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Based on the number of posters that thought we played Tulane yesterday could you edit the title from Tulsa to Tulane? Just want to be consistent here.
I do think the conference officiating has reached the smell threshold - something drastic needs to be done.
Of course, we may not know what is going on behind the scenes, but on the surface AAC officiating is a train wreck and Aresco owns that not the coaches.no balls.
In all seriousness, what is Pitt doing to achieve their recent success? Most thought Pitt hard times were harder than ours.The referees are only going to get worse. Yes, it was bush league, but good lord. Do they think the league is sitting around going 'you know, what would be great for us is to have trash refs!'? There's something like literally 60% *fewer* officials than there were 15 years ago. Less people, less talent so this is what you're going to get. And people don't want to be refs because people are ffffing nuts. Coaches screaming at them, fans screaming about them, everyone screaming about them.
So the point is - it's going to get worse. You're not changing that. The AAC probably isn't gonna change that either. The ACC can't even change it. So you gotta deal with it. Crying into a crying towel every game isn't going to make it better. Yes - booting two guys in a game is bush league. Especially for that. But. Again. It's not why we lost!
We've committed 24+ fouls in something like 8 or 9 games this year. I'll bet we lost nearly all of those games.
Those happen when you lack the quickness, size and overall athleticism to cover guys. That comes from poor discipline. That comes from being totally non-competitive down low and being guard-focused because your bigs can't score the ball at all. That comes from guards having to pick up the slack everywhere.
Like this just allllll comes back to not having good enough big men. We're completely reliant as to whether we are hitting our threes or not. And if we're not, we don't have the bigs to get a put back. Or a rebound. Or even just a tip to help our guards have a shot at getting the ball for a second shot. We're literally in a position right now where you have to make the shot or we're done. Almost every time up the floor. When you're playing with that kind of margin for error, you get what we have.
Like I think to myself sometimes - to heck with say a Thabeet, Okafor or Voskhul on this team making a difference. I feel like you put a Jeff Adrien guy on this team and it'd be a totally different team completely. Just a *banger* who can defend, grab rebounds, clean up messes. We need a mop and bucket guy. Right now we just don't have that.
And again, it's year one of a rebuild. I think Gilbert's been fine for a first year guy. Ditto for Wilson. While he comes with his headaches, Vital has taken a step forward this year. Anything they can get out of literally anyone else on the roster should be seen as an achievement at this point. Carlton's balls need to drop. They might still, but there's an equal chance this is all he is. Polley is a decent shooter, but he's just not athletic enough or confident enough to string anything together on a consistent basis. Etc Etc.
As for Hurley, well strap in guys, it'll probably be more of this next year. This team was broken that badly when he got here, it's going to take 2 years of actual recruiting to get us to a point where we can start seeing a pathway and so far, so good. We effectively didn't recruit for three consecutive years. Right now you gotta turn over some of these scholarships and get some kids out the door (not saying cutting them - saying they need to cycle out), recruit well and develop the talent you have. Next year, it's all of the above, and hopefully the talent takes a step forward and we can play a little post season basketball.
How is their front court compared to ours?In all seriousness, what is Pitt doing to achieve their recent success? Most thought Pitt hard times were harder than ours.
In all seriousness, what is Pitt doing to achieve their recent success? Most thought Pitt hard times were harder than ours.
In all seriousness, what is Pitt doing to achieve their recent success? Most thought Pitt hard times were harder than ours.