Xavier v. Pitt

[Nigel Tufnel]

Well, I'm not going to play this one tonight, but thought I'd offer my insight on how I think this one will play out, for what its worth (absolutely nothing)

I'm proud of this Xavier team....after losing Lavender, Burrell and Duncan, this was supposed to be a bit of a rebuilding year for X. Next year was the year X was going to have the best chance of making a deep run. But God bless Sean Miller....he was able to have this team overcome turnover issues by playing tough defense and rebounding like crazy....I really think the guy is one of the better coaches in the country right now.

Point being, I think X is playing with house money at this point. At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have believed this team would have been ranked in the Top 25 most of the year, won the regular season A10, gotten a 4 seed and made it to the Sweet 16. But here they are.

I see tonight's game playing out in one of two ways.....one, Xavier lays an egg a la the Duke game earlier this year and gets blown out. The second is that X keeps it close for the first 30 minutes and Pitt pulls away late to win by DDs.

My reasoning is very, very simple. I don't think this Xavier team has enough offense to hang with Pitt for 40 minutes. Even if X can keep it low scoring, I don't think they'll be able to score more than Pitt. I have watched this team play every game this season and even in wins, they are prone to really bad offensive stretches. Can't do that against Pitt.

I'll be rooting my heart out for them tonight....but I just don't know where the points will come from against this Pitt team.

GL to all....Go X!

[Daws1089]

I hope you're wrong

[BUNK MORELAND]

i got alot of respect for X... I really think Pitt is overall a better team though. And this is Pitt's time right now...

[Nigel Tufnel]

Originally Posted by Nigel Tufnel

I have watched this team play every game this season and even in wins, they are prone to really bad offensive stretches. Can't do that against Pitt.

Jesus....what a heartbreaking loss. X scored 18 points in the 2nd half and a lot of those were missed layups. 1 bucket in the first 8 mins of the 2nd half.

Maybe its sour grapes....but I thought the refs let Blair just shove people around down low all night tonight. I know I can count at least 4 times where he clearly went over the back and it wasn't called. Tough loss.

Tough 3 point shot by Fields...he doesn't hit that prayer and who knows what happens...can't fault the defense by Jackson on that 3....he was right in his face.

Congrats to the folks on X....I know I said X was playing with house money and that I was proud of them for their season before this game even started....but that was a tough loss to swallow.

[Q-Unit]

fun team to watch throughout the tourney!

I took Pitt, but felt X had every chance to win SU.

Will be looking for them to continue this success next season

[BUNK MORELAND]

but tonight they didn't really ...

even that steal at the end when he poked the ball away from raymond .. they could of called that foul

Derrick Brown was the best player on the floor in the first half .. But he didn't do much in second half .. Raymond going 1-8 from 3-ball really hurts but your right about them having long lapses in scoring .. even back to the a-10 tourney

[Nigel Tufnel]

Originally Posted by BUNK MORELAND

but tonight they didn't really ...

even that steal at the end when he poked the ball away from raymond .. they could of called that foul

Derrick Brown was the best player on the floor in the first half .. But he didn't do much in second half .. Raymond going 1-8 from 3-ball really hurts but your right about them having long lapses in scoring .. even back to the a-10 tourney

Agreed....I thought it was a reach in, but oh well. If X doesn't go 8 mins with 1 bucket they win that game. I don't have an issue with getting outplayed....but X laid an egg in the ha2nd half and that game was a coin flip. Interesting point made by a local radio guy on his blog....he said the possession where Fields made the 3 shouldn't have gone like that....X blocked the shot, CJ threw the ball going out of bounds all the way down the court....Brown grabbed the ball out but was out of bounds....the 35 second shot clock shouldn't have reset, which it did, giving Fields the opportunity to hit the shot.....I hadn't thought of that....and don't have the stomach to rewatch that possession.

Oh well....even though they played like crap in the 2nd half, I think X showed a lot of testicular fortitude tonight. And its nice to think that next year, they should be much, much better than this year's team.

Good luck to Pitt the rest of the way....