(02-12-2014 10:33 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  How many games have you been blown out in?

You guys will end up a 3-7 seed IMHO...you'll have your shot to make it to the 2nd weekend. Like for any team...you'll need a few breaks and a clutch shot or two. If a 9 seed UConn can win it all...so can Pitt.

Apples and oranges, brother. My exact point is that we don't have a Kemba Walker to carry us in the tough times. Pitt has never had a Kemba Walker caliber player - at least not in the past 20+ years they haven't. Our last NBA starter was Charles Smith. Do you have any idea how long ago that was?

Our best player on this year's team is LaMarr Patterson and he is such a Pitt kind of player. He is tough and dedicated and in his fifth season in the program he has developed into a very nice college player. However, he's not an NBA caliber player. Pitt never lands NBA talent. That's why we consistently lose games like this and why we always come up short in the NCAA's. They're always close games and then the NBA player makes a play that the Spanish or Italian league player in incapable of making and bang, we lose.

We've only seen that movie about 35 times in the past decade.

We rarely get blown out because of our slow down style of play and because we have one of the best Xs & Os coaches in the country. Dixon truly is a mater strategist - one of the best in the business. To win as many games as he has against clearly superior teams has been remarkable.

However, until we recruit at the level of the best teams we play against, we are more often than not going to come up just short when we play against teams that do have such players. Last night was a good example of that. The earlier Syracuse game was also an example of that. Last week we lost at the buzzer to Virginia because we couldn't get a bucket down the stretch (sound familiar?). Earlier in the week we went cold against Duke late which turned a close game into a blowout. In December we lost by one to Cincinnati at MSG because - wait for it - we couldn't score down the stretch and they came back at the end and stole the game by one stinking point.

See a trend developing? It's the same GD movie over and over and over and over again. Trust me, this will also be how our season ends. I'm reasonably certain of it. We're simply not that good to begin with and losing our only real 3-point shooter just destroyed this team's already unlikely postseason chances.

We're an 8 seed that will be bounced quickly for all of the reasons I have already elaborated on. For the record, I don't think this Syracuse team is as good as its record either. You just caught the ACC in a HORRIBLE year and you do have some tough minded kids who make plays when they need to make plays. I like that about your team.

I hope that's not seen as sour grapes as that is not my intent. I'm just trying to offer an honest appraisal of what I'm seeing. You have had several much better teams than this one over the years. This is a pretty nice team, nothing more. I am very surprised that you are still undefeated as you appear to have several vulnerabilities for an undefeated team this late in the season in a major conference. If I'm being honest, I do not expect SU to reach the Final Four. I do love Ennis though. That kid is a cold blooded killer and a helluva player.