Monday, February 18th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Is Pitt falling out of the top 25 actually a surprise?
Pitt fell out of the top 25 for the first time since the 2005-06 season on Monday, but anyone who is actually surprised by this needs to review Pitt’s inconsistency over the last ten or so games. Since losing Levance Fields to injury, Pitt has managed to sort of battle their way through the rough Big East schedule, winning some and losing some, but seeming to become better as a team. Then, on Friday, Fields came back against Marquette and was clearly unprepared for game action.
Voters had been voting for a Pitt with Fields, assuming that with the Xaverian product would have helped Pitt bump over Villanova and Cincinnati, if not Rutgers and UConn. With Fields’ veteran floor leadership as well as his skill level on the floor, it was easy to see Pitt as a legitimate team as Sam Young and DeJuan Blair were stepping up against teams such as Georgetown and Villanova (at home).
But the game Friday night changed everything as, on a national scale, Pitt just looked outmatched against a talented but streaky Marquette team. Fields’ playing had no effect, either, as he just looked like he was not ready for game action, while DeJuan Blair was outmatched in the paint and Pitt’s normally strong defense was demolished by Marquette’s athletic backcourt.
The Panthers just have not looked that great lately, with the team’s performance hinging on which DeJuan Blair shows up, the one that dominates or the one that fouls out. Instead of having the typical team mentality, which used to constantly be present, Pitt has the team mentality when it wins, but reverts to a me-first attitude when it falls behind.
Pitt undeniably has the talent to make a deep run into the tournament, but they need to start playing Pitt basketball all the time again instead of relying on Blair and Sam Young, who represent the first legitimate star players of the Howland/Dixon era (and Chris Taft does not count because he actually wasn’t that good).
Maybe the Panthers will use this drop as motivation and return to the focused, intense style of play on both offense and defense that became their trademark over the years instead of the porous effort evident against Rutgers and Marquette.
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