With the season nearly over, some comments on the Pitt basketball programs:
Pitt Mens’ Basketball
The men have two games left for the regular season, one at home with Miami and one away at Florida State.
The men’s basketball program was not supposed to do as well as they did this year in beating some top teams, but yet they were in situations during the year, such as Wake Forest yesterday, where they had a nine point lead with about four minutes to go and let the lead evaporate.
At the start of the year, they had trouble rotating to three-point opposing shooters. At the end of the year, they had trouble rotating to three-point shooters.
At the start of the year, they had trouble shooting consistently. At Wake Forest, they went about five minutes (over 25% of the second half) with no basket.
At times, they appeared like world beaters. At other times, they showed slow reaction to defensive situations, as when Cameron Wright motioned for someone to pick up his man cutting to the basket yesterday and no one responded. Some of this was likely due to injuries putting players out of position and quite likely causing a lack of coordination, some of it due to injuries throwing off shooting motions, and some of it due to a need for more awareness by players on the court resulting in not adjusting fast enough to situations on the court.
Overall men’s basketball evaluation:
ACC tournament: first round and out? Every game, there have been only one or two stars, and often different players. Unless all of the players get on the same page within a very short time, this will be a short tournament for Pitt.
NCAA tournament: Not consistent enough for an NCAA team. If go to the NCAA, not likely to go more than one or two rounds. Usually Pitt plays a midwest team early. Midwest teams like to pound the boards with strong forwards. Pitt would have a tough time matching up, as they did against Wichita State in the tournament.
NIT team: definitely. Accept any offered bid and go as far as possible. Since Pitt is on the bubble in the NCAA, they should have a higher seed in the NIT and play weaker teams earlier on.
Best guess: to wind up between number three and number seven in the NIT.
Outlook: Depending on which recruits sign in April, with healing by injured players, and with a better understanding of the defense by younger players, this team could potentially catapault into being a top 25 team.
Pitt Womens’ Basketball
The women have played at their seniors’ day against Clemson, and the regular season is over.
The Pitt womens’ basketball team played well coordinated near the end of the season. Due to the majority of the team being underclass, they are still learning. Due to limited numbers, their motion offense tended to wear down in the second half.
Outlook: Coach Serio-McConnell has recruited some highly ranked recruits for next season. The coaching was very good this season, and the player quality should improve dramatically. Next season top 25.
ACC tournament:
They should make a run, because they should not face the top teams until later in the tournament.
With Brianna Kiesel at guard, they always have a chance in every game. If you want to watch a great point guard at work, recommend you watch one of the womens’ tournament games.
Hoping to see them wind up about number three to four at the end of the tournament, provided they can grab early leads and drop back into a zone to rest the smaller number of players.
NCAA tournament: a possibility. If so, I don’t expect them to be a top team, but to make a respectable showing that could help recruiting.
NIT: if so, then they should be one of the top teams.
Just a side note, waiting to hear soon when and where the spring football game will be scheduled for Coach Pat Narduzzi’s charges. Reportedly April 17 or 18.
PittSportsOptimist 