Game 11: Enter Malcolm Gilbert. Pitt 69 South Carolina State 55

Khem Birch is gone.  No use dwelling on it.  Next year's Pitt frontline would've been incredibly crowded.  Where would the minutes have gone?  You'd have Taylor, Zanna, Khem, and of course mega-prospect Steven Adams all battling for minutes.  With a year of the college game, could Khem have developed an offensive game and played at the 3 with Patterson in a Wanamaker roll at the 2 and Tray running point.  With Adams at center and Taylor at the 4, that lineup would've been deadly.  I could've seen Birch in a Devin Ebanks role (who gave Pitt fits with his length).  But none of that matters.  Exit Birch.  Welcome to the party Malcolm. T. Gilbert (no idea what his middle name is, I like T)

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh

Since this story never gets old:  After one of the preseason games, my friend went to the Zoo exit to slap hands with the players as they were leaving.  He yelled to Gilbert, "Gilbert my man!"  Gilbert turns around and gives a Fonz impression back to him (and thus a photoshop was born).

This game was closer than it should've been for two reasons.  SCST could not miss from 3 and Gibbs couldn't hit anything.  Grades.  (And a shout-out to one of my students who says he reads the blog, nicely done VC)

Malcolm Gilbert - He has replaced the Predator Gary McGhee as the big man you love to root for.  Hopefully he isn't an abomination like Gary was his frosh and sophomore years.  He played 5 minutes and managed to alter at least 4 shots from the Bulldogs.  What a weapon he is defensively.  He can alter shots without leaving his feet so there's never a threat of fouling.  He also had a putback dunk at the halftime buzzer.

Grade: A

Ashton Gibbs - Horrible shooting night for Gibbs.  He's been awful this season.  Dixon has been playing him way too many minutes and I think he's just exhausted.  That and jacking up 12 threes will take some out of you as well.  Since Pitt has had its fair share of struggles this NC season (and add Woodall's injury to that) Gibbs has had to play unlimited minutes.  The loss of Birch doesn't affect the backcourt, but with the Big East looming, it might help for Jamie to give Gibbs a bit of a rest these next 3 games.  I don't have a problem with Flipp running point for 10 minutes with Wright or Patterson at the 2.  I'd actually like to see Moore and Patterson on the floor together more anyway.

Grade C+

John Johnson - He ran the floor well and finished off 3 fast breaks for his only baskets.  He did miss both of his threes though.  Flipp has shot so well so far this season that I'm actually shocked when his shots touch something other than nylon.  He continues to get more and more comfortable every game.  He was trying to drive a lot more too.

Grade B+

Talib Zanna - His second double double of the season (12 points 14 boards).  Interesting stat of the day:  Both times Zanna has had double digit points this season, he's paired it with double digit rebounds.  That's not really a coincidence since Zanna only scores on putbacks anyway.  I'd give him an A, but he took a 19 foot baseline jumper, and had hands of stone down low (3 to's).

Grade B+

Nasir Robinson - I don't really remember much from Nasir except he hit an 18 footer.  It's not the prettiest jumpshot (think Shawn Marion-lite) but it got the job done.  He also took a tumble out of bounds into some camera people.  Am I the only one that holds my breath every time that happens?  I think we all remember Levance stumbling backwards out of bounds @Dayton in 07' and basically ruining our Big East season that year with the time he missed.

Grade B

Isaiah Epps - Token 2 minutes.  Made some passes around the perimeter.

Grade n/a

Cameron Wright - He didn't take a shot in 13 minutes, even though he had a lot of open looks.  He has no confidence in his jumpshot, always deferring to Gibbs for another contested 3.

Grade B-

Lamar Patterson - He led Pitt with 16 points and showed a compete offensive game.  He was hitting 3's and slashing (had 2 and 1's but couldn't sink the free throw both times)  His normal stat stuffing line: 16 pt 6 reb 3 ast 1 st 2 bl

Grade A

Dante Taylor - Quiet game from Taylor.  Outside of one huge facial he gave to some sap from SCST, he didn't score.

Grade: B-

JJ Moore - Scored 7 points in 14 minutes of action.  His nice alley oop finish, and a 3 he hit were pretty much the only things I remember from him this game.  Oh and he followed Zanna's ugly jump shot with a nice put-back.

Grade B

Pitt plays again on Tuesday night.  Zoo will again be infested with regular people who've purchased leftover seats.  Jokes.  Will probably be bringing a friend to her first game in the Zoo (family has season tix so she's been to games just not in Zoo) so that should be fun.

Shameless pimping of another blog of the week: www.yaseeitsfunnybecause.blogspot.com

My friend just started this one, it should be pretty funny, since he's a funny guy.  Will feature a lot of rage face comics.

U mad?

JO

Game 9 High Octane: Pitt 97 Virginia Military 70

This was probably Pitt's most complete game of the season.  Before I get into the game action, let's recap a little about what's gone on since my last recap.

Most importantly, Tray is out 5 weeks with a groin strain and abdominal tear.  He won't need surgery, just rest.  Obviously this is a huge blow because the injury will keep Tray out for the beginning of the Big East season.  It's time for the freshmen to step up.

Pitt got a tough road win on the weekend @ Tennessee.  Tennessee isn't particularly good, but beating any power conference team on the road can be considered a big win (unless that team is Depaul or something).  Final score 61-56.

So Virginia Military, the West Point of the South.  The only difference is that their students aren't required to serve upon graduation, so it's not really like West Point.  Anyway they're called the Keydets, which is known as 'Cadets' with a 'Southern Twang'.  So that's basically like some expansion football team wanting to call themselves the Stillers because it's Steelers with a southern twang.
Verdict:  Cadets > Keydets

VMI normally plays basketball how Todd Graham wants Pitt's offense to play, high octane.  Take a shot within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock, they run and they gun.  Think Pitt against UConn this year.  There are over 300 division 1 basketball programs.  Only 11 score more than VMI.

Unfortunately, for them, they shot about as well as Tino plays quarterback in the fourth quarter, which is to say a lot of misses.  Pitt held them to 70.

Recap City:
First of all I missed the first 7 minutes of the game racing up to the Pete from my class at Posvar that ended at 7:05.  Big time hustling performance from me to only miss that much, since I had to change out of my shirt and tie and drop off those clothes in my car.

Khem - Not a whole lot from Khem this game.  There were really only 3 big plays he made.  He had a put-back dunk after embarrassing himself the possession before by getting stuffed by someone and being knocked to the ground, then as he was lying on the ground the ball came down and hit him as he was laying out of bounds to turn the ball over.  Then he had a block that went out of bounds.  Something that Birch will learn is that sometimes it's better to block the ball in play so your team can get the ball instead of smacking it into the 3rd row.  I feel that more than half of Khem's blocks this season have either gone right to the other team or out of bounds.  Sometimes it's important to make a statement with a huge swat that gets the zoo pumped up, but Khem will learn how to block the ball and tip it to his teammates instead of fans.  For a bit of basketball history, they say Bill Russell was an expert at this.  Show the kid some old film.  Grade B

Cam Wright - He's been getting mega minutes, but hasn't really shown much.  Against Tennesse he was 0-6 in 25 minutes, tonight he was 1-4 with a couple turnovers and no assists.  Going to need more from him to validate the PT he's getting.  Grade C-

Nasir Robinson - Game Ball goes to Nas, went 19 14 and 5 with 0 turnovers.  He was just making plays everywhere, shining glass.  What a player.  I could list all the plays he made, but I don't have enough time.  Grade A+

Patterson - Not a good shooting night from him (3-10) but he was a playmaker.  On two possessions in the first half he had a pair of incredible feeds down low for easy layups (one to Robinson, one to Taylor maybe)  he was threading the needle.  Tino, take notes.  Grade A-

Gibbs - With about 10 minutes left in the game, Gibbs had 5 points and had missed everything all game.  VMI was only down 15 and they felt like they could make a run.  Then Gibbs decided to take their lunch money.  There was like a 3 minute sequence when he couldn't miss.  4 of his 6 threes came during this span, and the life was sucked out of VMI.  At one point, the shot clock was running down and Gibbs had the ball at the top of the key.  Everyone in the building knows that Ashton was gonna try to get a pick and some separation so he could shoot the 3.  An assistant coach for VMI was standing up screaming at his players (most likely to watch the three).  Doesn't matter, Gibbs pulled up from 25 feet out and buried it, and the coach threw his arms up in frustration and sat down.  Probably the moment of the night.  Grade A-

John "Flipp" Johnson - He continues to impress.  Getting big time minutes now in Woodall's absence, he continues to shoot the rock with Nowitzki-like accuracy.  3-5 from the field (2-3 3pt), made all 5 of his free throws and dished out 5 assists against one turnover.  Back in their preview, the Pitt News said that Johnson was like Wanamaker (who by the way showed up at halftime to get his Big East Champs ring - to a really really loud ovation by the zoo, okay I get it Wanamaker was a nice player his past two years, but he really wasn't that good.  Blair didn't get that kind of ovation last time he was there and he was a 1st team all-american.  Plus he wore a Phillies shirt so he's a joke.  Wow longest rant ever)  But really Johnson is not like Wanamaker at all.  Brad was a 6'4 tank that played a lot of his career at point forward.  Flip is 6'1 if that.  I mean I get it, if they wanna make the toughness comparison, but Johnson isn't pulling down 8-9 rebounds anytime soon like you could come to expect from Wanamaker.  If anyone is Brad, it's Patterson.  They have the most similar skill sets.  Or even Wright since they're both big guards.  Anywho, grade for Flip:  A

Rivers/Nwankwo - They both played and missed a shot.  Nwankwo had a pair of rebounds.  Pitt was up by so much in the first half that Rivers actually got in before halftime.  Grade - n/a

Zanna - Typical Zanna performance 8 points 7 rebounds.  He benefited from some great entry passes from the guards.  Dixon said he injured his ankle or he would have gotten more minutes.  This was because Nas was in a bit of foul trouble.  So Dixon had to put Nas back in, and as you know he was a beast.  Grade B+

Taylor - 10 points and 7 rebounds from Dante.  He even shot his free throws a little better.  Dick Groat on the post game said he was impressed with how much harder Dante was working to get position down low.  I'll agree with him there.  Grade B+

Epps - Epps is so far in Dixon's doghouse right now, it's not even funny.  He's not making good decisions when he's in there.  He's been a mega disappointment so far.  He missed all three shots he took (all three's).  At one point, he took a ridiculously unnecessary contested 3 early in the shot clock because I think he tried to make a big shot cuz Pitt was hitting everything and he wanted in on the action.  It was a brick and Dixon yanked him so fast (insert analogy here).  Grade D

Moore - These are the types of nights JJ is gonna have to have if Pitt is gonna go anywhere.  He picked his spots and finished the night with 16.  I never felt like he forced anything, which can be the case with him sometimes.  Grade  A

Pitt plays Oklahoma State on Saturday

Over/under on Doug Gottlieb jokes is set conservatively at 14.5,
JO

Game 6: Pitt 81 Robert Morris 71

This game wasn't as close as the final score.  Pitt thoroughly dominated in perhaps their most complete game since the season opener against Albany.
Robert Morris from the NEC is no slouch, they've dominated that conference for the past four years (and earned a few NCAA bids under former Pitt assistant Mike Rice Jr).  Unfortunately for them Rice is beginning his 2nd year as Rutgers' coach.  Their new coach's name is Andrew Toole, who's 31 and the youngest coach in D1.
Pitt is 30-0 against RMU and 67-0 all-time against that conference, so they weren't losing tonight.
Last year, they gave Pitt all kinds of trouble with pressure defense, they pressed all day.  Tonight, they barely did.  I'm not sure if the pressure D was because of Rice (makes sense) and that the new coach doesn't like to do it as much, or they just graduated a few good players (also possible), but their D was meh this game.

Side note, Pitt won @ the Palestra against Penn 78-58 on Friday.

Onto the grades (we're gonna do this quickly because the Steelers are about to kick off).

Gibbs - He found a way to get 21 points, but he really didn't have a good night.  Didn't shoot well, forced some threes.  Grade B+

Woodall - He had some garbage points at the end, but he really didn't have to do much all game because of the performances of some other guys (See Wright, Cameron).  But he's been a double double machine this year.  Grade B+

Birch - He earned his second straight start because Taylor's been sidelined with migraines.  Against Penn he went for 15 and 10, and tonight he blocked everything.  6 in total on the evening or one off the panther record, which happens to be held by?...GARY MCGHEE.  GAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRYYYYYYY!!! Yeah, that record is gonna fall this year.  He also chipped in 8 points and hit a nice 17 foot jumper.  Grade A+

Robinson - Meh game from Robinson, he only took one shot, missed 3 free throws in a row on 2 straight possessions in the first half and that's really all I remember from him.  Grade C

Moore - Moore hit a couple of threes but generally didn't do much this game.  Still waiting for him to break out.  Grade B

Patterson, Taylor - Both didn't play the past two games, Patterson was suspended for two games for violating team rules, and obviously I mentioned Taylor with the migraines.

J. Johnson - played 12 minutes, didn't turn the  ball over and hit the two open 3's he was given.  You can't ask for more than that from him at this point.  Grade A

Zanna- NIGEEEEEEERIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA!  WHAT A BEAST!  He had 10 points, but only one of those points came when he was given the ball.  The other 4 buckets were pure hustle offensive rebound putbacks (one on a missed free throw which is always difficult)  15 boards on the night for him (7 offensive!)  My co-mvp of this game.  Grade A+

Wright - My other MVP,  Wright was everywhere tonight.  He had two straight steals in the first half for easy buckets.  The second one he dunked and got called for a technical for hanging on the rim, which was total bullshit because the rules say that if you're hanging on the rim to avoid injury (i.e. there's someone directly underneath you) then there's no technical.  Wright dunked, then hung on to avoid ending the life of the poor RMU player underneath him.  Refs didn't see it that way.  What a joke.  But basically, Wright hustled his butt off, he drew a charge, made a 3, and was all over the place.  Grade A+

City Game against Duquesne @ Consol on Wednesday Night.

Do it.  Hail to Pitt.
JO

p.s. Mewelde Moore is a joke.

Game 4: Cause for concern? Pitt Chrome Panthers 73 La Salle Internet Explorers 69

Pitt's 3-1.  That's all I'm gonna say.  They won.  There are some things that went well (huge rebounding margin +18) and some things that were awful.  They struggled a ton against the press (21 turnovers).  I missed the first half for class (joke city).

Due to some comments from some people where I work (aka a student), I've decided to be more sure of stuff when I report it...even though you know, it's a friggin blog, not USA Today.  So no more will I say things like, "I don't know, [insert event here] probably happened.  If I remember it, you'll hear about it.  If not, then you won't read about it.

You know what.  Never mind.  I'm not changing a thing.  Let it ride.  I should go grade this jobber's quiz.

100%...touche kid...touche.  I give all the credit to me being an awesome teacher obviously.

Back to the game,
La Salle is one of the Big 5 schools in Philadelphia (along with Villanova, St Joseph's, Penn and Temple).  La Salle and Penn get beat on by the other Big Three on a regular basis when they have the Big 5 tournament.  For the record, the Big 5 are just 5 schools in Philly and they all play each other in a round robin around the beginning of the year in non-conference (La Salle Temple and St Joe's in A10, Penn in Ivy, Nova in Big East).
Let's go back to 1954.

Final Four = La Salle over Penn State, Bradley over USC
Final = La Salle over Bradley led by Final Four MOP and future 5x NBA All-Star Tom Gola.  Also fun fact, Gola is the all-time leading rebounder in NCAA history with 2,201.  Enough La Salle history.

Truth be told, I don't really remember much from this game.  One reason being I missed the first half, the second being, it was one of those games I knew Pitt would win, but it was still frustrating to watch.

Side note - Pitt 3-0 with me, 0-1 without me.  Coincidence?  Nope.

Gibbs was awful.  He couldn't get anything to fall.  He was still scoreless when I showed up with 3 min left in the half.  Pitt will get bounced early in the tourney if Gibbs shoots anywhere near as bad as he did tonight.  However Pitt was saved by the strong play of Nasir Robinson, who is quickly becoming the leader of this team.  He's just so solid.  And now a few specific points I'd like to bring up.

Tray Woodall's block - With about 20 seconds left in the game, Pitt was up by 3 with the ball, but the shot clock would expire with about 10 seconds so Pitt would have to shoot and La Salle didn't have to foul.  Flashback to the Butler game when Pitt was up by 1 but would have to shoot with about 10 seconds left.  They pissed around and Gibbs threw up a 27 footer from the top of the key that missed, Butler scored to take the lead and that that weird shit started happening, but we all know that story.

Anyway, similar thing happened with La Salle, someone's three point attempt was blocked or stolen but whatever La Salle on the fast break with 10 seconds left.  Tray, the only man back, one-on-one.  The La Salle player (a 6'2ish guard) goes for the quick two. HUUUUUUUUGE STUFF by Tray.  I swear he had a ladder to block the shot.  He was up up and away, the elevator man baby! (Sorry for the Dicky V reference).  Anyway, Taylor gathered the rebound, was fouled, missed the first, made the second to ice it and that was the game.

Some strong defensive play from Khem Birch.  Without a doubt Birch's best game so far. 6 rebounds and 3 huge blocks (Tray also had 3 blocks and his 3rd double double with 12 and 10).  Fun story, when I was leaving Quaker Steak a bunch of the players were entering and about a half block down the road was Khem. Now I normally don't say stuff to players when I see them around campus, whatever, I mean they're just students.  But then I thought, well maybe I'll say "Nice game Khem" in passing.  But then I thought about it...they beat friggin La Salle by four.  Now I sound like a sarcastic asshole.  So I went with "Hey Khem." and he turned and said hey back, clearly confused cuz he has no idea who I am.  Doesn't matter, I was halfway down the street already.

So as a whole, Pitt won despite turning the ball over 21 times and Gibbs shooting 3-15.  Those two numbers should spell doom for Pitt in almost any game, so the fact that they still won is kinda nice.  Pitt's turnover counts in the first 3 games (7, 9, 12-loss)  So if they stay around their average, it probably changes the score to Pitt winning by about 15.  Add in a normal shooting night from Gibbs and we're looking at an easy 25 point win by Pitt.  So in conclusion, Pitt's freshmen still need to grow up some more, we need more from Taylor, their defense needs to get better, but they're still going to be fine.

39-1,
JO