Pitt is on to the Sweet 16 after another less-than stellar performance. Thankfully OSU missed a few wide-open looks down the stretch, and Pitt's seniors made a few huge plays. Sam was huge yet again, saving the game with his 32 points, and teaming with Blair to pull down every big rebound in the last 5 minutes.
Here's my problem--once again the Panthers face a loose full-court press and some zone D in crucial situations. How they handle the press blows my mind: lazy cross-court passes, with no one flashing to the middle to recieve a pass. Is there something I'm missing here, b/c I always thought that was golden rule against the press: get the ball to the middle of the court, and don't pick up your dribble in the corner after crossing mid-court. I'm just saying. Rhodes, if you're reading, chime in here. I don't understand.
Also, what happened to the Panthers defense? OSU shot the ball well, but that will happen when you're wide f'n open. I was hoping for a Pitt/Duke matchup in the Elite 8, but at this point I wonder if that might not be the best matchup for Pitt if they can't guard the perimeter. Plus, it took them 3/4 of the game to realize they should dump it down to Blair (or as I said during the game, a half and a half of a half. Brilliant), so I'm not confident they'll learn their lesson.
Regardless of the uncharacteristic mistakes, the seniors came to play and are the reason Pitt moves on. It's a good thing they've got an excess of rebounding and leadership b/c at this point, it's helping them win games even when they don't look too good. If they limit their turnovers, they could be tough to beat.
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I thought the same thing about the press break. Fields especially seemed loose with the ball - like that deep diagonal pass over Young's heyud late in the game?
ReplyDeleteDon't know if Xavier employs the press too much, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it in some form in the next game.
They might as well, b/c OSU's wasn't anything special and still did some damage at critical times. I was surprised to see that even with the t.o. on the cross-court pass, Fields ended up with 9/2 assit/t.o...he always seems to have the quietly efficient game, even when all you can remember is the bad turnovers.
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