We're number one!...hundred...and one. CBI Champs: Pitt 71 Washington State 65

We are the champions of the College Basketball Invitational.  I cannot wait to raise that banner.  I don't even know what to write about.  I'm just so excited.  Let's see, uhh Pitt was up for most of the game.  They shot the ball well.  And they only turned it over three times.

I repeat.

This basketball team only turned it over three times.

They also shot 50% from the field as a team.

Gibbs didn't play again.  Much much more on him later :)

This is a Pitt basketball blog, but I am also a Mavs fan.

That's dirty.

True story, this summer, Dirk went to a bar in South Beach and proceeded to do this

da da da da da da "ze champ ist hier."

Lebron = stunned

DWade went to go film another T Mobile commercial.

Bosh was busy auditioning for Jurassic Park 4.

Go Mavs.

And also go Pitt.  Anyway back to that.  I should probably give grades before I start talking about the Mavs again.

Grades:

Ashton Gibbs - Gibbs didn't play.  The look on his face when he had to put on a CBI Champs t-shirt made my night.  To Ashton, I enjoyed watching you make threes and not do much of anything else in four years.  In your honor, I've written a song about your professional basketball career.

Beyond the Sea (Ashton Gibbs remix) by J.O.

You'll play beyond the sea,

somewhere shooting for three

Croatian fans will sit in the stands,

and watch as your bricks that go sailing.

Somewhere beyond the sea

A contract waiting for you.

If you could drive, just like AI,

then straight to the pros

you'd go sailing.

The draft is far beyond the stars

Europe is near beyond the moon

I know beyond a doubt

Your game will lead you there soon

You'll play beyond the shore.

Pitt will dance just as before.

Happy you'll be beyond the sea.

And we'll never again, watch you Ashton.

No more Ashton.

So long Ashton.

Bye bye Ashton

Grade:  Grammy Award

(I dedicate this song to Erica, even though she'll have no idea what it's about)

This was the inspiration for my song, in case you didn't pick up on it.

My future Grammy winning song-writing career aside, here are the rest of the grades.

Lamar Patterson - He won the MVP of the tournament with another solid outing, 4-9 from the field 6-6 from the line with eight rebounds and 5 assists.  He's going to be a special player next year.  Some of his passes might actually be considered illegal in some states.  A backcourt of Tray and Lamar next year could be special (provided Tray limits his turnovers)  Grade A

Woodall - Speaking of limiting turnovers, I mentioned to my friend Ben W before the game that I hoped Tray would not throw the ball in the stands during the game. It was one of my wishes.  He didn't.  7 Assists versus 0 turnovers.  I repeat, zero turnovers from Travon Woodall.  Also found a way to get 17 points too.  Please do this all of next year Tray.  Grade A

Cameron Wright - Cameron Wright is from Cleveland.  I'm not saying that's the reason he stinks, but well...he's just...not very good.  He missed all three of his shots.  In the second half, this exchange happened.

Ben:  Oh great, Cam's in.

(Cameron makes a steal and is headed the other way for the easy lay-in with the Washington State player chasing but a half step or so behind)

Me:  You know he'll blow this.

(Wright proceeds to miss said layup)

Me:  Told you.

Grade: C-

Dante Taylor - Taylor literally has no game.  Washington State was again without the Pac 12's leading scorer (a 6'10 forward) and Taylor couldn't take advantage at all.  What a joke.  Grade: C- only because I refuse to give D's and F's out in a game we won.  And because he had zero turnovers.

Nick Rivers - He played four minutes during the game, and it wasn't garbage time either.  He missed a shot and turned it over once, but hey he's getting his M.B.A so he'll be fine later in life.  Grade: Employed

Nasir Robinson - Solid game from Nasir, 10 4 and 4 on 5-6 shooting. His only miss was an airball from three point land.  Seriously what is his deal with these threes lately.  His shot is hideous to watch.  I bet you could make one of those youtube reaction videos and have basketball fans watch Nasir shoot a jumpshot.  The results would be fantastic.  And horrifying.  He had a nice Pitt career though.  Grade A- for the airball

Malcolm Gilbert - He tried a post move and missed, and was again the happiest guy out there.  Grade:  Smiles

Talib Zanna - I have to be the worst person in the world at estimating Zanna's rebounding totals.  I swear he had a double double this game.  Turns out he went for 12 and 5.  He had a few monster offensive rebounds, though, one on a missed free throw.  If he develops any post moves, I will be thrilled.  Though he showed a nice touch tonight.  Grade: A

I'm in an A-giving mood tonight, but seriously they all shot well and didn't turn the ball over, what do you expect?  It was shocking.  Then I remember that Gibbs wasn't playing.

Pitt finishes the year undefeated without Gibbs in the lineup.

John Johnson - Can he be Cameron's roommate next year and drag him to the gym every day so Cam can learn how to shoot?  That's all I'm going to say.  It will be interesting to see how Flipp fits into the rotation next year with incoming guard James Robinson.  "There's always a spot for someone who can hit the corner three and play defense."  Indeed there is.  Oh...um he scored 6 points in this one and tried to slow down Moore on defense.  Grade B+

JJ Moore - He had 11 points, but there weren't really any highlights from him.  So whatever.  Grade B+

Another season of Pitt basketball is over.  Last year at this time, we weren't playing.  And I wrote some sappy post about how honored I was to write these for the few readers I had.  I'm not going to do that this time.  Mostly because since I stopped putting these on facebook, nobody sees them.  But I will say thank you to the people with whom I attended games with this season.

Heather

Justin

Ben D.

Ben W.

It's been real guys.

Next season is right around the corner.

Hail to Pitt,

JO

Game 38 CBI Finals Game 2 Fly Me To the Moon: Pitt 57 Washington State 53

 

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd start off with some Sinatra because hey, the guy was incredible.  Does this have anything to do with basketball?  No, but I've been in that kind of mood lately.  And when I was driving downtown for the game tonight I stopped at a red light.  I had been talking about Sinatra with someone, and when I looked into the car in front of me I saw this license plate.

License plate of the year nominee.

Back to basketball.  I would have really loved to write recaps for all of the previous CBIncredible games, but alas I had to work every single night and couldn't go to them.  Pitt beat Wofford, then Princeton, then survived a game at Butler to advance to the "Championship Series" (that's ridiculous by the way).  Well Pitt lost game 1 by 1 at Wazu.  I watched it on TV, it was meh.

One more word on Butler.  We all know what happened last year against them.  Honestly, it's impossible not to root for them.  They are so classy.  Case in point, the day before they played Pitt, their coach Brad Stevens sent out an e-mail to the Butler students asking them to please not heckle Nasir Robinson because of his dumb foul at the end of last year's tournament game.  Even better is that they weren't even planning on it.  Class acts all around at that institution.

And now finally, I shall actually write about the game that just occurred.

Pitt controlled the first half and opened up a 9 point lead at intermission.  They hit some threes and held the Cougars to the lowest first half total of any opponent this season (20 points).  Unfortunately as has always been the case this year, Pitt was due for a long scoreless drought, and this one happened midway through the 2nd half.  They went 7 minutes without scoring, yet stayed ahead.  That ended when the Cougars tied it at 49 with a minute and forty seconds to go.

But then, Lamar Patterson made me almost as happy as I am when someone offers to cook me bacon ;)

He scored and Pitt made a few stops, hit some free throws and was up 6 with 15 seconds left.  Then the meltdown started.  Pitt was called for some type of off the ball foul or something, intentional maybe.  Anyway the Cougars made both free throws, then got the ball back and scored so a 6 point lead was cut to 2 like that.  Four and half seconds left, Pitt threw the inbounds pass long but IT WAS INTERCEPTED!  Oh nooooo.  Thankfully the Cougar player fell out of bounds.  Pitt got the ball back, Patterson made a couple free throws and it was over.  One more game at Pitt on Friday to decide it.  Isn't the CBI exciting?  Of all the crazy things, I swear, best of 3 for the title.

Grades.

Ashton Gibbs - Gibbs didn't play "because he is a bitch."  Well that was the word from my friend Ben, but apparently he tweaked his ankle or something in the last game.  It's been nagging him all year long, but in all honesty I think he got benched because he's a sorry excuse for a team player.  He's been a joke this entire tournament.  Grade: n/a

Note:  Washington State was also without their leading scorer, but his injury was probably real.

Tray Woodall - Not a good shooting night from Tray.  He scored all of his 6 points  on two threes in the first half.  There were a couple times he tried to drive and got it stuffed.  Grade B-

Lamar Patterson - Patterson is probably my favorite player on this team.  He had a chance to win the first game on Monday but he missed.  He didn't let that phase him and was clutch in the final two minutes tonight.  He didn't shoot well from the field 2-8 but he made 8-10 from the line and filled the stat line as well (5 assists and 4 rebounds)  Grade A

Cameron Wright - Wright started in place of Gibbs.  Coach Dixon was doing an offensive/defensive substitution with him and John Johnson in the second half.  Wright was asked to try and slow down Moore, the point guard for the Cougars.  I'm not sure how effective it was because the dude scored 16 in the second half.  Cameron basically didn't do anything because he stinks.  He scored once or something.  Grade C+

Dante Taylor - Sleepy stinks.  He didn't do anything.  Scored 4 points, but whatever.  Grade C

Nasir Robinson - 10 points and 4 rebounds in the second to last game for Nasir.  He had a nice reverse for an And 1 in the first half, but he blew the free throw.  I really like Nas.  I don't think he should have ever started, but it just so happened he was always Pitt's best option for the past 3 years.  It shows how weak Pitt's post game has been since Blair left.  Grade A-

JJ Moore - Moore hit a three in the first half, and missed his other three shots the rest of the night.  He had been playing extremely well recently so I hope this game is just an anomaly.  Grade C

Isaiah Epps - He played four minutes.  He sucks.  Grade Poop

John Johnson - He hit a couple threes, but that's it.  Grade B

Talib Zanna - Big time game from Zanna.  He had 14 points on 4-4 shooting (team high) as well as 8 rebounds (game high).  I think all of his baskets were dunks, which is always good.  Grade A

A final note, there were probably like 2000 people there total.  Seems that nobody in Pittsburgh cares for the CBI, the Zoo was half full and we did our best.  Props also to my good friend Ben D. for coming to the game in what will be his last.  He's graduating and entering the Seminary.  He's one of the best men I know.

Hail to Pitt,

JO

Big East Tournament Day 2:

In order to make things easier on myself, I'm starting this post during the Pitt game and will just add to it throughout the day.

9. UConn 71 8. WVU 67 OT
The Hoopies led throughout, but then they started making mental Hoopie mistakes such as Truck Bryant jacking up a three right after an offensive rebound and fresh shot clock that led to Kilicli fouling out on a loose ball foul.  They couldn't stop Shabazz Napier who went for 26 and stole it on two straight possessions late to tie the score.  Game went to OT, where Jeremy Lamb made an appearance and hit a 3 to put them up 70-67.  This was after Kevin Jones took an off-balance three the previous possession.  Hoopies to the Big 12 with a loss.  I love it.

9. UConn vs 1. Syracuse
The Cuse killed UConn in the dome then hung on late on the road.  Therefore this game will be somewhere in between.  The downside is we'll have another day of Kemba highlights.  Only one more day of that.  Hopefully they won't go 6 overtimes.  I don't think the Orange can go that long without doing drugs.
Syracuse by 10

13. Pitt 52 5. Georgetown 64

My thoughts on this game:

Or maybe this?

Side thoughts, Jay Williams that is an ugly ass suit.

I don't really want to talk about this game, but it might be the last chance I get to do a game post until next season.  I'm going to try to post a little in the summer and introduce a new feature called "Tuesday Top Ten" in which I will make some countdown about Pitt or something.

Grades:

Ashton Gibbs - Like I said before, the seniors will get their own tribute posts when the season is over, but Gibbs today again, a subpar effort.  He scored 14, but never found a rhythm.  Here's the thing when Gibbs shoots, since his form is so laser-like, when he misses IT'S ALWAYS A LONG REBOUND!  Therefore, Pitt bigs, when Gibbs lets it fly, go to the middle of the lane and not directly under.  It's called rebounding 101.  Grade B

Tray Woodall - Umm let's see, he had a 3 point play in garbage time and spent the rest of the game committing reach in fouls.  Get better this summer Tray because despite my better judgment, you will be counted on next year.  Grade C

John Johnson - Missed every shot he took and after a Gibbs steal, allowed a Hoya to pick his pocket right back.  That's only partially his fault, he should know that there are guys chasing him, but a teammate could've helped him out.  Gibbs?  Having said that, I liked the way Flipp played this year.  Grade C-

JJ Moore - He was invisible in this game.  He made a three and fell down trying to draw a foul.  Of course Taylor tackled a guy underneath so it was one of those weird things where the basket was good but then Gtown had free throws the other way.  Summary of Pitt's day pretty much.  Grade C-

Dante Taylor - Dammit.  Honestly Taylor is the only player that could shoot 100% from the field (4-4) and people say he played awful.  That's because he did.  So many mistakes.  There's a movie called The Program (it's good check it out) in which the running back has a case of fumbleitis, so he has to carry it around with him at all times.  If he loses it then the rest of the team that's around him has to dive on it.  I'm pretty sure that storyline has been used multiple times (remember the Titans maybe?) but this was the one I remember.  Anyway, point is, his teammates should randomly fire passes at Taylor while he's walking the streets of Oakland to improve his hands.

 That movie is also hilarious because of this exchange:
Coach Winters: Alright, this is Mississippi State's offensive set. Second and two on our own 24, what defensive set might we call? 
Alvin Mack: Eagle Zipper Hero, unless the setback shifts into the I. 
Coach Winters: Good 
[clicks to next slide] 
Coach Winters: , third and seven? 
Alvin Mack: Oakie Thunder Lion. 
Coach Winters: What's your assignment? 
Alvin Mack: Kill the quarterback. 
Coach Winters: [clicks to next slide] 
Alvin Mack: Hit the tight end so hard his girlfriend dies. 
Coach Winters: [clicks to next slide] 
Alvin Mack: Kill everybody. 


The line "hit the tight end so hard his girlfriend dies" is hilarious.

Back to the game.

Patterson - He almost had a double double with 9 and 8 and I feel like he's the only Pitt player who showed up.  The prospect of 2 more years of Patterson is pleasing to me.  Grade B+

Robinson - Again, tons of effort from him, but he's just too undersized.  That and he may be the love child of Shaq and Dwight Howard as far as free throws are concerned.  He was 1-5 on them tonight.  If Pitt was any good at scoring inside to begin with, teams should have engaged in a Hack-a-Nas strategy.  Grade B-

Gilbert - He showed a nice touch on his only bucket.  He also tried to put the ball on the floor and shot an air ball so there's that.  Still love the kid though.  Grade B

Wright and Zanna - Zanna did nothing and neither did Wright.  Grades: n/a
I know I may be overly critical of Wright seeing as how he's only a redshirt freshmen, but I have a feeling he should transfer because he's awful.  Epps too, but nobody cares about Epps.  I'm trying to compare Wright as a freshmen to Brad as a freshmen (he was awful too) but I felt like Wanamaker actually showed potential.  I'm not seeing it with Wright.  The kid hustles though so he'll probably start as a senior even though he won't deserve it.

I'd wait until this evening so I could mention the evening games in this post but f it.  Don't care if Pitt isn't alive anymore.

NIT Champs,
JO

Big East Tournament Day 1: Pitt 73 St. John's 59

Okay so I'm starting to write this post as I watch the second half of Villanova-Rutgers, but I figure by the time I'm ready to talk about that game it will be over.  The Cats are up 3 and if they win I'm 4-0 today on picks.

Day 1 Recap

UConn 81 Depaul 67
I said UConn by 15 in the previous post and they won by 14.  I apologize for not being right.  Anyway, snooze city from this game, Lamb had 25 for the Huskies and Depaul didn't do much.  They actually played UConn even in the 2nd half, but they were already down double digits by that time.

9. UConn vs 8. WVU
Although I do not like UConn, there is nothing that would upset me more than to see WVU make a BET run before they leave.  I hope UConn wins by 30.  They won't win by that much, but wvu will still go home crying.
UConn by 8

13. Pitt 73 12. St. John's 59

This game was a lot different than last week's, but the result was the same.  St. John's led most of the first half, then Pitt went on a big time run and it was never close again.  St. John's only plays 6 players so again they got tired and couldn't come up with anything in the second half.  That and they couldn't hit anything, God's Gift shot 1-10, another guy went 0-7 and D'Angelo Harrison went 4-18.  Moe Harkless was their only option and he dropped 25.

...


...

How could you be so Harkless?

Can't resist making that joke.

Grades for Pitt:

Gibbs - He hit a couple early threes then disappeared for about 10 minutes in the first half.  Some girl on twitter made a comment that Gibbs didn't have to shoot from the NBA line on some of his threes.  Then like 3 minutes later they showed a slow-motion replay, and you can see Gibbs look down at the New York Knicks line, take a step behind it and shoot.  I lol'd.  Clearly auditioning for Mike D'Antoni this weekend.  Anyway, respectable showing for Gibbs who finally won a tournament game.  Grade A-

Robinson - 15 and 8 from Robinson.  I liked the way he played today.  He also finished an alley-oop dunk which shocked everyone.  Grade A for Alley Oop

Woodall - Tray stinks right now.  1-5 shooting and 6 turnovers.  He better get his act together.  Instead of continuing to rant about Trays' decision-making, Here's a video of Pitt PG commit James Robinson Grade F

Taylor - On the bright side, I could tell you that Dante Taylor did not miss a shot from the field against St. John's this season.  The downside is that he was only 1-1 today and basically did nothing.  He was only credited with 2 turnovers, but I swear at least 5 passes bounced off his hands in the first 5 minutes alone.  And of course, St. John's scored on a fast break immediately after he scored his only bucket.  I'd love to see stats on the opposing team after Dante scores.  I bet they score like 90% of the time.  Grade D+

Patterson - I wish Patterson would shoot more.  He was 4-7 with the majority of his 9 points coming in a 2 minute stretch in the second half.  Patterson is one of those players that you don't notice how good he is by watching on TV.  Case in point, when I was talking with my dad during the game and I said that Patterson would be starting next year, he went "Patterson?  No way."  I'm like, "Dad he's good."  And right on cue he made a couple big plays.  Dad's a believer now.  Grade B+

Zanna - Zilch from Zanna this game, he missed both of his shots.  Grade C-

Moore - Moore cooled off a little this game.  The only play I remember from him was a blown layup off a great pass from Gilbert.  Grade B-

Wright - Bleh.  Grade C-

Johnson - He provided some offense, made a couple threes and had a steal and finish on the fast break.  I feel every time Johnson goes in for a layup he travels, watch next time.  So many steps.  Grade B

Gilbert - Had an offensive rebound and the aforementioned great pass underneath to JJ.  Grade C

13. Pitt vs 5. Georgetown
My recap from the regular season meeting
The telling stat from that game was Robinson shooting 9-9.  Pitt rode the Zoo to a big win over top ten Hoyas in the first meeting.  I still believe in this team, and I don't think the dream is over for them yet.
Pitt by 6.

10. Seton Hall 79 15. Providence 47
All Pirates in this one.

10. Seton Hall vs 7. Louisville
A win here would probably assure the Pirates a bid, but they won't get it.  They'll be one of the teams sweating it out Sunday night.
Louisville by 10.

And almost on cue, Villanova and Rutgers have one minute left to play.

(Patiently waits for game to finish)

14. Villanova 70 Rutgers 49
And my bracket is perfect so far.

14. Villanova vs 6. South Florida
I'm not sure if South Florida has ever won a BET game, maybe they stole a first round game somewhere.  I'm too lazy to look it up.  If they haven't won one, well they're going to get their first one tomorrow night.
USF by 7

Will my bracket stay perfect through day two?
Stay tuned,
JO

Big East Tournament Preview Edition

First things first, let's get Saturday's game out of the way.  Pitt lost to UConn and the stupid noon start caused me to miss the entire game for work.  From what I can gather, Pitt sucked in the first half, was down a lot, made a comeback, took a lead late, then imploded the last few minutes and lost by 9.  JJ Moore with another big night day.

Big East Tournament Bracket

A quick glance at the first round games.

16.  Depaul vs 9. UConn
Depaul has no chance.  Coincidentally this same seeding and matchup happened last year with UConn winning easily.  Should be more of the same here.  UConn Winner gets WVU in round 2.
Winner - UConn by at least 15.

13. Pitt vs 12. St. John's
If Pitt wants to go dancing, they'll need five wins in five days.  It starts at 2 pm Tuesday against a team they just beat by 20 at home.  Pitt isn't as good as the game they played on Wednesday night, so expect this one to be close.  I don't put much value into the fact that the BET is a home game for the Johnnies essentially. They haven't performed well here in 10 years.  Winner gets Georgetown on Wednesday.
Winner - Pitt by 5

15. Providence vs 10. Seton Hall - The Hall had their most talented team in at least 6 years and it still was only good enough for 10th in the Big East.  They were on the bubble before, then they went and lost to Depaul.  They'll need at least a win here and over 7. Louisville in the second round to get in the conversation.  If they get that far, a win over 2 seed Marquette in the quarters should clinch an invitation to the madness.  In other news, Herb Pope's selection on the all big east third team is a joke.  One of only two people to average a double double this year and the other was a first teamer (Kevin Jones)
Winner - Seton Hall

14. Villanova vs  11. Rutgers - I don't think Villanova is the 14th best team in the Big East and I don't think Rutgers is the 11th best team.  Villanova won their matchup last week and I think they'll repeat the feat.  Winner gets South Florida.
Winner - Nova

Pitt's path -
Provided seeds hold, Pitt's run to the title will be
St. John's --> Georgetown --> Cincinnati --> Syracuse --> Marquette or ND
Now there's an argument among Pitt fans of who'd they rather see Pitt face:  Teams Pitt beat or Teams that beat Pitt.  One side says that if Pitt beat those teams once they can beat them again.  The other side would rather not have that pressure.  Normally I would be in the first group, Pitt obviously matches up well with the teams they beat, and I'd rather not see a team like South Florida in the second round because clearly they own Pitt.  But the Big East Tournament is an entirely different animal.  Looking back, the past three years Pitt had a double-bye and played a team they beat at least once already in the regular season.  Each time Pitt lost.  In 2008, Pitt won it all by beating three teams that had beaten them in the regular season (Cincy, Louisville, Marquette) and then Gtown in the final.

Realistically, I think Pitt wins 2 games and falls to Cincy in the quarters, but I'm hoping for the best.  Each day I'll be writing recaps for Pitt as well as the rest of the day's action and offering thoughts and predictions for the rest of the tournament.
My own bracket.
1st round
Uconn over Depaul, Pitt over St. John's, Seton Hall over Providence, Villanova over Rutgers
2nd round
Uconn over wvu, Pitt over georgetown, louisville over seton hall, south florida over villanova
quarterfinals
syracuse over uconn, cincy over pitt, marquette over louisville, nd over south florida
semis
cuse over cincy, marquette over nd
finals
cuse over marquette

I know I went with chalk for most of these picks, but I just have a feeling that the Big East is a little top heavy this year.  Since the double bye started, the top 4 seeds have never all advanced, but hey first time for everything.  Pitt might beat Cincy, but they'll probably lose to St. John's.

Game 30 How could they be so Harkless? Pitt 89 St John's 69

Pitt finishes the year at the Pete on a good note.  Their record there this season 11-7 is almost double the amount of losses they had during my four years of undergrad (4).  Oh well, rebuilding all the way.

St. John's made the tournament last year because they dressed 17 seniors.  So this year their team is basically all freshmen.  They're all good recruits, so in about 3 years, St. John's might be a final four favorite.  Not now though.  They're coached by Steve Lavin, aka the man Howland replaced at UCLA and a man who has single-handedly kept numerous hair gel companies in business.

Lavin's a good coach and a top-notch recruiter but he hasn't been on the sidelines because he's been battling prostate cancer.

Looking at St. John's roster of freshmen (13!) some names jump out at you.

F 6'8"  God's Gift Achieuwa - This guy is actually a Juco transfer, but seriously, that's his actual name.  Here's a story about it.  He has siblings named Peace, Promise, God's Will, and Precious.

G 6'5" Sir'Dominic Pointer - This guy's name was actually Dominique but he changed it.  His dad wanted to name him Anthony 2 but his Mom wouldn't go for it.  He named his older son Anthony and liked it so much he was going to call Dominique Anthony but with a 2 at the end.  Woooow, could you imagine the life that kid would've lived growing up.  Way to make the kid feel inferior Dad.

Father of the Decade right there.

So going into this game Pitt was going to have to face God's Gift and freaking nobility.

Eat your heart out Tim Tebow.

Enough background info.  The team's traded leads in the first half.  Pitt would either make a brilliant play or turn the ball over.  They barely missed, shooting about 58% in the half.  St John's was almost as hot.  The difference was the rebounding in this one.  Pitt 30-14 advantage.  Wow.  The highlight of the half was probably a sick dunk by St. John's second leading scorer, Moe Harkless.  He went baseline and threw it down reverse one-handed.  It was filthy and caused me to utter the phrase, "How could you be so Harkless."

I love puns.

Harkless averages 15 and 8 but that dunk was his only made field goal of the night.

Anyway, outside of the turnovers, Pitt was really playing brilliant basketball.  They went into the locker room up 5.

Evidently, Dixon lit a fire under their asses because they just creamed the Johnnies in the second half.  Started with a 13-2 run and blew the game wide open.  St. John's only played six guys with two playing 40 and one 38 minutes.  They still managed to shoot 50% for the game.  The bad news for them is that Pitt shot 63%.  Wow.  Grades time.

Ashton Gibbs - This is pretty much the performance that should've been the norm for Gibbs this season.  He shot 50% and didn't force anything.  He also tried to get the mid-range game going as well.  Scored 19 points, but didn't really fill up the other stat categories (1 assist, 2 rebounds), but Gibbs is a shooter, he did that tonight.  Grade A-
Note: I'll be writing individual posts about the careers of Gibbs and Robinson later.

Lamar Patterson - Typical Lamar stat-line 13 5 and 7.  He hit a pair of threes, but turned it over 4 times.  I don't remember any specific plays he made, just know that he was solid.  Oh he had a nice layup for an and one.  Pitt had infinite 3 point plays in this game.  Grade A

Dante Taylor -

Literally the perfect game from him.  8-8 from the field, 1-1 from the line, 17 points 8 rebounds 0 turnovers.  Dunking absolutely everything and finishing the layups too.  You could say that St. John's didn't give much resistance, but hey Taylor has found a way to miss wide open point-blank shots before so it was nice to see him make them tonight.  He's still a bust, and he'll need many many games like this the rest of his career to convince me otherwise, but you gotta enjoy it when it happens.  Grade A+
I will however say that one time when he was celebrating a dunk, St. John's beat him down to the other end and got an easy bucket.  Gotta get back on D big fella.
He also got the start tonight, so maybe that had something to do with his confidence.

Tray Woodall - Quiet game offensively for Tray, only took 5 shots making 3 of them.  He had a 3 and a nice reverse during the portion of the game that St John's was playing the matador defense.  He had 6 assists as well.  The downside to Woodall's game is of course the turnovers.  Some of them are really bad.  He has to lead division 1 in passes thrown into the stands.  Grade B

Nasir Robinson - I would've liked Nas to have a bigger role in his last game but he just did his thing.  Made all 3 of his shots and turned it over 3 times.  He is so calculated in his moves though.  He makes the catch in the high post, swings the ball almost down to his knees in one motion, hesitates, and then starts his move.  If the refs aren't calling a tight game then teams will collapse on Nas during that moment of hesitation and it'll cause a turnover.  Refs swallowed the whistle tonight for the most part and Nas got hammered a few times.
Grade B+

John Johnson - He had a layup on a fast break and missed both of his 3's.  He was actually the only player that didn't shoot at least 50% from the field.  3 assists in 14 minutes was a nice touch though.  Grade B-

Cameron Wright - Oh my gosh he made a 3 pointer tonight!  He also turned it over twice in 5 minutes, but hey, what're you gonna do.  The fact that he was 1-1 makes him an automatic B+.

Malcolm Gilbert - His stat line reads as 4 min 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 block, but he definitely changes things defensively when he's in there.  He's just so long.  He could be a defensive force for 4 years for Pitt.  He also set a devastating pick for Gibbs at one point.  Grade B+

JJ Moore - He might be finally getting it.  He drove all night.  And though he didn't actually finish any of the plays, he got to the line hitting 5-6.  What a surprise though, when he drove, guys played off him and he got more open looks from 3 as well so his shot started falling, 3-4 from deep.  In particular there were two plays I'd like to point out.  The first, he drove right down the lane then flipped it back around the defender to Taylor for an easy dunk.  I know Taylor and the other Pitt bigs have hands of stone sometimes so they'll bobble any pass that's not perfect.  This one was right on the money.  The second play started with a Pitt turnover, Moore ran the guy down, picked his pocket at mid-court, went down the right sideline then turned and went baseline.  He guy bumped him and the whistle blew but Moore kept driving took another couple dribbles and threw it down violently.  The foul was obviously on the floor so no and one or anything but I feel like it was  a giant F you from him and a sign that he is going to be playing with anger next season.  I can't wait.
Grade A

Talib Zanna - Zanna got a haircut so no hi-top fade anymore.  Sadness.  He's regressed defensively, he gets beat so easily now.  I don't even know what to say, this was a poor game from him. Dumb fouls, had 4 in 14 minutes.  He made 2 free throws for his only shot attempts.  Grade C

Nick Rivers and Aron Nwankwo - Rivers made a free throw.  Go Rivers.

Pitt plays at UConn Saturday in the All-Disappointment Tournament.
Conceivably Pitt could get a few more home games if they make the NIT.  I want to say that I'm too proud of a Pitt fan to go to NIT games in Pittsburgh, especially because the actual tourney is coming to Consol, but you know I'll be there.  Mostly because I remember when this season was the norm for them.  Seriously though, Pitt would miss the tourney the year they came here, but then again Pitt played the first and second rounds of the 2002 tournament at Mellon (wins over 14. Central Connecticut State and 6. Cal in case you were wondering), and that season ended with a loss to friggin Kent State and Antonio Gates.  Maybe it doesn't matter where they play. Yeah tell that to the team that will face Kentucky in the South Regionals in Atlanta where it will be 95% blue and white.

Anyway, I think this post is long enough,
JO