Monday, May 3, 2010
History: Take 2
For the first time in 4 years of playing college ultimate, I'll be PLAYING at Nationals.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
History
For the first time in 4 years of playing college ultimate, I'll be PLAYING at Regionals. Pretty excited. More on sectionals later.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
College Easterns: Recaps
It was a busy March for Pitt ultimate. We played in 3 tournaments in 4 weekends, with a lot of unexpected conditions. Last weekend it was time for our final regular season tournament: Easterns. There were 18 teams and some good competition from some up-and-coming teams. And the weather? Pretty good. 70s and a little wind on Saturday. Nearing 80 and a more steady, but manageable wind on Sunday. Eddie's got some stuff as well.
Here's my pretty long post:
Saturday
Duke (Pitt wins 15-6): Nothing much to talk about this game. We could've easily won this game by more. We won because we were the better team, not because we did anything spectacular. It was a good warmup game.
San Diego State University (Pitt wins 15-8): Similar to the Duke game, this was a tougher warmup game. We won, yet again, because we were the better team. SDSU is better than Duke, but just as our competition improved so did our playing. Thing is, we started out somewhat flat and SDSU broke us a couple times and held a lead early. But then we went on a 13-1 run and ran them into the gorund. Guys started to adapt to the weather conditions and wake up.
Kansas (Pitt wins 15-1): I don't even know how to describe this game. Somehow, somewhere people started talking highly of Kansas. How they were a very aggressive team and it could be the toughest game of the day. We were told to get observers for the game because it was going to be chippy. Kansas was hyped - big time. Then we went up 13-0 and it actually felt like some kind of joke. Up 13-0, we sent the O-line out to play D and they gave up the score that broke the shutout. Kansas rushed the field and the sidelines jokingly poked fun at the O-line. In all, there isn't much you can say bad about a 15-1 win.
SHOWCASE: Ohio State (Pitt wins 15-8): I don't think there was any other team at Easterns that we wanted to beat than OSU. We traded points early, but they never gave us the competition that we saw at QCTU. Our intensity is what gave us a 2 or 3 point lead at half before we sprinted out the second half for the win.
The only thing sweeter than beating Ohio State was getting free* jerseys. And the only thing sweeter than getting free* jerseys was winning our pool. And sweeter than that? An 11 a.m. start time on Sunday.
Sunday
QUARTERFINALS: Georgia (Pitt wins 15-5): Fresh off a universe point win over UNCW in prequarters, Georgia was tired. The game was fairly close in the beginning but I don't think any of expected that to last long. We got the crucial updwind/downwind break (winds picked up on Sunday) towards the end of the first half and Georgia never threatened again. Easy but solid win to start out the day.
SEMIFINALS: Virginia (Pitt wins 13-9): With wind much more of a factor, but nothing like it was in Centex, upwind/downwind breaks were necessary to win. If we got the upwind break, we needed to get the downwind one to go with it. Unfortunately, anytime we did, Virginia would come score the upwind offensive one and then maybe get the downwind break. A few breaks early in the first half by both teams, but the game was on serve heading into halftime as we trailed 8-7. Starting out the second half on offensive with the wind meant we'd have to score an upwind break to win the game. Right after our offense scored to make it 8-8. Our D-line got the upwind break - 9-8. And finally converted the downwind break - 10-8. Virginia answered but we got the upwind/downwind break again. Virginia is a pretty solid team and they upset Cornell in quarterfinals. They have a good handler (don't know his name) but he could rip the disk upwind or downwind. Unfortunately, their offense revolved around him and he couldn't do it all. Still a good team.
FINALS: WISCONSIN (Pitt loses 14-11): For the second time in three tournament were in finals at good tournament. And for the second time, we lose. Sucks and pretty heartbreaking. We also put up our 15 jerseys for winning the showcase game on the line in a winner-takes-all contest. Anyways, like has been the case all season, we came out pretty flat in a game and it showed. When we bring intensity and never let up, I really think we're the best team in the country (I feel like we've shown that at times throughout this season). But when we're flat and lazy, we struggle (And again...I feel like we've shown that at times). As for the game, they hucked it deep to their tall guys and we never had extra deep help. It also didn't help that some of their tall guys made some nice catches. Our O-line got broken early in the game. I think we started out down 5-0 before it was 8-3 at half. Hell, we took the second half 8-6 after showing some intensity and getting some updwind/downwind breaks.
I felt like this game could be summed up in this one point I played in the second half. We were trailing 11-9 out of half and with the cap looming, we needed a double break. We got the upwind break the point before. I'm covering one of their main handlers as Wisco heads upwind. I've got their guy near the one sideline we're forcing about 40 yards from the endzone. I kill the dump and he lets off some stall 9 bending huck upwind. We get a couple under and they do, too. Wisco comes down with the disk and a quick pass or two later, they score the goal. It was like we did everything we could on the point, shut them down and were about to really close in on them...and then we couldn't come down with the disk when we needed. We needed a play to be made and we didn't get it.
But that's Easterns. Series starts this weekend. Sectionals in Penn State.
Here's my pretty long post:
Saturday
Duke (Pitt wins 15-6): Nothing much to talk about this game. We could've easily won this game by more. We won because we were the better team, not because we did anything spectacular. It was a good warmup game.
San Diego State University (Pitt wins 15-8): Similar to the Duke game, this was a tougher warmup game. We won, yet again, because we were the better team. SDSU is better than Duke, but just as our competition improved so did our playing. Thing is, we started out somewhat flat and SDSU broke us a couple times and held a lead early. But then we went on a 13-1 run and ran them into the gorund. Guys started to adapt to the weather conditions and wake up.
Kansas (Pitt wins 15-1): I don't even know how to describe this game. Somehow, somewhere people started talking highly of Kansas. How they were a very aggressive team and it could be the toughest game of the day. We were told to get observers for the game because it was going to be chippy. Kansas was hyped - big time. Then we went up 13-0 and it actually felt like some kind of joke. Up 13-0, we sent the O-line out to play D and they gave up the score that broke the shutout. Kansas rushed the field and the sidelines jokingly poked fun at the O-line. In all, there isn't much you can say bad about a 15-1 win.
SHOWCASE: Ohio State (Pitt wins 15-8): I don't think there was any other team at Easterns that we wanted to beat than OSU. We traded points early, but they never gave us the competition that we saw at QCTU. Our intensity is what gave us a 2 or 3 point lead at half before we sprinted out the second half for the win.
The only thing sweeter than beating Ohio State was getting free* jerseys. And the only thing sweeter than getting free* jerseys was winning our pool. And sweeter than that? An 11 a.m. start time on Sunday.
Sunday
QUARTERFINALS: Georgia (Pitt wins 15-5): Fresh off a universe point win over UNCW in prequarters, Georgia was tired. The game was fairly close in the beginning but I don't think any of expected that to last long. We got the crucial updwind/downwind break (winds picked up on Sunday) towards the end of the first half and Georgia never threatened again. Easy but solid win to start out the day.
SEMIFINALS: Virginia (Pitt wins 13-9): With wind much more of a factor, but nothing like it was in Centex, upwind/downwind breaks were necessary to win. If we got the upwind break, we needed to get the downwind one to go with it. Unfortunately, anytime we did, Virginia would come score the upwind offensive one and then maybe get the downwind break. A few breaks early in the first half by both teams, but the game was on serve heading into halftime as we trailed 8-7. Starting out the second half on offensive with the wind meant we'd have to score an upwind break to win the game. Right after our offense scored to make it 8-8. Our D-line got the upwind break - 9-8. And finally converted the downwind break - 10-8. Virginia answered but we got the upwind/downwind break again. Virginia is a pretty solid team and they upset Cornell in quarterfinals. They have a good handler (don't know his name) but he could rip the disk upwind or downwind. Unfortunately, their offense revolved around him and he couldn't do it all. Still a good team.
FINALS: WISCONSIN (Pitt loses 14-11): For the second time in three tournament were in finals at good tournament. And for the second time, we lose. Sucks and pretty heartbreaking. We also put up our 15 jerseys for winning the showcase game on the line in a winner-takes-all contest. Anyways, like has been the case all season, we came out pretty flat in a game and it showed. When we bring intensity and never let up, I really think we're the best team in the country (I feel like we've shown that at times throughout this season). But when we're flat and lazy, we struggle (And again...I feel like we've shown that at times). As for the game, they hucked it deep to their tall guys and we never had extra deep help. It also didn't help that some of their tall guys made some nice catches. Our O-line got broken early in the game. I think we started out down 5-0 before it was 8-3 at half. Hell, we took the second half 8-6 after showing some intensity and getting some updwind/downwind breaks.
I felt like this game could be summed up in this one point I played in the second half. We were trailing 11-9 out of half and with the cap looming, we needed a double break. We got the upwind break the point before. I'm covering one of their main handlers as Wisco heads upwind. I've got their guy near the one sideline we're forcing about 40 yards from the endzone. I kill the dump and he lets off some stall 9 bending huck upwind. We get a couple under and they do, too. Wisco comes down with the disk and a quick pass or two later, they score the goal. It was like we did everything we could on the point, shut them down and were about to really close in on them...and then we couldn't come down with the disk when we needed. We needed a play to be made and we didn't get it.
But that's Easterns. Series starts this weekend. Sectionals in Penn State.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Stanford Invite: Followup
I've always enjoyed playing defense. I like it because it's like getting to play two points in one. Your main objective is to essentially destroy an offense and the rub it their face by scoring on them. It's a great feeling to know that you're (the defense) the reason why a team is losing, why they can't win and why they won't come back. You control the game and the tempo. It's how we're running things on the team right now and it's so important.
The team thrives on the defense. This isn't to say anything against our offense because they're the 7 most skilled and best ultimate players on the our team, but our defense is what fuels Pitt ultimate. We want nothing more than to start a game on D and absolutely crush any hope our opponent has by getting the first break. It gets the D pumped up and the O as well so they can come on the field and score if need be. If we get a few breaks early, it takes the pressure off our O (and our D, really). Defense is such a huge momentum shift, a game changer.
This was shown in our games at Stanford. When we won, especially against teams like CUT and Wisco, our defense was energized and fired up. And our losses, like Cal, our defense wasn't.
For me, I played pretty much every D point last weekend, save one here and there because we wanted some height on the field for a zone. It was exhausting, but I thought I was playing well. But then I started looking back on the tournament and I realized that I had like one layout D. That got to me because, and Henry Thorne has told me since I was in high school, I thought I was more of a playmaker on D. But I didn't do any of that last weekend. I was no Eddie, who had just some unreal layout Ds, or Colin, who had some great skies.
But I started thinking some more and I realized that, despite playing nearly every D point, I didn't have any showtime Ds because that's not my style anymore. I don't know when it happened, but I can remember starting to change my approach on D during Wilmington 8s. I started guarding more handlers. I started learning more of how a handler works, the thrown and run, and began working on stopping that. This tournament was the first one that really felt like my workouts and strength and conditioning paid off (I'm working out about 5 days a week, including practice). I think that helped me on D, guarding handlers and going step for step with them. I also really worked on my marking and felt like I was very prepared at knowing when to kill a dump throw or force a turnover.
I got beat up line only once or twice, including for a goal against Colorado in semifinals that really pissed me off, but I played fairly strong and consistent throughout the tournament. I might not make the highlight reel, but if I can shut down my handler, cause a turnover or a bad huck, I'll take that any day.
Centex in 7.
The team thrives on the defense. This isn't to say anything against our offense because they're the 7 most skilled and best ultimate players on the our team, but our defense is what fuels Pitt ultimate. We want nothing more than to start a game on D and absolutely crush any hope our opponent has by getting the first break. It gets the D pumped up and the O as well so they can come on the field and score if need be. If we get a few breaks early, it takes the pressure off our O (and our D, really). Defense is such a huge momentum shift, a game changer.
This was shown in our games at Stanford. When we won, especially against teams like CUT and Wisco, our defense was energized and fired up. And our losses, like Cal, our defense wasn't.
For me, I played pretty much every D point last weekend, save one here and there because we wanted some height on the field for a zone. It was exhausting, but I thought I was playing well. But then I started looking back on the tournament and I realized that I had like one layout D. That got to me because, and Henry Thorne has told me since I was in high school, I thought I was more of a playmaker on D. But I didn't do any of that last weekend. I was no Eddie, who had just some unreal layout Ds, or Colin, who had some great skies.
But I started thinking some more and I realized that, despite playing nearly every D point, I didn't have any showtime Ds because that's not my style anymore. I don't know when it happened, but I can remember starting to change my approach on D during Wilmington 8s. I started guarding more handlers. I started learning more of how a handler works, the thrown and run, and began working on stopping that. This tournament was the first one that really felt like my workouts and strength and conditioning paid off (I'm working out about 5 days a week, including practice). I think that helped me on D, guarding handlers and going step for step with them. I also really worked on my marking and felt like I was very prepared at knowing when to kill a dump throw or force a turnover.
I got beat up line only once or twice, including for a goal against Colorado in semifinals that really pissed me off, but I played fairly strong and consistent throughout the tournament. I might not make the highlight reel, but if I can shut down my handler, cause a turnover or a bad huck, I'll take that any day.
Centex in 7.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Stanford Invite: Recaps
What a weekend. Lot of stuff to talk about, so I'm glad it's spring break so I can try to do that. Overall, I felt I played really well. I played just about every D-line point with a couple O-line points scattered across the two days. Needless to say, I was pretty sore yesterday and just getting back into things. I'll talk more about my play and other team thoughts later, but for now: the results.
Pitt took home 2nd place with a 5-2 overall record. It was a great weekend, especially considering our initial 8th seed and our poor performance at Queen City Tune Up. It was good, it was fun, it was awesome to upset some teams. I didn't play on A last year, but I was at Nationals watching them. In what was dubbed Revenge Tour 2010, we beat the three teams that beat us at Nationals last year. That was sweet.
These are fairly short recaps, as I realized I don't really remember score-by-score or play-by-play from these games. I played too many points and they all just jumbled together at some point.
Saturday
Texas (Pitt wins 13-6): Easy win as Texas never really gave us a problem. We started out on D and jumped to a lead with a break. I poached a lane early and snagged a toss. A few plays later and we were up. The D-line kept the intensity rolling all game and our O-line fed off that anytime we didn't get a break. We took a comfortable lead at half and kept doing more of the same in the second half. The game was highlighted by an nasty catch from Al. After getting a turn on D, we were working it up the field when a throw to Al was very tight between him and his defender in front of him about 10 yards from the endzone. Texas had positioning and should've gotten the D. Both guys laid out and everybody thought Texas got the D - I thought so, too, after watching the Texas sideline erupt after the catch. Needless to say, Al somehow gets his hand in front of the Texas guy, gets up quickly and throws a goal before anybody realizes what just happened. Pitt storms the field.
California (Pitt loses 13-9): As is the case with us sometimes, we win big against a team only to come out flat the next game. Case in point: Pitt vs. Cal. We kept it close at times, but we were never able to adjust to get the breaks when we needed them. Our D-line lost energy and our O-line couldn't fix anything. Cal runs away with it at the end and we fall to 1-1. Losing our second game wasn't good and it meant we'd pretty much have to win out to make the Championship Bracket (there were no pre-quarters/play-ins or quarterfinals at the Invite, just a semis and championship game).
Carleton (Pitt wins 13-7): What a great game to play in. We come out fired early in the game on D and get multiple breaks to take a huge lead at half, 7-3. Even then, it felt like we were just dominating - and we were. CUT never got close and our D-line shut them down significantly. This was the first time that I realized all of the hard work (not just me, but the team) was paying off. We were really well conditioned and just running around the CUT players on offense and staying with them step for step on defense. It was complete shutdown, dominating performance. After beating CUT, the No. 1 seed, it looked like the race for the top two spots in Pool A were wide open. Having never played CUT before, but watching the Pitt guys at Nationals last year, I hated them. After playing them, even though it wasn't a chippy game, I can see why Pitt doesn't like CUT: they're cocky and don't show respect (not that don't show sportsmanship).
Wisconsin (Pitt wins 13-10): After beating CUT, the team is fired up for another Nationals rematch - this time against Wisco. Word comes in from Josh that the Wisco and CUT coaches were talking and the CUT guys say they lost the game because they beat themselves and that we didn't really outmatch or outplay them. The Wisco guys agree and don't think their game against us will be a tough one. Throughout the game, they continuously talk down to us, even when they were getting beat pretty handily. I guess some times just have a hard time adjusting to a different Pitt team. As for the game, it was back-and-forth early before we got a couple breaks and took half on an absolutely unreal goal catch from Ty. Beat to the disc by the Wisco guy, Ty makes up ground with good closing speed and literally robs the guy from the disc right in front of his face - snags the disc with a pseudo-layout/sky with his hand reaching over in front of the Wisco guy. I think we took half 8-5 or 8-6 with the goal. We trade points out of half and get a break. Up 12-8, we had a chance to close the game out on D. But we get beat and the O-line gets broken. A two point game late wasn't what we wanted but our O-line puts in the final goal and we win. It was another great win and it meant we control our own destiny when it comes to the Championship Bracket with one more pool play game Sunday morning.
Sunday
UC-Santa Barbara (Pitt wins 13-8): Feeling good after our 3-1 Saturday performance, we're energized for the UCSB game. Unfortunately, they were also ready for this game and both teams traded points early in the game. Eventually the D-line makes adjustments to bracket the cutters (UCSB relied on their huck) and force towards their side stack. This makes an instant impact as we rattle off a few breaks and take a halftime lead. We kept with our first half adjustments in the second half and the Black Tide were never really in contention. We beat them and finish first in our pool, after being seeded 4th in it and 8th overall, and get ready for semifinals.
SEMIFINALS: Colorado (Pitt wins 15-13): Haven't been this excited for a game since 8s finals back in November. All the hard work we've put in so far this season was starting to pay off, like I said about the CUT game. For being such an important game, both teams were very aggressive with the disc early in the game. It led to some turnovers, but neither team got a break until Pitt got the deciding one to grab a 7-6 lead before half. You know what's weird? For as important of a break as it was, I can't remember what happened. I want to say it was a deep huck after a turnover, but the D-line could've very well just worked the disc up and scored from 5 yards out. Anyways, we were up 8-7 at the break. More of the same in the second half as both teams traded points. Colorado got their break back to make it 10-10 or 11, but the D-line responded back with a break of their own. Up 14-12, the D-line couldn't close the game (something we talked about after the game) but our O-line was there. We kept on rolling on our way into finals.
FINALS: Oregon (Pitt loses 15-9): If I was excited for the semifinals matchup, I don't know how to describe this game. Finals at Stanford Invite. Pitt vs. Oregon. Two teams nobody expected to be there, yet here we were. Oregon, which beat CUT in the other semifinals matchup after being down by 4 or 5 in the game, is a great team and the way they play, is one reason why I think they're now the team to beat. As for the game, it was similar to the semifinals game against Colorado with both teams hucking early and often. Both D-lines got multiple turnovers, but neither got the break. That is until Oregon a couple late in the first half and we were down 8-6 at the break. For some reason, whatever it was, we didn't have it in us for a second half comeback. We traded points right at the beginning, but then Oregon rattled off like 4 straight breaks and that made it 100x harder for our D-line to comeback. Put that on top of playing our sixth game of the weekend and we were strapped to find energy. It never came and neither did our comeback.
It was a tough way to end a weekend, but a lot of good game from it. We finished 2nd at the Stanford Invite. That's insane. We were really well conditioned, but fell apart in the second half of the final game of the weekend - there's still work to do. This is from RSD:
Pitt took home 2nd place with a 5-2 overall record. It was a great weekend, especially considering our initial 8th seed and our poor performance at Queen City Tune Up. It was good, it was fun, it was awesome to upset some teams. I didn't play on A last year, but I was at Nationals watching them. In what was dubbed Revenge Tour 2010, we beat the three teams that beat us at Nationals last year. That was sweet.
These are fairly short recaps, as I realized I don't really remember score-by-score or play-by-play from these games. I played too many points and they all just jumbled together at some point.
Saturday
Texas (Pitt wins 13-6): Easy win as Texas never really gave us a problem. We started out on D and jumped to a lead with a break. I poached a lane early and snagged a toss. A few plays later and we were up. The D-line kept the intensity rolling all game and our O-line fed off that anytime we didn't get a break. We took a comfortable lead at half and kept doing more of the same in the second half. The game was highlighted by an nasty catch from Al. After getting a turn on D, we were working it up the field when a throw to Al was very tight between him and his defender in front of him about 10 yards from the endzone. Texas had positioning and should've gotten the D. Both guys laid out and everybody thought Texas got the D - I thought so, too, after watching the Texas sideline erupt after the catch. Needless to say, Al somehow gets his hand in front of the Texas guy, gets up quickly and throws a goal before anybody realizes what just happened. Pitt storms the field.
California (Pitt loses 13-9): As is the case with us sometimes, we win big against a team only to come out flat the next game. Case in point: Pitt vs. Cal. We kept it close at times, but we were never able to adjust to get the breaks when we needed them. Our D-line lost energy and our O-line couldn't fix anything. Cal runs away with it at the end and we fall to 1-1. Losing our second game wasn't good and it meant we'd pretty much have to win out to make the Championship Bracket (there were no pre-quarters/play-ins or quarterfinals at the Invite, just a semis and championship game).
Carleton (Pitt wins 13-7): What a great game to play in. We come out fired early in the game on D and get multiple breaks to take a huge lead at half, 7-3. Even then, it felt like we were just dominating - and we were. CUT never got close and our D-line shut them down significantly. This was the first time that I realized all of the hard work (not just me, but the team) was paying off. We were really well conditioned and just running around the CUT players on offense and staying with them step for step on defense. It was complete shutdown, dominating performance. After beating CUT, the No. 1 seed, it looked like the race for the top two spots in Pool A were wide open. Having never played CUT before, but watching the Pitt guys at Nationals last year, I hated them. After playing them, even though it wasn't a chippy game, I can see why Pitt doesn't like CUT: they're cocky and don't show respect (not that don't show sportsmanship).
Wisconsin (Pitt wins 13-10): After beating CUT, the team is fired up for another Nationals rematch - this time against Wisco. Word comes in from Josh that the Wisco and CUT coaches were talking and the CUT guys say they lost the game because they beat themselves and that we didn't really outmatch or outplay them. The Wisco guys agree and don't think their game against us will be a tough one. Throughout the game, they continuously talk down to us, even when they were getting beat pretty handily. I guess some times just have a hard time adjusting to a different Pitt team. As for the game, it was back-and-forth early before we got a couple breaks and took half on an absolutely unreal goal catch from Ty. Beat to the disc by the Wisco guy, Ty makes up ground with good closing speed and literally robs the guy from the disc right in front of his face - snags the disc with a pseudo-layout/sky with his hand reaching over in front of the Wisco guy. I think we took half 8-5 or 8-6 with the goal. We trade points out of half and get a break. Up 12-8, we had a chance to close the game out on D. But we get beat and the O-line gets broken. A two point game late wasn't what we wanted but our O-line puts in the final goal and we win. It was another great win and it meant we control our own destiny when it comes to the Championship Bracket with one more pool play game Sunday morning.
Sunday
UC-Santa Barbara (Pitt wins 13-8): Feeling good after our 3-1 Saturday performance, we're energized for the UCSB game. Unfortunately, they were also ready for this game and both teams traded points early in the game. Eventually the D-line makes adjustments to bracket the cutters (UCSB relied on their huck) and force towards their side stack. This makes an instant impact as we rattle off a few breaks and take a halftime lead. We kept with our first half adjustments in the second half and the Black Tide were never really in contention. We beat them and finish first in our pool, after being seeded 4th in it and 8th overall, and get ready for semifinals.
SEMIFINALS: Colorado (Pitt wins 15-13): Haven't been this excited for a game since 8s finals back in November. All the hard work we've put in so far this season was starting to pay off, like I said about the CUT game. For being such an important game, both teams were very aggressive with the disc early in the game. It led to some turnovers, but neither team got a break until Pitt got the deciding one to grab a 7-6 lead before half. You know what's weird? For as important of a break as it was, I can't remember what happened. I want to say it was a deep huck after a turnover, but the D-line could've very well just worked the disc up and scored from 5 yards out. Anyways, we were up 8-7 at the break. More of the same in the second half as both teams traded points. Colorado got their break back to make it 10-10 or 11, but the D-line responded back with a break of their own. Up 14-12, the D-line couldn't close the game (something we talked about after the game) but our O-line was there. We kept on rolling on our way into finals.
FINALS: Oregon (Pitt loses 15-9): If I was excited for the semifinals matchup, I don't know how to describe this game. Finals at Stanford Invite. Pitt vs. Oregon. Two teams nobody expected to be there, yet here we were. Oregon, which beat CUT in the other semifinals matchup after being down by 4 or 5 in the game, is a great team and the way they play, is one reason why I think they're now the team to beat. As for the game, it was similar to the semifinals game against Colorado with both teams hucking early and often. Both D-lines got multiple turnovers, but neither got the break. That is until Oregon a couple late in the first half and we were down 8-6 at the break. For some reason, whatever it was, we didn't have it in us for a second half comeback. We traded points right at the beginning, but then Oregon rattled off like 4 straight breaks and that made it 100x harder for our D-line to comeback. Put that on top of playing our sixth game of the weekend and we were strapped to find energy. It never came and neither did our comeback.
It was a tough way to end a weekend, but a lot of good game from it. We finished 2nd at the Stanford Invite. That's insane. We were really well conditioned, but fell apart in the second half of the final game of the weekend - there's still work to do. This is from RSD:
Ego really stepped up their defense in the second half and pretty much ran away with it, reeling off four or five straight breaks to take a lead they wouldn't give up. I suspect Pitt ran out of gas in the second half, even though Oregon had a tougher semifinal game.All but 4 guys stayed in California this week for spring break, which is where they are now. After this week, it'll be back to the grind as we gear up for Centex in less than 2 weeks.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Not that I'm looking past Stanford...
...but this is odd: http://scores.upa.org/scores/#college-open/tournament/6691
No Pittsburgh anywhere.
CC says it'll get taken care of, though. And who doesn't believe him?
No Pittsburgh anywhere.
CC says it'll get taken care of, though. And who doesn't believe him?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Queen City Tune Up 2010
So that happened. Tough weekend. Still trying to piece together how we could've finished 9th. 9th. Let that sink in. We were seeded 1st. We finished 9th. Jeeze.
Eddie put together a few thoughts on how we struggled:
And I think all of this comes down one central reason for our problems this weekend.
The last thing to happen to us as a team was a little thing called Wilmington 8s. It was our premier tournament of the fall season and we won it. We beat everybody there. We went 8-0. We beat Florida. We beat Cornell - twice. Whether we said so aloud or not, we thought we were the best. We were the team to beat.
QCTU? Where's the competition? We've got that.
And you know what? We were probably right about that. We were among the top teams. We didn't say anything on RSD, but that didn't stop people and other teams hyping us up. We might not have said anything, but we read it. We knew it was out there. We saw the Coaches and Captains 25 poll and saw the first place votes. We saw us in the top 5, the top 3.
We saw people hate on us because we were good, not because of how we play. Jealousy hit other teams and overconfidence hit the Pitt team.
In all of that, we traveled to North Carolina expecting to win it all. And not that a team should never expect to win it because you want that winning mentality. We never really took a team seriously. We were excited, we were pumped and we were ready to roll over teams. But we never thought any of them would give us a challenge.
And whenever a team did that...we didn't know what to do. We weren't mentally prepared as Eddie put it. We weren't mentally tough as Josh has said.
Look at the Michigan State game. We didn't know what was happening. We tried to make a big play every time to get us back into the game, instead of working hard, grinding and scoring the Pitt way.
It sucks that we are where we are right now, but we put ourselves in this position. We became a team over the weekend, even in losing, and we'll work as a team. We'll put this behind us and look to the future.
Eyes on the prize, one tournament at a time. Getting ready for Stanford.
Eddie put together a few thoughts on how we struggled:
1.) We are younger than I expected.I'd agree with this, it's just unfortunate that we didn't realize this until this weekend. Even then, not until the Delaware game on Sunday.
2.) Our roster losses have been more impactful than I expected.
3.) Our defense is soft.
4.) Our mental game is soft.
5.) Our offense is soft.
And I think all of this comes down one central reason for our problems this weekend.
The last thing to happen to us as a team was a little thing called Wilmington 8s. It was our premier tournament of the fall season and we won it. We beat everybody there. We went 8-0. We beat Florida. We beat Cornell - twice. Whether we said so aloud or not, we thought we were the best. We were the team to beat.
QCTU? Where's the competition? We've got that.
And you know what? We were probably right about that. We were among the top teams. We didn't say anything on RSD, but that didn't stop people and other teams hyping us up. We might not have said anything, but we read it. We knew it was out there. We saw the Coaches and Captains 25 poll and saw the first place votes. We saw us in the top 5, the top 3.
We saw people hate on us because we were good, not because of how we play. Jealousy hit other teams and overconfidence hit the Pitt team.
In all of that, we traveled to North Carolina expecting to win it all. And not that a team should never expect to win it because you want that winning mentality. We never really took a team seriously. We were excited, we were pumped and we were ready to roll over teams. But we never thought any of them would give us a challenge.
And whenever a team did that...we didn't know what to do. We weren't mentally prepared as Eddie put it. We weren't mentally tough as Josh has said.
Look at the Michigan State game. We didn't know what was happening. We tried to make a big play every time to get us back into the game, instead of working hard, grinding and scoring the Pitt way.
It sucks that we are where we are right now, but we put ourselves in this position. We became a team over the weekend, even in losing, and we'll work as a team. We'll put this behind us and look to the future.
Eyes on the prize, one tournament at a time. Getting ready for Stanford.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
