Be Like Tike

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 by Adam Wagner

Pitt falls, blame everyone

If someone had told me last week that West Virginia would make it further into the NCAA tournament than Pitt, I probably would have laughed in their face. That is, however, the reality facing the Panthers tonight as they return home after a 65-54 beating at the hands of Michigan State in a game that was never really in doubt. The issues were everywhere for Pitt, from the 32.7% field goal percentage to the ineffective defense to the team just being outrebounded.

The issues in this game really boiled down to Pitt failing all over the floor. There were instances in the second half, when Pitt desperately needed a three pointer, that a shot would go up, the rebound would bounce off of the hoop and there would not be a Panther in the paint, as all five players would be around the perimeter. Sorry, that just doesn’t work.

Also, Michigan State guard Drew Neitzel shot lights out, hitting threes that many others would have found virtually impossible. He was just dominant from long distance. Neitzel’s attitude, however, annoyed me. There were points where Neitzel would feel that a call should go in MSU’s favor and, as such, would just walk down the floor pointing at MSU’s end of the court. By the end of the game, Neitzel’s attitude seriously began to bother me and I kind of hoped that someone, anyone on Pitt would have the attitude to foul him hard.

Back to the play of the Panthers, however, as the team, outside of Levance Fields, never seemed to find its comfort level tonight. Fields played another inspired game, constantly driving and throwing up shots. The only possible criticism of the Xaverian product is that he may have been a little too aggressive with the ball at times, constantly shooting first instead of looking for open teammates. Unfortunately, he was the best player on the floor for Pitt.

Jamie Dixon only went with seven players tonight, playing Fields, Dejuan Blair, Sam Young, Gilbert Brown, Tyrell Biggs, Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon. This showed a painful lack of depth for this season’s Panthers, as the team failed to function as one unit in this game, instead seeming worn out. Going through the lineup, the team looked something like this:

Blair had a strong line statistically, but that really did not seem evident on the floor. The Schenley product wracked up 10 points, but went 4-for-11 from the field in doing so. He also had seven rebounds, but there were the moments mentioned above where the Panthers would shoot the ball and there would be nobody in the paint, including Blair, who would be on the perimeter just like all of his teammates. In order for the Panthers to be successful, they really needed Blair to become an imposing inside presence, something that he clearly is not ready to be. Blair will clearly be a Panther next season, as his poor performance over the latter part of this season (except for against Georgetown) clearly showed that he is not NBA-ready. He will continue to improve.
Young played a decent game, but didn’t have one of the dominant performances that he had been able to provide in the past when the Panthers were in trouble. When Young’s pump-fake isn’t working, he panics and doesn’t quite know what to do. There have been times in the tournament where he would stop, pump and then have no idea what to do, driving in on completely set defenders. Young had a good game (15 points) against Michigan State, but the Panthers really could have used some more from him, such as more than one rebound.
Brown was frustrating tonight, as the player who showed the most improvement over the course of the season seemed hesitant tonight, not taking open shots when he had them and not being as aggressive as he had been in the past month or so. He was not the spark plug off of the bench tonight that he had been over the Panthers’ recent run.
Biggs just looked bad, to the point that everyone I was watching the game with would just groan whenever he touched the ball.
Benjamin was a complete nonfactor in this game, unfortunately seeming passive with the ball and not taking the risky shots that he had in the past. Like Brown, Benjamin had the power to energize the Panthers this season. And, like Brown, Benjamin’s presence wasn’t really evident in this game.
Ramon was the most disappointing player tonight and much of the year, however, as he never proved to be the match for Neitzel that the Panthers needed him to be, instead looking clueless at times. This has unfortunately been a pattern throughout much of the season, as Ramon played 256 more minutes this season than last season and made three more shots. His percentages also dropped from .464% in the field last season to .398% this season. Some of that may have come from his having to play the point guard position for much of the season, but Ramon needed to be a shooter for this team and just wasn’t, letting the team down tonight and for much of the season.

To be fair to Pitt, this season was supposed to be a rebuilding year, with next year being the team’s pinnacle. By winning the Big East tournament, beating Duke and playing very good basketball at times the Panthers surprised everyone, maybe even themselves, demonstrating that they truly were a talented team.

With the losses of Ramon, Benjamin and (unless he can through some miracle receive a sixth year of eligibility) Mike Cook, Pitt will lose a fair amount of veteran experience and some shooting ability next season. Fields, Young and Blair will still be around, however, providing the veteran leadership and skill that any college team needs to advance deep into March, particularly if it will be as young as the Panthers could be next season.

With five recruits coming in as well as the continued development of 0Bradley Wanamaker and Gary McGhee, Pitt will certainly have a young team next season, but it could also be a very good and a very interesting team.

Hopefully they can reach some of the same heights that this year’s Panthers did.

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