I knew some would blame the blown dunk by Young as practically the reason for Pitt losing, but again long droughts without scoring continue to be the main reason for the recent loses. I would like to ask Dixon what his rationale was for sitting Blair around the six minute mark. Blair didn’t appear winded, and he wasn’t in foul trouble, so why have your stud on the pine at crunch time. Around the same time Fields went to the bench and by the time they both returned the party was over. I believe the announcers mentioned Pitt failed to score the last 6:30 of the game. The only reason this game was even close at half time was because ND was missing their open looks. The Pitt “D” is falling apart at just about the same rate as their offense. Like many have mentioned on this site, this team is simply not that good. The eternal optimistics will continue to make excuses for the loses, but the realists have seen the writing on the wall for months. And again, I agree with the many posters that have stated Pitt better hit the road for better recruits or the fans better get use to losing again.

Watch the Brey press conference – when Harangody was benched it wasn’t because he was complaining to the ref. On that particular possession he was frustrated with his own play and beating himself up and the ref mistakenly thought he was complaining to him, so Brey sat him down to chill out.

Also give him some credit – he was being mugged, particularly on defensive boards and narry a call, while getting no-contact calls against him [see his first foul on Blair in the second half].

the whole duke thing threw everybody out of whack..

Blair’s tough for a freshman, but how is he supposed to battle whole front lines inside all by himself? (Dixon’s recruiting led to a situation where the poor guy is alone in there.)

When you combine a small, thin front line with an adequate backcourt you don’t exactly have a recipe for BE success. (when I say adequate I mean a decent PG in Fields and very average players like Ramon and Benjamin playing alongside him.)

they’ve been surviving because they play systematically and don’t make that many stupid mistakes…..but this team just doesn’t have the bodies inside this year to play that way.

I think we lost the game because we got/are getting worn out with our lack of depth. Look at the minutes:
Young 36, and not much good defensively
Ramon 32, and not much good offensively
Brown 30, but where was he in the 2nd half?
Fields 25, and he doesn’t have the stamina back yet

And the lack of depth comes in where:
Biggs 11 completely useless minutes
McGhee only 2
Wanamaker only 5

We lose cause our defense is awful. At best we sustain it for a little over a half. We gave up 50+ points in the second half. What, is our plan to score 55+ every half of every game? I don’t want to hear any bullshit about shooting or offense. PLAY SOME FUCKING DEFENSE.

Until we start playing D again, this team is going to be awful. I really thought after that EMBARASSMENT at MU they were going to pick it up and show they have some pride. I guess not.

Well, they’ve finally done it. I’m not very hopeful at all for the rest of the season, cause we have a headcase on our team, and a few other kids that aren’t playing D. If its due to injuries or inexperience is neither here nor there. They’re awful on D, we’re gonna keep losing until they fix it. I think Dixon should spend every minute of every practice for the rest of the year on defense. 70 points should get us a win EVERY TIME on the road.

That, and stupid ass turnovers. Start benching kids who are giving the other team the game. I don’t care how many points they score in between dumb turnovers. And blown dunks, easily blocked shots when taking it 3 on 1, and shit passes out of bounds are turnovers….

(I just wanted to point out scoring 70 points would have won us all but 4 road games last year, and the BE tourney)

(and the year before that we would have lost only 2 games, and won the big east tourney if we scored at least 70)

(and think about our shitty losses this year – dayton gets 80, BUTTGERS gets 77, MU gets 72, and ND gets 82 – every other game its down the the wire cause we played some D)

I’m with you Stuart

Harangody is the biggest crybaby I have seen in quite some time. It is easy to see why ND has that whining streak at home. He just falls forward into the defender, throws up some junk, and they give him every call. That “style” of play will not work in the BE tourney, NCAA tourney, or at the next level.

I would love to see a rematch on a neutral floor.

Looks were hear the dreaded “bubble” word for the next couple weeks.

Defense HAS to improve. Additionally, Pitt needs to put teams away. I cannot count how many times we get a 10 point lead and fail to extend it mid-way through the 2nd half. It would have been much more difficult for ND to come back from 15 points down than it is from 10. The way they shoot the 3 ball, a 10 point lead is like a 5 point lead against any other team.

It seems that this team lacks the killer instinct it had before the injuries. I can remember several games where other teams made runs at us and Fields would calmly come in and make a basket or get a steal for an easy 2. Now if a team makes a run to get within a couple baskets or tie, we crumble. There is still plenty of games left so I’m not throwing in the towel. Especially with how much better Levance looked last night. We need to regroup for the big game on Sunday. I’m confident Pitt will.

Finally, Dixon did not coach his best game last night. Calling our second to last timeout with 10 minutes left really hurt us when ND made the run to take the lead. I also thought he sat Benjamin too long in the second half. A player like him can go on a 15 point run by himself. No reason to rest him when he is killing it like he was. He is so streaky being on the bench kills his momentum. I thought Blair sat a little too much during the last 10 minutes as well. Dixon is a great coach and I’m sure we won’t see the timeout debacle again. The substitutions, I’m not so sure about. I think we’ll have to live with that for a few more years.

Ramon and Biggs played terrible as well. Ramon especially. No offense and left McAlarney free for a couple easy threes on defense. I know some of those shots were deep, but Ramon is a senior and knows ND likes to chuck it from anywhere on the court. He should never have left him open, even from 25 feet. Ramon is smarter than that. He couldn’t get anything down on the other end either. 0-8 with no points from a starter playing 30 minutes isn’t going to get it done.

Did anyone watch the St. Anthony’s game afterward? Woodall looks like a real player. He made some big baskets driving to hole and showed a nice stroke from three. Hurley, Sr. had him guarding Tyreke Evans (#2 rated player in the country) for most of the game as well. He did pretty well when he was on him. Woodall has explosive athleticism and is very, very quick. It is refreshing to see a player coming in that is as athletic and quick as him.

in all honesty, bring on sean miller. I think he’d be outstanding at Pitt and keep the focus on defense while being something new and fresh to the team. All that progress through Howland seems to have tapered off and remained stagnant through the Dixon era, wonder where Pitt would be right now if Howland never left?

This is unreal. Pitt loses 2 games on the road to ranked teams and Dixon needs to go. What a STUPID post!!!! Stop the insanity.

I don’t think it’s the fact that we’re losing that has people worried Omar. It’s how we are losing — with an apparent lack of effort and focus.
Does that mean Dixon needs to go? Of course not. Can we count on him not to hold Pitt’s feet to the fire should another offer come his way? Don’t be foolish. People have long memories and remember having to stave off other programs trying to cherry-pick Howland and Dixon. The logic behind the Miller push is that he’s a “Pitt guy” and won’t be looking to climb the ladder. Take that for what you will. I’ll be honest, though. The thought of going after Miller has crossed my mind.
BTW – I saw only a snippet of the St. Anthony’s game last night during which Woodall threw the ball away on one end and then played some matador defense at the other end. Also, I understand that St. Anthony’s is an excellent program. But Woodall isn’t even starting. Does that have anybody else worried?

Omar – Maybe Chris is on to something. If Miller isn’t interested, Pitt could buy out Kevin Willard’s contract from Iona. Seriously, a lot of teams are having a tough time winning on the road against top opponents in the BE. UConn won @ Cuse and L’ville won at Marquette in Feb but I can’t think of many other quality road wins. Who am I forgetting?

BTW – We’re 3.5 games ahead of 13th-place Providence. With at least four potential losses on our remaining schedule (Louisville, Cincinnati, Syracuse and West Virginia) we had better start worrying about making the BE Tournament, much less the NCAA. I’m not even counting DePaul, which played UConn down to the wire on the road a few nights ago.
If we don’t get our heads our of our collective @$$ we could potentially (read: long shot) find ourselves on the outside looking in. Time to buckle down and knuckle up.
Conversely, we’re only 3.5 games out of first place. What a wacky year. I don’t think we play very consistently but I will admit that the BE is absolutely brutal this year. Quality teams from top to bottom. You simply cannot lose focus in this league or you will suffer as Pitt has.

are we still recruiting deandre kane since we got dixon?

Hard to pin this game on Sam Young…IF you are looking for reasons then a good place to start is with Ramon and Biggs who were a combined 0 – 12 shooting the ball.

I like Dixon. It’s not about that. He’s done what he’s had to do. We’re still in the tournament year after year, but that hump that Howland got us to hasn’t been overcome yet by Dixon. I’d much rather be on the plateau we are on right now, than be on a plateau that lands us in the NIT year after year. I just feel like we have yet to put together good enough recruiting classes to have confidence on both offense and defense of at least the starting five on the floor. It seems as though there’s always been that one black eye when it comes to our starting five. Whether its consistent throughout or changes. For instance, Ramon going 0 for last night. He was recruited as a sharpshooter, but he’s spent more game in a slump then out of it.

I just feel Sean Miller would bring back the intensity of the teams we saw with Howland, and I don’t think it’d take very long for him to land some top notch recruits. I am from the area he grew up, his dad is a legend around me for his HS coaching. Not only was he an awesome coach, but somehow awesome players always ended up in our backyard. I’d be willing to guess that good recruiting runs in the family.

Woodall is one of the few players to be a 4 year varsity player at St. Anthony’s. Hurley asked him if he was willing to come off the bench at the beginning of the year and he agreed. There is no question he is one of the top-3 players on the team as evidenced by him playing the majority of the minutes and being in at crunch time. The kid is really, really quick and athletic. He has the talent and skills to be a big time player. I came away very impressed with him.

Now we are worrying about the Big East tournament. The negativity that surrounds this board after a loss is mind boggling. Dixon has done nothing to warrant Pitt looking at another coach. What in the hell has Sean Miller accomplished that makes him seem better than Dixon? Blowing a 3 pt. lead in the 2nd round of the NCAAs. If Dixon would have done what Miller did, then this board would have been livid. Dixon may have been run out of town that weekend. Miller is a decent young coach that has not accomplished 5% of what Dixon has. You guys can pine for Miller all you want, but I believe Pitt would be making a gigantic mistake if they let Dixon leave.

A bit small for the two-spot, no? From what I saw, he certainly isn’t the ball handler one needs at the point in the Big East.

He is a point guard. Not a 2. Pitt recruited him as a point. His handle was pretty sweet from what I saw. His quickness is outstanding. He would be, by far, the quickest player on our team right now. He got to the basket with relative ease last night. Very good player. I don’t know if he’ll be a star right away, but he has the tools we have been lacking at the point. He is more athletic and quicker than Brandin Knight.

I don’t mind Dixon as the coach, I just won’t be upset if he leaves either.

I thought Woodal had a good handle actually. He was a bit reckless at times, and maybe tried to force a few drives to the bucket, but I think he’ll be an excellent p.g. and leader for pitt. i came away thinking he has more potential than rosario, not as good from the 3pt line, but more athletic and a little quicker. Evans looks like a monster. a cocksure headcase, but a monster.

Stagnant was the perfect word used by Chris in regard to the Pitt BB program. What has Dixon done to help move this program forward? As mentioned the defense isn’t as good, the quality of players is dropping, and Dixon isn’t great at game management. Dixon fell into a great situation, but can he pull the troops together when things get tough? I doubt it!

I think you’re forgetting how long it takes to put together a team capable of winning a championship. this does not occur overnight but is a gradual process. look at the careers of calhoun, pitino, Coach K. they didn’t do this overnight. It took a long time. Christ, we’re greedy. what has dixon done to put this program forward? are you serious? he took a team from the bottom of the big east and put them on the national scene in a matter of a few years. he’s won a couple of big east championships and has led them to the tournament 6 consecutive years. that’s what he’s done.

Omar, Your post was right on. I can’t stand the Dixon bashing any more. It’s ok to constructively criticize some the the specific moves he makes and his game and clock managemnt, but to suggest that he should be replaced with Sean Miller is idiotic. I like Sean as a coach, but just what has he done to put him ahead of Dixon? Nothing!!!! It is telling that we are 3.5 games out of first and 13th. This conference is brutal this year. I just hope we play well the last 4 games win two in NYC and make a run in the tournament or get beat by a good team where we have given a great effort. Everyone should remember that this was suppose to be a rebuilding year, and that was before the injuries.

This nonsense about the player quality has to stop. The quality and talent of the players on this particular team is light years ahead of what we have had in the past. It isn’t even a debate. More importantly, the talent and athletic ability of each class gets better and better. Brown, Blair, Wannamaker and McGhee are all athletic and have higher ceilings than Fields, Young (maybe a debate) and Biggs. Fields, Young and Biggs were more athletic and had higher ceilings than Ramon and Benjamin. These are the only classes that Dixon recruited. Now tell me how the player quality has declined? It simply isn’t true.

Omar, another good post that I agree with. keep it up.

They’ll be fine. I bet if pitt makes a tourney run past the sweet 16 nobody will remember last night’s game. This team is dangerous and come tourney they will be ready to make a run.

How can anyone take a post serious when they say we need to worry about making the BE tourney. That was sarcasm right? Look at the standings it’s a magic number of 1. Quality of players dropping? Are you people for real?

Team has a problem with leadership right now….hopefully Fields can fill that holecause Ramon and Young are not getting it done. Your main guy can’t miss a dunk like that…ok if a freshman makes that mistake but not your main guy. Not having an experienced player like Cook right now is really hurting.

Some top seed better watch out in the NCAA tournament if Pitt makes it.

I am a big fan of this blog site and never really say much because I like to see other peoples comments but this is starting to get out of control … Whoever is saying that Dixon needs to go is absolutely nuts

As Ian mentioned above, it takes time to put together a championship team … You people are acting like its as easy as snapping your fingers … It took Boeheim 27 years as a head coach to win a title and he’s considered one of the best coaches of our era

Chris – regarding your comment about Sean Miller and his dad recruiting … I grew up around that area too and the reason Blackhawk got the best talent is because he was the only high school coach that actually recruited his players … He didn’t have any recruiting competition … I’ll admit that he was a good coach but going out and recruiting kids to play on a high school basketball team is ridiculous

Section,
You’ll note that I said “read: long shot” about missing the BE tourney. But it is possible and every one of the teams remaining on our schedule is talented enough to beat us. Whether Providence or St. John’s wins out is another story.
But, hey, if you think the only reason we lost last night was because Young, a senior, missed a dunk you’re right — we do need to get real 😉
As for Omar’s athleticism argument — I don’t agree. I do believe our players are getting more athletic — and that’s a good thing. I don’t agree that they’re necessarily better basketball players as a result.
Are we more athletic than ND as a team? Yes. Did we win? No.

The talent on this Pitt team is, by far, the best we have had since the beginning of the decade. This is a fact. If Pitt doesn’t have two starters go down, then we are probably something like 24-2, dominating the Big East and in contention for a #1 seed. Dixon has done an exceptional job given what has transpired and should be commended. The fact that posters on this board encourage the administration to look elsewhere after a few losses speaks to the unrealistic expectations of the fan base. This is a really good Pitt team that is struggling right now. I can’t say for sure that they will get hot over the next few games, but I can’t say they won’t either. Pitt has a ton of talent and the ability to beat anyone in the country. Dixon needs to get the team to focus and limit mistakes in the second half. I think he will.

I will not argue that this team doesn’t have potential and that it was really rolling before the injuries to Cook and Fields. That much is obvious.
Also, I want to state for the record that I’m not asking the administration to look elsewhere for a coach. That’s silly. I only stated that Miller – the dreaded “Pitt guy” — is doing a heck of a job at Xavier and it’s unlikely that Dixon will finish up his career at Pitt. You’re kidding yourself if you think he doesn’t want to go back out west at some point.
As to this being the most “athletically” talented team Pitt has had in the Howland/Dixon era — again — I won’t argue that. But this isn’t the most skilled or focused team by far. In fact, this is probably the most inconsistent, fundamentally challenged Pitt team I’ve seen in the past seven years. Injuries and youth obviously contribute to that. But you’re not judged on potential. You’re judged on results.

I’ve posted this before, but the only job I believe Dixon would bolt for is Arizona. Kevin O’Neil was named the successor to Olsen at Arizona and that job isn’t open. If it opens up, then I will be worried. If Dixon leaves, then Miller should be considered. The point is Pitt shouldn’t be pining after another coach. The one that has the job is excellent.

As for results, most posters complain about the team not taking a step past the Howland teams. Well they can’t do that in February, they can only do that in March. I’ll trade some growing pains now with Fields back in the line-up, for an in shape and confident Levance come the stretch run in 3 weeks. Educated fans should have expected a bit of an adjustment when Fields returned and I think that is what we have seen.

The fact is this teams ceiling is much, much higher with Levance getting back in the groove. It would have been nice to play better the last couple games. Hopefully Pitt can get the home win they sorely need on Sunday. If not, then there are several games after that. My point is that fans should not throw in the towel just yet. This team has great coaching, athletes and talent. They just need to play with all of the pieces for more than a week or two.

Why does Dixon always get a free pass.He are my observations of Dixon’s tenure at Pitt.
1) failure to get big time recruits. He is give the excuse the All-Americans want to go to places with proven coaches who send plers to the NBA. I say look at Bruce Pearl of Tennessee. Not only does Tenn. not have the same caliber program as Pitt, but what has pearl ever done. He coached at UW- Milwaukee.

2) Since Howland left, the defense has regressed every year.

3) Poor game management. last night as an example – Poor use of time outs, leaving himself with only one time out for the final 10 minutes. He substitutions are the same every game. He does not take into consideration of who’s hot. he makes the same subs at the same time every game.
Pitt reached when they hired him, I think he interviewed for the Chicago state job the same year and did not get it.

Boy, how fast we forget! Remember when Pitt would beat UConn and give quality BE teams fits. The league was every bit as strong if not stronger. The BE was winnning national championships and Pitt was winning the BE. The talent level at Pitt was definitely better than it is today. These were not big name players, but their passion and athleticism is equally as good as today. Uconn placed over half their team in the NBA and we beat them twice that year. I’m sorry, but if you think Wannamaker and McGhee are more talented than previous players at Pitt, you are dreaming. There’s a tremendous up size to Blair and Brown, but the rest of this class are about equal to Bostick as a QB. Fields and Young can play, but as seen again last night Ramon is only damagerous in a game of horse. As far as Biggs and Benjamin go, Dixon did a good job of knocking the confidence out of to decent recruits at an early age. It’s no surprise Benjamin has done fairly well since given an opportunity to play. He showed great promise as a freshman in shooting threes, but lack of playing time really hurt his progress. And Biggs was treated about like Benjamin, very little playing time even when he did well. Biggs had a great game a few years ago against UConn hitting several mid-range jumpers, but was never rewarded for his performance with added playing time. And yes, Sam Young loved playing behind the Canadian flash. Sam knew that Kendell couldn’t hold his jog, but was made starter based on years of service in the program. I laugh when the announcers say how Young is the most improved player in the BE. Young’s success this year for the most part comes from having an opportunity to perform. Sorry guys, but the Duke game was a fluke. And if you think the lose of Cook is the reason we’re not 24-2 Omar, you are only fooling yourself. Optimism is one thing, but craziness is another.

This is site makes me want to vomit. Terrible football program with a subpar basketball team. Lots to talk about here!!!!!!

ltl you only post after Pitt loses. If it’s fun to be negative and wax nostalgic, then go ahead. You can be as critical as you want and it won’t change the facts. The Pitt team that your talking about today beat a Duke team stacked with McDonalds All Americans and did the same to Georgetown. The year UCONN won it all Pitt was 1-2 against them. That was a great team, but they blew a lead down the stretch as well. Shit happens. The loss of Cook isn’t the reason Pitt isn’t 24-2. The fact that they haven’t played with their full line-up since December is the reason. Cook goes down and the team tries to adjust and Fields goes down. Then the team learns to play without Fields, slowing the game down, working the shot clock and Fields comes back. This is a ton of adjustments for a team in the middle of a season. If Fields doesn’t go down Pitt probably has 3 or 4 losses. The fact is Dixon has done an exceptional job. Some of you critics will never be happy until a “Pitt” guy by the name of Sean Miller is coaching. I bet you’ll be waiting for a long time.

is it fatigue? lack of respect for the pitt uniform? lack of talent? not sure, but i do know that good teams put the foot on the throat up 11 in the 2nd half – period. i’ll be showing up sunday, i hope the team does.

By the way, Graves was a better player than Benjamin. If Keith was more consistent, then he would have gotten more minutes during his career. How quickly you forget that Dixon benched DeGroat and started Benjamin as a sophmore in the Big East tournament. Benjamin then got sick and couldn’t play in the NCAAs. Biggs hit a bunch of jumpers against Wisconsin his freshman year, not UCONN. The coaches aren’t idiots for telling a 6’8″ power forward not to set up 16 ft. fromt the basket and throw up jumpers. These kids need to listen to what their coaches are telling them and they will play more. Young is so inconsistent defensively that it is a problem still. He should probably have been playing more, but last years team wasn’t suited to his game. Should Dixon have built the offense around Young and ignored Gray? Don’t be stupid. Dixon has coached most of the players in our program to be better as seniors than they were as freshman. Many of them are much better. This is also a fact.

Wannamaker is a stud as an athlete. You can see his end-to-end speed in person. His lateral quickness is exceptional as well. He actually is even faster with the ball in his hands. That kid gets so much bull-shit from idiot fans. He is going to be All-Big East. I’m telling you. Just wait.

Dixon really should have just pulled Ramon and left Benjamin in the second half. Ramon was too afraid to take a shot after missing 7 straight. Benjamin had the hot hand and next thing I know he is riding the pine.

OK – projecting here – but I would like to be positive. I seriously see Pitt losing to Louisville and winning 3 of the last 4 to finish 10-8. Depaul and Cincy at home, and sneaking a win at either Cuse or WVU.

It’s well within the realm of possibility, and 10-8 would be outstanding considering what people were saying once Fields went down. Come on, the only bad loss is the Rutgers game – I agree the defensive effort has been very disappointing, but I’m shooting for 10-8.

If you notice, ltl, it seems everything but Sam Young’s scoring numbers have gone downhill since Sam Young has been given the “opportunity to perform”–defense, rebounding, assist-to-turnovers.

Not to pin it on one guy, but I can’t stomach watching Young fly by shooters and not even think about boxing out 9 times out of 10. Is he more talented than most recent players? Absolutely. He’s not making them better right now, though.

(On the other hand, watching Blair and thinking about his potential makes me borderline giddy when I think back to Gray’s painful performances during the final month or two of last year…)

I am a big Jamie supporter but the Trib or PG in todays paper listed the top 15 freshmen in college BB. No Pitt player was on the list. But the usual teams in the top 10 were present except Duke and NC. BTW, Syracuse had two players on the list.

Next years class are all 3* if I remember correctly. After the job Dixon did with A. Grey you would think a high profile center couldn’t wait to join Jamie.

Ok guys, maybe I am a bit too out of line saying what I said. Let me clear it up. I like dixon, i really do, all I’m saying is that we’ve built a top program in the country. We all realize that, and we all love that. Sure, Dixon has done great but what has happened since Howland is that we have built a program where these are the expectations. Making it to the big dance year after year is expected. At some point making it to the big dance can’t be seen as such an accomplishment and something more of a requirement that the top programs in the country have to abide by. Give him a couple more years, for sure he deserves it. If then we are still in the same situation, I’m not sure just making it to the tournament will be enough for any of us. Regardless, what I said was somewhat uncalled for, and we should all stand behind Dixon

The bulls trade Ben Wallace. Does that mean Aaron gets the starting job?

I’m probably the oldest Pitt fan on this blog so let me add some notes from my ooaching days.
All teams go thru ups and downs during a season.
Then you press…see home run pass to no one…missed dunk…pass to no one etc.
I still believe this Pitt team is special. Blair may turn out to be one of the best players in Pitt history, Young is an emotional stud, agreed on Wannemaker’s good future etc. Hindsight in coaching is 50-50 and I bet you asked Dixon today about benching Benjamin (think his hand is finally healed!), he would tell you he didn;t even notice it, and would not do it again.

Lots of cause for all of us to worry, including the coaches. I will tell you the Duke game and the Georgetown games were NOT flukes…and this is a very young team. We are capable of beating anyone in the USA on a good day.

Fields is the key…we all have to admit that for about 25 minutes, he looked very good and we looked like a top ten team.

If we can just slow down Louisville’s guards, we have a shot.

Let’s all calm down and root hard…locking the scotch away Sunday…Pitt 72 – Louisville 55

Stop with the Dixon bashing. For one, can we remember the results after we (including me) ran Walt Harris out? I think it’s FINALLY turning around in football but there’s still no guarantee of it. 3 losing seasons. Apples and oranges because of the sport, number of players etc. but a good analogy regarding expectations. As a hoops program we’re heads and shoulders above where the football program was under Harris in terms of success. You wanna throw that away because of one season where we might “only” make the NIT? That’s equivalent to the apex of Walt’s football success..and we’ve yet to reach THAT in football since forcing him out.

Not that I want Walt Harris back by any means but just food for thought.

That said, I concur with the post lamenting that our defense has gotten markedly worse in the last 2 years. Until then, our greatest shortcomings were a lack of a quality 3 pt shooter and the Dwayne Wade type “take over” player. But at least we knew we could count on the team to play lock down D and fanatical rebounding. After the injuries this year I stated in a post here we would need to keep each team at or under 60 to win. The team was woefully not lived up to that commitmeent to D in most of the subsequent games and have gotten embarrassed on the boards at times (letting that 5′ 7″ kid get ANY rebounds last night was a disgrace). D and Rebounding are much more about effort than talent. We seem to be lacking the effort in many parts of games…specifically, the most important parts!

But overall I still maintain this is a transition year, nothing much was expected at the start, and if it weren’t for 2 very narrow wins (Wash and Duke) and the (now obvious a fluke) Georgetown game, I think we’d all be pretty happy right now with our record. I (still) am.

i don’t think the georgetown win was a fluke. its a case of match-ups. georgetown might be the one team with slower guards than ours. we were able to beat them because ramon wasn’t harassed by a press. i think duke was more of a fluke. 9 times out of 10 they beat us. and i think the UW game should have warned us more about where this team actually was.

tory jackson is actually 5’10” and a pretty solid rebounder, averaging over 5 a game. but i agree, our defense and rebounding is not where it was, or needs to be

let’s see now we want Bruce Pearl over Dixon. I know TN has won 7 national championships. The problem is they were all my the WOMEN’s team. Other than creeping up the rankings this year, what have they accomplished? And by the way, Sean Miller hasn’t done anything to be rated a better coach than Dixon.

Re: the Bulls. Noah started, Gray got 12 minutes. 4 points I think

I guess this blog is doing its job, creating lots of opinions. Some people respect others’ opinions, while some just think all opinions are stupid but theirs. I guess time will tell whose opinions are correct! I sincerely hope that Wannamakers’ ability to fly up the court with the basketball translates in to him becoming a better shooter. And hopefully his court sense gets to a point where he realizes he can’t drive inside without half of his shots being blocked. Furthermore, he’s such a quality passer that I can’t imagine why any Pitt fan missed Fields. Boy but he’s fast! With time, maybe Wannamaker will consider helping our track team. Also, who recruited Ramon, Benjamin, Biggs, and the guy that evidently can’t play defense, Young? And it’s not necessarily wrong for a big man, Omar, to step away from the basket and make a shot. As a matter of fact, it often separates the great big man that makes the NBA, from the guy that never gets a look. Remember the center from Wisconsin that had a career day against Pitt draining threes. I’d take a guy like that over Gray in a heart beat. I may be wrong, but I saw an interview that Gray did, and he attributed his post moves to a big man camp he attended, not to his work with anyone on the Pitt staff. So maybe if we really want Blair to develop to his full potential, we get him to Gray’s big man camp, so he can learn more post moves than tip drills.

Has anyone ever seen a more streaky shooter than Ramon? 1 for 15 in the last two games. Suprisingly, he did the EXACT (1-7, then 0-8) same thing in the Duke and Dayton games this year.

Overall, he’s had an awful year. Regressed back to his freshman year. Not what we need from a senior…

Yeah, the coaching staff sucks. Wannamaker sucks. Biggs would be great if he didn’t come to Pitt. And Brian Butch from Wisconsin is going to be a top-5 pick in the NBA draft. I’m sure Gray regrets every minute he spent on Pitt’s campus and any “coaching” he may have received from Jamie Dixon.

ltl you are an ASS. Your opinions are baseless, that is why I don’t respect them. You are a critic, that’s it. You don’t like Dixon and you really don’t like Pitt. Don’t attack me because I’m not constantly calling out 18 year old kids and a gentleman like Jamie Dixon. If that makes you feel good, then continue doing it. Sometimes it’s okay to state an opinion is stupid.

ltl your opinion is stupid!

Omar, I think you’re losing your cool. It’s quite evident you never played sports beyond little league. Your getting as frustrated as Pitt players lately. Sorry my opinion is stupid, but from what I’ve read from your posts, I doubt if anyone is going to contact you soon to coach. Furthermore, scouting talent isn’t you strong suit either, but you may be good at score keeping because you seem to be good at remembering players’ names. And I guess we will have to wait to see if Brian Butch will get drafted higher than Gray. You are correct on one point, I am not a Jamie Dixon supporter. And for your limited information, it didn’t start with the present losing streak. I’ve never enjoyed seeing him mismanage players and games. Without playing numerous chump teams throughout his coaching career, his record would not be outstanding. Now Omar, please use you bookkeeping skills and breakdown for me Dixon’s quality wins vs. his chump wins. Lastly Omar, your opinions aren’t stupid, just unrealistic. Keep it together buddy, I don’t want your blood pressure to get so high you stroke out.

ltl, prior to this season Dixon had the best winning pct. in the Big East over the last 5 years as well. I play basketball now and played throughout high school. I apologize for being able to recall exactly whom and what you refer to in your post. I am sorry I remembered Brian Butch’s name or that Biggs had a nice game against Wisconsin the year before at the Pete. It is awful to be able to remember things exactly instead of being able to casually recall things incorrectly. You are quick to point out my shortcomings, however what is your point exactly?
Is it that Pitt sucks? Is that Dixon sucks? Is it the players that suck? Maybe the Petersen Events Center sucks? Tell me ltl, what else sucks?

Ltl, I hate to break it to you, but Coach K ain’t coming to Pitt. Neither is Boehiem and his one NCAA title in 30 years courtesy of Carmelo Anthony.
We are currently in the midst of the golden age of Pitt basketball, in case you missed it. We’ve never been this successful before, and may never be again. Pitt’s been to the NCAA’s six times in a row! I remember back in the dark ages (before Howland/Dixon) when getting to the tourney was mostly just a dream. So please enjoy it while you can if you really are a Pitt fan.

Also, it is quite alright to critique Dixon for specific plays or moves he did or didn’t make, but you’ve got to keep the big picture in mind. This year has been dramatically altered by injuries, and without those, we’d probably be fighting for a one seed in the tourney. Dixon is a great coach and maybe will go down as the best one Pitt’s ever had.

Well Omar, I’m extremely impressed that your expertise includes high school BB, and some sort of sandlot ball today. That and a cold brew certainly gives you the right to be the Lord of Pitt Blather. Excuse me for not seeing eye to eye with all your opinions, but that’s life. And my point is: your opinions hold no more weight than anyone elses. Man, you take yourself way too serious! Omar, contrary to what you imagine, it’s not a matter of anyone or anything sucking, it’s simply an opinion as to how good certain players and coaches are. Evidently, you believe Dixon walks on water, while others believe he could be replaced and the program wouldn’t suffer. Believe it or not, several people I know have voiced their opinion that Dixon is a much overrated coach. That’s not to say he sucks has you would like the world to believe, but that he’s simply no great prize in the coaching ranks. The same can be said for players and teams. Pitt fans think anything coming from WVU sucks, and the same can be said for the feelings WVU fans have for Pitt. Try to keep it together man, it only ones point of view. Right now I look at this Pitt team as not being that good, but of course you can’t be a loyal Pitt fan without making only positive comments. That is, unless your name is OMAR.

I personally think we should stick with the overrated coach who accidently wins the most games in the big east the last 5 years, no matter what “several people ltl knows” say.

One or two years, i wasn’t sold on Dixon. But 5 fluke years? Cmon, moron. One of the fastest coaches ever to 100 wins, IN THE BIG EAST? I’ll “settle” for this poor coaching the next 100 years…

Go look at history, go look at ALL the coaches you consider great, and tell us all how many years it took each and every one of them to make it to a final four, and how many years for each to win a NC.

Back to reality, anyone watching the abomination that is the WVU providence game? Refs embarassing the BE again…i understand “letting them play” – but this is absurd. And then the next minute they’ll call some chippy foul. Awful.

Itl the problem is your posts are all “opinion” and lack any facts to back up your view that Dixon is a bad coach. I adn=mit I like Dixon for a variety of reasons, including that he is ranked number 2 in getting to 100 wins the quickest. His BE record over his tenure is tops. His NCAA record at Pitt is tops. Go loo at all the premier coaches out there today and compare their first 4 years with Dixon’s and let me now how he compares. You can throw out all kinda of anecdotal stuff, but why don’t you put togtehr sonme facts to bolster your viewpoint. I suspect the reason we don’t see any is because the facts won’t support your opinions. Who has voiced the view that Dixon is an overrated coach? I’ve not heard anyone of prominence state that other than some uninformed followers on this blog.

Stuart, right on!!

In some of my comments on here the last couple of weeks I have talked about Dixon in comparison to Coach K and Jim Calhoun, saying that he is an elite coach that you don’t let leave. A few people told me that he Dixon doesn’t compare to either of those coaches, but the points that Stuart and TMG made above are exactly what I was talking about.

I understand Dixon doesn’t have a final four or national championship. But what he has done this early in his career is comparable or ahead of what they did. What Dixon has accomplished in a few short years has been to establish himself as a coach that almost every school in the country would love to have on the sidelines. There are coaches in place at many schools (Duke, UNC, etc) that will be there until they decide to retire. But if any of those coaches retired this year, I guarantee that Dixon would be one of the first coaches on the list to replace them.

Althought I am critical of Dixon, I would not say he “sucks”. I am questioning wether he is the coach that can get Pitt to the final four or beyond. What he and Howland have accomplished at Pitt was probaly not thinkable 10 years ago. But, going to NCAA’s is no longer the benchmark of a successful season. I am questioning wether Dixon based on NCAA tournament record, recruiting and game management is the coach to take Pitt to the next level? Thanks to Howland and Dixon, Pitt with the Pete and attendance record is now a premium coach job.and until Dixon produces in the NCAA’s he is going to be questioned.

Calhoun and Coach K didn’t inherit winning programs as did Dixon. The early loses in rebuild ing the Pitt program went on Howland’s record not Dixon’s. Why do you think UCLA jumped on Howland and not Dixon to jump start their program? They knew who rebuilt the program from the ground floor. When Dixon took over the program, it had more than turned the corner and all the pieces were in place for continued success, so don’t get too carried away with Dixon’s immediate success. Better yet, let’s keep an eye on how fast he reaches 200 wins and how many BE championships he wins. Stuart, nice to see you woke up today and share the same open-mindedness as your sidekick, Omar. It’s great to be in the same company as such esteemed basketball gurus. Would you please give me the exact score for tomorrow’s game, so I can place a sure bet. Name calling by the two of you only shows the lack of respect you both have for other’s opinions. Dixon’s a super coach, now will you refer to me as a genius.

Dixon didn’t inherit a winning program. Dixon was part of building a winning program that hadn’t made 2 NCAA tournaments, both of which he was a part of, and one NIT tournament, of which he was also a part. Questioning his recruiting ability compared to the recruiting under Howland doesn’t even make sense since he was Howland’s primary recruiter. Let’s not act like Howland came and single handedly made this team a national championship contender and then Dixon has destroyed it. Dixon was a major part of what Howland did here, and Howland was only here for a few years. Many believed that Pitt was a top job when Howland left, and the best we got was turned down by John Calipari and Skip Prosser. If it is a more high profile job now, it is because of what Dixon, not Howland has done with it.

BTW, what is the point that UCLA jumped on Howland not Dixon? Howland was a head coach, Dixon an assistant. No matter how much a part Dixon played in Pitt’s success, a high profile job like UCLA is going to go for the head coach over the assistant. That is just common sense. And, unlike Dixon, Howland jumped ship as soon as he got a better offer.

I thought hiring Jamie Dixon was the wrong guy to hire when he was picked. I was disappointed that Pitt didn’t spend more time searching for a real coach and that they settled for Dixon. He has more than changed my mind these last 5 seasons. But lets run him out of town. That is what we do in Pittsburgh. As soon as a coach has a down season (not that Pitt is going to even be close to a losing season or anything), we demand that they are fired. With that kind of attitude, see how many high profile coaches want to come here and deal with that crap when they can be basically godlike at other schools for the same success Dixon is having now.

I might be wrong but I do not believe Pitt’s ever went after Calipari. He was the choice of some boosters but Pitt’s administration never considered him.