Ray Fittipaldo gives his last Q&A for the year. Questions about Dixon’s contract stuff, J.O. Stright comes up, recruiting types of players, Aaron Gray and better use of Sam Young.

Q: Although Pitt had a great season, I have one question: Do the coaches ever recruit bigger guards or more athletic small forwards? It seems like they have guards who play small forward.

Fittipaldo: I’m sure they recruit athletic forwards, but they don’t land many, Chris. Small forward has been the one position holding Pitt back in recent seasons. Ever since Jaron Brown left the program, Pitt has been searching for answers at small forward. Dixon tried Yuri Demetris and Mark McCarroll there two seasons ago. He tried John DeGroat, Keith Benjamin and Antonio Graves there this season. Demetris, Benjamin and Graves were guards who tried to play small forward. McCarroll was a power forward playing out of position. DeGroat was a small forward, but he just didn’t pan out. Maybe this Smith from Hargrave is the answer to their problems. I know he is highly coveted by the staff.

It may be just me, but if the coaches could sell Benjamin on it, I think he could come close to doing what Jaron Brown did on defense. Benjamin is fast enough and looks like he could be strong enough to be a shut-down one-on-one defender. The problem is, Benjamin is much more in love with scoring and the offense. Not sure if he could make the mental adjustment.