Game 20 College GameDay Edition: Pitt 63 Louisville 72

Disclaimer:  Please don't read this if you are easily offended.

But this game just pissed me off and I'm going to show my anger through pictures, because all blogs are better with pictures (something I had forgotten now that I don't have photoshop anymore).

As I said before, the GameDay crew was here.

GameDay Bus in front of Sutherland Hall

GameDay Set

 Which of course means Erin Andrews.

Erin looking quite lovely

She definitely got the loudest cheers

And after seeing Erin, the Zoo was very excited.

And now that all of the material from my crappy iPod touch camera has been shown, time to actually talk about basketball.  A depressing thing that I realized during this game was the fact that Louisville is the only team I have not witnessed Pitt beat at the Pete since I've been a student here (5 years).  My freshmen year they lost (but beat them in the BE Tourney).  My sophomore year they lost at Louisville (When Pitt was 16-0 and ranked #1 for the first time).  My junior year they staged an epic comeback to win at the Pete but I couldn't attend.  And last year they lost at Louisville again.  Shame.  Oh well, plenty of wins over the Cuse and UConn to brag about.

Again, I'm getting sidetracked.  Rather than give actual letter grades for this game and all future games pending some miracle,  I will instead answer the question "Did he give a fuck?"

And I'm going to have a fellow mathematician help me out with this one.

Current Fucks Given 0

Pitt jumped out to an early lead, but when Woodall left with two early fouls, the Cardinals started to make a comeback.  The sad part about Pitt losing this game is that Pitino didn't even have to press and Pitt would turn the ball over.  We all know the Pitino matchup press, but if you don't here's some material to familiarize yourself with it.
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/MatchupPress.html

http://coachingbetterbball.blogspot.com/2009/03/louisvilles-run-and-jump-matchup-press.html

This Louisville team isn't as strong defensively compared to the past so Rick laid off it.  When he did bring it out, late in the first half, this was Erin's reaction.

One last comment on Louisville.  Their pg is almost always someone you would enjoy punching in the face (I hate Edgar Sosa)

The current model:  Peyton Siva

Punch me in the face

Onto the player grades

Gibbs - He had an okay game.  He was 4-10 from three and finished with 14 points but he didn't get to the line at all.  In fact, Pitt was 1-6 from the line as a team.  Which is absolute bullshit, but whatever.  They could've made more than 16% of them anyway.

Did give a fuck?:  Yes, but the problem is that he isn't a leader.  He's alright with being the scorer, but he doesn't have a leadership bone in his body.  You want an explanation for Pitt's downfall this year.  Well, besides the fact that they can't shoot.  It's that their two seniors have regressed to their freshmen selves.  Remember the turnover-makin layup missin machine Nas was a freshmen?  I just described his current play.

Robinson - I kinda started talking about Robinson in the previous post, but again same thing.  He just is not talented enough.  He's getting the ball too high in the post.    If you force him to drive a little he will undoubtedly lose control of it.  On his big nights, he's almost always getting the ball directly under the basket and using a nice reverse to avoid the block.  Someone told me Nas has like 17 more turnovers on the year than any other player.  Makes sense.

Did he give a fuck?  No, because if he did he would stop trying to drive and commit infinite turnovers.

Current fucks given: 1

Woodall - He missed all 5 of his shots and only 2 assists vs 3 turnovers, but Pitt seems so much more relaxed breaking the press when he's in there.  They still stink at it, but there is marked improvement.  

Did he give a fuck?  Two actually, corresponding to the two quick fouls he got that killed Pitt's early game surge.

Current fucks given: 3

Patterson - Pitt's best player last night.  He hit a pair of threes to go along with 5 reb and 7 ast vs 1 turnover.  He had a couple nice drives  in the second half.  He was using the glass like Tim Duncan (with the left hand even).  He also buried a 25 footer from the top of the key at the first half buzzer that gave Pitt hope and cut the lead to only 3.

Did he give a fuck?  Yes, Patterson needed a game like this as he had been struggling lately.

Current fucks given: 4

Epps - He played one minute and had one assist and one turnover.

Did he give a fuck?  Nope, or else he would spend every waking minute in the gym fixing his jump shot.  Here's a video of him warming up with Tray.  Tray's in black.  

Look at the follow through for both of them.  Nice one for Tray, non-existent in Epps.  He actually shoots better than Tray in this video, but that's because they aren't in a game.  In game action when you have a split second to shoot with a guy in your face, not following through will lead to a brick almost every time...or in Epps' case, every damn time.

Current fucks given: Still 4

Taylor - He was 4-5 from the field and 3 of his buckets were dunks (including one incredibly athletic putback slam).  No player's confidence matters more than Taylor's to this team right now.  I could argue Moore as well, but his swagger is completely gone because Dixon yanks him after every mistake.  Maybe next year for him, but back to Taylor.  If Taylor gets an early bucket, he gets pumped and plays the rest of the game inspired.  You can see it in his eyes.  He got that bucket tonight and he went after it the rest of the game.

Did he give a fuck?  In this game yes, but it's infuriating that he doesn't show that kind of intensity every time he's out there.

Current fucks given: 5

Wright - Played 8 minutes, missed a jumper from the wing for his only contribution.

Did he give a fuck?  No not really, not enough action to warrant it.

Current fucks given: 5

Johnson - He made a three and had a nice steal and layup in the first half (it put Pitt up 13-7 at that point).  Pitt should start looking for him more in the same way they did with Gibbs as a freshmen.  If teams are going to not let Gibbs have any space on the perimeter, then Johnson has to look to get open.  He was a few times and Gibbs didn't feed him, which is more an indictment on Gibbs passing skills than Johnson, but whatever.

Did he give a fuck?  Yes

CFG: 6

Zanna - 7 points 6 rebounds in 19 minutes.  I wish Zanna had more of a mean streak in him.  He tried to showcase this new 5 foot jumper he's been working on but it missed.

Did he give a fuck?  Yes, he will improve, as long as he doesn't break his finger like he did last March.

CFG 7

Moore - Played 12 minutes.  Had one bucket.

Did he give a fuck?  No, because Dixon has reduced him to mush.

Final CFG - Seven, corresponding to the number of Big East games Pitt has lost.

This Pitt team isn't making the NCAA's or even NIT

If you have a problem with this, then my father has an answer for you

Fatherly Advice At Its Finest

I'm out,

JO