Last night I headed back over to MSG for some college hoops, this time to see two undefeated (both 10-0), top-10 teams square-off in the Aeropostale Classic. I wasn’t aware that anyone had actually worn Aeropostale clothing since about 1999, but apparently college basketball fans are now their target audience. Anyway, it turned out to be an exciting game, with Pitt point guard (and Brooklyn native) Levance Fields sinking a three with 4 seconds left in overtime to give Pitt the 65-64 win. Also, unlike the Jimmy V Classic earlier this month, the Garden was packed with rabid Duke and Pitt fans, making it one of those games where you remember why college basketball is so great. The NBA doesn’t have crowds like this for most playoff games, and this was a neutral court, hundreds of miles from either school’s campus.
The game was a contrast in styles between two of the game’s better programs and coaches, Mike Krzyzewski and Jamie Dixon. Duke, this year more than ever, loves to get up and down the floor in a hurry and shoot a ton of 3’s, while Pitt thrives in the half-court and likes to grind out wins with ball control and hard-nosed defense. Both teams had their weaknesses (Pitt: perimeter scoring, Duke: inside muscle) exposed in this game, but also showed why they will likely be playing on the second weekend of the tournament in March.
As with just about all college basketball teams this year, the main guy I wanted to see for each team are both freshmen: Duke forward Kyle Singler and Pitt forward/center DeJuan Blair. Blair, a Pittsburgh native who led his team to the state championship last year, wanted to play at Duke his whole life but was not recruited by them. He claimed to be so excited for the game that he thought he would have trouble sleeping the night before. His nerves showed early as he 
posted up, but repeatedly rushed his shots and clanged them off the rim. As one fan near me put it, “He shoots before he even looks at the basket”. As he settled down though, he started to use his size (6’7″, 265 lbs.) and athleticism to dominate inside. He finished the game with 15 points and 20 rebounds. When was the last time you saw someone pull 20 rebounds against Duke? He still has a long way to go in terms of offensive polish and low-post moves, but he’s obviously a force to be reckoned with already.
For Duke, they will have to come up with a way to handle players like Blair. For most of the game they had a line-up of four guards and Singler, who’s natural position is probably small forward. That definitely won’t work if they want to beat North Carolina and Tyler Hansbrough. Even so, they controlled most of the game, accumulating big leads in the first-half. After Pitt made a second-half comeback, Duke seemed to have taken momentum back after an intentional foul call on Pitt with 9 minutes remaining. Singler hit both free throws and scored to put Duke up by 10. But Pitt responded with a 14-1 run, led by leading scorer Sam Young, to take a 3-point lead with 3 minutes to play.
It looked bad for Pitt at the start of overtime, as small forward Mike Cook went down with an injury and had to be helped off the floor. A report just came out that Cook, a Philly native, is most likely done for the season with an ACL tear. That is a big blow to the team, as Cook was averaging 10 points/game and is a senior leader. But Pitt managed to hang around and ended up with the ball, down 64-62, with about 20 seconds left. Fields dribbled around until finally getting an open look and draining the winning shot. Fields was the only Pitt player to make a 3-pointer all game and the Panthers will need senior guard Ronald Ramon to help in that area.
Both teams have two more tune-ups (including a game in Philly vs. Temple for Duke) before they start league play next month.
I thought you may have been there. This game was a fantastic college basketball game. You’re right, Blair struggled offensively last night, but he has had some really solid games this year. I saw their game against Washington and he looked real good in the post. You’re right in that he lacks a “polished” offensive game, but his size and incredible instincts for rebounding make him an absolute menace on the glass. Needless to say, he’s a stud.
By the way, is there a more underrated program in the country than Pitt these days. This is the 5th straight year they’ve started 10-0 (granted they don’t play the toughest out-of-conference schedule), and they’ve made 5 sweet 16’s in the past 6 years! That’s incredible, especially considering that they had a coaching turnover in that span.
Great game–must have been terrific to have been there. I wanted to get tickets to the big game at the Mariner Arena in Baltimore, but then I realized that the “big game” was the Baltimore Blast versus the Philadelphia Kixx in a soccer game with 3-pointers…I really need to move to NYC
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