It’s tournament time in the city. Ring-a-ling. Hear them ring. Soon it will be the Final Four…
A trip to the Sweet Sixteen is on the line when the Horizon League meets the Big East in Washington D.C.
Southeast Regional action pits Panthers against Bulldogs
No. 1 Pitt prepares to knock heads with ‘America’s Team’
Former starter Nored strengthens Butler bench
Butler will be facing a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. A year ago, the Bulldogs defeated top-seeded Syracuse, 63-59, to earn their first “Sweet 16” victory and set up an “Elite Eight” game against
No. 2-seeded Kansas State. Butler was the only team in the 2010 NCAA Tournament to beat both a No. 1 and a No. 2 seed.
Pitt is playing in its 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament. Pitt earns a No. 1 seed for only the second time in program history (2009). Pitt is one of only seven programs nationally to advance to each of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments. The 10 NCAA tourney appearances for Pitt rank as the nation’s seventh longest current streak. In addition, the Panthers have advanced to five of the last nine NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen rounds. Pitt’s 14
NCAA Tournament victories rank as the eighth most nationally from 2002-10.
Probable Butler Starters
………………………………………….PPG …RPG
44 Andrew Smith 6-11 239 So. 9.0….. 5.5
54 Matt Howard 6-8 230 Sr. 16.7 …..7.8
2 Shawn Vanzant 6-0 172 Sr. 8.1…… 3.2
1 Shelvin Mack 6-3 215 Jr. 15.2…… 4.5
33 Chase Stigall 6-4 195 So. 4.1 ……1.8
Pitt’s probable starters
# NAME……………………………….. POS HT WT CL ………..PPG…… RPG
35 Nasir Robinson…………………… F 6-5 220 JR …………9.1……… 5.0
5 Gilbert Brown ……………………….F 6-6 215 SR*……….. 10.9…… 4.4
52 Gary McGhee ……………………..C 6-11 250 SR ………….6.9 …….7.7
22 Brad Wanamaker …………………G 6-4 210 SR ………….11.8 …….5.2
12 Ashton Gibbs……………………… G 6-2 190 JR ………….17.0…… 2.3
TEAM STATISTICS …………………PITT…………… OPP
…………..SCORING …………………2444………….. 2002
Points per game ……………………..74.1…………… 60.7
Scoring margin ……………………..+13.4 –
FIELD GOALS-ATT ………………..860-1820…… 711-1798
Field goal pct ……………………….. 4 7 3…………… . 3 9 5
3 POINT FG-ATT ………………….196-501 ………..187-583
3-point FG pct ………………………. 3 9 1……………. . 3 2 1
3-pt FG made per game …………….5.9……………….. 5.7
FREE THROWS-ATT …………….528-787…………. 393-584
Free throw pct …………………….. 6 7 1 ……………….. 6 7 3
F-Throws made per game ……….16.0 ………………….11.9
REBOUNDS ……………………………1326 …………………970
Rebounds per game ………………..40.2 ………………….29.4
Rebounding margin ……………….+10.8 –
ASSISTS ………………………………….574 ………………….382
Assists per game ………………………17.4…………………. 11.6
TURNOVERS …………………………….385 …………………..372
Turnovers per game…………………. 11.7 ………………….11.3
Turnover margin ………………………-0.4 –
Assist/turnover ratio ………………….1.5…………………… 1.0
STEALS ……………………………………158…………………… 165
Steals per game ………………………….4.8…………………… 5.0
BLOCKS …………………………………….111 ……………………139
Blocks per game …………………………3.4 …………………….4.2
Notes courtesy of butlersports.com and pittsburghpanthers.com.
“Mack the knife!”
Wow!! Maybe people will realize that Butler wasn’t a one year wonder..
Remember when Butler was on the bubble? Sure it was the product of media people needing to increase the views on their site.
Here’s the thing, why didn’t any of the teams that beat Butler get more respect?
When will the paradigm shift? It is not just the “power” conferences that play good basketball.
I think the paradigm starts to shift when people can watch more their games or when the recaps of their games are a major story on espn.com. Right now it happens way too frequent.
Milwaukee beat Butler twice this year and finished 19-14. No Invite.
Tennessee goes 19-14 this year.
USC 19-14 this year.
By the way Cleveland State (lost 3 times to Butler) finished first in the Horizon at 13-5 and 26-8. Their other five losses? 4 on the road.
You are preaching to the choir right now.
I know. Just needed to put that out there, so I could see it.
Break out the peach baskets! Butler and Wisconsin next week!
Bizarre fouls at the end of the game. Those poor kids on Pitt.
Joe it was bizarre. Not sure which station had it afterwards, but they interviewed the Head of the Officials and he comment was, “If it is a foul in the first half, it is a foul in the second half.”
So why is the Pitt player going over the back and hacking Howard when the game is tied and less than 2 seconds left in a tied game? He wasn’t going to score. Let him go and head to overtime.
Sure it was a bizarre ending. But it was also a bad decision as well.
Give credit to the kid from Pittsburgh who took full responsibility for the mistake in post-game comments.
Talk about taking your opponents best shot: Pitt shot 56.5 percent and lost.