It may be a good thing that Pitt is in a bit of a rebuilding year. Judging by some of what players that were on the U-19 team are saying, they are going to be better for their college teams after the time.

Whether it was Terrico White at Ole Miss.

White said his main focus on the trip was defense. The USA’s coach was Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, who’s known for his defensive knowledge.

“That’s his main focus, so we really worked on good team defense,” White said.

Or Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor who came out as the team’s leading scorer and was an all-FIBA selection.

At one point, a frustrated coach Jamie Dixon even challenged Taylor to play harder.

“We had some words because I wasn’t playing good and he was yelling at me and I was getting frustrated,” Taylor said.

Ashton Gibbs reports that Dixon worked all of the players hard.

On the court, Gibbs said many of his teammates appeared to be in awe of Dixon’s work ethic, much in the same way Gibbs appeared to be when he first came to Pitt for the 2008-09 season.

“The guys were in the dorm after practice saying, ‘No more coach Dixon,’ ” Gibbs said, with a laugh. “I absolutely knew what they were talking about. He’s a tough and competitive guy because it leads to winning. That’s what he’s all about.”

Sean Ford, the men’s national team director of USA Basketball, said he was impressed with Dixon’s coaching approach.

“Jamie said after the first practice that they were going for nothing less than a gold medal,” Ford said. “And after every practice and every timeout, for 29 days, he had them say one simple phrase: ‘Gold medal.’ “

So now Pitt has a coach getting more accolades and even a senior editor at (NBC) Universal Sports (you know, the people with the Olympic broadcast rights) is starting to talk of Coach Dixon as a future USA Olympic basketball coach.

USA Basketball should look to secure the long-term services of another coach, Jamie Dixon, after he led the U.S. U19 team to a world title earlier this week.

By beating Greece 88-80 Sunday in Auckland, New Zealand, the Americans claimed the crown for the first time since 1991. They have won the quadrennial tournament four times since it was first played in 1979 and have won medals in seven of the nine tournaments.

The team finished the 2009 tournament with a 9-0 record and a 22.2 points margin of victory average.

Dixon, the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh, was named the team’s head coach on May 12. The team did not hold tryouts until mid-June and none of the players on the team that played in the regional qualifying tournament last summer were members of the world championship team.

Dixon was named the 2009 Naismith Men’s College Basketball Coach of the Year after leading the University of Pittsburgh to a 31-5 overall record and the school’s first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the East Region final.

Krzyzewski was an assistant to Chuck Daly with the 1992 USA Dream Team that won gold at the Barcelona Olympics. As a head coach in 1990 he led the Americans to a bronze medal at the 1990 world Championships and a silver medal at 1987 World University Games

He’s not done what Dixon did last week—lead a U.S. team do a world title as a head coach.

Perhaps Dixon is destined to win an Olympic gold medal as a head coach as well.

Of course, as soon as the FIBA U-19 Championships were over, Dixon was on the recruiting trail for the last couple days of the open period.

“What else would I be doing?” Dixon asked when it was suggested to him that it seems a little extreme to fly Monday from New Zealand to Atlanta and then to Pittsburgh late this afternoon to watch more games tonight in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am Summer League.

Really, what else?

And you wonder why Dixon is one of the top coaches in America?

Correct that.

One of the top coaches in the world?

Albeit, in demand for interviews.

9:40 AM (Jeff): Gold-medal winning head coach of the USA U-19 team Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh) has strolled in with phone to his ear and grabbed a bunch of score sheets. This is Dixon’s first appearance on the recruiting trail since arriving back in the US from New Zealand.

No, the U-19 gold isn’t getting a lot of publicity, but there has been a steady trickle of stories relating to it. Couple it with Pitt’s success on the court and it just adds to kids being very interested in having Pitt show interest in them.

Pitt’s accomplishments were enough to woo Cincinnati Moeller, one of the top programs in Ohio. The Crusaders have won three state championships over the past decade in the state’s largest-enrollment classification, and by coach Carl Kremer’s estimate, have produced 15 to 20 Division I players in that span.

Kremer’s squad camped at Pitt five years ago, and have attended camps at schools such as Illinois, Clemson and North Carolina State in recent years. Kremer said a return trip to Pitt was a no-brainer.

“For our kids, I think they’re always excited to go to a big-time school. And you have Pitt, who was No. 1 in the country, and they were excited about that name and the great program that [Coach] Jamie [Dixon] has here,” said Kremer, who brought four teams of players.

Getting seen by college coaches is another advantage of the team camp environment. The Pitt camp took place within what the NCAA deems a “quiet period,” meaning coaches from any other Division I school were prohibited from attending games. Although Dixon was in Colorado Springs coaching the USA men’s under-19 basketball team for the FIBA World Championships, Regan and the rest of the Pitt staff were allowed to evaluate players throughout, a fact that wasn’t lost on some of the attendees.

“We really want the Pitt coaches to look at us,” said Scott, who already owns a scholarship offer from Duquesne.

Harris quickly interjected: “We’re trying to get into college.”

At the Pitt camp, players got a kick out of mingling and playing in front of college players, some of whom they’ve only seen on television. Much like they did at an AAU tournament in April, Pitt players sat at the scorers table, keeping score and watching the newest wave of talent.

“People want to get a little more close and personal with the team,” Regan said. “I think the high school kids get a charge out of Levance Fields, for example, running the scorers table”

Levance Fields wasn’t dismal or anything in his time with Orlando’s summer league team. He just didn’t get on the court much to show what he has. At least that’s the spin from Fields’ agent.

…Fields played a total of 25 minutes in two summer league games in Orlando. He averaged 4.5 points on 4-for-11 shooting to go with five assists. Fields did not see action in a game against the Indiana Pacers and former Duquesne guard Aaron Jackson, whom he faced for four seasons in college.

“Believe me, I’m not happy about it,” [agent Keith] Glass said. “When Levance did play, he was tremendous.”

As such, Fields is moving on to play for Sparta St. Petersburg in the Russian Super League. Fields got a 4-year contract with the first two guaranteed — for money better than the NBA minimum. Along with an opt-out to play in the NBA.

DeJuan Blair has been solid and then some in the summer league for San Antonio.

DeJuan Blair recorded his second double-double of the week. Gregg Popovich on what he’s getting in Blair: “A rebounder and someone who has a high effort level all the time on the boards, and running the floor. He enjoys playing, which is probably his main gift.”

Meanwhile the Spur blog, Pounding the Rock has observed that he can be a little lazy at times on defense and has to hold his position on defense against bigger players. Solid analysis and the knickname that seems to be taking with Blair is “Blair Force One.”

Blair has also signed a contract with the Spurs for 4 years and $4 million, with $3 million guaranteed. His agent had promised that he would get Blair a guaranteed contract, despite Blair being a second-rounder. I have to admit to being impressed that he delivered. And did it quickly.

Walters said the day after Blair fell to the Spurs with the 37th pick in the second round that he might pursue a two-year contract because he was confident Blair would out-perform his first contract. But Walters said last night that the Spurs made this contract satisfying enough that they decided to sign a longer-term deal.

“He ended up with a great team and they really wanted to develop him,” Walters said. “They wanted to show a commitment to him. He’s just happy to be playing basketball and now he’s able to take care of his family.”

It’s a fair compromise for both sides. Blair has a team locked into him and he can make a nice chunk of extra money with playoff runs, and they probably get a solid discount long-term.

Sam Young doesn’t have a contract yet from the Griz, but he’s been very good. In the last game, he went for 20 points and 6 boards. He’s been a guy that teams have been realizing they whiffed by passing on him.

Perhaps the player who arguably slid the most on draft night, Sam Young, also turned in some solid minutes. He played great defense, stepped out and hit an NBA three, and finished around the rim with either hand. Of course, we also got to see the most exaggerated ball fake in the business as well. Definitely looked like a mid first round pick, not a guy picked in the mid second round.

The Griz-blog 3 Shades of Blue does note that Young does not have the greatest ball-handling skills.

Getting closer to real focus on the 2009 football team.

Big East Media Days are coming. In roughly 2 weeks, media folk will descend on Newport, Rhode Island for golfing, lobsters and clams (and yet I still have not received my invite). They will contendedly speak well of the atmosphere and setting before professing to random guesses as to the order of the top-6 teams in the conference (and toss a coin over Louisville and Syracuse for #7 and #8).

There will also be the player interviews. Unlike the past couple years, there are no clear “stars” coming into this season in the conference outside of USF’s George Selvie. This is who Pitt will be bringing:

• Greg Romeus, Junior, DE
• John Malecki,Senior, RG
• Nate Byham, Senior, TE

Romeus and Byham make sense since both are top playmakers for Pitt. Byham should be a top candidate for All-American and Mackey Award honors. Romeus is considered one of the best DEs in the conference and a potential top-player at the position in college.

Malecki is something of a surprise. Reliable. Consistent. A senior anchor on the O-line.

Yet, no sign of the senior QB. Bill Stull is glaring by his absence. Perhaps Coach Wannstedt is trying to protect Stull from being asked about the way he ended the season and prevent early talk of a QB controversy.

It won’t work. If anything, not bringing Stull will fuel the questions and theories that Stull is anything but a lock to be the starter.

A week after media days, Pitt will kick of its own media day and the start of practice. August 11 is the day, making them one of the last BE teams to start practicing.

Brian Bennett, the Big East football writer for ESPN.com, has done a great job all summer with material. I haven’t linked or given him enough credit for making the ESPN.com BE Blog a daily read. A couple weeks ago, he had an interview with Pitt Defensive Coordinator Phil Bennett.

I would think Aaron Berry also has to be one of those leaders, too, right?

PB: No question. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have coached some great corners. His feet are as quick as Terrence Newman’s, and I don’t say that lightly. I think Aaron knows it’s time and he’s got to become more consistent. He’s worked hard this summer and he knows what he means to this team.

He had some issues this spring and was suspended for the final couple of practices. Do you think he’s got everything in order now?

PB: I do. Everybody says this, but if you’ve ever heard or watched me, you know I’m pretty tough on them. I’m demanding. I just think Aaron learned some lessons, as we all have, and I think we’re fixing to see him step up and have the type of year that we all think he’s capable of having.

I know it’s early, but do you see any incoming freshmen who might earn their way into some playing time this year?

PB: I mentioned Dan Mason, and we’ll give him a look. We’ve got a young man named Jason Hendricks that we’ll look at. But it’s just too early. I think Dave will tell you this, that hopefully our program is to a point where, no, we wouldn’t be counting on any of them to play as freshmen. But there are variables that happen, and you have to deal with them, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

The defense, as everyone know will be counted on to be a dominating force. When you start running through the questions at various positions/units the questions on defense are mostly about players stepping up this year (like Aaron Berry and the rest of the secondary). The only spot where it’s a true question mark on the defense is at linebacker.

Offense though, has questions at QB, RB, the O-line (esp. Center). Add in the unknown factors for punter and kicker and there’s a lot to wonder.

Joe Starkey did a scattershot column on Pitt, Coach Wannstedt and recruiting. Ostensibly about recruiting the 2010 class and needing to cast a wider net, he ends it with the need to win this year.

Junior quarterback Pat Bostick was a big-time recruit who has yet to fulfill his potential. Wannstedt believes Bostick and incumbent Bill Stull “have talent,” along with redshirt freshman Tino Sunseri and true freshman Kolby Gray.

Wannstedt expressed confidence in that group and said: “We’re on a few championship quarterbacks this year (recruiting-wise), and I believe we’ll get one.”

That would certainly round out the Class of 2010, but the pressing issue at Pitt is 2009.

It’s time to build on that 9-4 record and win a conference title.

It is telling that a team that lost its stud running back, has questions at QB, a new OC, and a new punter and kicker is considered a legit team to win the Big East. Is it another down year in the conference or just that no one really knows anything about the other teams?