Solid Win

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Jason94
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Solid Win

Post by Jason94 »

While Pitt isn't the greatest team and will finish in the bottom division of the ACC, it was a road game against a power 5 conference team minus two players who should be significant contributors when they are able to return (trying to be positive on that front). Trey Thomas' shot finally fell, but outside of that I will say that it was a well-rounded team effort where no one played spectacularly, but more importantly, everyone played well in most facets of the game. Everyone who played more than 10 minutes scored, and 6 players scored at least 8 points. We outshot them from inside and outside the arc, tied them in rebounding, had more assists and fewer turnovers and only really didn't get to the line as often, but that is something that Pitt has been doing all season.

This is honestly what we have been wanting to see after the past three seasons of horribleness. A little bit of balance and depth. There was a little bit of reversion to the mean of our three point shooting, which has been surprisingly bad in the first 3 games, but rebounded tonight. I don't believe we are that bad a three point shooting team, and while I don't think this will be a repeat of the 2008 team, I think they should be able to shoot 35% from beyond the arc and not 30%.

After the MVST game we will have three consecutive tough games that should provide us a good barometer of where this team is heading into conference play. So far we have only played one really bad game, but we have been favored in every game this season as the schedule has not yet been challenging and certainly well below what we will see in conference play. The good news is that the defense is significantly improved over the first two CJS seasons while the slight backsliding of the offense to this point is almost solely related to the poor three pt shooting. That is to say that there has been tangible improvement from last season, but it is difficult to say how much that will translate into conference wins as we haven't yet played a game at full strength.


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Re: Solid Win

Post by MrMemorial »

Even though it doesn't excuse what happened vs VCU, they did win at Syracuse by 12 tonight.

Interesting about that... VCU held the entire Syracuse bench to zero total points.
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Re: Solid Win

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MrMemorial wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:07 pm Even though it doesn't excuse what happened vs VCU, they did win at Syracuse by 12 tonight.

Interesting about that... VCU held the entire Syracuse bench to zero total points.
Syracuse seems to be headed to a difficult season - they lost to VCU by 12 and the previous game lost to Colgate. At home. By 15. Giving up 100 points as well. And this Colgate team already has losses to both Harvard and Cornell. VCU is no pushover, but scoring 37 points is inexcusable, even with a somewhat depleted lineup. Even UTC and Wagner managed to be VCU, both at VCU. Our best hope is that VCU can turn itself into a quality loss, but at the moment they are the 5th or 6th best team in the A-10, a conference that will struggle to get more than 2 teams into the tournament.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by charlestonalum »

I listen to radio on cell phone using GameDay app. It works anywhere you have cell service. Not like WLAC or WSM, but you can get it wherever your phone works: baseball, football and both gender basketball - all on your phone. It is a new age, but we can adapt.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by bernstml19 »

The ranked stallings teams always had 1-2 stinkers in the Non conference that were like...huh?

It matters how the team performs over the course of the season.i am seeing a lot to like with CJS. And his comments around the core of the team being QMB, Pippen and Wright and pushing players who disrupt the culture out of the way, seeing Wright be motivated to be a legit Sec baller, it's suggesting that CJS is potentially a great coach
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Re: Solid Win

Post by alathIN »

bernstml19 wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:50 am The ranked stallings teams always had 1-2 stinkers in the Non conference that were like...huh?

It matters how the team performs over the course of the season.i am seeing a lot to like with CJS. And his comments around the core of the team being QMB, Pippen and Wright and pushing players who disrupt the culture out of the way, seeing Wright be motivated to be a legit Sec baller, it's suggesting that CJS is potentially a great coach
Add in the recruiting progress and I don't think it requires gold-tinted delusional thinking to feel optimistic about the trend of the program.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by bernstml19 »

alathIN wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:55 am
bernstml19 wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:50 am The ranked stallings teams always had 1-2 stinkers in the Non conference that were like...huh?

It matters how the team performs over the course of the season.i am seeing a lot to like with CJS. And his comments around the core of the team being QMB, Pippen and Wright and pushing players who disrupt the culture out of the way, seeing Wright be motivated to be a legit Sec baller, it's suggesting that CJS is potentially a great coach
Add in the recruiting progress and I don't think it requires gold-tinted delusional thinking to feel optimistic about the trend of the program.
Absolutely right I forgot we had some legit top 100 or better talent coming in next year.

And I know I will be roasted for this but you said gold-tinted glasses...Thomas is going to be Steph curry. Book it.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by Jason94 »

bernstml19 wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:50 am The ranked stallings teams always had 1-2 stinkers in the Non conference that were like...huh?

It matters how the team performs over the course of the season.i am seeing a lot to like with CJS. And his comments around the core of the team being QMB, Pippen and Wright and pushing players who disrupt the culture out of the way, seeing Wright be motivated to be a legit Sec baller, it's suggesting that CJS is potentially a great coach
Agreed, but there wasn't anyone who wasn't driven mad by a loss to Furman or Indiana St, mainly because we should have beaten those teams easily. This year we don't really know how well we'll play against really good teams, and VCU is the best team we've played so far.

My main concern with CJS is related to overall roster management - not to say that he won't be able to do the job in that area, but it isn't proven and the landscape is certainly more risky than it has ever been. He absolutely needs more continuity of depth and hadn't been able to maintain it during his first three seasons. I think he has shown that he can develop players and put together a decent game plan, but we've been so bad over the past few seasons that we don't know how we will perform against good teams with an actual roster. It doesn't matter how good a developer of talent he is if he is starting with having to replace most of his scoring every season.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by Gambit »

VCU is down by 2 at #6 Baylor at the half. They might be inconsistent, but clearly they can hang with top programs.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by mathguy »

bernstml19 wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:59 am
And I know I will be roasted for this but you said gold-tinted glasses...Thomas is going to be Steph curry. Book it.
Honestly, if he turns out to be Seth Curry, I'll be more than thrilled.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by Jason94 »

mathguy wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:30 pm
bernstml19 wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:59 am
And I know I will be roasted for this but you said gold-tinted glasses...Thomas is going to be Steph curry. Book it.
Honestly, if he turns out to be Seth Curry, I'll be more than thrilled.
I'll be quite happy if he turned out to be John Jenkins. Heck, I'd be happy with another version of Dan Cage.

Trey Thomas is a really good shooter, but bern, those are the goldest tinted glasses I've ever seen. You are comparing him to the greatest shooter of all time 5 games into Trey's sophomore season. If at any point during Trey's career he comes close to matching John Jenkins' freshmen season, he will have far exceeded any expectations I have of him.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by commadore »

MrMemorial wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:07 pm Even though it doesn't excuse what happened vs VCU, they did win at Syracuse by 12 tonight.

Interesting about that... VCU held the entire Syracuse bench to zero total points.
And lost 68-62 to #6 Baylor tonight.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by MrMemorial »

Jason94 wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:15 pm
MrMemorial wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:07 pm Even though it doesn't excuse what happened vs VCU, they did win at Syracuse by 12 tonight.

Interesting about that... VCU held the entire Syracuse bench to zero total points.
Syracuse seems to be headed to a difficult season - they lost to VCU by 12 and the previous game lost to Colgate. At home. By 15. Giving up 100 points as well. And this Colgate team already has losses to both Harvard and Cornell. VCU is no pushover, but scoring 37 points is inexcusable, even with a somewhat depleted lineup. Even UTC and Wagner managed to be VCU, both at VCU. Our best hope is that VCU can turn itself into a quality loss, but at the moment they are the 5th or 6th best team in the A-10, a conference that will struggle to get more than 2 teams into the tournament.
ut-C and Wagner are a combined 7-0. (Wagner seems to have some covid cancellations, not sure the details)

I keep harping on how the mid-majors are closing the talent gap. Iona did beat Alabama the other day. Every time you look at the scores, there's a mid that beat a "name brand" team this time of the year. Here's a tip on a mid guy to watch in the next few year: A.J. Clayton at Ohio. I think he's 17 years old (reclassified to skip his last high school year). Listed at 6-7 but looks 6-9 already (probably still growing) and shoots 3's fearlessly. He will (barring injury) be a stretch-four the NBA scouts will drool over in a couple of years.
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Re: Solid Win

Post by MrMemorial »

MrMemorial wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:46 am
Jason94 wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:15 pm
MrMemorial wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:07 pm Even though it doesn't excuse what happened vs VCU, they did win at Syracuse by 12 tonight.

Interesting about that... VCU held the entire Syracuse bench to zero total points.
Syracuse seems to be headed to a difficult season - they lost to VCU by 12 and the previous game lost to Colgate. At home. By 15. Giving up 100 points as well. And this Colgate team already has losses to both Harvard and Cornell. VCU is no pushover, but scoring 37 points is inexcusable, even with a somewhat depleted lineup. Even UTC and Wagner managed to be VCU, both at VCU. Our best hope is that VCU can turn itself into a quality loss, but at the moment they are the 5th or 6th best team in the A-10, a conference that will struggle to get more than 2 teams into the tournament.
ut-C and Wagner are a combined 7-0. (Wagner seems to have some covid cancellations, not sure the details)

I keep harping on how the mid-majors are closing the talent gap. Iona did beat Alabama the other day. Every time you look at the scores, there's a mid that beat a "name brand" team this time of the year. Here's a tip on a mid guy to watch in the next few year: A.J. Clayton at Ohio. I think he's 17 years old (reclassified to skip his last high school year). Listed at 6-7 but looks 6-9 already (probably still growing) and shoots 3's fearlessly. He will (barring injury) be a stretch-four the NBA scouts will drool over in a couple of years.
Dayton just shocked #4 Kansas, VCU leading #22 UConn late in the game...
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Re: Solid Win

Post by commadore »

MrMemorial wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 2:34 pm
MrMemorial wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:46 am
Jason94 wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:15 pm

Syracuse seems to be headed to a difficult season - they lost to VCU by 12 and the previous game lost to Colgate. At home. By 15. Giving up 100 points as well. And this Colgate team already has losses to both Harvard and Cornell. VCU is no pushover, but scoring 37 points is inexcusable, even with a somewhat depleted lineup. Even UTC and Wagner managed to be VCU, both at VCU. Our best hope is that VCU can turn itself into a quality loss, but at the moment they are the 5th or 6th best team in the A-10, a conference that will struggle to get more than 2 teams into the tournament.
ut-C and Wagner are a combined 7-0. (Wagner seems to have some covid cancellations, not sure the details)

I keep harping on how the mid-majors are closing the talent gap. Iona did beat Alabama the other day. Every time you look at the scores, there's a mid that beat a "name brand" team this time of the year. Here's a tip on a mid guy to watch in the next few year: A.J. Clayton at Ohio. I think he's 17 years old (reclassified to skip his last high school year). Listed at 6-7 but looks 6-9 already (probably still growing) and shoots 3's fearlessly. He will (barring injury) be a stretch-four the NBA scouts will drool over in a couple of years.
Dayton just shocked #4 Kansas, VCU leading #22 UConn late in the game...
UConn won in OT. VCU may end up not being a bad loss.
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