Cook: Pitt's Gibbs calls all the shots
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WASHINGTON -- Imagine the unthinkable for a moment. No. 8 seed Butler leads Pitt, 64-62, with 10 seconds left tonight and is about to give the Panthers another painful, premature ending to their NCAA tournament experience. Pitt has the ball. It has one final chance to win or tie on what's been a pretty rotten game.
Who's going to take the shot?
"I'm taking it," Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs was saying Friday. "I want that shot."
Close your eyes. Can you see Gibbs letting the shot go from behind the 3-point line? Can you see the ball in the air? Can you hear the buzzer sound as it approaches the rim?
Hold that thought for a moment.
I promise we'll get back to it.
The knock against Pitt long has been that it doesn't have a big-time, go-to scorer it can count on at the end of NCAA tournament games. If you had a dime for every time someone has blamed that for Pitt's early departures, you would be a wealthy person. This is the Panthers' 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament and they're still trying to get to a Final Four. They made it to the Round of 8 just once -- 2009 -- before they were beaten by a last-second basket by Villanova's Scottie Reynolds.
Yes, beaten by a big-time, go-to scorer.
A lot of players think they can be that guy -- right up until the time comes to take the shot that means everything. That's when many shrink. It's not that they're afraid to be the hero. They're afraid to miss. The truly great ones don't even think about missing. They know their shot is going in. And if it somehow doesn't? They're willing to live with the consequences.
"I've played in too many big games to be afraid of one moment," Gibbs said. "I know it's a big moment, but I won't be afraid of it. I'm never afraid of anything on the basketball court ...
"I have to take that shot and make that shot. I'm the shooter on this team. These guys need me. They're depending on me."
It must be comforting to know, if you're a Pitt fan, that Gibbs never has shot the ball better than he is now. In his seven games since returning from a minor knee injury, he made 27 of his 47 3-point shots and averaged 19.3 points per game. At the Big East Conference tournament in New York last week, he made 6 of 7 3s, scored 27 points in a 76-74 loss to Connecticut and said afterward, "The rim looked real big. It was like throwing rocks in the ocean." He wasn't quite that candid after making 6 of 9 3-point shots and ringing up 26 points in a 74-51 victory Thursday against UNC Asheville in Pitt's first NCAA tournament game in the Southeast Region, but, clearly, he's thinking nothing but net each time he shoots.
First Published March 19, 2011 12:00 am
