Pittsburgh

[wolfpackdevil]

I don't know who else saw the Pitt/Georgetown game today, but Pittsburgh looked verrrrrrrry good.

They had their way with the hoyas, and Georgetown never really had a chance.

Dejuan Blair was unstopable and had 20 points and 17 boards.

I know it is early in the season, but I do think that Pittsburgh is the second best team in the country, and the combination on Fields, Blair and Young were really strong. I don't know what you guys think, but I think pittsburgh could take down the tar heels on a neutral court.

[Bluedog]

I don't know who else saw the Pitt/Georgetown game today, but Pittsburgh looked verrrrrrrry good.

They had their way with the hoyas, and Georgetown never really had a chance.

Dejuan Blair was unstopable and had 20 points and 17 boards.

I know it is early in the season, but I do think that Pittsburgh is the second best team in the country, and the combination on Fields, Blair and Young were really strong. I don't know what you guys think, but I think pittsburgh could take down the tar heels on a neutral court.

Saw the game. They look really good - better than last year. Certainly one of the main contenders for a national title. The three that you mentioned are arguably the best 1-2-3 combination in the country. They totally dominated Gtown on the boards. For us to beat them, I think we'd really have to have strong games (i.e. defense and rebounding) from Zoubek et al, and knock down some threes. While I think we certainly could beat them, I think at this point Pitt looks more multidimenionsional and it's hard to expose their weaknesses. Certainly a tough matchup. Gtown alone will be a tough matchup for us, but I expect us to win it.

On a different note, I am not a fan of colleges playing in pro arenas not on campus when it's supposed to be a home game. Of course, I don't' mind us playing in MSG every year for a game or two, but I wouldn't like it if MSG was our permanent home arena. It just doesn't have the "college feel" to it. The atmosphere watching on TV is so different, and I'm sure in person it's even more obvious. It's not a college atmosphere at the Verizon Center - and I think that's a shame. But clearly they sell a lot more tickets there and make a lot more money, so they think it's worthwhile.

[merry]

I watched it too. I didn't think Georgetown played very well in the first half so I thought they had a chance to turn it around in the second. I thought Sapp's three coming out of a timeout to cut it to two was the turning point. But a few minutes later Pitt seemed to turn it up a notch and almost ran away with it.

Not sure I'm ready to pencil Pitt in for the final four based on having seen this one game but I agree they looked very very good. Blair is such a stud, but we already knew that.

[merry]

On a different note, I am not a fan of colleges playing in pro arenas not on campus when it's supposed to be a home game. Of course, I don't' mind us playing in MSG every year for a game or two, but I wouldn't like it if MSG was our permanent home arena. It just doesn't have the "college feel" to it. The atmosphere watching on TV is so different, and I'm sure in person it's even more obvious. It's not a college atmosphere at the Verizon Center - and I think that's a shame. But clearly they sell a lot more tickets there and make a lot more money, so they think it's worthwhile.

I've only ever seen one game there but it doesn't strike me as all that different from the atmosphere at pro-style arenas in places like the RBC Center and the ComCastle.

[sandinmyshoes]

Pitt looked great today, but looked only average against Rutgers. Could be that Rutgers is a decent team. Just hard to figure out.

[Cameron]

Boy I would have loved to have had Pitt on our December schedule this season. That would have been a tremendous precursor to the Carolina game, especially considering their immense inside presence.

Georgetown didn't play up to par today, however. The Hoyas are much better than they performed. We will be in a dog fight with them to the finish.

[tbyers11]

Pitt looked great today, but looked only average against Rutgers. Could be that Rutgers is a decent team. Just hard to figure out.

Rutgers is not a very good team. I agree that Pitt did look very good today, but they also looked very average in squeaking out a win at FSU a couple of weeks ago.

One of Pitt's biggest strengths, offensive rebounding (8th in the country according to Ken Pom), was on display against one of Georgetown's worst, defensive rebounding (288th in the country).

Overall, I think that Pitt is very good and will win the Big East (b/c I think that UConn is overrated) but I don't think any team besides UNC is a prohibitive favorite for the Final Four at this point.

[greybeard]

I thought Georgetown's inability to mount any attack at or near the rim was the difference in the game. Monroe does not present as a low post scorer at this point.

Duke threatens the rim in a variety of ways, including Zoubs and Lance off penetrating passes. I think that Zoubs and Lance will score the ball against Pitt off of penetrating passes, perhaps also Singler, and that Duke's outside attackers (including Singler), if they can survive physical play around the rim, will be able to get to the rim and finish because Pittsburgh's bigs are not shot blockers.

This will change entirely the rebounding dynamic, in my opinion; take some of the wind out of the sails of Pitts' wide bodies, and that Pitt will not be able to be as aggressive on the offensive board's as they were against Georgetown. Duke has many, many more effective rebounders than Georgetown, which the big-bigs aside has a moster rebounder in Singler, a great rebounder in McClure, and then there is Gerald, Scheyer, a 6'2" point with long arms, etc.

So, while I was as impressed as the rest of you with Pittsburgh's play against Georgetown, I don't see much to learn from this game with respect to how they might fair against Duke. To the contrary, I think that Duke's bigs present problems that will be difficult for Pitt's bigs to handle defensively, that the overall points at the rim will favor Duke, and that the match up between the two teams (do they play each other) would be decided on much different terms than decided the Georgetown Pittsburgh contest. Those terms I think favor Duke though Young, Fields and some of the other outside players sure can play.

[studdlee10]

I was at the game today, and Blair is a beast. He's undersized for the 5 and gives up a few inches on Monroe, but boy can the guy rebound. I think with teh emergence of Zoubek and Lance...along with the addition of Plumlee, I don't think we would have the same issues with Pitt and Blair that when we played them last. Pitt is a good team, but they just are not a good shooting team. That will be their downfall.

The Greg Monroe that I saw in HS showed up today. Soft, unmotivated, unreliable in the post, etc... I think Monroe shows glimpses of great talent, but the bottom line is that he's somewhat limited. He is truly a more athletic, bigger Josh McRoberts, without the dunks. He can really be a non factor in the middle in terms of rebounding and defense ...and that surprises me given his combination of skills.

[weezie]

Boy I would have loved to have had Pitt on our December schedule this season. That would have been a tremendous precursor to the Carolina game, especially considering their immense inside presence.

Georgetown didn't play up to par today, however. The Hoyas are much better than they performed. We will be in a dog fight with them to the finish.

Pitt looks very thick and mature, that's for sure. Really big shoulders on that team. They deserve a #2 and could they give the holes fits.
They scare me.

[mapei]

I was at the game today, and Blair is a beast. He's undersized for the 5 and gives up a few inches on Monroe, but boy can the guy rebound. I think with teh emergence of Zoubek and Lance...along with the addition of Plumlee, I don't think we would have the same issues with Pitt and Blair that when we played them last. Pitt is a good team, but they just are not a good shooting team. That will be their downfall.

The Greg Monroe that I saw in HS showed up today. Soft, unmotivated, unreliable in the post, etc... I think Monroe shows glimpses of great talent, but the bottom line is that he's somewhat limited. He is truly a more athletic, bigger Josh McRoberts, without the dunks. He can really be a non factor in the middle in terms of rebounding and defense ...and that surprises me given his combination of skills.

I think you underrate both Monroe and McRoberts. Also, Monroe's skill set is different than Josh's - he is more naturally suited to post play. I agree that Blair handed his lunch to him today (I was there, too), and GM showed a lot of freshman greenness in the mistakes he made. But he has tremendous potential. K was absolutely right to recruit him, I think - he'd be great in Duke's system.

Pitt really impressed me today. Their 3 best players - Blair, Young, and Fields - are very, very good. Fields had 8 assists and NO turnovers against a pretty good defensive team today. And Blair just dominated, as I have seen him do repeatedly.

As for the Verizon Center, I and most Gtown fans would love to have a campus arena like Cameron, but it's not in the cards. It's not about ticket sales so much as the cost of the arena and a relative lack of space on campus for building, as well as being in a residential neighborhood that would be extremely concerned about parking and such. I don't think it will happen. It's unfortunate because, with nearly 20,000 seats up for grabs at home games, a lot of them are going to opposing fans, which I hate.

[wolfpackdevil]

Rutgers is not a very good team. I agree that Pitt did look very good today, but they also looked very average in squeaking out a win at FSU a couple of weeks ago.

One of Pitt's biggest strengths, offensive rebounding (8th in the country according to Ken Pom), was on display against one of Georgetown's worst, defensive rebounding (288th in the country).

Overall, I think that Pitt is very good and will win the Big East (b/c I think that UConn is overrated) but I don't think any team besides UNC is a prohibitive favorite for the Final Four at this point.

Well I know that Rutgers is not that good but Duke did play there closest game of the year to date vs. Rhode Island.

And they lost at Michigan (who is good, but is not at duke's level)

So every good team has loses and close games

[A-Tex Devil]

I really like watching Blair play. Oh, to have a beast on the offensive boards....

[tbyers11]

Well I know that Rutgers is not that good but Duke did play there closest game of the year to date vs. Rhode Island.

And they lost at Michigan (who is good, but is not at duke's level)

So every good team has loses and close games

I agree with the fact that most every "good" team has losses and close games against teams that they should beat with relative ease (Pitt with FSU/Rutgers and Duke with URI/Michigan) and handily beats teams that should play them close (Pitt vs Georgetown and Duke vs Purdue/Xavier).

As the season progresses we get to see how the balance of close wins against inferior competition and good performances against quality opponents shakes out for the top teams in the country. The latter part of my previous post was basically saying don't anoint Pitt the best non-UNC team in the land because Pitt hasn't played like this (today vs Georgetown) very often so far. They certainly could but I want to see a couple of more strong outings to make sure.

[SMO]

For the record, Monroe's stats in the game today was

34 minutes
6-13 for 15pts
8 boards
2 assists
2 blocks
1 steal
4 turnovers
2 fouls

That's not bad for a frosh going up against a strong front line.

[RainingThrees]

Levance Fields looked like a real floor general today. I saw on consecutive occations when he would draw the defense one way then fire a pass cross court with barely a glance.

[Ben63]

Pitt looked great today, but looked only average against Rutgers. Could be that Rutgers is a decent team. Just hard to figure out.

I was at the Pitt Rutgers game. And Pitt looked average at best until the last 10 minutes. Rutgers is not a great team but they shot the lights out against Pitt in the first half. It wasn't that Pitt looked terrible, Rutgers played way over their heads. Another big factor was DeJuan Blair. He was in foul trouble the whole game and he only played 8 minutes. Rutgers did not have much of an inside presence and Blair not playing really helped them.

The key for Pitt is Levance Fields. He is what makes the offense run with his penetration. The defense collapses around him and he knows where his teammates are, inside or outside. As Fields goes, Pitt goes.

Pitt is a great team and will go far this year if Blair stays on the court and Fields stays injury free. Sam Young is one of the most underrated players in all of college basketball. The only flaw is see is their ability to score in bunches. I can't see them doing that too often. If they fall behind I question their ability to come back. But other than that they are a complete team that has the potential to go very far this season.

[greybeard]

For the record, Monroe's stats in the game today was

34 minutes
6-13 for 15pts
8 boards
2 assists
2 blocks
1 steal
4 turnovers
2 fouls

That's not bad for a frosh going up against a strong front line.

Points here are very deceptive. When game still a game, Monroe attacked the rim on dribble penetration from the top once. I think he tried to attack once off a catch in the left low block and seemed like he really did not want to. He could have turned and shot over Blair, but does not seem comfortable even considering such an attack. He tried to drop step, Blair pushed him towards the baseline, tried to reverse and shoot a low percentage shot that was blocked. He tried nothing again except after a time out on an intricate play that worked but involved about 4 passes and had Monroe moving in a triangle and getting a little switched on him.

Monroe was unable to hurt or even scare Pitt inside, and no one else on Georgetown was able either to post low (Sommers tried once) and no one could penetrate off the dribble.

Also, at least 6 of Monroe's points came after the game was over.

He did not play badly. However, his team needed to get some easy scores near the rim and didn't. He was the one guy on Georgetown with the tools to do it and barely even tried. Not his best game.

[Reisen]

Mapei is correct about the Verizon center. I'm a season ticket holder, and can honestly say the atmosphere sucks compared to other arenas I've been in, including both the Dean Dome and the RBC.

Many of the seats go unfilled, and many go to opposing fans. The atmosphere "feels" like a pro game with piped in rap music instead of college anthems and cheers. They do lots of very gimmicky promotions with blatant advertising for Chevy Chase bank and other sponsors, encouraging the crowd to wave their check cards, etc. The stuff with kids is kind of cute, but again, feels nothing like a college game. The only decent non-basketball part is Jack the Bulldog charging the opponent's symbol on a box of treats.

Georgetown has also been jacking season ticket prices the last couple of years, including for us grad students. Duke MBA's pay $150 for season tickets. As a Georgetown MBA, I pay several times that for nowhere near as good seats.

Just makes me realize how good I had it during undergrad, and you Duke undergrad and grad students be thankful!

[sagegrouse]

Mapei is correct about the Verizon center. I'm a season ticket holder, and can honestly say the atmosphere sucks compared to other arenas I've been in, including both the Dean Dome and the RBC.

Many of the seats go unfilled, and many go to opposing fans. The atmosphere "feels" like a pro game with piped in rap music instead of college anthems and cheers. They do lots of very gimmicky promotions with blatant advertising for Chevy Chase bank and other sponsors, encouraging the crowd to wave their check cards, etc. The stuff with kids is kind of cute, but again, feels nothing like a college game. The only decent non-basketball part is Jack the Bulldog charging the opponent's symbol on a box of treats.

Georgetown has also been jacking season ticket prices the last couple of years, including for us grad students. Duke MBA's pay $150 for season tickets. As a Georgetown MBA, I pay several times that for nowhere near as good seats.

Just makes me realize how good I had it during undergrad, and you Duke undergrad and grad students be thankful!

Washington has folks from almost anywhere in the US in large numbers. Therefore, the local teams will never have complete support from the crowds, as long as some seats are available for purchase.

This is true at Nationals Stadium in baseball and at Verizon for the Wizards and Georgetown.

Even the iconic Redskins face this problem from time to time. At a night game against the Steelers, there were huge numbers of Pittsburgh fans waving their white towels -- in part because night NFL games at FedEx Field (and other places) are basically just awful, where it is mostly impossible to get home before 1AM. Many Redskin fans were only too happy to part with a ticket for a cold November night.

And I can well remember Orioles games at Camden Yards where the Yankee and Red Sox fans outnumbered the O's supporters.

sagegrouse

[Ben63]

At a night game against the Steelers, there were huge numbers of Pittsburgh fans waving their white towels

And I can well remember Orioles games at Camden Yards where the Yankee and Red Sox fans outnumbered the O's supporters.



White Towels? I believe they are yellow.:D:D

And Orioles fans are ALWAYS outnumbered at Camden Yards against the Yanks and Sox. The last game I went to that the O's had more fans was against the A's, and even that was close because Barry Zito was pitching, but then again the A's are 3000 miles away.

[dyedwab]

Washington has folks from almost anywhere in the US in large numbers. Therefore, the local teams will never have complete support from the crowds, as long as some seats are available for purchase.

This is true at Nationals Stadium in baseball and at Verizon for the Wizards and Georgetown.

Even the iconic Redskins face this problem from time to time. At a night game against the Steelers, there were huge numbers of Pittsburgh fans waving their white towels -- in part because night NFL games at FedEx Field (and other places) are basically just awful, where it is mostly impossible to get home before 1AM. Many Redskin fans were only too happy to part with a ticket for a cold November night.

And I can well remember Orioles games at Camden Yards where the Yankee and Red Sox fans outnumbered the O's supporters.

sagegrouse

A few years ago, a friend and I attended a Capitals-Red Wings game at what was then the MCI Center. I could have sworn that I walked into Joe Louis Arena, given the crowd. And Detroit isn't even a 4-5 hour ride to DC like Pittsburgh or New York, or a short 2-3 hour train ride from Philly.

It's the inevitabe problem of lDC local teams.

[mapei]

Washington has folks from almost anywhere in the US in large numbers . . .
Even the iconic Redskins face this problem from time to time. At a night game against the Steelers, there were huge numbers of Pittsburgh fans waving their white towels -- in part because night NFL games at FedEx Field (and other places) are basically just awful, where it is mostly impossible to get home before 1AM. Many Redskin fans were only too happy to part with a ticket for a cold November night.

The Redskins have this problem big-time. Having the largest stadium in the NFL is another factor along with those you mention. The game-day experience, including getting to the stadium and back, for Redskins games is not good at all. We finally gave up our season tickets after a decade because it just wasn't worth it, especially for night games and games against NY & Philly teams. For all its problems, the Verizon Center is a much better experience.