Picking up the pieces after Pitt

I was in class and followed the game online and assumed by the nature of the gameflow and our past history with Pitt, that we just got beat up. But after watching it on TIVO last night, I realized we got beat and Pitt exposed major flaws on both ends of the court.

Our defense has been strong this season. We play an ameba-like matchup-zone, with lots of switching. That style has created a lot of turnovers and a good rebounding margin. Yet we don’t have a one-on-one defensive stopper, especially on the front line. Last night Pitt cleared space and allowed their big men to kill Nate, Smith and Williams in one-on-one situations. This created momentum and they made some outside shots too. We needed to stop them and couldn’t. After narrowing the score to 34-32, Pitt scored on eight-straight possessions. Forget about the "physical play," "a must win for Pitt," or any other explanation/excuse –- you have to make defensive stops to win.

On offense, we needed more from Dudley and we were too quick to rush outside shots. Craig Smith was getting off shots –- some good, some bad. But too often no one was there to grab the misses. With the guards not hitting anything and Jared not creating for himself, we should of sent it to Smith every time and ask Dudley to crash the boards.

BC won’t win the Big East Tournament. I think we are now looking at a 3 seed in the NCAAs. However, I think this team can win it all. They will have a battle against physical teams like Villanova or Pitt that disrupt the motion in our flex, but they have time to bounce back. Will they?