March madness addicts are strewn across the country tonight waiting patiently for selection Sunday. Anyone hooked on the NCAA tournament as long as I've been knows to be done mowing the lawn or playing catch with the kids by 255pm so you won't miss a minute of the festivities on CBS.
The 2009 tournament is starting to become clear to me at the top. The #1 seed in the tournament has to be the Louisville Cardinals. True, they caught a break getting Pitt at home in Louisville and not at the Petersen Events Center but they won the Big East regular season title AND the Big East Championship. That's enough for me.
FYI-When you hear basketball cognescenti talk about an "NBA body", they mean a body like Earl Clark. Clark and Terrence Williams, boosted by the solid inside contributions of Freshman Samardo Samuels, have put it together.
I thought this team had a solid shot to win the NCAA championship but winning the Big East Tournament doesn't help toward that goal, in fact I think it hurts their chances but they've earned the #1 seed.
The second #1 seed goes to North Carolina. They were ranked higher than Pitt going into the conference tournaments and they won a game in the ACC tournament whereas Pitt lost their first game in the Big East tourney to West Virginia.
Pitt then becomes the third #1 seed. True, Connecticut showed tons of heart in the 6-ot thriller that rocked Manhattan Thursday night but Pitt beat them twice head to head, both times when UConn was the #1 team in the country.
Connecticut or Memphis is tougher to call for the last #1 seed. I understand people not giving Memphis much credit for steamrolling through Conference USA but they've won 25 straight games and they did reach the final last year.
Memphis nudges UConn to a #2 seed but those two teams should be placed in the same bracket so they can settle it on the floor. Oklahoma and Pitt should be in the same bracket so the clash of the titans, DeJuan Blair and Blake Griffin, can become a reality.
I like Gonzaga as a dark horse but I think Pitt wins the NCAA tournament over Memphis (if they're on opposite sides of the bracket). As a Pitt fan, the team I don't want to play is Connecticut. It's hard to beat a great team like that three straight times and I'd prefer a new challenge so I'm hoping someone else will knock of the Huskies but I'm not a sadist, it's okay if they lose in regulation.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Pitt beats UConn again
Sam Young played his last game at the Petersen Events Center today. He went out in style. Against #1 ranked Connecticut, Young poured in a season high 31 points on 13 of 23 shooting from the field and chipped in 11 rebounds.
Young could be drawing an NBA paycheck right now but he decided to stick around for his senior season, perhaps out of loyalty to coach Jamie Dixon. Dixon, you see, has a habit of finding players who are deemed too small or too slow or too unrefined for the rigors of the Big East, but he manages to mold them into a cohesive, winning unit, greater than the sum of its parts.
For 2 years, Young had to be patient. As a Freshman and again as a sophomore Young scored under 8 points per game. Last year, as a Junior, Young broke out leading the team at 18.1 ppg.
The NBA took notice and many feel Young could have been a first round draft pick, guaranteed money according to the Association's bylaws.
One has to believe Young is happy with his decision to stay. He's been a part of several firsts this season. This year was the first time Pitt ever beat the #1 team in the country(which they've now done twice after today's victory). Pitt was also the #1 team in the country for the first time in their history this season(which they also did twice and might do a 3rd time).
Young has been an integral part of their success. Again, he leads the team in scoring, this time at 18.4 ppg. His unorthodox pump fake has drawn national attention. Any advance scouting report on the Panthers has to note Young's uncanny knack for getting opposing defenders to leave their feet yet players still fall for the fake, game after game, as Young drives around them for dunks, lay-ins or soft pull up jumpers.
One reason the fake works so well is that Young can shoot. Last year, he led Pitt from beyond the arc at 38.3. This year, his percentage is slightly lower at 34.8 but the NCAA moved the line back a bit from last season. One gets a sense of Young's work ethic by looking at his 3 point percentage as a Freshman(19%) and a sophomore(31%). This guy has worked on his game and it's paid off.
Teaming up with sophomore DeJuan Blair and classmate Levance Fields, Young and Pitt just might have locked up a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament today with their 70-60 win over UConn. With only 3 losses, all on the road, the selection committee will have to consider Pitt a #1 seed even if they suffer an upset in the Big East Tournament in New York next week.
I'm sure Young and his teammates still have their sights set on bigger goals but Young's unselfish decision to stay in school has made that all possible. In this era of one-and-done, take the money and run college hoops, Jamie Dixon, the winningest coach percentage-wise in Big East HISTORY has inspired loyalty in his charges and shown the rest of the nation you don't have to have a roster full of McDonald's all-americans(or any McDonald's all-americans for that matter) to compete and succeed at the highest level of college basketball.
Young could be drawing an NBA paycheck right now but he decided to stick around for his senior season, perhaps out of loyalty to coach Jamie Dixon. Dixon, you see, has a habit of finding players who are deemed too small or too slow or too unrefined for the rigors of the Big East, but he manages to mold them into a cohesive, winning unit, greater than the sum of its parts.
For 2 years, Young had to be patient. As a Freshman and again as a sophomore Young scored under 8 points per game. Last year, as a Junior, Young broke out leading the team at 18.1 ppg.
The NBA took notice and many feel Young could have been a first round draft pick, guaranteed money according to the Association's bylaws.
One has to believe Young is happy with his decision to stay. He's been a part of several firsts this season. This year was the first time Pitt ever beat the #1 team in the country(which they've now done twice after today's victory). Pitt was also the #1 team in the country for the first time in their history this season(which they also did twice and might do a 3rd time).
Young has been an integral part of their success. Again, he leads the team in scoring, this time at 18.4 ppg. His unorthodox pump fake has drawn national attention. Any advance scouting report on the Panthers has to note Young's uncanny knack for getting opposing defenders to leave their feet yet players still fall for the fake, game after game, as Young drives around them for dunks, lay-ins or soft pull up jumpers.
One reason the fake works so well is that Young can shoot. Last year, he led Pitt from beyond the arc at 38.3. This year, his percentage is slightly lower at 34.8 but the NCAA moved the line back a bit from last season. One gets a sense of Young's work ethic by looking at his 3 point percentage as a Freshman(19%) and a sophomore(31%). This guy has worked on his game and it's paid off.
Teaming up with sophomore DeJuan Blair and classmate Levance Fields, Young and Pitt just might have locked up a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament today with their 70-60 win over UConn. With only 3 losses, all on the road, the selection committee will have to consider Pitt a #1 seed even if they suffer an upset in the Big East Tournament in New York next week.
I'm sure Young and his teammates still have their sights set on bigger goals but Young's unselfish decision to stay in school has made that all possible. In this era of one-and-done, take the money and run college hoops, Jamie Dixon, the winningest coach percentage-wise in Big East HISTORY has inspired loyalty in his charges and shown the rest of the nation you don't have to have a roster full of McDonald's all-americans(or any McDonald's all-americans for that matter) to compete and succeed at the highest level of college basketball.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)