Figuring out Pittsburgh
December 22, 2006 12:32 pm by donaldWe just can’t figure out Pittsburgh. They’re playing well and they have talent. So why have they been “underperforming” and losing these games that they can win? Big Willie thinks its their free throw shooting. I think it’s their inability to react within games (leaving Butch open possession after possession even after he had hit shots) and their weak rebounding (pitthoopsblog agrees as well).
But maybe the real problem is we’re overestimating Pittsburgh. Panther Rants has a great post today about just this:
Is there a major problem with Pitt basketball this year, and if so, what is it? The defense and rebounding aren’t as good as past years, but when you compare it to other top years, it’s not nearly as bad as people think. … The point is, Pitt looked better on defense and rebounding in past years because they played a lot less competition. … Is playing better competition exposing the Pitt program?
Pitt was overrated this season because people saw alot of good players and assumed they would just get better. But the players were already at the limit of what they could do. Pitt players are always at their own limit. That’s what makes the program so successful, despite not having the talent that others do. When people see a sophomore at an elite program score 10 ppg, they assume as a junior they will score 15 ppg. And usually they are right. But that doesn’t happen at Pitt. Their ceilings aren’t as high, and just as important, because of the kind of character they have, they reach their ceilings early.
So maybe the problem is our expectations. Perhaps. But when I see Pittsburgh play, I get a different feeling. I think they’re damn good and have enough talent — both LeVance Fields and Ronald Ramon have tons of game. Last year, Fields went nuts at the Big East Tournament. As for Ramon…he shot more than 50% (32-63) from three last year. How can you not capitalize on that talent more? Again, my gut is that everything’s there. We’re not overrating them. They’ve just lost two tough games on the road. Nothing’s wrong with them. I stick with Big Willie’s prediction: they’ll be the highest rated Big East team at the end of the season.
Categories: BlogWatch, Commentary, Pittsburgh, donald
5 Responses to “Figuring out Pittsburgh”
Of course, look at all their victories last year. Yes, they beat Nova at MSG, but Krauser poking out Allan Ray’s eye had to help with that. Other than that, their best victory all year was West Virginia. Maybe they’re not that good. I still think they can be, but they better get their act together fast, because teams like Georgetown, Marquette and UConn are all aggressive teams who will be looking to take it to this struggling team.
We can’t call them underachievers anymore, but there’s still hope that a better Panther team will break out in 2007.
I’m not sure Pitt is a quick enough team when Gray is out on the floor. They’ve got some speed at the guard position (Fields, Ramon, Graves), but Coach Dixon doesn’t take advantage of that speed–insisting on playing that slow, half-court game. It makes sense if you want to get Gray involved in the offense, but he hurts your transition game.
Which brings me to another point I’ve been meaning to bring up: does anyone else think that Gray is over-rated? Granted, he’s big, he can rebound fairly well, and he’s got great touch. However, he’s slow, his footwork (especially on defense) is below average, and I sense that he’s soft…that is, he’ll snag rebounds because he’s the biggest guy out there, not because he’s out-toughing the opponent.
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Gray is an elevator rebounder. I do think he’s a bit overrated, too. But I don’t think he’s their problem…
[...] And yet, the game was close. Connecticut was within seven with a few minutes left, even though Pittsburgh played a near-perfect game. Everything went right for Pitt: Gray got great position all day long, and Ramon went 4-4 from three. And that’s when it hit me. I’ve been wondering what’s wrong with Pittsburgh all year long, and I finally was able to put my finger on it: in the words of Clark Kellogg, they have no spurtability. The Panthers play an extremely rigid half court game where each player touches the ball. It looks beautiful to a control freak, and it is gorgeous to see them get the ball to Aaron Gray at exactly the right moment in exactly the right position. But I think they ignore the flow of the game and sometimes force this structure on the game. Case in point: Ramon. It was pretty evident that he was feeling it tonight. And yet there was no effort to get him the ball — no plays set to run him off of screens, no high picks when he had the ball up top, etc. My prediction: later this season Pittsburgh will fail to close an opponent out due to their adherence to their half-court set. [...]
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