Shooting Bricks

The Dawg woke up this morning and was excited to find John Grupp's article on Pitt's recent shooting slump in the Pitt Post-Gazette. It's about time the panthers (and us as fans) get to the heart of the matter. The shooting, especially from beyond the arc, has been terrible all season. It certainly hasn't been acceptable since the start of conference play. It's been so bad I think all Pitt fans have been asking themselves if Gil Brown or Ronald Ramon will ever make a three pointer again. Or more importantly, will they ever decide to be more selective about taking shots until they do get back on track.

As Grupp wrote in his article, poor shooting leads directly to bad defense and rebounding. Even in the rough and tough grinding battles of the Big East, shots have to be made. There is only so many times the defense can answer the bell and make the stops necessary to keep a game close. Eventually bad shooting will doom any chance of victory no matter how valiant the defense plays. And the sad part about the slump is that Pitt's staple motion offense has been generating open looks at the basket. The shots are generally there but this team is inexplicably missing them, especially at the most critical moments during games.

But why are the Panthers missing these shots? Exhaustion and injury definitely deserve the lion's share of blame. Ramon and Benjamin have been fighting through injuries while also having the burden of playing more minutes than expected with Fields' injury and only freshman Bradley Wannamaker to back them up. Exhaustion is certainly a culprit for a young starter like DeJuan Blair as he makes his way through brutal conference play for the first time. And with Levance Fields shaking off the rust since his return three games ago it becomes painfully clear why the Panthers can't buy a bucket right now. And Pitt fans could only shiver when envisioning what the fate of this season would if Sam Young had not dramatically improved his outside shot from last year.

Unfortunately, the Panthers have no time to rest and get healthy. Jamie Dixon must find a balance to keep his top players fresh enough to finish off their shots, especially late in games. Pitt should be able to beat Cincinnati and DePaul at home with just their relentless defense...regardless of how well they shoot. But to lock down a spot in the NCAA tournament before they even travel to Madison Square Garden they must also win at least one of the two road games left on the schedule. And it's hard to envision the Panthers winning at West Virginia or Syracuse by defense alone. The must make shots or they will find themselves at the losing end of both road games and needing a deep run in the conference tournament to ensure their invitation to the big dance.