Thursday, March 13th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Pitt wins and WVU gets arested
The margin of error in the Big East gained another point in its favor on Thursday as unranked Pitt defeated #13 Louisville to advance to the semifinals of the Big East tournament in a tightly contested matchup between two similarly streaky teams.
Pitt and Louisville have almost identical records this season, but one team is ranked and the other is not. Louisville started slow and then heated up; Pitt started fast and then cooled down. In March, however, it is all about who is hot at the right time and Pitt looks as if it could be heating up.
The Panthers were dominant at times, reeling off a lengthy run in the second half and one to start the overtime en route to winning a game that was never really in doubt, as DeJuan Blair avoided foul trouble, Sam Fields looked more athletic than anyone else on the floor and Levance Fields’ ball-handling was up to par.
The play of the game was definitely Gilbert Brown’s block in the second half. I forget exactly which Louisville player it was, but the Cardinals stole the ball and appeared as if they had a fast break to any easy basket until Brown came out of nowhere to leap from behind whoever was taking the shot and cleanly reject it into the stands. The play was an example of why Jamie Dixon trusts Brown more and more as the season goes on as the redshirt freshman appears to be the second most athletic player on the team, only trailing Sam Young.
Young was one of four Panthers to reach double digits in scoring, as Blair, Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields all scored at least 13. Despite all of the positives from this game, however, it will be difficult for Pitt to win Friday night, as they will either be facing Marquette or Notre Dame, both of whom had an easy time with Pitt the last time that they played.
On top of that, Pitt has to be extremely exhausted from playing two games in two nights. Notre Dame’s first game is Marquette, but the Golden Eagles had to play two games in two nights as well. A game against Notre Dame would be Pitt playing against fresher legs while a game against Marquette would be a war of attrition. Pitt’s chances don’t look so great.
Note: Four West Virginia Mountaineer football players plead no contest to charges of battery, including cornerback Brantwon Bowser (he could totally be a Super Smash Bros. character), running back/receiver Jockee Sanders (that can’t be his real first name), defensive back Eain Smith (Eain? really?) and the headliner of the group-RB Noel Devine, the gem of last year’s recruiting class. This is a great start to the Bill Stewart era in Morgantown.
Leave a Reply