What Will The 09/10 Panthers Look Like?

I'm definitely still too depressed to write about this year's current version of the Pitt Hoops team. I just tried to, and while I made it further than my last attempt, it was still nowhere near ready to be posted. I promise, some time in the next couple days I'll finally get to it.

Instead, I thought I'd try a little self-therapy by looking at just how next fall's Pitt Panther lineup will look. I must say, it helped a little bit to think about next year and how unique of a year it could be.

Also, I examined next season's roster under two different scenarios: With DeJuan Blair in the middle and without him. I have a feeling that the latter is the more likely scenario, personally.

2009/10 Panthers With DeJuan Blair
Rotation
1 Ashton Gibbs
2 Jermaine Dixon
3 Gilbert Brown
4 Dante Taylor
5 DeJuan Blair
6 Brad Wanamaker
7 Travon Woodall
8 Gary McGhee
9 Nasir Robinson
10 J.J. Richardson
11 Lamar Patterson
12 Talib Zanna

Random Thoughts:
-There will be no true point guard on this team. Gibbs can be a serviceable point guard, but Tra Woodall is hyped up to be a good ball handler and figures to see some minutes at the point with Gibbs sometimes shifting to the 2. I'd liken Gibbs' role next year to what Ronald Ramon once did. Right now he is a 1.5 guard, serviceable at both but not yet superb at either. Still, I think he is definitely the best option at the point unless Woodall really breaks out next season.

-Even if Blair returns, as he does in this scenario, we are going to need some big-time scoring increases from other holdovers. My best bets are Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown. If either isn't up to the task, I think they'll start losing time to the likes of Wanamaker, Gibbs or Nas Robinson as the year goes along. There is too much talent among all these guys not to have at least one turn in a breakout season with more minutes. Dixon especially will be interesting to watch in my mind. The guy is a good defender, but he's not so good that you can allow him to be a no-show on offense as he was at the end of the season when his confidence in his shot appeared to be less than zero.

-My pick for a breakout player on this team is Gil Brown. I think he could make The Leap like Sam I Am did a year ago. I'm not saying he'll jump to Sam's level and be at 18 points per game, but I could definitely see a 14-6 line. His athleticism is amazing and sorta reminds me of a less physical and imposing version of Young. If he could just find some consistency I think he is a sure thing for a big year.

-It will be an interesting year for Gary McGhee next season. A ton of people have given up on him, and I sort of have too. But it's also worth remembering how shocking Aaron Gray's third season with Jamie Dixon was. I'm not saying Gary is going to evolve into an NBA prospect, or even that he's going to earn starter's minutes. But I could definitely see him turning into a guy who can at least give 15+ quality minutes a night and allow DeJuan Blair to maybe even play some power forward minutes. Now THAT would make Pitt a force to be reckoned with on the interior.

-It will be fascinating to see Dante Taylor next year. A big reason why I'm hoping Blair comes back next season is so that Taylor doesn't have to shoulder that entire load himself. Taylor may be a very highly rated recruit, but not every superstar prospect is created equal, and I think it would be to this kid's benefit to not be the focal point every night. Not saying he won't be able to handle it if it does happen, just that we'd all be better off if he doesn't even have to worry about that.

-The other freshman besides Taylor don't figure to have a huge impact on this roster. Both J.J. Richardson and Talib Zanna are 4/5 players who would be a tad undersized if they do play the 5. However, if McGhee struggles one of the two will get at least some minutes spelling Blair inside. Patterson, meanwhile, sounds a lot like a Nas Robinson or Gil Brown. A reasonably highly-regarded recruit who figures to either take a redshirt or play sparingly in his first year because of the logjam at the 2/3/4 spots in front of him.

Bottom Line: With Blair back, the Panthers would still be a force to be reckoned with in the Big East. If Taylor performs as expected and one of the numerous guys at the 2 or 3 positions step their game up to the level of averaging double-digit points, then this is a squad that absolutely should contend for the Big East title on the broad shoulders of number 45. The big question will be how the Gibbs/Woodall tandem handles the point guard duties. This will still be a deep team with some very good talent and athleticism coming off the bench. All in all, I definitely think this team would be capable of making a deep run in the tournament, and its overall athleticism would match up well with anyone in the country. They may not be as hyped as this year's squad or receive as many regular season accolades, but they could definitely win some games in the tournament and make a run equal to or greater than the run this year's squad did.


2009/10 Without DeJuan Blair
And now onto the more depressing (and realistic) scenario: DeJuan Blair leaving.
Rotation
1 Ashton Gibbs
2 Jermaine Dixon
3 Gilbert Brown
4 Dante Taylor
5 Gary McGhee
6 Brad Wanamaker
7 J.J. Richardson
8 Travon Woodall
9 Nasir Robinson
10 Lamar Patterson
11 Talib Zanna
Maybe: Kyryl Natyazhko

Random Thoughts:
-This squad obviously will be filled with an awful lot of uncertainties. None would be bigger than at the center position, where I imagine there will be a competition for the starting job. For now I am giving that to the big oaf himself Gary McGhee, but any one of J.J. Richardson, Talib Zanna, Dante Taylor, or the still-uncommitted Kyryl Natyazhko could win it as well. I gave it to McGhee because he knows the system and can at least play defense the way Jamie wants him to. Taylor could be an option if Pitt really wants to play athletic small ball, but I don't like the sound of playing a 6'8 215 pound freshman at center. Sure DeJuan Blair did it as freshman, but by all accounts, and judging by his build, Taylor is not nearly physical enough to play the 5. Hell, he may not be physical enough to play the 4 and his manifest destiny in the NBA is probably as a 3. I can't envision 3-star recruits like Zanna or Richardson getting starters' minutes at center, especially when neither is taller than 6'9 or heavier than 230 pounds. Lastly we have Natyazhko. He is still an uncommitted prospect and is being recruited by other big-time schools like Arizona State, Florida State, Xavier, and Kentucky. He is a 4-star recruit, and if Blair does leave then Jamie will have to put the full-court press on to make sure he lands this kid. If they do nab him he definitely has enough talent to break into the starting lineup and at the very least should earn some serious backup minutes.

-Pitt would almost be a leadpipe lock to adopt a smallish, Villanova-type lineup at least part of the time. This team would have more athleticism than almost anyone else they might face and would need to use that trait to overcome their lack of size and bulk. Rolling out a lineup like the one below would definitely allow the opposition to outmuscle them, but they could overcome it by running with all these athletes.
1 Gibbs/Woodall
2 Dixon/Gibbs
3 Wanamaker/Robinson
4 Brown/Robinson
5 Taylor

-Without Blair, Dante Taylor and his lofty recruit status would likely become one of the alpha dogs on this team. He has the ability to probably average 15 a night right off the bat if given this opportunity, and I imagine the whole offense would funnel through him if he is all he is supposed to be. However, we would need more than just one of the swingmen guys to step up. We'd probably need 2 and maybe even 3 others to turn into reliable scorers. This would no longer be the top heavy offense of the past few seasons where everything centered around 2 or 3 guys. This would have to be a team like the 02/03 Panthers that had 6 guys average between 9.7 and 12.2 points per game. The most likely candidates would be Gil, Gibbs, Dixon and Wanamaker all joining Taylor as double digit scorers with maybe a Gary or a Natyazhko or a Richardson getting enough minutes to come close to that figure.

Bottom Line: This has the look of being the first true rebuilding year since Pitt turned back into a good team. We've said that in years past, but there would never have been as much uncertainty entering a team as with this squad. They have a freaking ton of talent, though, so they'll be fun to watch and they definitely shouldn't be discounted by anybody. However, being so raw makes it unlikely they'll be the serious title contender that this year's team was unless Dante Taylor turns out to be an even bigger stud than scouts think or Gil Brown turns into Sam Young or Ashton Gibbs becomes Brandin Knight with a better shot. Those are lofty goals, though, and for that I see this team as a good but not great Pitt squad that finishes in the upper half of the Big East but not in the top echelon and makes the tournament as a middle seed, somewhere in the 5-8 range. All that talent and athleticism would make them a handful for anybody in the tourney and yet another Sweet 16 appearance wouldn't be a shock to me.

UNBELIEVABLE

Jesus. I don't even know where to begin. I'm still quite a bit on the tipsy side after a superb night in Oakland, but I'm extremely determined to get a post up tonight about Pitt. I'll probably read this tomorrow and shake my head at the lunacy of it, but that's why Blogger has an "EDIT" button for each post.

Let's Get To It....

First Half
For the most part, this was just a truly hideous ball game. The shooting was atrocious, there were all sorts of fluky/ goofy plays, the refs were subpar, and the coaching left quite a bit to be desired out of two of the more highly touted up-and-coming coaches in college hoops.

The first half really couldn't have been more aggravating. DeJuan didn't show up early on for the second consecutive game. I don't get what's happening with him. He just seems so obsessed with staying out of foul trouble that he's willing to coast through the first half to make sure it happens. Defensively, I guess I don't hate that, but in the offensive zone I don't understand it. He can still be very effective offensively while staying out of foul trouble. If that happens against Nova, Pitt is going to be down 15 at halftime and they won't be able to rely on a second-half collapse to get back in the game, as Nova will just milk the hell out of the clock and we'll be screwed.

Sam was solid in the first half and was once again the biggest reason we were able to stay in a game we shouldn't have been in early on. He wasn't as dominant, but the shots were still dropping for him early. The role guys left quite a bit to be desired too. Ty Biggs got 2 fouls in the first 3 or 4 minutes and was dunzo for the half and really didn't do much all game. Not what we wanted to see at all. Gil Brown was a bright spot and continued to be a damn effective player at the swing spot continuing his recent string of excellence. I'd argue he's our fourth best player right now and I'm really not sure you can even debate that with a straight face. Bright things for this kid are on the way, I'm telling you. As for the others, let's run through them in a hurry: Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker were mistake-filled trainwrecks all game long, and Gary and Jermaine Dixon did exactly what they always do, no more no less. That's enough talk about them.

One more thing about that first half: The refs were just brutal yet again. I still don't think that I've seen a game that was officiated well this entire postseason. There were times during the first half where Blair would go up with the ball and get his shot "blocked" by 3 different Musketeers. The only problem was that this "blocking" consisted of one X-man barreling into DeJuan's chest while another bumped into the shooting arm and then the third guy was the one who actually got the ball and blocked it. And then there were other times, and this went both ways, where they'd call a foul and you figure it was away-from-the-ball or something and turns out it was because the defender breathed the wrongway on the offensive player. Bad job by them.

In summing up the first half, I'd say these were the 5 major themes: 1) Pitt looked like a team guilty of reading their mid-season preseason press clippings. 2) Xavier outplayed us all over the court but they weren't shooting well enough to capitalize on it. 3)For the second, and maybe even third, game in a row Pitt got outrebounded on the offensive glass early. Nothing has been more shocking to me than this development. 4)Sam was doing well enough, but Fields and Blair weren't at their usual level. 5) Watching Jamie and Sean Miller coach against each other was painful. I've got to be honest. I love Jamie but if I see one more freaking hedge play in the defensive zone I'm going to go on a 3 state shooting spree. I'm fine with trying that early on, but when the opposition clearly knows how to take advantage of it (a quick pass to the big man who is left briefly uncovered) you need to stop running that damn thing IMMEDIATELY.

On to the second half...
Pitt came out firing on all cylinders for the first couple minutes of the second. They jumped right back in from 8 down to bring the game to just about even in quite a hurry. This was when things got ugly. And I don't mean physical. Or mean and nasty. I mean god-awful, embarassing to basketball, hideous, ugly. Both teams went absolutely ice cold out of nowhere. Well, actually the X-men had been cold since the half started, but Pitt lost all their momentum out of nowhere after charging back into the game. Couldn't really figure that one out and I still haven't.

Thankfully someone put the smelling salts under DeJuan Blair's nose at halftime and he came out much better in the second half. He was finally going for boards and outworking the goofy white guy from Xavier and was actually willing to take some chances in both zones (sometimes they were dumb chances, though). Pitt rallied around Blair's energy resurgence and Xavier's inside game basically disappeared once the big fella started playing in mid-season form again.

Still, the shooting was agonizing and it mirrored a lot of the stuff that happened to Xavier in the first half. DeJuan, despite playing with a ton more energy and heart, was doing the Aaron Gray Special, repeatedly missing inside shots and padding his rebound totals by snatching up his own crappy shots. He wasn't as bad as the infamous Gray, who sometimes looked like he was volleying the basketball off the rim, but it was still frustrating as hell. We were clearly outplaying them all over the court and should have been outscoring them left and right, but now our shots weren't falling. So I guess it sorta made sense that the game was more or less tied for almost the entire second half.

Pitt just refused to pull away no matter how much better we looked. And so it came down to the final two minutes and you knew who was going to step up and take the money shots for Pitt. Two words: Levance. Fields. The guy may have been quite mediocre for the first 38 minutes of the game, and he continues to not play as well as he did for most of the regular season, but in the last 2 minutes he was a freaking beast. I will now forever spell the word "clutch" F-I-E-L-D-S. Freakin' amazing. That three from a mile away was a damn dagger. And then the lay-in after Blair tipped it away was the cherry on top. The guy is money. I don't know that I've ever seen a college player capable of elevating his game more in the final two minutes and being so reliably clutch. I think Bill Raftery put it best when he yelped "ONIONS!" Either way, he's the freaking man and I will forever have a tender spot in my heart for him.

So we finally advance on past the Sweet 16. I wouldn't have thought I'd be so euphoric and fired up after that unfathomably frustrating first half and after we went ice cold in the second half, but a win like that changes it all. It's great to know that the much-publicized ceiling has been removed at the Sweet 16 level. It's as much a relief as anything to be honest, especially considering it's hard to imagine having a much better team than this squad in the near future. And so the basketball season marches on and we get to see just how far this Pitt team advances. Say what you will about the way they've been playing (and I've said plenty obviously) but there's little doubt in my mind that the next game will yet again keep you interested until the final seconds. That's just the way this team plays, and I am officially okay with that.

Pitt Marches On

In what many are hoping is the most successful March in school history, the Pitt hoops squad got the month started in the right way with a big W over Marquette tonight at the Pete. The road obviously doesn't get any easier, but I was pleased with the way Pitt just pushed Marquette around at the end of the game.

The Panthers had two so-so efforts against Providence and Seton Hall prior to tonight's game, but they rebounded with a huge W over a very, very good Marquette squad. Granted, the Eagles were without their second-best player in 13th-year-senior Dominic James, but the Golden Eagles were gunning for Pitt early and brought their A game for the vast majority of the night. Jerel McNeal was excellent, as always, and Lazar Hayward and Wesley Matthews brought their A games as well. Unfortunately for Marquette, their lack of depth absolutely killed them. They were up on Pitt by, I think, as much as 9, but they ran out of steam and Pitt's depth absolutely blew the doors off them in the final 6 or 7 minutes. I don't know that I've ever seen a good team like that fall apart so quickly.

We've known all season that Pitt's M.O. against good teams is to keep it close for the early going and use their depth, athleticism and ridiculous physicality wear the opposition out for a second-half run. For whatever reason it just took a little bit longer for that to work tonight, but when it finally started to happen, Marquette just had no idea how to respond. They had thrown everything they could possibly throw at us and had us cornered and wounded, but as soon as Pitt made a run and got back in the lead, this sucker was o-v-e-r.

The Big 3 was money yet again tonight. DeJuan had a 23 and 9, and I honestly can't envision how he had only 9 rebounds. It seemed like he had in the first 15 minutes of the game, but whatever. Sam was playing like he did against Seton Hall, finding holes in the defense and making them pay for not being able to keep up with him. That's what we need out of Sam I Am every game. And Levance...I have run out ways to describe this guy. Hitting Shift F7 in Word isn't going to work anymore for me, I've used all the synonyms for him up. He's just Levance being Levance. 10 assists to 2 turnover (and I only remember 1) and 17 very effective points.

I also need to mention Gil Brown's monster night. That's the kind of game I thought we'd see out of Gil 15-20 times this season. I really think this guy has the ability to be an All Big East type of player next season if he can harness his amazing ability and develop some consistency. He played 30 excellent minutes and put up 11 points and was a nightmare for Marquette to match up.

The Panthers now get the mighty UConn Huskies coming to the Pete for a Saturday noon game that will decide once and for all who the real beast of the East really is. Thabeet/Blair II is going to be the most hyped rematch of the year. I just hope poor Thabeet doesn't end up getting his arm completely ripped off this time. No one wants to see that.Lastly, I couldn't go without acknowledging Brandin Knight. In case you weren't in the house, or didn't see the TV spot they apparently aired, the former Pitt star and the player most responsible for the schools b-ball resurgence had his number retired by the university. I must say... it is about time. I've been calling for this to happen since the guy left school. His numbers may not be the stuff of all-time legends (though the assist mark is the best in school history and will be tough for anyone to snap), but he meant so much to this program. He remains my favorite Pitt player of all-time, and I don't think anything short of a national title will get a DeJuan Blair or Sam Young past him in my book. Watching his number get raised to the rafters, I couldn't keep myself from smiling and feeling great for Brandin finally getting the recognition for all that he did at Pitt. So congrats Brandin

Pitt Rebounds Against Syracuse

The lone blemish on the Pittsburgh sports weekend belonged to the Pitt basketball squad in their Saturday evening loss to Louisville on their home turf. It was a tough loss that was made more difficult by Pitt holding a sizable 10 point lead late in the game and some spotty officiating that drove me to the brink of insanity.

I was more than a little worried about this game tonight, because while Pitt has had a lot of success against the Orange of late, the Cuse are still a very good squad and are one of the few teams that actually have the ability to match up with DeJuan Blair's uhmm... girth... on the inside. And being that the Cuse are at 8, they are obviously a pretty good and pretty frisky squad.

But the Panthers put on an absolute statement game with a 78-60 smackdown of Syracuse. The game was infinitely tighter at the half at 31-28 Pitt, and the Panthers were clanking the free throws early on causing a near-riot in the stands at the Pete. But the second half was a very different story, as Pitt outscored the Orange 47-32 in that stretch and coasted to a big win on the backs of DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, and Levance Fields.Outside of the Big 3, there wasn't much scoring done by this squad, as those three had a whopping 57 points. The other guys on the roster all filled their roles very well, though, especially in that exciting second half.
-Tyrell Biggs put up an 8 point 5 rebound night and was relentless in his physicality inside against Syracuse. The Orange were really shaken up by how insanely physical the Panthers are. Despite Syracuse having two tanks inside in Jackson and Onuaku, the Orange just seemed very uncomfortable to me.
-Jermaine Dixon didn't have the scoring touch he's had in the past few games, but he had another very nice evening, doing a bit of everything. He's excellent guarding the perimeter, had a stunning block on a Syracuse breakaway, made a few steals happen, and continues to be a pretty effective penetrating guard. I think this kid has a much higher ceiling than I would have expected when I first saw him play.
-Gil Brown's athleticism is a force to be reckoned with at times. He's definitely a little on the wild side and still very raw, but when he matches up with opposing swing men types, they just have a ton of trouble playing him the right way even if he's having an off night on just 1/6 shooting.
-Brad Wanamaker is one of the better reserve guards around. He's frisky defensively and is superb handling the ball. I know he projects to start at the 2 or 3 depending on the situation in the future but, aside from Levance, I think he's the best ball handler on the roster. He's also very smart and makes great passes and plays.
-Ashton Gibbs was his usual serviceable self and is at least giving me some confidence when he comes into the games, as opposed to early in the season when he made me fret every time he brought the ball up. I don't mind seeing him get 7-8 minutes a night to spell Levance.
-I was very impressed by the work of Nasir Robinson, and I think, like I said here a few weeks ago, that he HAS to get more minutes as the season progresses. I originally compared him to Gil Brown, and while the size and athleticism are there, he's already more physical than Gil and plays better inside than him even if he struggles at the perimeter and has questionable ball handling ability. I like the work he gaves us at the 4, and I wouldn't mind taking advantage of that athleticism for 5-10 minutes a game against a slower power forward.

I guarantee that Syracuse fans are going to bitch and moan about the refs in this game. In fact, I already have seen that on the message boards (a given for fans to whine there, but this is more than usual given the weirdness of the game), but the officiating seemed equal to me. Blair was getting basically sucker punched half the time he had the ball inside, and Syracuse was leaping around at their offensive zone going consistently over the back and nothing was being called. Pitt was doing the same, no question about it, but it was equal. The technicals, well, I don't know enough about that because it's hard to tell anything about T's when you're at the game, like I was. It's all about context, and while Harris' I have no idea about, Jackson's was a no question about it T. He gave Blair an arms-extended shove after a basket, and Blair fell backwards. You HAVE to call a T there, it was blatant and the refs made it plainly obvious they weren't going to stand for that kind of play.

But maybe all these complaints lead to a larger issue here. Is the Big East becoming too physical? I personally don't think so, but it is becoming clear that the refs are having a very difficult time officiating a lot of these games because you could call a foul every single time down the court on somebody. Hell you could probably call a flagrant just about every other time down the court. I don't really mind the style of play so long as the refs call it the same way all game long, and that was my big complaint about the Louisville game. The refs were blowing their whistles like crazy early in that one, and then as the game wore on, they realized they were on pace to call about 200 fouls and ended up swallowing the whistles when they probably should have been calling at least some fouls.

Blair a Man Amongst Boys; The Zoo Strings Gottlieb Up From the Rafters

Although Pitt-Siena was slightly marred by refs who had apparently never seen a Big East basketball game before judging by their shock at the Panthers' style of play, and by Pitt's difficulty in going for the jugular, it was still a highly entertaining late night at the Pete for any number of reasons. What follows are some of those highlights:

-DeJuan Blair continues to be an absolute monster underneath the boards. Smaller, less physical teams are going to get absolutely obliterated by this guy. He was brilliant as a freshman, but rarely was he good enough to dominate and become the best player on the court. That has already happened several times this season, and it happened for the entirety of the 30 minutes of playing time he logged last night. He put together 21 points and 16 rebounds and was absolutely hosed by the freakin' refs in this one. He was given the Shaq treatment where, if he so much as breathed in the wrong direction the refs whistled him for a foul, yet down on the offensive end, Siena did everything to stop him short of using pitchforks and torches yet nothing was called because the refs continuously choked down their whistles. Ridiculous. The good news is, the Big East regular season typically gives us competent refs, except of course this guy:For those of you unaware, that's the Notorious T-I-M aka Tim Higgins. Anyway, Blair's progression has been eye-opening this season, and while the stats may not really show that much of a difference from last year, one look at this guy on the court and the difference is unbelievably obvious.

-If there have been any unknown government advances in cloning in recent years, I volunteer Levance Fields' cells be the first to be replicated, because the Panthers NEED to find a way to get him out there for 40 minutes a game come Big East time. I'm sorry but Ashton Gibbs had the complete deer-in-the-headlights look going tonight when Siena put the press on him. In case you weren't aware, the Big East coaches, to a man, are probably 16 of the best defensive coaches in basketball and are guaranteed to be licking their chops at the thought of sicking the dogs on him. If he's doing anything other than running the point in blowout home wins during Big East season, the Panthers are going to have some issues. And I'm not sure what happened with Tra Woodall tonight, though I'd guess he's a bit banged up, as he didn't play despite some promising efforts in recent games.

-I know he made 2 treys, but can someone please tell Tyrell Biggs it's not okay to launch threes and long-range jumpers? He does know he's a role player whose sole reason for being on the court is to grab rebounds and hustle back on defense right? The only way he should score is if Sammy or Levance clank one and he shoves the putback in.

-Jermaine Dixon may start every game this season, but mark my words, in close games he'll be popping a squat the same as Gary "The Koopa Troopa" McGhee, Gibbs, Woodall, Nas Robinson, and the white guy scrubs. That's because Gil Brown's energy, athleticism and versatility will make him the ultimate weapon late against their Big East foes and he'll be the guy playing the two spot instead of JD. Now, you may say, "Well why wouldn't Gil start then?" And my response is this: He's the perfect weapon off the bench. Around that first media timeout when Blair and/or Biggs and Dixon come out of the game and the Panthers have to work in a 2 or 3 new guys into the game for the first time that day, Gil is the ultimate spark plug to keep that lineup going and give them a bit of a different look. Then have Gil move down to the 3 (or even 4) spot when Sammy takes a quick breather and put JD back at the 2. I mean let's be honest, despite the fact that this Pitt team has as much talent as any Pitt team that I've ever seen, there is a definite hierarchy to this team. It really comes down to the Big 6 (the starters and Gil), the Small Big 1 (Gary McGhee whose enormous but small in court presence and ability), the Small Small 2 (Tra Woodall and Ashton Gibbs, who combined weigh roughly the same as the Koopa Troopa), and the Other 2 (Nas Robinson and Brad Wanamaker, both of whom have talent but are too similar to Gil to really merit serious crunch minutes). So the more minutes they get out of the Big 6, the better off this team will be.

-Although I knew Doug Gottlieb has snubbed our Panthers and the Big East as a whole in years past (though his idiocy really isn't confined to a single team or conference), I didn't anticipate the venom spewed his way tonight by the Oakland Zoo. As always I was sitting right smack dab in the middle of things, and was shocked, amused, and at times even a little uneasy over the rioting mob mentality that developed toward him. Good, clean, fun chants like "Where's my Visa?" (A reference to Gottlieb being given the boot from Notre Dame many years ago after, I think, stealing credit cards or some kind of credit card scandal) started the night off. From there, things got crazier in a hurry. Much like the Anchorman fight, "That escalated quickly, I mean that really got out of hand fast...Roc killed a guy..." After some of the self-proclaimed "leaders" of the Zoo put some inflammatory quotes on their little dry erase boards claiming that Gottlieb claimed the Zoo wasn't a tough place to play, a recurring "Gottlieb sucks" chant started and continued for much of the second half. This obviously isn't anywhere near as creative or fun as the Visa trade, and led to only more malicious stuff, such as a number of derogatory sexual slurs directed at himself, his mother, and other family members. Good times all around!

-Gary McGhee, if you can't even freakin' dunk the ball, why are we keeping you around? He was matched up against someone named Josh Duell tonight who was easily 40 lbs. overweight for most of his breathtaking 6 minutes of PT, and it's probably safe to say this clash of the titans wasn't quite what James Naismith had in mind. And the highlight (or more accurately, lowlight) came when Duell took McGhee off the dribble around the 3-point line. And by off the dribble, I mean he stared head down at the ball as he slammed it insanely hard into the ground while slowly moving forward. I'm pretty sure that was the quietest the crowd was all night long as all 12,000+ in attendance gawked in horror at what was taking place. The weirdest part of all was Duell draining two treys despite looking like he would lose to Casey Hampton in wind sprints.

-This Siena team may have been a frisky bunch that played with solid fundamentals and had a smart, if somewhat loathsome, head coach, but I can't figure out how in the hell they ever beat Vanderbilt last year if this was their team. Pitt, if this was a meaningful game, would have blown the doors off of Siena early in the second half instead of subbing in the backups, who allowed the Saints to stay within striking distance. Any half-decent squad could've beat them tonight, and I really didn't see much in the way of potential three-point ability for most of the game that so often characterizes those mid-major Cinderellas. They were 6-23 from downtown, and no one on that team, except for maybe the aforementioned fat guy, looked comfortable shooting it, either, so I don't think it was just an off night.

-Our Panthers are now 11-0, and there is no way rest for the weary, as they play an athletic Florida State team Sunday evening in Tallahassee in what figures to be a very interesting game to keep an eye on. The 'Noles may not be a powerhouse ACC program, but they know how to play with the big boys, and add that to the fact that it's outside of the 4-1-2 area code, and it's probably the toughest non-conference game the Panthers will play this season.