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Notebook: Defense an advancing factor

By Joe Bendel, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
While much has been made about Pitt's poor field-goal percentage in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, it should be noted that none of the remaining 16 teams have dominated on the defensive side of the ball like the Panthers.

They're holding opponents to 49.5 points, and the 99 total points is the fewest allowed among the remaining teams. Big East rival Connecticut is second in points allowed at 55.0.

In the Panthers' two victories, they've held UCF to 30.8 percent shooting from the field and Wisconsin to 35.4. On the downside, they hit just 29.5 percent of their shots in the opener and 35.6 on Sunday in their four-point victory over Wisconsin.

"The scores are typically lower this time of year because defense tightens up," said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, whose team faces Oklahoma State at 7:27 p.m. Thursday at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. "We haven't played our best offense, but a lot of that has to do with the way teams play defense."

"We're not worried about how many points we score -- we just want to win," freshman center Chris Taft said. "We're stopping people and we're winning games."

Big East is big

The Big East is 8-3 in NCAA Tournament games this season and 20-6 (.769) the past two years. The 2004 winning percentage is the best of any conference in the country, after the league finished with a nation's-best 12-3 (.800) NCAA mark a year ago. Here's how the other conferences have done the past two years in the tournament: Big 12, 21-7 (.750); Atlantic Coast, 14-7 (.667), Big Ten, 11-7 (.611), Southeastern, 12-10 (.545) and Conference USA, 10-9 (.527).

Moreover, the Big East is one of three leagues with three teams in the Sweet 16 -- Pitt, Connecticut and Syracuse -- joining the ACC and the Big 12. The Big East has placed seven teams in the regional semifinal the past two years, the most of any conference.

Pitt and Connecticut are playing in the regional semifinals for the third consecutive year, making them two of only five schools in the nation to have pulled off the trifecta.


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