to his right, the color commentator said, "UNC needs to start forcing him to go to his left cause he's not as good going left". On the very next possession they overplayed him to take away his right and he promptly blew by his defender and went left.
One change I would like to see the coaches make is on the press. We are having problems inbounding the ball cleanly. Would like to see a pick set to free a main target to inbound and in the middle of the floor, not in the corners. Other than that it was a well played, well coached, pretty well officiated game.

Good point about making
the inbound against the
press. What makes it so
difficult is the defensive
front forces the ball to
the corner by taking
away the middle. They
also know a pick is going
to be set against them
and overplay it. I always
like the idea of bringing
a big into the middle
and inbounding a high
pass, and then have
the guards break agains
it. A good defensive
team knows this and
can defense that too.
Just watch a Pitino
team. They press from
baseline to baseline
and do it as well as
anyone. COACHING.
 
Not to take anything away, but he wasn't really the PG yesterday. The ball was mainly in Burton's hands.


When Cummings and Burton are on the floor together, more often than not Burton has been the one playing the point. Heck, a lot of times against mild pressure Cummings wasn't even in the front court when we were inbounding the ball.
 
Good point about making
the inbound against the
press. What makes it so
difficult is the defensive
front forces the ball to
the corner by taking
away the middle. They
also know a pick is going
to be set against them
and overplay it. I always
like the idea of bringing
a big into the middle
and inbounding a high
pass, and then have
the guards break agains
it. A good defensive
team knows this and
can defense that too.
Just watch a Pitino
team. They press from
baseline to baseline
and do it as well as
anyone. COACHING.
Agree but they don't seem to have confidence in Fede Fede to be the big to do that. Also, that big has to be a decent free throw shooter. Hor Hey would be perfect for that spot as he gains experience but in the meantime, inbounding against a press is going to continue to be a problem if they don't address it.
 
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