** I walked out of our last contest feeling perplexed. This time I’m just plain old disappointed.
** I’ll even say that for 32 minutes I was encouraged. A little enthused even. And I was hungry for a big Panther win.
** For those first 32 minutes, we actually were a decent basketball team. We were focused on defense. We controlled tempo. We fought for points. We were in position to take a game I didn’t expect we would win.
** At the very least, we didn’t look overmatched against another P-5 team. Sure, we couldn’t really hit most of the open jumpers we took. But we were finding a way. We were battling.
** I remarked during the under 8 timeout that were soon going to find out what kind of team we can be. At the next TV timeout, it was time to go home. It was a big turkey one might say. Or maybe a chicken since we certainly laid an egg. Disappointing. Very disappointing.
** What was most disappointing is that the tough defense the Panthers were playing up to that point seemingly just disappeared. Sure, the Commodores hit some truly tough shots during that stretch, but we stopped making their ball movement difficult.
** If the Panthers are going to make anything of this campaign, they are going to have to really get it done on the defensive end. In an attempt to be positive, I’ll at least offer that it was good to see that we have that kind of defense in us for an extended period of time. But we are always going to need it for 40 minutes. Not 32.
** I’m also a little curious about Capel’s use of zone defense during that fateful 4 minute stretch. But nitpicking coaching tactics probably misses the point.
** Anyway, we will need 40 minutes of defense because we may have only about half of that in offensive ability.
** The only conclusion I made today is that we are a better offensive team with Burton running the point and Femi playing the two. But even that didn’t help the Panthers when the Commodores went on their run.
** It surely would have helped the Panthers if Nate could have hit one or two more of his shots. But I’m not going to speak badly of Mr. Santos this night. As the Panthers only real shooter, the load on his shoulders is far greater than it otherwise should be for a freshman. Despite his threes not falling, he played a solid game, and looks to have a bright future.
** I also liked the ball reversal work the Panthers did to get Nate good shots.
** I don’t know what to make of what happens to Will’s jump shot during games. He looked confident shooting today too, but nothing is really close to going down. But generally speaking, I do like what he brings to the game in regards to energy. Hopefully the scoring will show up eventually because it’s needed desperately.
** But what we need even more desperately than Will’s offense is anything at all from Big John. He is just so out of sorts right now that it’s truly troubling. On one trip, it looks like he’s trying to hard, while on the next, it looks like he’s not trying hard enough. He’s going to have to figure it out, because we simply cannot win games with him playing the way he has the last two games.
** And unfortunately, Noah wasn’t able to have any success like his last outing. But anything we get from Noah is gravy. John simply must be the main course.
** I hope everyone enjoys their main course and their gravy tomorrow. And hopefully more Panther fans will show up on Saturday to (hopefully) watch the Panthers feast on the Retrievers. I suspect the Panthers will have a much better offensive game to offer next time out, and those of us who do watch will be much less disappointed.
** Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans.
** I’ll even say that for 32 minutes I was encouraged. A little enthused even. And I was hungry for a big Panther win.
** For those first 32 minutes, we actually were a decent basketball team. We were focused on defense. We controlled tempo. We fought for points. We were in position to take a game I didn’t expect we would win.
** At the very least, we didn’t look overmatched against another P-5 team. Sure, we couldn’t really hit most of the open jumpers we took. But we were finding a way. We were battling.
** I remarked during the under 8 timeout that were soon going to find out what kind of team we can be. At the next TV timeout, it was time to go home. It was a big turkey one might say. Or maybe a chicken since we certainly laid an egg. Disappointing. Very disappointing.
** What was most disappointing is that the tough defense the Panthers were playing up to that point seemingly just disappeared. Sure, the Commodores hit some truly tough shots during that stretch, but we stopped making their ball movement difficult.
** If the Panthers are going to make anything of this campaign, they are going to have to really get it done on the defensive end. In an attempt to be positive, I’ll at least offer that it was good to see that we have that kind of defense in us for an extended period of time. But we are always going to need it for 40 minutes. Not 32.
** I’m also a little curious about Capel’s use of zone defense during that fateful 4 minute stretch. But nitpicking coaching tactics probably misses the point.
** Anyway, we will need 40 minutes of defense because we may have only about half of that in offensive ability.
** The only conclusion I made today is that we are a better offensive team with Burton running the point and Femi playing the two. But even that didn’t help the Panthers when the Commodores went on their run.
** It surely would have helped the Panthers if Nate could have hit one or two more of his shots. But I’m not going to speak badly of Mr. Santos this night. As the Panthers only real shooter, the load on his shoulders is far greater than it otherwise should be for a freshman. Despite his threes not falling, he played a solid game, and looks to have a bright future.
** I also liked the ball reversal work the Panthers did to get Nate good shots.
** I don’t know what to make of what happens to Will’s jump shot during games. He looked confident shooting today too, but nothing is really close to going down. But generally speaking, I do like what he brings to the game in regards to energy. Hopefully the scoring will show up eventually because it’s needed desperately.
** But what we need even more desperately than Will’s offense is anything at all from Big John. He is just so out of sorts right now that it’s truly troubling. On one trip, it looks like he’s trying to hard, while on the next, it looks like he’s not trying hard enough. He’s going to have to figure it out, because we simply cannot win games with him playing the way he has the last two games.
** And unfortunately, Noah wasn’t able to have any success like his last outing. But anything we get from Noah is gravy. John simply must be the main course.
** I hope everyone enjoys their main course and their gravy tomorrow. And hopefully more Panther fans will show up on Saturday to (hopefully) watch the Panthers feast on the Retrievers. I suspect the Panthers will have a much better offensive game to offer next time out, and those of us who do watch will be much less disappointed.
** Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Pitt Hoops fans.
