Pitt vs Butler and the Officials

Lets get this straight. The last two calls were both correct. Obviously Howard got fouled with 0.8 seconds left. I am talking about the entire game, especially the first half.

The first 30 minutes of that game Butler got every call. I am fairly certain when the wind blew they thought Matt Howard was fouled. How many times did they show the "elbow" hit Howard's face replay? Three times. In none of those replays did an elbow contact Howard. Every time the ball went inside Pitt was either called for a block on defense or a charge on offense. Do you know why? Butler could not handle Pitt inside so they would appear to be bullied. The classic case of a big guy standing next to a small guy. Butler did not have proper body positioning to draw the fouls. It was simply officials that did not want a physical game. They made sure it would not be. If this game were played with Big East officials the Panthers would have won by 15.

I am not sour about the loss. Butler played exactly as they needed to. They shot lights out from behind the arch. However if you watched them play defense. There was more holding than a high school football game. Ashton Gibbs had 11 points on only 7 field goal attempts. Not because Butler shut him down, but because his jersey was grabbed on every screen he ran through. Pitt only got 18 free throw attempts, that is pretty low for one the leading free throw teams in the nation.

There are some positives to take away from this season, heading into next year. Pitt will have one of the best shooting back courts in the country, Gibbs and Woodall. Talib Zanna and Donte Taylor will be more polished and ready to dominate the boards. Gary McGhee and Brad Wanamaker will both not be here, nothing personal. I just think they are two of the most overrated players in the country. We also have two of the top ten incoming centers in the country.

The most important thing for this program going into next year: Jamie Dixon needs to learn how to coach in the tournament. This is the most underachieving program I have ever seen in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.