It’s unfair. It isn’t right. Two very different games, differing amounts of personnel and everything else. Having typed that… Geez you would hope the football team would get the memo as well.
The article about the team making adjustments at halftime to how to defend Buffalo.
“They kind of have a unique offense,” Dixon said. “We don’t see it a lot. They have big guys who play out on the perimeter and pass the ball and handle the ball so well.”
The combination caused problems for Pitt’s defense, which is predicated on hedging, or faking a trap.
Assistant coach Mike Rice Jr., based on his film study, suggested a slight change. The adjustment worked.
“Instead of hedging all the way out, we just hedged flat on ball screens and handoffs,” Cook said. “That made it easier for the guards to recover.”
The Panthers allowed only 25 points in the second half. They held Buffalo to 33.3 percent from the field, including 1 of 11 from 3-point range, and forced seven of Buffalo’s eight turnovers in the final 20 minutes.
“Coach Rice did a great job on scouting,” Dixon said, “and our guys made a great adjustment.”
No one is going to accuse Coach Dixon of being a master tactician, but he has shown greater flexibility in how to adjust to things as he has gotten more comfortable as the head coach. There is a style of play that he prefers to use, but he adapts it to better use the players and their strengths and weaknesses. He has understood that certain teams have to be played in different ways and the same approach every game is not going to work.
This is after all his first time as a head coach.
I am looking forward to the wisconsin game and how well they handle Tucker… he looked impressive against marquette. a win at wisconsin will raise the eyes of all of college basketball… tough place to win, baby. i think they have only 2 losses in big ten at home over a 10 yr period (something ridiculous like that).
i agree with george that their ranking will settle in the 10 – 15 range…
winning the big east will be much more difficult to achieve than what the media will have you believe. Compared to prior years, this year has the most promise, but when i watch Ohio State, NC and UCLA play, i don’t see pitt at their level… too many basketball athletes playing with much more intensity…
one last point, dixon needs to mature as a coach. playing a half-court offense excusively won’t get it done in the tournament. he needs to let the horses loose and fall back into a half court offense. this will help with scoring when Gray is on the bench… I HAVE SOME HOPE FOR DIXON SINCE HE WENT INTO A ZONE AGAINST BUFFALO FOR 2 SERIES. it got a turnover and they did not score on the second time up court. i literally stood up and took note. i called bob and george but neither one answered. Was curious why he did not go back to it on occassion since it was successful.
Was anyone watching the buffalo game when pitt was not scoring and Mike Jarvis said 3 times very deliberately, ‘Go to the big man’, ‘Go to the big man’, ‘Go to the big man’. He was schooling dixon right on the air.
Reinforces my basic problem with dixon that he is too slow to adjust during a game. I am now a Jarvis fan.”
I agree that Dixon should be a bit more flexible at times and we have seen that this year. He tried to push the ball a bit in the Robert Morris game and you mentioned the zone against Buffalo. In addition he has gone to smaller line-ups and benched players when they screw up, something that he did not do in the past.
How Pitt does in the tournament depends on several factors, but anything less than the sweet 16 is a huge disappointment.
Ask your buddy what he thought about UCLA in December last year.
I’m sure your buddy remembers UCLA squeaked by one point over Drexel (a 15-16 team last year), and then barely edged Wagner (also a team with a losing record last year) by two points at home.
Your point is well made. Let’s not get caught up in December rankings and records. That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say all along.
