Pittsburgh Basketball Is Like Ohio St. Football

Pitt Not Sweet Enough

When you ask most die-hard Ohio St. fans they will complain about how Tressel and his staff only recruit players just to win the Big Ten and not compete nationally. I have stated that many times as well when it talking about Buckeye football. The comparison can easily be made when it comes to Pittsburgh basketball. Pitt basketball is strictly built to win the Big East and not to win the NCAA tournament. Each year Pitt is ranked in the top ten and the last few years they have gotten a 1,2 or 3 seed only to be upset by a lower seed who is more balanced than them. Every Pitt team is built the same way. Stifling defense, rugged play and a few shooters. That style works in the rough and tumble Big East but it doesn't translate nationally where in a weekly two day tournament, they are easily exposed. I should have prefaced all this by saying that Butler played a spectacular game and their win should not be slighted. But in the end Pitt's lack of talent on a national level hurt them. All Butler did was have one of their guards have a career day and the rest of the guys hit their regular numbers. Pitt's lack of scoring punch as well as tight refereeing, always seems to doom the Panthers in the end. All that said, that last 9 seconds was unbelievable. Never seen an ending like that in all my many years of watching college basketball. If you are Pitt fan all I can say is the same thing I tell my Buckeye friends, Enjoy your confrence titles because natinal championships are not in your future.