Pitt Pulverizes BC

[hoyarooter]

72-50!!!

I guess Pitt is back in the race for a berth in the Dance. I wish we could come up with a bounce-back effort like that. Wow.

Pitt is really schizoid this season. They've had more unlikely losses than any other team in the conference (Bucknell at home, us at home, St. John's, WVU twice), but they also have two wins over Syracuse, a win over UConn, and now this.

[Big Dog]

BC collapsing just a little bit. Surprise, surprise.

[DanMcQ]

BC's guards could not deny the Pitt entry passes. BC's guards couldn't guard the perimeter.

BC, as usual, did a lousy job of boxing out and got annihilated on the defensive boards. Despite this, Dornekamp sat for long stretches while Sean Williams, the shot blocker with potential who doesn't seem to know how to rebound, played.

Skinner for unknown reasons sat Marshall the second half (his usual pattern of late), despite the glaring need for someody to shoot a 3 pointer and open up the middle for Smith and the rest of the front line.

Pitt put bodies on Dudley all night and completely shut him down. Pitt played great defense, basically triple teaming Smith and daring BC to win with anyone BUT Smith and Dudley.

BC's crowd was once again pathetic. The fat cats (like me) arrived late, and many not at all. The students mustered outstandingly creative cheers, like 'Krauser, Krauser, Krauser ... you SUCK!', yet sat quietly on their hands during the dreaded media timeouts. Finally, the ENTIRE place got up and LEFT with THREE MINUTES TO GO. What's up with that?

Unfortunately, this makes Wednesday's UConn game, Calhoun's potential 700th, all the more attractive for UConn. BC blew any chance at a NCAA 1 seed tonight - they could be headed down to a 3 if they keep this up.

[TBird41]

DanMcQ said:

Finally, the ENTIRE place got up and LEFT with THREE MINUTES TO GO. What's up with that?

They all left early from the GTown-BC game too. I was heckling the people streaming down the aisle (which also blocked my view of half of the court for the final minutes) with "Beat the Traffic" until someone yelled at me, which went like this:

Girl in pink polo w/ popped collar: "SHUT UP! The game is over"

Me: "There's 2 minutes left. I paid to watch the whole game and these people are blocking my view"

Guy in turquoise polo w/ popped collar next to the girl: "all you need to see is the scoreboard"

Me: "Jeez, you BC fans are pathetic. What do yall have to do that's so important that you can't wait 2 minutes in order to cheer on YOUR UNDEFEATED TEAM?"

By then the buzzer went off and the pastel duo left. I just don't understand it.

[lichoya68]

well i was hoping at first that bc would beat pitt... and putthem behind us for the top five.. then as the game went along i was thinking we probably have a real hard time being in the top five for ny .... so what the heck... im glad they beat the traitor bc acc eagles.. hope they lose the rest of their games... and then maybe to us in new york.... so we can send them away to the acc .. go hoyas.. beat uconn... and maybe.... just maybe bc.....

[lichoya68]

ps bc aint that good,,, and had a weak big east schedule ... go hoyas... beat uconn .. .uconn and nova may be the hottest teams on the rise in the big east..

[DanMcQ]

Boston Globe: Out with a Clang

www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2005/03/01/out_with_a_clang/

"They wanted it more than we did, simple as that," Smith said. "They lost three in a row and they came to our home and bullied us. They beat us at our own game. So, basically, they sent a message to everybody who was watching, the other teams [in the Big East]: `Be physical with [BC].'

"There's no way you're going to win any ballgames when you get only one guy in double figures," Skinner said. "You've got to credit Pittsburgh. They took it to us and we didn't respond. You look at what they did on the backboards and that was whole game right there."

Boston Herald: Pitt puts BC's title on hold in blowout: Snaps Eagles' 19-game home winning streak
By Mike Shalin

sports.bostonherald.com/college/view.bg?articleid=70870

Standing in the hallway outside of his team's locker room after last night's game, Boston College coach Al Skinner was asked if he liked anything about what he had just seen.
     ``No. There's nothing,'' Skinner said after his fifth-ranked Eagles were pushed around by Pittsburgh in a 72-50 Senior Night blowout. ``Every guy that's on their roster that played for them - there was nobody we defended.
     ``We were dominated. It's just that plain and simple. They dominated us.''
BC, which dropped to No. 5 in the polls earlier in the day, played like a team that doesn't know how to beat its opponent. The Eagles lost to Pitt for the sixth straight time dating to the 2001 Big East tournament championship game.
 How much did BC get pushed around in its worst loss in more than a year? The Eagles were outrebounded, 49-27, and 27-10 in the second half, when the Panthers (19-7, 9-6) had 11 offensive boards and 15 second-chance points.
     ``They just had it easy tonight,'' said BC's Jared Dudley, who had season lows of four points and three rebounds and shot 1-for-8 in 36 minutes against a body-up, man-to-man defense.
``We didn't come ready to play. We didn't match their intensity. They had more at stake than we did, and they played like it. They were physical with us. They pushed us around, and we really didn't respond to it.''

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

I think this probably puts Pitt in. Nova is in. I think it is probably down to us, ND, & WVU for two spots.

[1803]

Congrats to Pitt. This was a game they really needed, and they came out and took it from BC. That is the great thing about playing in a strong conference, there are a lot of chances to redeem yourself. Go on a three game slide, you get a date with a Top 5 team to right the ship. Let's hope the Hoyas do the same tomorrow night.

[KHoyaNYC]

Just curious why a Pitt win at BC made our RPI worse. Shouldn't it have helped?

[Joe Hoya]

KHoyaNYC said:

Just curious why a Pitt win at BC made our RPI worse. Shouldn't it have helped?

Probably because it hurt BC's RPI, win percentage, and other things more than it helped Pitt's. It made the Pitt win better, but the BC loss worse.

I don't know if it actually did any of those things, but I'm just guessing.