Here is my thinking--open for discussion--following last night's win at Duke, on prospects for the the rest of the season.
Last night, especially in the first half before Duke made some defensive adjustments, Pitt was having some success at getting the ball inside into the paint. This, IMO, at least shows that Capel and staff have recognized Pitt's biggest weakness and are trying to fix it.
IMHO, the question is--How fixable is it now by coaching adjustments or is it too structural and will require recruiting to really fix?
What happens the rest of this season depends on the answer, IMHO.
Pitt's greatest success in the OOC games was when it could dominate the Boards and get out and run in transition. Hints of an underlying problem were there to see in the OOC, as well. Whenever an opponent could force Pitt into playing a half court game where inside scoring and inside defense became important Pitt's "achilles heel" was exposed. The first hint came, I believe, with the Florida Gulf Coast game. Then it was confirmed in the Missouri loss and the ACC game embedded within the OOC (Clemson loss).
So, all ACC coaches know that the way to beat Pitt is to force Pitt into a half court game where you can out physical Pitt on the inside at both ends of the court since G D-G and Fede are thin and lacking in strength and strong post moves. The second part of the overall strategy is to stop Pitt's guards from dribble penetration (e.g., they do this to Carrington by taking away his right hand since he is weak at going to his left.) This overall strategy forces Pitt to only have a perimeter game which becomes easier to defend since you aren't worried about dribble penetration or an inside game threat. You have made Pitt one-dimensional. Then, focus on stopping Hinson as "icing on the cake" defensively.
The coaching fix for the problem, at least offensively, is to somehow get the bigs (Federico and D G-D) involved offensively off of improved/increased dribble-drive penetration by the guards. That would make this year's offense look more like last year's.
Can this adjustment be done well enough going forward to start winning more now to salvage the current season?
IMHO, the answer is maybe.
Lowe's continuing improvement will help and having Leggett healthy will also help. I fear that Carrington's inability to go left effectively and penetrate all the way to the basket will take off season work in the gym to fix. However, he does have enormous potential so maybe the going left issue will gradually improve over the rest of the season? Presumably it is being worked on in practice.
Bottom Line: IMHO, the fact that Capel and staff recognize the problem and, judging by the last night, are trying to fix what can be fixed is at least encouraging.
Last night, especially in the first half before Duke made some defensive adjustments, Pitt was having some success at getting the ball inside into the paint. This, IMO, at least shows that Capel and staff have recognized Pitt's biggest weakness and are trying to fix it.
IMHO, the question is--How fixable is it now by coaching adjustments or is it too structural and will require recruiting to really fix?
What happens the rest of this season depends on the answer, IMHO.
Pitt's greatest success in the OOC games was when it could dominate the Boards and get out and run in transition. Hints of an underlying problem were there to see in the OOC, as well. Whenever an opponent could force Pitt into playing a half court game where inside scoring and inside defense became important Pitt's "achilles heel" was exposed. The first hint came, I believe, with the Florida Gulf Coast game. Then it was confirmed in the Missouri loss and the ACC game embedded within the OOC (Clemson loss).
So, all ACC coaches know that the way to beat Pitt is to force Pitt into a half court game where you can out physical Pitt on the inside at both ends of the court since G D-G and Fede are thin and lacking in strength and strong post moves. The second part of the overall strategy is to stop Pitt's guards from dribble penetration (e.g., they do this to Carrington by taking away his right hand since he is weak at going to his left.) This overall strategy forces Pitt to only have a perimeter game which becomes easier to defend since you aren't worried about dribble penetration or an inside game threat. You have made Pitt one-dimensional. Then, focus on stopping Hinson as "icing on the cake" defensively.
The coaching fix for the problem, at least offensively, is to somehow get the bigs (Federico and D G-D) involved offensively off of improved/increased dribble-drive penetration by the guards. That would make this year's offense look more like last year's.
Can this adjustment be done well enough going forward to start winning more now to salvage the current season?
IMHO, the answer is maybe.
Lowe's continuing improvement will help and having Leggett healthy will also help. I fear that Carrington's inability to go left effectively and penetrate all the way to the basket will take off season work in the gym to fix. However, he does have enormous potential so maybe the going left issue will gradually improve over the rest of the season? Presumably it is being worked on in practice.
Bottom Line: IMHO, the fact that Capel and staff recognize the problem and, judging by the last night, are trying to fix what can be fixed is at least encouraging.
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