College Hoops 2/22-2/28

[Ballislyfe]

Pitt looked like the better team early on. But let their 48-40 lead slip. Once the score was 61-58 in louisvilles favor,Louisville got hot and  they made 9 straight while Pitt couldn't buy a bucket and went 1 of 6 to close. They only lost by 7. But it felt like a game that should've been own by Pitt!! What is that now? 8 or 9 straight loses to Louisville???

[Crimson's Ghost]

Pitt lived off of New York/New Jersey and Philly for years, and that pipeline has closed up with coaching changes. They are starting to grab some DC/Baltimore guys, which is a nice compromise, but the ACC is just a different style they are still working to adapt too.

You need 1-2 future NBA guys to succeed in this league. Pitt had tons of success in the Big East with tough, chip-on-the-shoulder kids. That just doesn't work the same way in the ACC.

Dixon and company will need to adapt.

[konjo78]

The big problem for pitt is i feel Basketball has hardcore shifted from that old fashion big east style. 3 point line has become so impactful its ruining the game at all levels.

[El-Moldo]

I see Pitt was 4-18 last night from 3-point land. Guess THAT was Dixon's fault. Goes back to the talent issue.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Pitt got a lot of good looks last night, but Young going 0-4 from the foul line and 4-18 combined behind the arc did them in.

I thought Pitt had an appropriate game plan and played with a good amount of effort, they just came up short.

[konjo78]

who recruits the talent moldo.....

[El-Moldo]

Does EVERY recruit pan out as expected? So now we got to hear about how bad Dixon recruits.

[konjo78]

Moldo im just saying you cant blame talent at the college level without also putting some blame on the coach. They are choosing to recruit and bring these guys in.

If you are a manager of a company that sells a product and you hire all the employees, if sales numbers arent good from your staff you will be help responsible at some level for bringing those employees in.

[El-Moldo]

But in sports, where you are dealing with physicality, it is NOT always the coach's fault. Is it the manager's fault when a player strikes out with the bases loaded? Is it a coaches fault when the QB overthrows that easy pass? Is it the coach's fault when a player misses two free throws in a row? Of course not. So why blame him?

[abpk2903]

Moldo, with that logic there shouldn't ever be a coaching change in sports. Just always blame the players. 

At the end of the day, there is 1 person that answers to how a program is performing in college basketball and that is the head coach. Part of good coaching is realizing the team doesn't have a hot hand from behind the arch and altering the game plan to find a new way to stay in the game. Part of good coaching is knowing what to look for in a 16 year old, begin recruiting them, and then ultimately figuring out how to get the most out of their abilities. If the players are performing badly either A) the coach isn't identifying talent well or B) the coach isn't developing talent well.

I'm not a Pitt basketball fan but I wouldn't mind seeing them do well. As someone who doesn't really care about their program, I can tell you that it seems to have slipped back into a mediocre program that struggle to play with the top half of its conference.

How I notice that Pitt isn't where it used to be is that I have only seen them 2 times all year on TV. Now they may have been on more but I don't really go looking for them but I used to see them play on national tv 10-12 times a year.  They are playing a lot of games against good ACC opponents and seem to always be showing highlights from the ACC Network. That isn't gonna get recruits knocking at your door.

I kinda agree with Konjo (there is a 1st for everything), Dixon has about 14 months to right this ship or he may be finding a new job.