(Number 1 seed? It's about damn time!)(Comments for the Pitt game will be preceded by the time...all other comments will be marked by bullet points. That way...you can easily read either/or, both, or neither if you so choose)
Here we go. #1 Pitt vs. #16 ETSU to open Pitt's run in the East region. Let's make it happen this year! (I'm not sure what I mean by "it")
3:05 pm - Dejuan Blair wins the opening tip back to Levance Fields. Bill Raftery says, "Verne Lundquist...Eastern Tennessee State goes...MANTAMAN"! Everything is right in the world.
3:08 pm - Raftery makes his first "derriere" reference of the day. I think I'll be keeping a running count of this. Tyrell Biggs makes a 3-pointer for Pitt. He's surprisingly good for one of those a game. Pitt 6, ESTU 5.
- Has anyone else noticed how these NCAA Tournament games have been grossly under attended? It's really absurd. The Portland region has been the worst. There were so many empty blue seats during that Gonzaga/Akron game last night. There is NO ONE at the Temple/Arizona St. game right now. This has to have something to do with the weak-ass economy, right? This Pitt game in Dayton is no different. Plenty of good seats available.
- Pitt is doing what they do all-to-well, playing down to their competition in the first half. I need to divert my attention. As CJS has mentioned, check out Club Trillion, a blog by Ohio State bench player Mark Titus. It's titled Club Trillion because when he gets into a game, his line in the box score is 1 (for minutes played), followed by a BUNCH of zeros.
3:39 pm - Blair gets called for a technical for "hanging on the rim" after a dunk! Maybe he did a little bit of a chin-up on the play but COME ON! Both Raftery and Lundquist don't agree with the call. Coach Jamie Dixon is furious...either at the officials or at Blair. Dixon's hair, however, remains slicked back and in position. Pitt 24, ETSU 22.
3:41 pm - Bob sends me a text that simply reads, "BULLSHIT!!!" He immediately sends me another text saying, "Let's have a sporting event text chat like (Bill) Simmons and his buddies! I wanna make the blog!" Well Bob...you just did.
3:48 pm - Raftery, "Pitt has not put their imprint on this game." Couldn't have put it better myself sir. Pitt 24, ETSU 22.
- The best games so far have been #11 VCU's one-point loss to #6 UCLA, #11 Utah State's one-point loss to #6 Marquette, and #12 Western Kentucky's smack-down of #5 Illinois. I think the NCAA Tournament selection committee isn't going to make the mistake of giving WKU a #12 seed anymore.
4:07 pm - Just talked to Phil during halftime. He's not nearly as confident as I am right now. Pitt's going to win...it's just a matter of if they win by 5-10 points or more than 20. They need to dominate and pull away, not for the fans, but for themselves. This is excruciating.
- Tournament Tattoo Update - The one guy from American U. had some ridiculous ink on his bicep, the explanation of which couldn't be determined. The tattoos of the tournament have to go to the boys from Northern Iowa. Lots of white guys with lots of ink. This prompted my dad to comment, "Tattoos on white guys just don't look good". I don't know if this means he thinks they look good on black guys, or he doesn't think they look good on anyone. Love ya pops!
4:20 pm - Jermaine Dixon takes a long bomb outlet pass...misses the layup...gets his own rebound, and misses the put-back. ETSU rebounds. At no point during that entire sequence did any Pitt player enter the screen to come down and help Dixon out. What the hell is going on?!?
4:23 pm - Bob sends me another text, "For cryin' out loud...they (Pitt) look like Bobby Mo (Robert Morris) in the (NEC) title game! Hey-oh!" Bob just got all of his labels taken away.
4:26 pm - I love how they have to break out the whole "no #16 seed has ever defeated a No. 1 seed" thing. The attempt to jinx the Panthers is officially on!
4:29 pm - CJS just texted me - "What the fuck?!?!" Why do I feel this growing momentum against Pitt? The crowd in Dayton is certainly pulling for the upset. Pitt 35, ETSU 33.
4:34 pm - Shot of Coach Dixon sitting down on the Pitt bench with his face buried in his hands. This sums up today's events perfectly. Pitt 39, ETSU 38.
4:37 pm - Lundquist keeps calling Sam Young "Wanamaker"...in reference to Panther guard Brad Wanamaker. Anything is going to piss me off at this point. Pitt 40, ETSU 40.
4:46 pm - When I did the running diary of Pitt's victory over Oral Roberts last year...it was a party...every player was contributing, smiles were all around. This is the complete opposite of that experience. ETSU just threw down a dunk. Blah. Pitt 46, ETSU 44.
4:52 pm - Sam Young misses his billionth layup of the game...Blair gets two offensive rebounds and finally makes the basket, giving Pitt it's first 5 point lead in an eternity. They just need to score 15 more unanswered points to PUSH the spread of 20. Pitt 50, ETSU 45.
4:55 pm - Young makes his second 3-pointer in the last couple of minutes. Things are a little more encouraging than they were before. Also, Fields looks like he's playing at about 60%, maybe I'm looking for excuses.....but he doesn't look like the Levance Fields we Pitt fans know and love. Pitt 58, ETSU 52.
5:01 pm - A bunch of bullshit just happened underneath Pitt's basket. I can't talk or type rationally right now. Pitt 59, ETSU 57.
5:06 pm - CBS holds a gun to Lundquist's head and makes him read the "no #16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1" fact again. I hate CBS right now. Pitt 62, ETSU 57.
5:09 pm - Pitt's going to win, as I said at halftime, but this win isn't going to feel good at all. Ashton Gibbs just hit a 3-pointer...followed by an ETSU layup. It's all but over...but I'm still feeling sick. Pitt 67, ETSU 61.
5:12 pm - College hoops are SO about confidence and momentum. Pitt came out lazy and entitled, once ETSU felt they could hang with the Panthers...the complexion of the game changed completely. Give a team confidence and they'll believe they can do anything. Pitt 70, ETSU 62.
5:16 pm - The "game" is finally over. I'm going to need to drink a lot tonight. This was horrible. I can't wait to hear from everyone busting my balls over this disaster. Hopefully this is what Pitt needs to wake up and realize that a No. 1 seed is earned and not given. They have to go out and PLAY like a No. 1 seed. I pray this scared them shitless. I have nothing more to say right now. Final Score: Pitt 72, ETSU 62.
0201
Wow, this running diary is a lot like the running diary of the 'Nova game, I didn't get to watch the Pitt game, but this a good summary of it. Actually, I would love to see if someone did a running diary of the game from ETSU's viewpoint, it would be an interesting contrast. I think this is an eye opener for Pitt, or at least I hope, if my memory serves me teams with scares in their first game shake them off in the second, but I can't confirm that with any reasonable facts.
ReplyDeleteYour dad's comment makes me laugh, that is totally your dad and I love it.
I have also been mesmorized about the attendance of these games, especially in big cities like Philly. I know these first and second round games are weird because some people legitimately go and see their team play and leave, but the overall attendance is absurd. Although I think next year's is going to be worse, Spokane, Buffalo, OK City, Jacksonville, Providence?
Although i was extemely pissed off during this game, there are a few positives to take from it. First, they should be much more focused against Oklahoma St. Also, they did get some practice against a full court press. That will pay dividends against a good team that presses. Finally, Sam Young showed that he can hit clutch 3's when the team needed them most.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that is scaring me is Jermaine Dixon's inability to hit 3's over the past 2 or 3 weeks. This team needs a little offense from him if they want to make a run.
great running diary. i like how the side remarks gradually disappeared and you focused on the "game."
ReplyDeletecan i use this to say that i don't like verne lundquist? his voice is low and slow and it has a grandpa feel to it. it works for golf, not for basketball.
AJ: we don't really need dixon for 3s, especially if gibbs is hitting them, just defense and scrappy play. but it would help for him to hit a layup.
Annie didn't post that last comment, Phil did. my mistake. i used the wrong browser.
ReplyDeleteI have a question in regards to being a fan. Based on my interaction with people throughout my short lifetime and comments on this blog, it appears that I am the exception to the rule with fan-dom. I grew up in MD and I should have probably rooted for UMD, I did every so often, but wasn't diehard because I really didn't have any affiliation with them, I just enjoyed watching good basketball. I went to Villanova, and well, as you all know, I am a huge 'Nova fan and now love to see UMD fail.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the people on this blog have more then 1 affiliation, they have the schools they attended (Davidson, Rob Mo, Holy Cross) then they have the team they really root for, which is Pitt in most cases here. I guess I don't understand this. I know most of you grew up being huge fans of Pitt, but I shed all other fan-dom once I started rooting for 'Nova, yet people here seem to default back to their childhood school, and I understand with them having great seasons over these last couple of years. So I understand, but what if Robert Morris was playing Pitt or Davidson was playing Pitt or on and on, would you all root for Pitt or your alma mater (no matter how bad the alma mater may be)? I am just interested in hearing the answers cause I seem to be the exception here.
Matt, I don't see what's so hard to understand about this. How do you just abandon a team that you've been pulling for since childhood? You were able to "shed all other fan-dom" because it sounds to me like you didn't really have any other fan-dom.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question, I would probably not be able to watch a Davidson vs. Pitt matchup. I wouldn't know who to root for. I don't think it's a problem that I don't have an "ultimate allegiance" to one team or other because these teams have never played each other and the chance that they will is very small. I follow both teams throughout the season and they basically operate in separate worlds.
Since I'm at Notre Dame, I'm a casual Notre Dame fan, but there's no question that every time ND plays Pitt, I root for Pitt. (I mentioned this to Mike Brey at one point and he understood). I've never seen this as a problem. I tend to have my favorite Big East teams anyway and want them to do well. This all seems compatible with making sure I never root for anything that harms Pitt. But it surely doesn't harm Pitt to have Notre Dame (or Villanova or some other Big East team) do well most of the time. After all, it's impossible for Pitt to win every game and all other big east teams lose every game.
Matt, my alma mater is DIII, but you better believe if JCU ever played PITT I would be wearing every piece of BLUE STREAK memorabilia I could get my hands on!
ReplyDeleteAs that will never happen on this universe P-I-T-T PITT PITT PITT!!!!
ReplyDelete(and go cuse in every game they play of every year they play unless they are playing pitt)
I need to buckle down and start analyzing coaches' wardrobe for this blog. I'm sorry I haven't offered my expertise in this area yet...expect it shortly. Also, Matt, ND is my #1 team and always will be. But like Phil says, I also like other teams. I like Pitt because I married into Pitt fandom, and I like the Big East in general because it's awesome. But when ND plays Pitt, I always root for the Irish. Since I have no childhood allegiances, as I didn't discover sports until age 24, I have no conflict of interest in that area. And since I went to a D3 school AND hadn't yet discovered sports when I was in college, I have no issues there either. I am, however, more than a casual fan of Pitt. I always root for them except when they play the Irish.
ReplyDeletePhil and Annie, that ND v Pitt game must be an interesting one to watch in your family.
ReplyDeletePhil, don't worry I wasn't blasting anyone over this, I just wanted to understand better. I know that when our dads take us to a Pitt game or whatever when we are 10 we get big eyes and think nothing is better in the world, so that memory stays with us.
Annie, I do want to hear your analysis. I didn't watch the 'Nova game, but I'm sure Wright made Howland look like he bought his suit from the local Caldor...just an assumption.