Saturday, December 08, 2007

Pitt Barely Escapes Washington

DeJuan Butler shook his arms at the screaming Washington student section trying to quiet them down. Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon looked at the scorer's table for any sign that the Panthers (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) would remain unbeaten.

On the opposite side, Justin Dentmon was being mobbed by his Washington teammates for apparently hitting a needed game-winning shot.

In the middle of the chaos, a Pac-10 officiating crew stared at a tiny television monitor, trying to determine if Pittsburgh would remain undefeated.

The Panthers are 9-0. Barely.

Dentmon's runner in the lane as the buzzer sounded was disallowed after a lengthy video review, and the Panthers held off Washington's late rally for a 75-74 victory Saturday.

Despite the loss the young Huskies are showing improvement as the conference season gets closer. The return of Ryan Appleby gave the Huskies a needed boost from outside which takes a lot of pressure of Brockman on the inside.

2 comments:

hairofthedawg said...

Fun game to watch except for the end, but they made the right call.

Here's something I've been wondering about mainly basketball, but I guess it could apply to football as well. Is it sort of a curse to recruit the potential blue-chippers? Romar was successful in the past with players that would take the time develop and not expect to be the "stars". At UW, he's getting the type of player that expects things, and when they don't earn what they expect, they leave. I'm not sure what he can do as a coach to change it, but it bothers me. He walked into a very fortunate situation with the players he had for the magical season...they had attitude and not just for themselves. Basketball's a very different nut than football to crack, but I almost think that Romar, and Husky basketball, would benefit from recruiting guys that you know from the start are going to stick around rather than the ones that view the program as a stepping stone to something.

I enjoyed the hustle and like a lot of dawgman posters wish QP could put it together for a game, although his outbursts are very welcome. Who is next year's Appleby? I don't like the three point shot, but it's, sadly part of the game so we need someone who can drain them.

John Berkowitz said...

Typically you don't win big with really young teams. UW has lacked something since B-Roy left, they lack the type of player who takes over the game unselfishly.

The great recruiting class is now officially a bust, and don't blamd Romar, blame Hawes for leaving early for bucks before he was close to being ready. Spoencer won't develop well at the end of an NBA bench. I think Brockman has a better NBA future becuase he will be more prepared.

I think this current team will play very well in conference. They are gaining experience against some very good teams right now. The addition of appleby really helps.

As for next year I'm not sure who the 3 point guy will be.