GTOG's March Madness Preview!

By Finesse

It's tournament time so you know what that means! We re-post our obituary on Pitt from 2 years ago!!

You'll recall that the first 3 months of 2011 were some of the most tumultuous times in Pittsburgh sports in the past several decades -- the Steelers lost the Super Bowl, Crosby and Malkin were out for the season, Alex Kovalev came back weighing 320lbs, and #1 seeded Pitt lost in heartbreaking fashion to #8 seed Butler in the second round.  Looking back on how that game unfolded, with missed free throws and then committing an offensive foul with under 2 seconds left on the missed free throw rebound to put Butler on the line in a tie game, the Pitt lost may have been the hardest of all to stomach.

You can read our not-uplifting recap here.

But this is a new year, so it's time to be optimistic again.

Exactly how we want our college basketball coaches to look.

GTOPG: The Penguins Won 4-1; Pitt Did Not

By Finesse

No big recap from last night, other than to emphasize how good Chris Kunitz is.  Kunitz for MVP.

Went to the Pitt game.  Embarrassing performance all around.  Nasir Robinson just turned the ball over three times while you were reading this.

Pitt Sees Writing on the Wall, Likely Headed to the ACC

By Finesse

Depending on what you're reading, Pitt's move to the ACC is either confirmed or a very very strong rumor.  [Update: Definitely confirmed.]  It's regrettable that the Big East is going in this direction, but if the move goes through, Pitt AD Steve Pederson should be applauded for being proactive.

For a school like Pitt that is competitive in both football and basketball, the current state of the Big East is unacceptable.  The basketball is incredible, but the football is abysmal.  Pitt is situated in an absolute hotbed of football recruits, but why would any of the best ones want to go to Pitt to play against Connecticut, Rutgers, South Florida when they could go to Penn State, Michigan, or The Ohio State Corporation?  ACC football isn't great, but it's better than the Big East.  And the Big East has built itself into a league that has no choice but to shrink -- it can't go poach a Maryland or North Carolina from the ACC because there is simply no room to bring them into an already too-big 16 team basketball conference.  As awesome as Big East basketball has been for the past few years, bringing in Louisville, South Florida, Depaul, etc. may ultimately mean the demise of the conference as we know it.

"I'll still have the best basketball-coach-hair in the ACC, so I don't really care."

It will be unfortunate to watch the Big East dissolve into a true (almost) basketball-only league.  (There is no way that West Virginia football can stay in the Big East without Pitt.  The ACC should welcome the Mountaineers with open arms).  But this is a necessary move for the Panthers.  Pitt, to even the most ardent supporter, is not a driver on the college sports landscape.  It's not Texas or Oklahoma.  Those are the dominoes -- Pitt is just the collateral damage.

So while it will be tough to watch Pitt (and Syracuse, which is also reported to be moving to the ACC) have to pay lip service to the already self-congratulatory "Tobacco Road" contingency, this is a move of necessity.  The train was leaving the station -- kudos to Pederson for hopping on before it was too late.

Congratu...yawn...lations, Connecticut

By Finesse

Connecticut won the college basketball National Championship last night - or maybe it was early this morning, we don't know - by beating Butler 53-41.  Apparently, it was awful to watch, but when it involves a Big East team, a slow, lumbering, poor shooting game is no surprise.

Pitt's last two losses of the season were to the two teams who played for the title last night, and Pitt could have - and certainly in the case of the Butler game, should have - won both.  Does that mean that Pitt was the best team in the country?  No.  But it does mean that in the one-and-done NCAA Tournament, the difference between success and failure can be as tiny as one in-and-out free throw.

With two plus weeks of hindsight, were we a little too harsh in our evaluation of Pitt's 8th consecutive disappointing Tournament exit?  Maybe, but at some point, you have to make your own breaks.  That, or you need Shelvin Mack to go 4-for-15 instead of 19-20 with 14 threes like he did against Pitt.

GTOPG: Well, That Sucked. Pitt Loses 71-70

By Finesse

We've seen this movie before.

When so much goes so wrong in such a short period of time, it's hard to digest what happened.  We could sit here on our couches watching Cliffhanger and drinking Odwalla Superfood and bang out 1,000 words on any number of topics, including:

a) Nasir Robinson's historically stupid foul with 0.8 seconds left 90-feet from the basket;
b) Pitt's failure to get a shot off with 9-seconds to play and a 1-point lead;
c) Yet another super-easy basket against at the end of a game;
d) Gary McGhee's new nickname, "Net Negative";
e) Jamie Dixon's deer-in-the-headlights coaching in the final minutes of tight games; or
f) Whatever super-glue/clay hybrid formula that was holding Dixon's hair back ...

...but, we have a heart at GTOG.  Pitt's players know they screwed up.  Here's Robinson, after the game:

"I take the blame," Robinson said. "I take the blame for this loss. I made a dumb play. I apologize to my teammates and the fans."

Apology accepted.  Robinson is a good player.  No need to pour salt on the wound.

The key takeaway from this game is a bigger picture problem plaguing the Pitt program and it was exemplified in the failure to get a shot off with 8 seconds left.  You don't need NBA talent at guard to execute a last second play -- witness Butler's hot-knife-through-butter basket with 2 seconds left -- but it sure would help.  Pitt plays in a big city with beautiful facilities in the most consistently competitive and high-profile conference in the country.  But they can't recruit a quick, confident guard who can shake loose late to get a shot off?

The reason Pitt is successful is that they have all the right pieces - toughness, athleticism, shooting, quickness, passing, etc. -- but the problem is that those skills are scattered around 8 different guys.  Woodall the quick one.  Brown the athletic one.  Gibbs the shooter.

But where is the one guy who can do all of that at once, or at least most of it?  I'm not asking for Kemba Walker.  I'm just asking for someone who can get the ball to the rim late in the game and maybe stop the opposing team's guard from getting into the lane.  You can blame Dixon for whatever play it was that he drew up, but the larger question we need to ask is where is the guy who can make a play when everything else breaks down?

Ron Cook coherently summed up what happened last night, assigning the blame to the players, not Dixon.  We agree, but with one important caveat.  They're Dixon's players.

GTOPG: Basketball Game Breaks Out During Whistle Blowing Contest; Pitt Wins 74-51

By Finesse

I had the distinct fortune of being present at Pitt's victory yesterday over UNC-Asheville, and while I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to attend, it doesn't change the fact that it was one of the most poorly played games I've ever seen in person.  Add on top of that the determination by the officials to get both teams in the double-bonus as soon as possible, and this game was a true test of fan endurance.

Despite being up by only 5 points at half time, it never felt like Pitt was truly in danger of losing, if only because UNC Asheville was so bad.  Pitt won by 23 points, but this game was no blowout.  Pitt got the early second half lead into the 8-11 point range, but never could get the score that would have started the blowout until much later in the half.  And the man to credit for finally getting it done is Ashton Gibbs, because if not for his deadly 3-point shooting, this would have been down to the wire.  Some other quick thoughts:

- As we wrote last time about Gibbs, he can't jump.  He can shoot, and he can pass, but just watch him shoot - he barely gets off the ground.

Great hop shooter.

- It's easy to criticize Gary McGhee, so before I take the bait I'll compliment him for playing hard.  But really, the decision early to run the offense through McGhee is like the Pens running their power-play through Mike Rupp.  You root for the guy, but it's just not going to work.

- Brad Wanamaker was a hugely disappointing no-show yesterday and my friend and I were debating from the peanut gallery during the second half whether Wanamaker was even sweating.  For a senior playing in what could have been his last game, he was beyond passive to the point of appearing disinterested.

- On the positive side, GTOG likes Gibbs and we like Nasir Robinson.  They are both slow and undersized for their position, but they seem to have some capacity to score.  Robinson finishes at the basket and Gibbs, when open, is as good of a shooter as their is.

- Another guy we like, who apparently is somewhat polarizing in Panther-Nation, is Travon Woodall.  He is no Gibbs when it comes to shooting, but he can break a press with his dribble and, more importantly, he can set Gibbs up for open 3's.  Against a team like Asheville where Pitt would definitely have a size advantage, we advocate playing Woodall and Gibbs together.  If it means less Gilbert Brown ball-handling, then that's another reason to do it.

- As I reflected on the ugliness of the game with my father - a Pitt season ticket holder - he did not try to calm me or talk me down.  With resignation, he simply texted, "I saw 18 just like it!"

- Finally, while no one is feeling great about the way Pitt is playing right now, they nonetheless are one win over Butler from yet another Sweet 16.  Can't complain too much about that.  So before anyone jumps on us for being too negative about a team that won the Big East regular season title and earned a #1 seed, we remain cautiously optimistic.  Go Pitt.

He may be gone, but his spirit lives on.

Jerome Lane. Just Because.

GTOPG: Pitt Loses; GTOG Didn't Go; But GTOG Watched

By Finesse

With an ominous tone, the announcers wondered how Pitt's loss to St. John's would affect Pitt's chances of getting a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  I think their answer was "it doesn't help," which is obvious, but probably overstates the impact of this loss.  Losing on the road to St. John's by one point is not a bad loss.  It drops Pitt's Big East record to 12-2, which still leaves them with a 2-game lead over second place Notre Dame, and drops the overall record to 24-3.  Bottom line: a #1 seed is still completely within Pitt's reach and this loss probably won't do much to diminish those hopes.

What hurts Pitt's chances at a #1 seed more than this loss is Gary McGhee's inability to catch bounce passes.  Also an issue is Pitt's inability to stop the ball on last second full court drives by the opponent to win the game.  I believe that lesson was covered by Scottie Reynolds two years ago, but apparently Pitt wasn't paying enough attention.

But we shouldn't harp on the minor negatives just because of this loss.  The most impressive thing about Pitt is that they just seem to be a physically stronger and more mature team than their opponents (excluding the terrible rebounding job in the final minute).  Today does nothing to diminish that fact, nor should it curb any enthusiasm for what we hope will be an extended tournament run.

Pitt Basketball Bandwagon Drives By; GTOG Calls Shotgun

By Finesse

We should have been writing about Pitt basketball all season.  The Panthers are 23-2 overall, 11-1 in the Big East and are slated by many projections as the overall #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.  You can say that we are hopping on the bandwagon if we start to follow more closely now; we maintain that we invest our time wisely.  And when we invest our time, we go whole-hog -- GTOG will be at MSG on Saturday for Pitt vs. St. John's.

Born to look like a college basketball coach