So Much For Kansas State

Pitt may have been hard pressed to beat Kansas State, but I would have liked to see them try. I actually thought they could have had a decent chance against them, but so much for that.

Pitt again let another team that is probably slightly inferior to them, get the best of them. I think Pitt is a little better than Xavier, but they sure didn't look the part today. Got to give Xavier credit. Or more to the point, Jordan Crawford credit.. He didn't single-handedly beat Pitt, but he scored about 40% of his team's points. Ouch.

Our Panthers have had their shares of problems with teams that have a star guard. As much of a defensive stopper as Jermaine Dixon appears to be, not only didn't he stop Crawford, he couldn't even slow him down a little. Add in the fact that he was only 1-9 from the field and, well, he didn't do a very good job today. I like him as a player and think he shows a lot of heart, but in reality, what he is is just a fine player. He does okay and can occasionally have a very good game. But that's it.

I'm not going to blame it all on him, though. Gary McGhee did absolutely nothing (0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers) in nearly 20 minutes of action. Not to rehash an old argument, but if this is the Most Improved Player of the Year, than I might as well be.

Considering that Dixon and little-played reserve Chase Adams are the only players leaving, and Pitt should be a top 15 team coming into next year. Pitt will be a veteran team with five upperclassmen playing significant minutes. Unfortunately for Pitt, I don't know if any of those guys will be the much-needed 'go to' scorer they need. But that's discussion for another time.

Now the question - was this a disappointing year for Pitt? Well, I'll expound on this later, but yes, I think it was.