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.