| 20 March 2011
And so it is / Just like you said it would be /
Life goes easy on me / Most of the the time /
And so it is /
The shorter story / No love, no glory /
No hero in her sky
Ok, sorry to sound like a 15 year old's mix tape, but oddly that's the obscure song from an obsure movie that I thought of as I watched Pitt's players walk through the stands back to their lockerroom after their loss to Butler.
This team deserved better. These seniors deserved better. But at the end of the day, there is no glory. For all their hard work, they didn't earn it.
That hurts to write. I never thought I would like a senior class as much as I absolutely loved the Fields-Young-Biggs-(Blair) team, but then came along this team that no matter what - no matter their rank or their hype or their seeding - were always scrappy underdogs. They fought and they fought and they fought. And they won and they won and they won.
Gilbert Brown, the inconsistent athlete who finally found his game.
Brad Wanamaker, the project guard who grew from a turnover machine into the engine that ran one of the most efficient offenses in the country.
Gary McGhee, the absolute definition of the Jamie Dixon player who went from a punchline to one of the premiere players at his position in the nation's most respected conference.
These young men deserved more. And that's why it's so hard to face the fact they didn't earn more.
If you're going to read just one piece on the game, it should be Sports Illustrated's Andy Glockner's:
The game already was a classic, the strong clubhouse leader for the best of this NCAA tournament. For 39 minutes and almost 51 seconds, Pitt and Butler staged the type of battle usually contested by those wearing padded gloves to complement their baggy shorts.
Just like in the latter stages of an epic prize fight, pedigree and reputation mattered no more. Two programs, with on-paper differences as wide as the spread between their 1- and 8-seeds, were virtual equals on this night under the bright Verizon Center lights. The giant scorecard above the court showed Panthers 69, Bulldogs 68. The roaring, delirious, bipartisan crowd rose to see the decision rendered.
And then the final 9.2 seconds vaulted the game to the ranks of the unforgettable -- involving two of most inexplicable fouls you'll ever see.
Mike Freeman of CBS sums it up fairly well:
The officials were putrid, the game was stunning, and Butler is doing what Butler does. But first, before all of that, you have to examine another head-shaking, frustrating, but totally predictable loss for No. 1 seed Pittsburgh.
The scene inside Pittsburgh's locker room after Butler's 71-70 victory over the Panthers said a great deal. Players spoke in barely audible whispers. Tears were in the eyes of a few. There was a mix of anger and confusion. One player emerged and screamed at the media: "Don't none of y'all go in there and harass the seniors! None of y'all!"
The Panthers knew. They had choked away another high seed which is about as regular a process for them as the sun rising or a reality TV star exposing their breasts. It's just that now Pittsburgh is finding creative ways to fall. It loses to good teams and mediocre teams; Cinderellas and traditional programs. It gags, it sputters, it doesn't advance.
Giving the Panthers a top seed is like offering them a chair and then pulling it out from under them just as they are about to sit. It's becoming a cosmic practical joke as coach Jamie Dixon's Pitt teams, despite many years with high seeds, have reached the Elite Eight just once. This year, guard Ashton Gibbs guaranteed the Panthers would make the Final Four. Gibbs was ignoring history. His own.
Ugh. Pitt deserves a whole lot of criticism. They've earned that. Time and time again, they could have put this game away, or at least pulled away a bit. Instead, they failed to capitalize. They didn't play bad, per se - instead, I think they played pretty damn well offensively - but they just couldn't overcome a hot shooting team. And when Butler made mistakes, they couldn't take advantage.
Jamie Dixon agrees in his post-game presser.
ESPN's Eamonn Brennan has more on on how seconds become moments and moments become legends:
As we saw Saturday, those moments -- those seconds when players become part of tournament lore for better or for worse -- are infinitesimally small. They can be joyful. They can be cruel. Those moments are what make this tournament so much more than the success or failure of your bracket. They're what makes this tournament so real.
Nowhere was this more evident Saturday than in Washington, D.C. If you haven't seen the highlights yet, you have no idea what you're in for. Watch them now. Frankly, go back and watch the whole game. Butler's 71-70 win over Pittsburgh is the kind of March Madness miracle -- replete with not one but two "OH MY GOD THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN" final moments -- that will stay with us for years to come.
Oh, and if you happen to see a Pitt fan, give that Pitt fan a hug. There aren't many worse ways to lose.
I'll skip the entire game recap because, frankly, if you didn't see it, why are you here? This is a game that will be remembered for the last 10 seconds. Sadly. Sadly because it was a well-played game by two teams who just played pretty damn close to their potential.
And yes, there will be criticism of the officials. USA Today has comments from the interested parties. But it was a foul on Sheldon Mack and it was a foul on Gilbert Brown. The rules of the game don't suddently change when there are 10 seconds left. And yes, it was a dumb foul on Mack and a douber foul on Nasir. But they were both fouls and they should have been called. The players don't blame the officials and neither should anyone else (but you can check out a good compilation of reaction to the calls here).
But let's not forget - and it will be forgotten; overwritten with the memories of the last 10 seconds - that it was a damn good game:
Best game from Saturday: I could replace "Saturday" with "the season" and not be too far off. The Butler-Pittsburgh thriller was just that good. Butler shot 46 percent, Pittsburgh better than 56 percent. Butler knocked down a dozen 3-pointers, Pitt shot nearly 55 percent from behind the arc. Of course, that has nothing to do with how memorable the game was. The ending will be the signature sequence of this season's NCAA tournament.
SI's Luke Winn has some video of the Butler locker-room celebration, if you can stomach it.
But this game will always be remembered for the wild finish, and in particular, the Robinson foul. That's a shame, since Robinson took about as far as a leap forward this year as anyone on the team:
"We lost that game as a team," Wanamaker said. "It didn't come down to Gil missing the free throw, and it definitely didn't come down to Nas getting that foul. If we had done what we were supposed to do from the jump, we would have won the game."
Gibbs (11 points) also deflected any blame from Brown and Robinson, who combined to shoot 15 for 20 from the field and scored 40 points. Gibbs said Pitt, which shot 56 percent from the field and outrebounded Butler by 11, shouldn't have put itself in position to have the game decided in the final seconds.
"I feel for him," Gibbs said of Robinson. "It doesn't fall into his hands. There were way more plays that I could have done, that the team could have done to prevent that situation from happening."
It doesn't seem like anyone blames Robinson, except him:
“Nasir was just trying to make a play,” Brown said. “It’s not like he did it intentionally or anything. He’s a hard worker. He’s a hustler. He’s probably the hardest worker on the team.”
But Robinson didn’t shy away from any responsibility.
“I blame myself,” Robinson said in the locker room. “I am smarter than that. I have been playing this game too long to make a dumb mistake like that.”
While the national media did a pretty good job keeping things in perspective - Pitt lost a tough game to a tough opponent on some tough (albeit correct) calls and by the slimmest of margins - the local media is just plain losing it. Dejan Kovacevic, who was supposed to be the new voice of experience and reason in the Post-Gazette Sports page, decided to get a good night's rest and phone in "Worst choke job in Pitt history?" (PG+).
Ron Cook was cranking out the Pitt fluff pieces this week. Until today. Now it's "same old Pitt Panthers."
Ray Fittipaldo has some good pieces on PG+ on the referres' responses to the calls as well as the NCAA head of officiating's take on the calls.
And perhaps that's why the sting of this one won't subside. Like the Scottie Reynolds lay-up, the end of this game was the end of an era. There's talent coming in, but there's as much uncertainty as losing the four starters from 08-09. Yes, Gibbs will be back with Woodall to dish him the ball. And yes, Robinson will be back to anchor the power forward spot with Zanna nipping at his heels. But that doesn't take away the sting. Or the question marks.
It stings that on March 19th, 2011, the journey that began in July in a hot gym in Greentree is over. The hurt that was felt by the fans has to be magnified 100 times on the players who put so much more into this season than we could ever dream of.
For us Pitt fans, it's time to recharge and prepare for another school year of Pitt athletics. Next up we have the football spring game and the Greentree league. Some of us are more anxious than others:
Hail. Always.
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