MBB: Syracuse 58, Pittsburgh 56

[BlueDevilBrowns]

Sadly it is not luck. Ennis has done this time after time. If Ennis gets hurt or fouls out- then their luck will run out.

Hitting a near-halfcourt shot at the buzzer requires as much luck as it does skill, otherwise we would see it happen much more often.

I certainly respect Syracuse. But they have caught some lucky breaks this year.

[FerryFor50]

And after beating Mich St you had UNC as a likely FF team and better than Duke. (Which in college hoops, upsets happen weekly and UNC certainly is capable of upsetting Duke, but they are not the better team by a long stretch).

Syracuse is good but tonight showed again, that they are beatable. Were it not for a brain dead Pitt coach, they would have lost tonight. Duke could have easily won the first matchup. If Rasheed makes the free throw on the potential 4 point play, his 3 at the buzzer wins it instead of tying it.

Miami took Syracuse to the wire twice and they are flatout terrible talent wise.

And lazy (or tired) defense/offense by Pitt.

[FerryFor50]

I certainly respect Syracuse. But they have caught some lucky breaks this year.

Like not getting called for an obvious foul on a dunk? Getting Duke's top 3 players to foul out? While no one on your team fouls out? Your foul prone center getting the benefit of the doubt on two flops?

Need I go on?

[Atlanta Duke]

Sadly it is not luck. Ennis has done this time after time. If Ennis gets hurt or fouls out- then their luck will run out.

Look on the bright side - if Ennis continues to play like this Duke will not need to deal with him after this season since he will be one and done

[BlueDevilBrowns]

Like not getting called for an obvious foul on a dunk? Getting Duke's top 3 players to foul out? While no one on your team fouls out? Your foul prone center getting the benefit of the doubt on two flops?

Need I go on?

You read my mind. Amazing!

[roywhite]

And lazy (or tired) defense/offense by Pitt.

Agreed; there was the play with C.J. Fair hitting the 3 from the corner and Patterson failed to get out on him...just kind of ambled over. And numerous times in the second half where Pitt stopped attacking, and ran the shot clock down too far before getting into a shot attempt. In one sense, Pitt looked comfortable playing against the Syracuse zone, and they gained the lead. But didn't have it down the stretch, and their coach didn't have it, either.

Syracuse is beatable and I think Duke is the team to do it, if it doesn't happen before then.

[FerryFor50]

Agreed; there was the play with C.J. Fair hitting the 3 from the corner and Patterson failed to get out on him...just kind of ambled over. And numerous times in the second half where Pitt stopped attacking, and ran the shot clock down too far before getting into a shot attempt. In one sense, Pitt looked comfortable playing against the Syracuse zone, and they gained the lead. But didn't have it down the stretch, and their coach didn't have it, either.

Syracuse is beatable and I think Duke is the team to do it, if it doesn't happen before then.

Yep. That Patterson play looked like the infamous "last game" of pickup ball. You know, the one where the last game should have been the previous game?

They also got a little unlucky on the last sequence where they had some offensive rebound tips that didn't drop.

[roywhite]

Boeheim had to be pleased when Jamie Dixon called that last time out. Worst decision by a coach since...Roy rented a house to Will Graves?


**stole that line from a poster on TDD. just what was Dixon thinking?

[Henderson]

Boeheim had to be pleased when Jamie Dixon called that last time out. Worst decision by a coach since...Roy rented a house to Will Graves?


**stole that line from a poster on TDD. just what was Dixon thinking?

Dixon needs to go the way of his long-time mentor, Ben Howland.

[DevilYouthCoach]

Did anyone notice the incredible non-handshake from Jamie Dixon to the Syracuse coach at the end of the game? Does he have any idea how to make eye contact? He did the same thing to Coach K, I think. I don't believe I have never seen a poorer sport than Dixon. I was prepared to like Pitt being in the ACC -- I love James Robinson, he's my son's Facebook friend -- but Dixon seems to be truly obnoxious and it feels creepy just to watch him.

[ice-9]

But the 'Cuse's luck must run out at some point, right?

The game they are most likely to lose -- against us in Cameron -- became a lot easier now that we have the UNC away game a mere two days before we play Syracuse after today's postponement.

It appears luck is wearing Orange this season.

[ncexnyc]

Sorry, but good teams make their own luck. I find the whining on this board very annoying and more suited to IC.

I thought we were over the, "Hood got fouled" garbage from a few weeks ago, but it seems some of you can't accept a done deal. Grow up and move on.

[SirBlueDevil]

Good Morning Blue Nation!

I don't profess to be a svengali when it comes to coaching college ball on any level but even i wouldn't have called a time out after my team took the lead and left 4 seconds on the clock knowing the other team had used up all of theirs!

Albeit honorable for coach Dixon to yet again take full responsibility for a tough loss as he had to do against our blue devil match up, i'm pretty sure the fans and students of Pitt would much rather he learn quickly from game costing mistakes rather than continue to take responsibility for bad coaching at crucial times!

Looks as though it'll be up to our blue devils to give the orangemen their first taste of reality within the perks of riding a natural high!

[dukelifer]

Look on the bright side - if Ennis continues to play like this Duke will not need to deal with him after this season since he will be one and done

Not athletic enough. He is a great college guard but not sure how his game will translate.

[mpj96]

Not athletic enough. He is a great college guard but not sure how his game will translate.

He sure seems like a lock to me. And one cool customer. Pitt had them down at the end of the game and he was smiling.

[tbyers11]

Sorry, but good teams make their own luck. I find the whining on this board very annoying and more suited to IC.

I thought we were over the, "Hood got fouled" garbage from a few weeks ago, but it seems some of you can't accept a done deal. Grow up and move on.

Good teams do make their own luck and Syracuse is a very good team. However, if you keep playing one possession games that come down to the final seconds or let inferior teams hang around until the last few minutes (vs Miami, twice) you introduce a high degree of randomness that can affect the outcomes of games. If you keep winning those, IMO, you are a bit lucky. No matter how good Tyler Ennis is there is a large degree of luck in hitting a pull up 35 footer with a guy in your face. It's not a high percentage shot.

I think there is a large degree of luck involved in Syracuse still remaining unbeaten. 1) Their hardest conference games were all back loaded on the schedule. 2) They got 3 or 4 questionable calls at the end of regulation/OT all their favor against Duke. Ref whistles have a big degree of luck. (To address the bad calls throughout the game even out those at the end of the game mantra. Yes, they sort of do, but you have a lot more game time to overcome the effects of a questionable call with 5 min left in the 1st half than one with 12 seconds left in the game). 3) Ennis' shot was lucky. You give him that scenario over and over again and I bet he hits 2 or 3 out of 10.

Syracuse has played very well so far but still has had several things fall in their favor to still be unbeaten.

[devildeac]

Pitt had a similar last 2 minutes against them at the Dome. IIRC, they led by 3 with about 1:30 or 2:00 to go and ended up getting outscored 10-2 down the stretch and losing 59-54. Last night, they were outscored 7-0 in about 80 seconds near the end of the game, turning a 54-48 lead into a 54-55 deficit after Ennis hit 2 FT after a drive.

[dukelifer]

He sure seems like a lock to me. And one cool customer. Pitt had them down at the end of the game and he was smiling.

I am not sure about his shooting. The NBA is a very different game.

[roywhite]

Pitt had a similar last 2 minutes against them at the Dome. IIRC, they led by 3 with about 1:30 or 2:00 to go and ended up getting outscored 10-2 down the stretch and losing 59-54. Last night, they were outscored 7-0 in about 80 seconds near the end of the game, turning a 54-48 lead into a 54-55 deficit after Ennis hit 2 FT after a drive.

Watching Jamie Dixon in action...I better understand why Pitt has under-performed their NCAA seeds. He loses his cool, makes bad decisions, doesn't have a good handle on things.

[Billy Dat]

Huge tip of the cap to Ennis. I agree that I would have tried to force anyone but him to beat me, but Fair was doing a pretty good job of "one man wrecking crew" himself down the stretch. I figured that when Talib Zanna, a sub 70% free throw shooter went 5 for 5 in the final 6 minutes and also had that Lorenzo Charles two pointer, that it was Pitt's night. But, the Cuse magic continues.

I was watching some of the screening action that Dixon employed against the Zone and thought it was really good. A few times, he had the ball extended wide strong side and slipped a pick behind the far defensive guard at the elbow. Two quick swing passes later, there were driving lanes and freed up 3s on the formerly weak side. They also managed some really nice high low action where the big catching at the foul line immediately dumped a bounce pass to the second big who began to seal his man when the first entry pass was made. It was timing dependent and Pitt got a few layups out of it. Dixon may come off like an idiot with his demonstrative flamboyance, but it looks like he has learned how to attack that orange 2-3 over the years. Alas, I agree that final time out seemed like a bad idea at the time.