Gameday: Pitt vs Albany Great Danes

Pitt 11-1 (0-0 ACC) vs Albany 6-6 (0-0 American East)

1:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Pitt finishes the non-conference slate with a team who lasted longer in last year's NCAA Tournament than Pitt did.  Yes, 15 seed Albany lost to Duke in the first round last year, but they did so on Friday.  Pitt lost on Thursday.  Anyway, Albany is picked to finish 3rd this year.  They were 5th last season, but went on a nice little run to win the conference tournament.  Fun fact, two of Albany's 6 wins this season have come against NJIT.  NJIT is the only Division I school that is an independent.  Their "conference" of independents folded when everybody got a conference invite but them.  NJIT is like the one guy in his class who can't get a date for prom, so he stays home and writes a college basketball blog.  That's not a reference to anything, I did in fact go to my own prom seven years ago.  Albany's two leading scorers, guard Peter Hooley and forward Sam Rowley, are from Australia.

Last meeting:  Pitt 89 Albany 56, November 11, 2011

What I said in the recap:  

"The game went the way of most non-conference games early in the year with Pitt just destroying teams.  To quote the great Harry Doyle from major league, "They say you can tell a lot about a team's season by the first hitter."  So I'm going to do that with the first basket.  Nasir Robinson missed a shot in the paint and Dante Taylor dunked the putback.  So whatever that means for the Panther season I don't know."

Pitt lost to Wagner and Depaul that season, so yeah.

Player to watch:  Junior College transfer Anders Haas is from Denmark so there is a Dane playing for the Great Danes.  I swear, sometimes the jokes type themselves.

Prediction:  Pitt 82 Albany 50

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 12: Pitt 73 Cal Poly 56

After every person involved in college basketball jumped off the Pitt bandwagon because of one ugly loss to an old conference foe, Pitt resumed their meaningingless non-conference with a ho-hum win against Cal Poly.  Cal Poly was picked to finish 3rd in the Big West this season.  The Big West would be better off renaming themselves "8 California schools and then Hawaii."  Actually, California should just annex Hawaii, and they should call themselves UC Honululu to fit in with UC Davis, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara.  You see what I'm saying?  Terrible puns aside, the last time Pitt played a Big West 8 California schools and then Hawaii opponent they were manhandled by Long Beach State, so screw them.  They do have the best nicknames of any conference in division 1 though.  The 49ers, Mustangs, Anteaters, Matadors, Titans, Highlanders, Gauchos, Aggies, and Warriors all make this conference home.

The only take away from this game is that Lamar Patterson beat the Mustangs almost single-handedly.  This was a huge comeback game for him since his two missed free throws in the closing seconds essentially lost the game against Cincinnati.  He made 11-15 field goals and had 30 points with 10 minutes left in the game.  He didn't score again, but it was still the first time a Pitt player broke the 30 point barrier since Sam Young had 32 in the 2nd round of the 2009 Tournament against OK State.  He has 999 points for his career, and it's a shame they couldn't get him one more basket so he reached the milestone on a career day.  Durand Johnson was the only other Panther to score in double figures with 12.  The Camburglar returned with 4 steals.

I lied.  Another takeaway from this game was Pitt shooting 10-10 from the line.  Sure, if they missed a few it would not have impacted the result, but it was nice to see them rebound as a team after missed foul shots doomed them against Cincinnati.

I must say one last thing about Pitt's non-conference schedule.  ESPN's Andy Katz said that Ohio State was originally supposed to play in the Legends Classic with Pitt, but someone backed out of the Gotham Classic forcing them to find a replacement.  Ohio state was picked as a replacement so they played Notre Dame in New York City yesterday in that tournament.  I'm not sure whether Stanford, Texas Tech, or Houston was the replacement team for the Buckeyes, but regardless Ohio State is much better than all of those teams.  A game against the current #3 team in the nation would have boosted Pitt's stength of schedule.  So even when Pitt tries to play good teams (Big 10-ACC Challenge, Legends Classic), the universe would prefer that they play the Penn States and Cal Poly's of the world.

Pitt has ten days off over the holidays.  Their next game is New Year's Eve against Albany.   Mercifully, it is the last non-conference game of the year.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Game 11: Self-Deprecating Edition: Pitt 43 Cincinnati 44

It is my firm belief that nobody understands disappointment quite like Pitt fans.  Oh they tease us with high rankings and lofty goals, but at the end of the day, we know how it's going to turn out.  For this recap, I am going to keep a joke counter for how many times I can make fun of Pitt athletics in one post.

From @PezDOY

http://www.nunesmagician.com/2011/4/13/2107119/the-octonion-villanova-big-east-football-tcu-syracuse-uconn-louisville-pitt

Pitt Joke Counter: 2

Well Pitt suffered their first loss of the season to Cincinnati on Tuesday night.  Rather than give individual grades, I'm just going to look at some pros and cons from the game.

Pros:

-Pitt gave up fewer points in this game than they did in 2009 when they blew a 31-10 lead at Heinz Field against Cincy with a BCS berth on the line.

Pez again

-Nobody committed a foul 85 feet from the basket with less than a second left to play.

-Pitt scored more than they did when they were the Washington Generals for one game in 2012.

-Pitt outrebounded Cincinnati off missed shots by Cincinnati 19-16.

-Nobody threw the ball away with 9 seconds left with a chance to upset the #1 team in the country and the eventual National Champion in your own building with the author of this post listening to the game on the radio in his mom's car while driving to pick out a Christmas tree when he was 9 years old.

-Pitt did not miss any dunks.

-All of Pitt's 10 missed free throws hit the rim.

-They made one field goal in the last 9:47 of the first half and one field goal in the last 14:54 of the second half, which is of course better than making 0 field goals in those time periods.

-Nobody was injured.

-This game only sent college basketball back 20 years.

-This loss ensures that Pitt will not have to go the BBVA Compass Bowl at the end of the season.

-Nobody swore in the post-game interviews.

-The loss guarantees Pitt will not lose a game as a ranked opponent for at least another month.

-Nobody transferred to another school, and there were no coaching changes during the game.

Cons:

There were none.

Pitt Joke Counter:  24

Pitt's season ends with a disappointing 10-1 record.*

Pitt Joke Counter: 26

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

*Pitt's season did not really end.  They will play California Polytechnic State University on Saturday. 

Gameday: Pitt vs Cincinnati Bearcats

Pitt 10-0 (0-0 ACC) vs Cincinnati 7-2 (0-0 American Athletic Conference)

7:00 pm

Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

At last, Pitt plays another decent opponent.  This is part of the Jimmy V classic.  Cincinnati went 22-17 (9-9) and lost in the first round (and by that I mean the round of 64) to Creighton in last year's tournament.  They're 7-2 so far this season, but have lost their last two games by double digits at New Mexico and home against Xavier (huge rivalry there).  The Bearcats are picked to finish 4th in the American Athletic Conference, which is basically the football schools from the old Big East.  The basketball schools kept the Big East name.  Only technically the AAC keeps all the previous Big East records.  So if some player for say Villanova scores a lot of points in their career, it's possible they could be the Big East's all time leading scorer (New Big East) without being the Big East's all-time leading scorer (Old Big East which is actually the AAC).  Wat.

Haha, college athletics.

Player to watch:  Sean Kilpatrick was their leading scorer last year, and he's back again this year.  They lost Cashmere Wright to graduation, and I lost a lot of cheap sweater puns.

Prediction:  Pitt 73 Cincinnati 58

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 10: Not Really Live-Blog: Pitt 91 Youngstown State 73

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I am going to live-blog a replay of this game.  Yesterday, I happened to be out running errands at noon so I missed the entire game.  Thank you ESPN3, you are awesome.

I predict this game will end 91-73 for Pitt.  Preseason Horizon League POY is some guard for Youngstown named Kendrick Perry.  Anna Kendrick > Kendrick Perry.

I think Robinson has his eyes closed in his team photo.  Keys to the game for Pitt are apparently the mid-range game.  That's you, Cameron.

The color guy, Dan Bonner, is a Pittsburgh native.

Patterson missed, Pitt got an offensive rebound, Patterson missed a 3, Young got a rebound and was fouled.  Pitt might shoot 10-80 this game and get 60 offensive rebounds.

Pitt misses twice, gets two offensive rebounds again and Wright scores in the lane.  4-3 Pitt.

Someone should probably stop Perry.

Cameron Wright is a master of falling into the defender and getting a blocking foul called with the new rules.  Robinson is shooting a lot in this game.  He just hit a jumper from just past the free throw line.  They double teamed Perry and got a steal.  Suck it.

Never mind he just scored on the next possession.  Durand in and it took him about 8.3 seconds to shoot a 3.  He missed.  He drove baseline and missed badly again.  Come on Durand.

Pitt 10 Kendrick Perry Penguins 7 despite Pitt shooting negative 15% from the field.

Artis with a one-touch pass a la Sidney Crosby to Randall for the dunk.

Pitt led 16-14, but Newkirk just had a nice layup.  Johnson was short on a layup in transition, ball was bounced around and he missed again.  I think he's 0-20 so far in this game.

If Pitt could make a shot, they'd be up by 80 by this point.

Trivia question:  Pitt has only lost 22 times at the Pete since it opened.  Which team has beaten them the most times?  Losing 22 home games in 10+ years is impressive.  It's even more impressive when you consider that probably 9 of those losses came in one season.

Anyway the answer to that question is Louisville who has beaten them 3 times, including twice when I was in attendance.  F you Edgar Sosa.  You taunted the Zoo my freshman year and you suck.

I just realized that Louisville is the only Big East team I never saw Pitt beat.  The one year they did beat them (my junior year) I was playing football with some friends.  I blame my old roommate for this entirely.  He should have rescheduled.  Pitt had an unbelievable comeback in the final minute in that game.  Actually, there might be more.

Reminiscing aside, Pitt leads 23-14 in this game.  Ugly miss on a hook from Zanna.

"Zanna only has 2 assists in 9 games.  When he gets the ball, he's not looking to pass."

Wow Zanna, you ball hog.  Color guy comes back with a comment about Zanna leading the ACC in field goal percentage.  You're forgiven, Talib, fire away.

Turnover and Patterson with the flush.  He has 7 and Pitt leads by 9.

I am so incredibly bored by this game.  Thank God, Pitt plays an actual team in Cincy on Tuesday.  After that they get Cal-Poly and Albany.  Snooze.

Pitt has .769 winning percentage last 12 seasons which would be second to only Duke in the ACC.  You take out the 2011-2012 season and they'd probably be first.

Time to see how my fantasy teams are doing in the playoffs.

Matt Cassel is 7-7 and I have Philly's defense.  Son of a gun.

Announcers going on again about how unbeatable Pitt is at the Pete.  One guy says possibly the truest statement ever.  "The building has never beaten anybody, it's the team."

Honestly, there are a lot tougher places to play than the Pete.  Yeah, Pitt wins a lot there, but most upper-level Division 1 teams are unbeatable at home too.  Pitt SHOULD win every home game because they're Pitt.  I love the Zoo, and it was a ton of fun being there for 5 years, but they are only loud for big games.  Right now, Youngstown State is only down 6 and the Zoo is quiet.  Come on kids, just because the game isn't nationally televised doesn't mean you don't have to be crazy.  Also I hate when Pitt gets up 20 and people stop yelling.

Okay, I'll stop with the negativity.

Patterson with a three.  He has a team-high 10 right now.  Robinson with a spin move in the lane and muscled one in with a friendly bounce from the rim.

Half-time score is Pitt 43 Younstown 32.

Speaking of Youngstown, Elton John is playing there in February but I couldn't get tickets.  It made me sad.

Dixon is being interviewed, but his mike isn't working so you can't hear anything.  Then at the end they were like, "Thank you for your time."

I'm sure his comments were riveting.

Pitt is missing all kinds of bunnies in this game.  I too, missed a bunny, but in that case I was in a car and the bunny liked to live dangerously.

Pitt has opened the half with a 7-0 run, or 14-2 if you include the end of the first.

Pitt suffocating YSU right now.  Even Chris Jones is scoring.  Pitt leads by 25.

Zanna has his third double-double of the season.  Anyway, Youngstown State went on a little run at the end of the game and became the first team to break the 70 point threshold against Pitt this season.  Zanna had 10 and 15. Randall had 11 points in garbage time, and Patterson had his usual 18.  Everyone shot fairly well except the 1-7 from Durand.  Pitt rebounded from a 60% free throw shooting night against LMU to shoot 80% (16-20) against Youngstown State.

Anyway, Pitt plays Cincinnati on Tuesday.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 9: Pitt 85 Loyola Marymount 68

I actually watched this game, but I've been so busy I forgot most of what happened.  I was also doing a 1000 piece puzzle with Lady J.O. so I wasn't completely focused on the game anyway.  It was a another typical non-conference win.  Wright led Pitt in scoring with 14, and 4 other Panthers (Patterson, Young, Zanna, and Johnson) scored in double figures.  Here are some highlights from youtube because I'm lazy.

Pitt has already played and beaten Youngstown State at the time I'm writing this.  That recap will come soon, and might actually be worthwhile.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Loyola Marymount Lions

Pitt 8-0 (0-0 ACC) vs Loyola Marymount 6-2 (0-0 West Coast Conference)

7:00 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

At one point, Loyola Marymount basketball was a must see.  Their late 80s teams under head coach Paul Westhead might have been the most exciting college basketball team of all time.  Their offensive philosophy was to shoot the ball in 7 seconds or less.  They led the NCAA in scoring in 1988 (110.3 ppg), 1989 (112.5) and 1990 (122.4).  They were involved in the five highest scoring games ever (including a record 181-150 game).  Westhead got two big time players (Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble) to transfer from USC, and they were incredible.  In 1988 Gathers became the second player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring (32.7 ppg) and rebounding (13.7) in the same year.  The next season Kimble led the nation in scoring with 35.3 ppg.  Tragically, in the second round of the WCC tournament, Gathers died after collapsing on the court.  He had a heart problem called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  He collapsed less than 2 feet away from current Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who happened to be a point guard on the opposing team.  In the NCAA tournament that year, Kimble led LMU on a magical run to the Elite 8 before they fell to eventual champion UNLV, which was one of the greatest teams of all time.  They haven't been back to the tournament since.

Skipping ahead a few years, last year's LMU squad finished 11-23 (1-15 WCC) and lost their last 13 conference games.  They went on a bit of a run in the conference tournament, eventually losing to Gonzaga in the semi-finals, but overall a disastrous year.  They'll be much better this season.  They are picked to finish 5th.  They start 3 seniors and 2 juniors and have two 3-star recruits coming in this season, which is impressive for a small school.

Player to watch:  All-WCC player Anthony Ireland is back for his senior season.  He leads the team in scoring at 18.9 ppg because it is a requirement that every mid-major have a 5'10" guard who scores all their points.

Pitt will roll.

Prediction:  Pitt 82 LMU 58

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 8: Closer than anticipated: Pitt 78 Penn State 69

I'll start off this recap by saying that Tim Frazier is really good at basketball.  The Penn State guard basically dominated the first half.  He made almost as many field goals  (6) in the first half as the entire Pitt team (7).  And it's not as if Pitt was playing poor defense.  Frazier was getting tough, contested shots to fall.  At half-time the score was Penn State (Tim Frazier) 30 Pitt 29.  Frazier finished with 27 and DJ Newbill had 18.  That's 45 of their 67 points right there.  The problem with getting all your points from two players is that if they go a little cold, your offense shrivels up.  The shots that fell for Frazier in the 1st half started bouncing out, and Pitt went to Zanna down low early and often.  He came through with maybe his best all-around performance of the season.

Talib Zanna - Zanna had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but that doesn't even begin to tell the whole story.  Fourteen of his points came in the second half.  He completed two and 1's in the first 4 minutes while trying to bring Pitt back.  With 13 minutes left in the game, and Penn State still clinging to a one point lead, Zanna made the first of two huge defensive plays.  Frazier was bringing the ball up and Zanna went out to challenge him.  This sounds like a recipe for disaster and/or a cheap foul.  But Zanna picked Frazier's pocket cleanly, dribbled down the court with the pesky Frazier buzzing around him and layed it in.  With 3 minutes left, Penn State had the ball down 1.  Newbill drove left, had a lane, and put up a floater.  Zanna came out of nowhere on the weak side to swat it away.  He had 4 blocks in the game.  Zanna gained control, and Robinson scored in transition.  His hook shot two possessions later effectively buried the Nittany Lions.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

James Robinson - After Robinson scored on that layup, he stole the ball himself and scored on another layup.  He didn't have any assists but he shot 50% (3-6) and made the big plays when he needed to.  That's just what he does.

Grade:  B+

Lamar Patterson - Yawn, 16 points, 9 rebounds 5 assists, shoot 50% from the field.  Typical Lamar.  I'd give him an A+, but he had 5 of Pitt's 9 turnovers.

Grade:  A-

Michael Young - Another subpar performance from the freshman.  He looked lost in the first half, and several times he seemed to shoot the ball into the outstretched arms of the Penn State defenders.  It's not as if they jumped up to block him.  Their feet didn't leave the ground.  That's a combination of solid, fundamental defense and Young screwing up.  He redeemed the 0-fer shooting performance (0-5) by hitting all 6 of his free throws and grabbing 7 rebounds.  Man, how good are the Panthers at shooting free throws.  They went 28-35 tonight.

Grade:  C-

Cameron Wright - He had an off-shooting night (2-7) but like all Panthers nowadays, he made his free throws (8-9).  It was however the first game he failed to register at least one steal.

Grade:  B-

Durand Johnson - He had a nice layup and 3 point play, which makes me happy because I enjoy when he drives.  He also had a block a some point in the second half that was probably at a key moment.

Grade:  B-

Chris Jones - He played a minute and didn't do anything of note.

Grade:  n/a

Josh Newkirk - Newkirk played 25 minutes, easily the most of his career because Robinson picked up 2 fouls in the 1st half.  It was his best game, and I feel a lot more comfortable with him in there now.  He shot 2-3 and didn't turn the ball over.  Congrats on your first A of your career, Josh.

Grade:  A+

Jamel Artis - Artis only played 5 minutes, but he did hit a jump shot, prompting the announcing team to offer the typical "what a great find by Dixon, getting a player like Artis who can step out and hit the open jumpshot to stretch the floor.  What a great asset."  I understand that Artis brings that, but I swear I've heard them say that about him every single game.

Grade:  C

Derrick Randall - He made all three of his shots (1 fg, 2 ft) and only commited 1(!) foul in 6 minutes.  I'm so proud of him.

Grade:  B+

Although this game was closer than most people thought it would be, there are still a lot of positives to take from it.  Penn State got other-wordly play from their guards and Pitt played one terrible half, and they still won by 9.  I'll say this about Penn State.  If they had absolutely anything in the frontcourt to complement Frazier and Newbill they'd be an NCAA tournament team.  Unfortunately (well fortunately for me because I don't like Penn State), they don't and so they'll be a big 10 bottom feeder.  Honestly, this game looked a lot like an NCAA tournament loss for Pitt.  You know what I'm talking about.  The game where some guard has a coming out party, drops 22+ and uses it as a springboard to the NBA (Dwyane Wade, Shelvin Mack, Jordan Crawford, etc.).  Good thing Penn State isn't as good as those teams or Pitt could have been looking at a loss they'd never be able to live down.

Anyway, Pitt plays Loyola Marymount on Friday, which would be a lot more exciting if it was 1990.  More on that later.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Penn State Nittany Lions

Pitt 7-0 (0-0 ACC) vs Penn State 6-2 (0-0 Big 10)

7:30 pm

Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA

This game is part of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.  Apparently, in alternating years they call it the Big 10-ACC challenge because the egos for both conferences are so huge that neither could stand to get 2nd billing every year.  I'm calling it the ACC-Big 10 challenge because of the alphabet.

Penn State went 10-21 last year and a whopping 2-16 in the Big 10.  They would have been better, but their senior All Big 10 guard Tim Frazier ruptured his achilles tendon in the 4th game and they never recovered.  He's back at full strength so Penn State will be better this season.  Last season's loss of  Frazier opened the door for the emergence of guard DJ Newbill who led the team in scoring.

Penn State is picked to finish 10th (out of 12) in the Big 10.  They have good guard play (both Frazier and Newbill average over 18 a game), but their front line is undersized and their bench is thin.  Pitt's guards should force Newbill and Frazier into awful shooting nights, and Pitt will win big.

Player to watch:  John Johnson transferred from Pitt last December.  He won't be eligible until January, but it is his return to the Zoo.  He'll be on the sidelines, thinking about what a terrible decision he made.

Prediction:  Pitt 85 Penn State 62

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Game 7: Introducing the Camburglar: Pitt 84 Duquesne 67

Duquesne took an early 3-2 lead and Pitt went on a run, and everyone in the building thought we were in for another blowout.  But the Dukes settled down and went on a run of their own to take the lead.  The first half was back and forth and featured a lot of missed jump shots from Pitt.  They still led by 4 at the half, easily the smallest margin so far this season.  Duquesne hit their first 3 shots (all 3's) of the 2nd half to take a 44-41 lead, but then Pitt seized control.  Duquesne didn't score for 6 minutes.  They never got to within 8 points as Pitt's depth was too much for them.  Duquesne only played with 9 scholarship players due to injuries.

The Camburglar -

Who is the Camburglar? (h/t to BGW)

Those in attendance at the Consol Energy Center this afternoon saw the birth of a new criminal mastermind.  The Camburglar dominated the court from the opening tip.  He found Zanna underneath for the game's first bucket.  On the next possession he scored on a floater.  Twenty-five seconds he scored on a 3 point play.  By the time the game was 3 minutes in, the Camburglar had 7 points, 2 assists, a block, a steal, and a rebound.  Duquesne coach Jim Ferry was stunned.

The Camburglar finished with 20 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and is in line to be the villain in the next Avengers movie.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

Lamar Patterson - If the Camburglar was the MVP of this game, Patterson was the runner-up.  He was all over the box score with 18 points 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals.  The rebounds, assists, and steals were all season highs.  He missed a few open jump shots, but still shot 50% for the game.  He's just so solid.

Grade:  A+

Talib Zanna - For the 3rd straight game, Zanna opened the scoring.  Duquesne forward Ovie Soko had his way with Zanna and Young.  They both fouled out and Soko attempted 20 free throws.  The good news for Pitt is that he only made 11 of them.  I worry about Pitt's interior defense.  Zanna isn't a center, but the Panthers don't have anyone else to protect the rim.  The good news is that the ACC isn't brimming with dominant big men.  He still managed 13 points.

Grade:  B-

Michael Young - Freshmen are going to have games like these.  There's nothing you can do about it.  Like Zanna, he was routinely beaten by Soko down low.  He missed all four of his shots and fouled out with 3 minutes left.

Grade:  D

James Robinson - Robinson had 9 assists.  He was also 0-6 from the field midway through the second half, and Duquesne had cut the lead to 62-54.  Durand found Robinson for a three.  Next possession Durand found Robinson in the corner for another jumper just inside the arc.  After a Duquesne miss, the roles switched and Robinson found Johnson for a lay-up in transition.  Pitt led 69-54 and it was over.

Grade:  A

Jamel Artis - He had 6 points and 4 rebounds, but nothing really stands out about his performance.

Grade:  B+

Durand Johnson - I can count three times in this game where Durand Johnson drove to the basket.  This makes me happy.  He only attempted three 3-pointers (made 1), and he had the two nice passes to Robinson in the second half.  I hope it's a sign of things to come.

Grade:  A-

Josh Newkirk - He made both of his two point attempts and missed both of his three point attempts.  That's all I remember.  He played 11 minutes.

Grade:  B

Chris Jones - He finished the scoring with a jumper in the final minute.

Grade:  B

Derrick Randall - The announcers said Randall was going to be a really good player.  I don't buy it.  He didn't attempt a shot and had 2 fouls in 6 minutes.  On the season Randall has committed 15 fouls in 69 minutes, or about a foul every 4 and a half minutes.  That is rivaling freshmen and sophomore year Gary McGhee.

Grade:  D

Pitt's next game is against Penn State on Tuesday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.  Figures that the one opportunity Pitt has to play a marquee non-conference game, they decide to give them Penn State.  Ugh.  Anyway, that game will be on ESPNU so like 8 of you will get to watch.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Meet the Freshmen Part 1: Michael Young

Yes, these freshmen have actually played 6 games for Pitt, but if you weren't at the games or you missed the 3 that were televised you have yet to see them in action.  Over the next few days, I'll be providing a little background information on each player.  Mike Young, who insists on being called Michael so that the Internet screws up and thinks I mean the baseball player, is up first.

Young is originally from McKeesport.  He played his freshman year at Shady Side Academy but then moved to New Jersey for better competition.  He had offers from UConn, Xavier, Memphis, NC State, West Virginia, and Florida (his other finalist).  Young was a top 100 prospect by every source (as high as #57 by ESPN).

I made the comment during the Savannah State that Young looked kind of small.  He could definitely add some muscle, but he's not as thin as I originally thought.  I blame my upper deck seats.

The most impressive missed dunk I've seen in a while

Pitt hasn't had a true power forward since Chevy Troutman graduated in 2005.  Since then we've tried Canadians (Levon Kendall & Khem Birch), undersized grit players (Nasir Robinson) and just sticking our best player there and hoping it works out (Sam Young, and it did).  Zanna is a power forward, but he's stuck at center for the time being, and he never had the potential Mike Young has.

2013-2014 Outlook:  Young is starting right now and should continue to do so for the rest of the season.

Projections: 5.4 ppg /4.3 rpg /49% fg%

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Duquesne Dukes

Pitt 6-0 (0-0 ACC) vs Duquesne 2-2 (0-0 Atlantic 10)

1:00 pm

Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, PA

It's the annual City Game.  Duquesne went 8-22 last season and lost 9 scholarship players.  Two graduated, six (six!) transferred, and one left to go play for the soccer team.  They even lost one of their walk-ons because of an internship conflict.  Here is a scholarship depth chart for Duquesne.  The players in gray are no longer with the team.

Yikes, and we thought Pitt had transfer problems.  Naturally, Duquesne is picked to finish last (13th) in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season.  Pitt should have no trouble with this team.  The game is being played at the Consol Energy Center for the 4th consecutive year, and it is Duquesne's year to be the "home team."  This is always entertaining because the Duquesne students routinely outdraw the Pitt students when the games are played downtown.  This makes sense because Duquesne is right next door to Consol.

The crowd expectations should be tempered a little bit because of the inopportune time the game is being played.  It's Thanksgiving weekend and many students are home with their families.  The City Game has been played on a Wednesday every year since 2005.  Moving it to Saturday makes it easier for non-students to attend the game.  I can imagine it can be quite the nuisance to have to drive home from working downtown at 5 pm only to return later that night for a game.  I did it in 2011 and it sucked.  You could also argue that the majority of Pitt and Duquesne students are from Pittsburgh and could conceivably go to the game still, but that's not fair to the non-Pittsburghers.  It makes no difference to me.  I'll be watching the game on my couch.

Pitt has won 12 in a row in the series and leads the all-time record 50-31.

Last meeting:  Pitt 66 Duquesne 45, December 5, 2012

What reader Ben (@BW628) said in the recap:  

"Best defensive effort of the season. Adams and Zanna were solid in the post protecting the rim but the story was the guards. They seemed to get a hand on everything, they had 9 steals but easily 10 more tips/deflections."

Glad to see that solid defense from the guards hasn't changed.

Player to watch:  Tra'Vaughn White led all JUCO players in scoring with 25.9 ppg last season.  The 5'10" guard is averaging 15.8 points so far this season while shooting an impressive 54% from the field.

Prediction:  Pitt 80 Duquesne 50

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.   

Game 6: Pitt 88 Stanford 67

This was a dominating performance from Pitt. Stanford has some NBA talent in big man Dwight Powell (2014 mock drafts have him going early second round ). Powell put up a 20 9 and 6 line and had a monster dunk in the first half, but he turned the ball over 5 times and missed a couple easy ones.  Stanford also had a guy shoot 4-4 from three.  That was about it from their offense.

Key stats:

Turnovers:  Pitt 5 Stanford 14

Free throws: Pitt 30-34 (88.2%)  Stanford 14-20 (70%)

Anytime you have a +9 turnover differential and make 10 more free throws than the opposition attempts, you're probably going to win.  Stanford played a 2-3 zone.  Pitt laughed at them.

Lamar Patterson - Patterson had a career high 23 points against Texas Tech.  He now has a new career high after dropping 24 on the Cardinal.  Lamar is unconscious from deep right now.  He had a nice recovery block when his man beat him early in the game.  Patterson looks like an All-ACC performer right now.  I'll say 2nd team because ACC will be deep this year.  He was obviously voted MVP of the Legends Classic.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

Cameron Wright - It was another typical Wright game.  After Stanford won the tip, Wright stole the ball, found Zanna for a dunk, then rebounded a Stanford miss on the other end.  Wright probably more than anyone else on this team is aware of what his strengths are.  He was efficient (6-9 from the field) and disruptive (3 steals).  He even made his only 3 attempt, which obviously made it into the 40 second ESPN.com highlight of the game because it was Cameron Wright hitting a three with a defender in his face.  That doesn't happen often.  He made the all tournament team with Patterson.

Grade:  A+

Talib Zanna - Zanna made 50% of his shots, which should be the minimum requirement for him.  Zanna has alternated good games and bad games all season.  Here are his scoring outputs from the first 5 games.

19

4

23

3

14

Zanna is really the only inside offensive presence Pitt has at the moment.  They'll need to get regular contributions from him because despite everyone saying this is Pitt's best shooting team in years, they'll have cold nights.  If Zanna puts up 4 points against Duke later in the year, Pitt will lose by double digits at least.  I'm not trying to take away from what Zanna did against the Cardinal, he was good.  He even made all four of his free throws.

Grade:  B+

Michael Young - Young's only highlight came early in the second half when he grabbed an offensive rebound surrounded by 3 Stanford players and scored on the put-back with a foul.  Then he made the free throw.

Grade:  B

James Robinson - If you break basketball down to its simplest form, it is about shooting an orange ball 9 inches in diameter at a hoop 18 inches in diameter 10 feet above the ground.  Sometimes it goes in, and sometimes it doesn't.  When James Robinson shoots, it usually doesn't go in (1-6 from the field).  I'll never understand it.  I'm not talking about missing a shot with a defender in your face.  I'm talking about being wide open with no defender within 5 feet and putting up a brick.  Robinson will learn to shoot eventually.  Right now, it's his only glaring weakness, but it's a big one.  In the first half, he got the ball in the left corner and nobody came out to challenge him.  Thankfully, he didn't shoot, but instead drove, found Cam Wright who made the extra pass to Zanna for the lay-in.  Robinson is still an excellent point guard.  He makes free throws (7-8) and takes care of the ball (5 assists vs 0 turnovers).  However, at some point in his career, Robinson will have to be a scorer for Pitt, probably starting next season after Patterson graduates.

Grade:  B+

Derrick Randall - 4 fouls in 9 minutes and didn't score.  He is awful.

Grade:  F

Durand Johnson - Durand is always going to shoot threes (2-5 in this one), but in this game he at least attempted to have a game inside the arc.  He had a nice offensive rebound and put-back late in the first half.  He was rebounding his own missed three, but it was great to see him not give up.  I'm always surprised players don't rebound their own shots more.  You of all people, know exactly where that shot is going.  He also made all of his free throws like everyone else seemed to do tonight.

Grade:  A-

Josh Newkirk - He missed all three of his shots and that was about it in his 10 minutes.

Grade:  C-

Chris Jones - He made his only shot and committed a foul in one minute of action.

Grade:  C

Jamel Artis - Artis has been very solid for the Panthers so far.  He shoots the ball well (54% fg, 78% ft) and takes care of the ball (only 4 turnovers in 6 games).  He made his only shot attempt (a 3-pointer) and both of his free throws.

Grade:  A

Joshua Ko, Mike Lecak - Ko missed a shot and Lecak committed a foul.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Pitt plays Duquesne on Saturday in the City Game at Consol.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Stanford Cardinal

Pitt 5-0 (0-0 ACC) vs Stanford Cardinal 5-1 (0-0 Pac-12)

9:30 pm

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

This is the final of the Legends classic.  Stanford took care of Houston 86-76 in the other semi-final.  Their only loss this season was a 112-103 track meet against BYU.  Stanford starts 3 seniors and 2 juniors so their experience will be a test for Pitt.  They were 19-15 last season and lost in the second round of the NIT.  They should be one of the better teams in the Pac-12 this season and are picked to finish fourth.

Player to watch:  Dwight Powell tested the NBA waters last summer, but opted to return for his senior season.  The Cardinal center is averaging 15 points a game so far in 2013.

Prediction:  Pitt 82 Stanford 74

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 5: Pitt 76 Texas Tech 53

In the first 5 minutes of this game, neither offense could get going.  Texas Tech turned the ball over 4 times, and Pitt lead early 4-2.  Pitt missed badly on a few three point attempts (looking at you, Mr. Robinson).  Then Patterson drove down the middle of the lane, scored, and was fouled.  The people calling the game mentioned how in past years that would probably have been a charge.  You can read more about them here.  Anyway, that basket seemed to breathe some life into this game, and both teams relaxed.  Unfortunately, a few minutes later, the geniuses at ESPN decided to break away from this game and show coverage of the Kentucky Cleveland State game because Kentucky was pooping themselves.  "Pitt Texas Tech can be seen on ESPN3."  ESPN3 is ESPN's online streaming service.  It's very useful if you don't have a TV, but I have a TV, so I was mad.  I also didn't want to go downstairs and turn the computer on so I could watch this game.  Eventually Kentucky hit a couple shots and pulled ahead comfortably by 7 with under 30 seconds to play, but they didn't switch back.  Come on man, Cleveland State isn't winning that game.  Even Cam Wright wanted them to switch back to the Pitt game and he's from Cleveland.  Maybe they thought this would happen.

After the under 12:00 timeout, Texas Tech hit a couple free throws to make the score 14-6.  Then Pitt stomped on their throat.  A 20-2 run featuring 4 three pointers (2 from Durand, 1 from Patterson, 1 from Newkirk) put the game out of reach.  They relaxed a little in the second half and Tech played them even (35-35).  A characteristic of last season's Pitt team was to let the cupcakes hang around for a half, and then pull away in the second because of a huge advantage in talent.  Yes, Pitt won by 23, but they could have very easily won by 35.  At times, Pitt struggled to score against cupcakes last season.  This year, it seems like they're putting together 20-2 first half runs at will.  Seriously, here are the halftime scores from the first 5 games.

40-13

35-18

48-24

47-23

41-13

Wow.  That's dominance.

Before I give out the grades, I would like to give a shout-out to Texas Tech point guard Luke Adams.  Adams is a 5'8" walk-on who played 2 minutes in the first half, grabbed one rebound and had one assist.  Then you look closely, and see two cochlear implants.  Adams has been deaf since birth.  

Lamar Patterson - Patterson has been dominating the first half all season.  He had another 14 in the first 20 minutes of this one as part of a game high 23.  He's shooting 11-19 from deep in the last three games.  He also added 4 assists and 5 steals.  Vintage Lamar.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

Cameron Wright - Wright rebounded from a sub-par shooting performance against Lehigh (1-6) to score 12 points on 4-6 shooting while also hitting 4-4 from the line.  Once again, Wright was disruptive on defense, recording another 4 steals.  He's averaging 2.6 a game so far.  His only two misses came on threes because God bless him, he wants to be a shooter.  Stick with what you're good at Cam.

Grade:  A

Talib Zanna - Zanna opened the scoring with a transition layup.  And then he was never heard from again.  Seriously, he only took one more shot and he missed it.  He even missed 3-4 free throws, and committed 4 fouls in 17 minutes.  Pitt doesn't exactly have what you would call depth at forward, so if Zanna ever gets in foul trouble, Pitt is screwed.

Grade:  D

James Robinson - Other than the customary brick of a three point attempt, this was a solid game from Robinson.  He had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.  His assist numbers are lower than what I expected.  If you take out the 11 he had against Lehigh, he only has 9 in the other four games.  You need to drop more dimes, James.

Robinson is 15-16 (94%) from the line this season however, which is exactly what you want from your point guard.

Grade:  B+

Michael Young:  He grabbed some rebounds and hit a jumper early in the second half.  Sticking with the topic of free throws, Young made all four of his attempts and is shooting 85% for the year.  Pitt hasn't had a big man who could hit free throws since the 8th grade picnic.  Come to think of it, during my 8th grade picnic, Aaron Gray was our center so bad free throw shooting from big men goes back farther than that.

Grade:  B

Jamel Artis - He rebounded a Durand 3 point miss and scored on a put-back.  That's about all I remember from him.  He had 4 points.

Grade: B-

Durand Johnson - Peewee loves the 3 ball.  He is a gunner.  His 6 shot attempts were all threes and he made 2 of them.  Simply put, he is fun to watch.

Grade:  B

Derrick Randall - The double double against Savannah State seems so far away.  We're finding out why Randall couldn't find minutes on a terrible Rutgers team.  He's a big man who fouls too much and can't score.  He was 0-3 with 2 fouls in 18 minutes in this one.

Grade:  D

Chris Jones - He had a career high 8 points on 3-4 shooting with a pair of threes.  The 3 fouls he had in 9 minutes illustrates a growing concern.  Pitt's bench commits a lot of fouls.  Some of that will go away when conference play begins and the starters play more, but the bench has to be able to give them foul-free minutes sometimes.

Grade: B

Josh Newkirk - He didn't turn the ball over.  Success.

Grade: B-

Aron Nwankwo, Joshua Ko, and Mike Lecak - They didn't score.

Well, that's enough about Texas Tech.  Pitt's playing Stanford in the finals in about 8 minutes.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Gameday: Pitt vs Texas Tech Red Raiders

Pitt 4-0 (0-0) vs Texas Tech 4-1 (0-0)

7:30 pm

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

This is the semi-final of the Legends classic.  Texas Tech will be the first major conference opponent for Pitt this season, but they're awful as well.  Their record says 4-1, but the lone loss was to Alabama by 12, and frankly Alabama's football team could probably beat their basketball team.  The Red Raiders went 11-19 overall last season (3-15 in the Big 12), but they beat west virginia on a last second put-back in the first round of the Big 12 tournament so I'm a fan.  Obviously I must take every available chance to rip on the hoopies so here is that play.

Billy Gillispie was coach of the Red Raiders, but he resigned before last season.  Billy Gillispie has a laundry list of problems.  Chris Walker served as the interim coach last season.  This year however, Texas Tech will be guided by Tubby Smith with Walker back in his role of associate head coach.  Smith coached Kentucky for a decade from 1997-2007 and even won the national championship in his first season.  Even if his biggest coaching success came from riding the coattails of Rick Pitino's Kentucky recruits, Smith is still an excellent coach in his own right.  He spent the last 6 seasons guiding the Minnesota Golden Gophers to five twenty-win seasons and 3 NCAA appearances.  Minnesota was 9-22 before Smith got there, and they went 20-14 in his first season.  Will Texas Tech make that kind of turnaround in Smith's first year?  No, but they'll be better.  They're picked to finish 9th out of 10 teams in the Big 12 this season.  Haha 10 teams in the  Big 12.  Silly college athletics.

Player to watch:  Eddie Morales is the player to watch.

Somebody's trolling at ESPN.  Eddie Morales is a back-up dancer.  The real player to watch is forward Jordan Tolbert who is their leading scorer and rebounder.

Prediction:  Pitt 84 Texas Tech 64

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.

Game 4: Pitt 77 Lehigh 58

I didn't watch this game as I was busy dominating Team Trivia at Mario's in South Side on Wednesday night.

Zanna had a career high 23 points on 9-10 shooting and 14 rebounds. Patterson had 17 points. Robinson had a career high 11 assists and 0 turnovers, and Durand Johnson buried 5 threes for his 15 points. That's basically all you need to know from this game. Lehigh was playing their fourth road game in 12 days, so they could have been tired.  You could give them a week of rest and they still wouldn't have threatened. CJ McCollum was their entire team for four years. He's now in the NBA.

Pitt plays Texas Tech on Monday night.

Hail to Pitt,
J.O.

Game 3: Pitt 84 Howard 52

Okay, I've been pretty busy the past week so I'm a little behind on these recaps.  Yes, I realize that Pitt has already played and won another game, but we have to talk about Howard first.

Pitt shot 81% (17-21) in the first half and these were my seats.

That broke the school record set on January 9, 1980 against George Washington when the Panthers shot 80.8% (21-26) in the first half.  I think we all remember that game.  Pitt went 17-12 that season and lost to Duquesne in the first round of the NIT.  That Duquesne team was coached by Mike Rice, Sr., father of Mike Rice, Jr. who has known anger issues.  The elder Rice is now a color commentator for the Portland Trail Blazers and is still the only television broadcaster to be kicked out of an NBA game.  That family must be a ton of fun on Thanksgiving.

This was the 5th meeting between the two teams with Pitt winning all four meetings.  Pitt raced out to an 18-1 lead in the first 8 minutes as Howard was completely overwhelmed.  During one 40 second sequence, Patterson grabbed a defensive rebound, drilled a 3, stole the ball and dunked it.  With 2:30 left in the first half the score read:

Howard 17

Lamar Patterson 16

In the second half, I upgraded my seats due to absolutely no one in the Pittsburgh area wanting to come see this game.

Pitt shot 12-29 (41%) in the second half so obviously I am terrible luck and should stay up in peanut heaven where I belong.  Let's give some grades.

Lamar Patterson - Patterson was absolutely dominant in the first half.  In addition to the sequence I mentioned above he also found Young with a nice look for a dunk early in the game.  His final line was 20 pt 5 rebounds 4 assists to go along with a 4-5 night from long range.

Grade:  A+ (MVP)

Cameron Wright - Wright had an efficient night.  He was 3-5 from the field for 9 points with 0 turnovers.  He also ran the point late in the first half with Patterson, Artis, Randall and Johnson on the court.  In the first half some Howard player burned Wright with an up an under move, and I'm fairly certain Wright still has no idea where that player went.  However, in typical Howard fashion, the player missed anyway.

Grade:  A-

Michael Young - Young did not miss a shot.  He was 4-4  from the field (including his first career 3) and also 2-2 from the line to finish with 11 points.  He had an uncharacteristically low 2 rebounds but anytime a player doesn't miss a shot, there's only one grade he can receive.

Grade:  A

James Robinson - In the first half, Robinson had a wide open three and missed badly.  I put down in my notes on my iPod "Robinson wide open 3, can't shoot."  Obviously next possession Robinson buried a three from the wing and pointed up at me.  The second part might not have happened.  Robinson's going through the motions right now.  I can't wait to see what the kid is going to do when ACC play starts.  Last year he fell off the face of the earth in conference play.  He had 8 points and 4 assists in this one.

Grade:  B+

Talib Zanna - After his double-double against Fresno State (19 and 10) Zanna was invisible in this one.  He only shot 1-3 for four points.  One of those misses was a three pointer, which was his first 3 attempt since a 2010 game against North Florida.  There's a reason you don't shoot threes Talib.

Grade:  C+

Jamel Artis - I am coming around on Artis.  He'll be a good player.  He was very jittery in the opener, but he's since settled down.  He had 8 points in this one and had a very nice pass to Johnson for an and one.  Johnson missed the free throw, though.

Grade:  A-

Durand Johnson - He had 8 points and 3 rebounds, but frankly I don't remember anything else he did other than not completing the and one.

Grade: B+

Derrick Randall - He missed his only shot attempt and committed four fouls in 21 minutes.  He did have 7 rebounds, but it was not a good effort.

Grade:  C-

Josh Newkirk - He did make 2-3 shots, but he turned the ball over 5 times in 12 minutes.  He also found time to commit 3 fouls.  He was awful tonight, but we'll chalk this one up to freshmen growing pains.

Grade:  D

Chris Jones - He had 7 points (aided by 5-5 ft) and 4 rebounds in what was easily his best game as a Panther.

Grade: A

Aron Nwankwo, Mike Lecak, Joshua Ko - Nwankwo even played a minute in the first half and scored 5 points.  Lecak and Ko played in the final seconds and Ko missed a shot attempt.

Grade: A+ because Nwankwo buried a second half three and it was amusing.

Pitt will play already beat Lehigh on Wednesday night.

Hail to Pitt,

J.O.