Panthers’ loss in tournament leads to questions about next season

For the first time in almost a week, I woke up this morning and I was in my bed.

While I… For the first time in almost a week, I woke up this morning and I was in my bed.

While I would like everyone to think I was having some kind of wild affair, I was actually spending the weekend in Minneapolis, reporting on what I had assumed would be two Pitt basketball games.

But after Thursday’s loss to Marquette, there I was, with one less game to cover and stuck in a hotel filled with taxidermy decorations and plenty of time to think.

And think I did.

For some reason, this Sweet Sixteen loss seems to leave a worse taste in my mouth than last year’s, but why?

Should there be celebrating that the Panthers won their first Big East title and made it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for just the third time since it expanded to 64 teams? Or should there be disappointment that this team was deemed better than last year’s, but failed to go farther?

I’m going to choose disappointment and listed below are eight reasons why Pitt basketball has got me down.

No. 1: Zavackas’ tantrum

After listening to how unselfish this team was all season long, to see Donatas Zavackas, one of Pitt’s seniors, sitting on the floor during timeouts with a pout on his face that would have put some 3-year-olds to shame was like a slap in the face.

I can imagine it would be disappointing to see a decrease in playing time, but if the team is winning, isn’t that better?

No. 2: Goodbye, Brandin

It was going to happen sometime, but it would have been a lot nicer for Pitt to have Brandin Knight’s final game happen in New Orleans rather than Minneapolis.

Knight made sure he didn’t go down without a fight, putting on one of his best performances of the season and nearly willing his team to a victory over the Golden Eagles.

Win or lose, Knight was one of the best, if not the best, to ever wear a Pitt jersey and let’s hope Carl Krauser learned a lot from him in the past two years.

No. 3: Goodbye, Ben?

The speculation has been going on for quite some time now, but now it seems the rumors that head coach Ben Howland never rejected are turning out to be true.

Howland admitted a few weeks ago that it was intriguing to possibly be considered for the head coaching position at UCLA, but always stated how he wanted to stay at Pitt.

However, actions speak louder than words and if Howland’s trip to California on Sunday and a team meeting on Monday that left players “glum-faced” mean anything, Pitt could be looking for a men’s head basketball coach by the end of the week.

No. 4: Disappearing Page

Julius Page could become the Panthers go-to guy and could surpass Knight as the greatest Pitt basketball player of all time, but only if he wants to.

But that seems to be a big “if,” especially after the disappearing act that Page put on during the second half of last week’s game.

Page did have seven of his 12 points in the second half, but none in the last seven minutes, with Pitt trailing by as many as 11, and he failed to grab a rebound for the entire game. Hard to believe for a guy who seems to be able to outjump just about anyone on the court.

No. 5: Skinny frontcourt

While it appears that Chevon Troutman should be able to step in and take Zavackas’ place in the starting lineup, it’s unclear who could step in for Ontario Lett.

The likely candidate would be Toree Morris, who started there last season and has the height and weight to be more of a force than Lett was.

But who will be his backup?

Mark McCarroll and Levon Kendall both have the height to play in the five spot, but their combined weight is about the same as Lett’s, leaving both players at an enormous disadvantage.

Unless one of the Panthers’ incoming freshmen proves that he can be a significant part of Pitt’s rotation, the depth that Pitt enjoyed this season seems to be long gone.

No. 6: Disappointing fans

I hate to touch on this subject because it was great to see the student section full for every home game since the beginning of January.

But with the cancellation of Pitt Program Council’s trip to Minneapolis last week, many Pitt fans proved they still aren’t that enthusiastic about basketball.

There were close to 5,000 people who attended Midnight Madness last November to try and score themselves season tickets for this year.

With that in mind, you would think there would be plenty of students fighting to fill the 52 spots on the PPC trip. Guess again.

No. 7: Marquette dismantled Kentucky

How did the Golden Eagles go from squeaking past Pitt by three to clobbering the Wildcats by 12? Does a 26-game winning streak meaning nothing to these Marquette folks?

No. 8: Proving the critics right

All season long, the experts said the Panthers weren’t as good as their record.

They haven’t beaten anybody outside of the Big East and their nonconference schedule was a joke. They can’t make free throws and it will kill them. No one on the team is in the top 20 in the conference in scoring.

But the Panthers remained in the top 10 all season and looked like a serious contender after winning the conference championship.

Knight, Troutman and Jaron Brown played well enough for Pitt to have a chance to win, but Dwyane Wade played better and Marquette did win.

Joe Marchilena is the assistant sports editor for The Pitt News and will be using a combination of baseball and beer to help cheer him up.