Just. Like. That.
Well, as I wrote over at SB Nation Pittsburgh, there's not much any point in breaking this game down. For one, words can't adequately describe this loss. For another, it simply doesn't matter.
Look, if you feel bad for anyone, don't feel bad for yourself for the love of God. Don't feel like you've somehow been cheated out of a championship that you may have considered your given right like Steeler fans do when the Steelers fall short. Feel bad for Wanamaker. For McGhee. For Gil. They put everything they had into this game and all played pretty well. And for that, they're still headed home.
Pitt shot over 50% from the field and three-point range, didn't turn the ball over, and won the rebounding battle. If you add all that up, it would lead to a Pitt win nearly 100% of the time. Unfortunately, Pitt ran into a really hot-shooting Butler team in the first half and lost to a team it should beat.
The last-second foul by Nasir Robinson, the missed free throw by Gilbert Brown, the shot-clock violation...so many things you could call out. Just. No. Point.
The older I get, the easier I've found it is to deal with losses for some reason. And as disappointing as this is, I think it would be even more frustrating if the team played poorly. But the fact is they played a pretty good game and simply got beat.
I mentioned this at SBNP (and I wrote it back when Dejan Kovacevic was busy theorizing if Pitt was a bunch of 'choke artists'), but these are just kids. They're going to make mistakes and while it's unfortunate that tonight they had a bunch in the span of a minute, it's going to happen. Butler made a pretty stupid one by fouling Gilbert Brown in the first place with about a second left.
And please, if you're a Pitt fan blaming the refs for this one, you've got issues. There's nothing the ref can do when Nas practically ate Matt Howard's arm for lunch on that final foul. Anything short of the ball coming directly to a player, Pitt should have backed off at that point and settled for overtime. It's too easy to get called for an over the back or cheap foul in that instance.
But, I digress.
It just, doesn't, matter.