Talk, Talk, Talk

OK, I'll admit it. the Dawg started this not too long after Pitt lost their third straight game to the Louisville Cardinals at home. Nonetheless, the issue that has me burning right now has been doing so for some time now.

This team talks to much. Especially to the press.

And that's all fine and dandy when they are winning...which is exactly what they are NOT doing right now.

I now what many of you are thinking...this is a little too unfair. But I don't care. I'm ticked off and concerned right now. The last time Pitt had a team that even insinuated they would beat a team like Dejuan Blair did before he and his teammates went out and lost to Louisville was the 2005 version that fizzled down the stretch and exited both the the Big East and NCAA tournaments without a win.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the confidence and fire...but keep on the floor. It just seems like the natural reaction to losing by some players is to exude some sort of false confidence with the press. Maybe I appreciate the old school way, but until you are winning with ease, it's better to spare everyone the faux bravado and just put the energy into actually winning the game.

You see, what happens is that all the energy ends up being overextended into backing up boasts made in the papers. And it only gets worse at the losing continue. All of sudden knuckles become white and too much stock is put into reversing the losing trend instead of doing what is truly required to stop the losing...getting back to the basics. The Panthers are their absolutely best when they are grinding out every position on both ends of the court. This season has not been any different. Wins against Duke, Georgetown and the dreaded Mountaineers of West Virginia came because each possession was played with the utmost intensity and as if it was the last in a tie ball game.

Instead, the Panthers are now missing wide open jams and three points shots while also turning over the ball way too much while uncontested. This is not Pitt basketball. The Panthers might not recruit the highest rated players come out of high school. But they do recruit talented and smart basketball players who bring intensity to each possession as if its the last of the season. It might not be pretty, it's how this team wins a lot of games.

And when they forget that...they talk too much...and then lose too many games.