The Coach Dixon Radio Show kicks off tonight. I really wish they would put them out as podcasts — then I might actually listen. I am guessing that it will be streamed — either via the flagship 970 or one of the affiliates (listed in the press release). The show, though, airs from 6-7 and there is little chance at that time to go sit by the computer to listen. I suppose I could use a stream-ripper but that would mean remembering and still having to be home to start the recording. Seems like way too much work. If anyone has a good suggestion to time-shift that is free or if there are podcasts, let me know.
Bob Smizik is now declaring Coach Dixon the best coach in the ‘Burgh, while taking swipes at the talent levels and recuiting. Really, do you think there would be a Smizik column/post without the glass at least somewhat half-empty?
That’s what sets Dixon apart. He can win with lesser talent. Some might call that a knock on his recruiting ability, and there’s an element of truth to that. But the fact remains: Dixon regularly wins with less talent.
That is the mark of a great coach.
Nobody gets their players to play harder, no one gets a greater commitment to defense and team.
He takes the ordinary and makes them excellent. There’s no better example of that on the current team than Ashton Gibbs, the leading scorer. He was an mid-level recruit who is turning into an outstanding player. That’s a typical Dixon story. Gibbs is playing at an all-Big East level. No one had the right to expect that. But Dixon, with plenty of help from Gibbs, got him to that point.
Gibbs finally snapped his consecutive FTs made streak at 46. He has missed only 4 FTs all season. As if in counterpoint, Nasir Robinson has missed 13 straight going back to the beginning of December.
As usual, though, free throw shooting remains a consistent worry. Last year, Pitt shot 67.6% on free throws. Presently they aren’t too far away at 66.4%. Wanamaker is shooting 67% down from nearly 75% last year, though Dixon is hitting 76% which is up from 66%. Woodall is under 62%. Dante Taylor is tolerable at 62.5%. Gilbert Brown’s sample size is still too small to judge fairly. I don’t think I want to even discuss Gary McGhee (51.3), Nasir Robinson (30) and even Lamar Patterson (54.5).
Still, a 3-0 start in the Big East has raised expectations. Seriously, though, Elite Eight — based on this plan? That would only happen if there was a confluence of incredible leaps in development, several souls being sold and flat-out freaky luck.
Gilbert Brown has come out of his suspension looking like he has played most of the season. This despite not practicing or conditioning with the team or coaches since his suspension. Despite playing more of a power forward than a small forward. And still coming off the bench. He did have time to learn the last couple years what Sam Young was doing and prepared for it after last season ended.
“I’ve talked to Gilbert about it,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We kind of want to use him similar to Sam. We ran a lot of sets for him that we ran for Sam. He finished strong, and he made some plays.”
Brown, who missed the first 11 games while on academic suspension, scored a career-high 17 points — 13 in the second half — in a 74-71 victory at Cincinnati. The redshirt junior forward scored nine consecutive points for No. 23 Pitt in a critical second-half surge, capped by a soaring, attack-the-rim, baseline dunk that harkened some of Young’s memorable slams.
The complaint about Coach Dixon’s approach has been that he is playing too many guys out of position. That he is not taking advantage of their natural ability at the right spot.
The flip side to that is how much it increases the versatility of the players and gives the team much more flexibility. It is part of the reason for the long-term success at Pitt under Dixon. The team can survive injuries better and not have to change the system as much.
To take the Sam Young example. Young fought and pouted about being forced into playing power forward when his size and ability suggested keeping him exclusively at the small forward spot. Instead, he learned to play inside better, play more defense and develop a more rounded game. It not only helped Pitt better when Blair had foul trouble. It helped his overall development as a player.
Brown returning clearly helped by increasing the team’s ability to score and improved their intensity. It also takes some pressure off of other players to produce and minutes needed. The other factor was in terms of practicing. With playing defense and immediately buying into what Dixon has taught about playing out of position. The team has more energy and intensity as it gets through to them.
While the addition of his two veterans has been a big part of the team’s improvement the rest of the players deserve a lot of credit, as well, the coach said. For one thing, some players lost some minutes they were getting early in the season to make room in the lineup for Jermaine Dixon and Brown; for another, the other players have all improved and most because they have responded to the challenges given to them by the coaching staff.
“We’ve challenged these guys to improve. They’re taking the responsibility,” Jamie Dixon said. “And I think they’re enjoying improving. Some guys don’t want to change, they want to stay the same. But these guys want to get better and they are. I think there’s a real understanding our mentality was we’re not going to be the same team in January as we were in November.
“[Brown] is getting better defensively and he’s getting more comfortable, especially on defense. Even though he’s been here three years, it really is like starting over for him, but he is continuing to improve — as they all are.”
I agree that both elements are what makes up a good college coach, and I believe Dixon to be a better recruiter than deemed while Wanny is a better coach than deemed. I also have no problem with those who think Dixon is the more elite coach .. but that doesn’t necessarily infer that Wany is bad.
Take a look at the next class, epps, wright, moore.. all rated 92 and higher…
Its just getting better and better.
The kind of people who knock Gibbs are the same ones who dogged both Young’s and Blair’s pro prospects. Neither was a highly celebrated recruit to anyone other than Pitt. I’m glad to see both players disproving critics and far exceeding expectations for R2 rookies in the NBA. A lot of pro teams would rather take some gangly African kid with < 2 years bball experience over accomplished skilled players. This is why I don’t watch the NBA — I’m just glad a few great Pitt ballers can live their dream.
He is a 6’10 260 lb center, and came to visit back in October but didn’t commit. JJ Moore comitted a few weeks later; JJ is talented but SF is not a position of need like a good center.
I have a feeling that if Walker does want to come, then Miller will be shown the door but not sure who else will go since I already believe there are one over the limit right now.
Richardson was brought in for 4 minutes the other day, and the only two others not playing are frosh Patterson and Zanna … both of whom appear to me to have better upside than Miller when I sa them this summer. Again this is pure speculation.
From what I’ve heard, though, Walker probably isn’t ready to contribute right away, either, so giving somebody the boot to make room for him may not do much to solve the problem, at least not right away. This is all just internet chatter at this point, though, so take it for what it’s worth.
In terms of who goes, I think the players will decide this by their performance in practice. One of the problems that Miller has had is that he has missed a lot of practice time to injury and illness. He has always had a nice shooting touch, but his defense and rebounding have been inconsistent. This should not be surprising, given his relative inexperience, but if he is not able to stay on the court for practice time after 2 years, he may end up on the outside looking in.
My understanding is that Walker is a bit of a project, but that he could come in and play (not necessarily start) as a freshman, and that he has a high upside. That being said, I think Moore is considered a much, much better prospect, so if he is eligible, they will want him in next year.
As for top-50 recruits, keep in mind that Epps was also considered a top-50 guy until this past year. Ironically, I have read that one of the reasons he dropped was that his scoring went down because he focused on improving other aspects of his game (assists, turnovers, defense). He apparently has the ability to put up big points, but really views himself as a point guard first and foremost.
Whatever his ranking, it is important to remember that it took him a couple years to really put it together at Pitt. Remember him as a freshman – he was extremely athletic, but extremely raw, and he had one of the worst looking outside shots I’ve ever seen.
Love Pitt’s speed, quickness and hustle in the backcourt…more than they’ve ever had.
This analysis also doesn’t account for the fact that Pitt has had Taft, Gray, Young, and Blair in the NBA. The data actually looks pretty random.
The 2004-05 team (that lost to Pacific) was in my opinion one of the more frustrating teams of the decade. I still think it lacked on-court leadership, and as much as I liked Chevy Troutman as a player, he seemed more interested in the scenery at the end of that season. Their travel problems to Idaho probably didn’t help for that game either.
1) Howland’s team that lost to Marquette
2) Jamie’s team that lost to Villanova
Lou’s point on uncontrollable cosmic Gods has to be reasoned for #1…Dwayne Wade did not miss that day. He flat out beat us, alone. It was cosmic event that day. We (or anybody else) would have lost that day.
As for #2, I put that in the hands of Omar’s randomness thing. Levance’s full court heave falls in and that is the shot immortalized. Scott Reynolds misses that full court drive, we possibly go to overtime and win by 12. Fits with the randomness thing. Instead, we will have Scottie Reynolds burned in our brain forever. Gotta chalk that one up to “sh*t happens” that are random.
The rest ended about where they needed to be +/- 1 spot. Jamie’s first team was probably the only one that I would say would be considered a close #3 to the teams above because they were highly experienced and lost to a Okie State team that was under seeded and it was really a E8 matchup guised as a S16 matchup); however, I would say that considering the style of play, the seeding of that year, the matchup, and the overall lack of NBA “game changing” talent, we got about as far as we could have gone.
Most schools will not have one legitimate FF caliber team in their lifetime, let alone two in ten years. For example, please tell me when a Jameer Nelson/Delonte West type duo is going to land in St.Joe’s again and lead them to a FF? Right, never.
We should be thankful that we have built a program that is constantly in the dance, provides tremendous journeys/wins throughout the year, and puts us in a position to have a FF caliber team a couple times a decade. Plus, the brand is strong enough to recruit better and better (game changing) players every year….
Not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN.
If there is only one complaint that I have had in both the Howland/Dixon system come March time, it would be Free Throw Shooting (and our utterly horrible display at the line as a team 55-60%). In order to close out games when the venues/refs change the dynamic in Foul Charged games…with our style of play, you gotta have solid FT shooters.
Ask Calipari how much FTs mean….
Ask Jay Wright about that when his team shot some 95%+ from the line 30+ times…
HTscriptP
The reason Pitt hasn’t gone to the FF and has consistently under-achieved in March is MOSTLY due to the fact that their talent isn’t quite at a high enough level. (Last year was the obvious exception, they had enough talent, just had a bad match up and bad refereeing in Boston that led to all the free throws, Omar is right)
Look what a difference a small upgrade in talent at two spots has done for Pitt this season. Brown and Dixon replacing Woodall and Robinson has taken Pitt from a team looking at 5 or 6 Big East wins to one who should win 10 or 11.
For the Pitt program to get to the elite level, Dixon is going to have to get SLIGHTLY better recruits. He doesn’t need to get the Calipari, one and done guys or change his philosophy. He just needs to start winning some of the recruiting battles that he has been losing. Imagine if players like Johnson, Cheek and/or Ebanks had picked Pitt instead of Cuse, Nova and WVU to name just a few.
This is a good team with a lot of unselfish, tough, well coached, role players. To make consistent runs at the Final Four, you need a couple of stars. Pitt has been unable (so far) to recruit enough of that kind of talent to achieve and sustain excellence.
Until then the Pitt Program will be very good, but not quite elite and the same must be said for the coach.
As far as a comsic happening, let’s go back to about 8 seconds left in the Nova game with Pitt down by two, and Fields crossing half court. He was fouled for what appeared to a bad play bu a Nova defender in which he evntually made both shots to tie the game. But instead of being fouled, the Nova player just stays between Levance abd the lane when he spots a a wide open Young in the right wing, the exact spot where 20 seconds earlier he made a 3, so he passes to Sam who makes the same shot and Pitt goes up by one with about 2 seconds left … not enough time for Reynolds to drive the length of the floor.
RE: Dixon teams in the NCAA, I studied free throw shooting with just about every expert that teaches and taught it for 8 years as a coach.
Could not agree more with those above who consider it a fatal flaw in Pitt tourney teams.
Coach Dixon is 30 times smarter than I, so why don’t these kids change? No answer here. Like a bad golf swing practiced over and over, if you don’t have form, it will give way under pressure.
Also, I can tell you from experience, tourney play, one and done, is another game from league play. #1 Need is a dominating point guard in speed, quicknees, and intelligence. Knight was the best I have see at Pitt…others were not even close to the competition they played. Agreed Nova stepped up and played out of their minds, but they had the talent and athleticism to do it.
Really think this Pitt team may be our best backcourt ever by years end.
A little more context, Ashton Gibbs has a 2% (his free-throw percentage of 92% or 0.92 to the 46th power) chance of hitting 46 consecutive free-throws again. Gibbs going 46-46 is 4 times as likely as us seeing what Villanova did again. I am still simply stunned that they went 22-23 from the line.
To your comment, “Nova stepped up and played out of their minds….” when will a Pitt team step up and “play out of their minds” when it counts, when it truly counts?
When will Pitt shoot 90% from the FT line, or go 18-22 from beyond the arc? Pitt’s best games in the last decade, IMHO, have come during the Big East tournament. Those BE Champion banners are nice, but a FF or National Championship banner would be even better.
Apparently it is not a consensus that everybody uses the Recruiting Services Consensus Index. You should inform Kevin Gorman that he needs to use this. Although this service is uses the word “Consensus” in its name, while not a true average, it is more of an average of rankings by “experts” selected by jeffc@nc.rr.com than a consensus.
You should not compare 5 year seniors to 4 year seniors. If everyone was given a 5th year, to have a “objective” comparison, it could be argued that they would rank just about where they are ranked, with actually giving everybody a 5th year being the only way of sorting this mess out.
Then if you want to use a system and suggest that everyone uses this system you need to stick with their rankings and not fudge them to suit your purposes.
Anyway the overall point of the thread, regardless of Blair ranking 40th or 51th, is that Pitt is winning at a high level without the top players in the country, with an undercurrent of whether this is good enough to go all the way even with the best coach.
Player #1 17.2 50.6 77.4 36 38.9 3.8 7.1
Player #2 17.5 43.3 93.7 88 40.9 2.7 2.4
Interesting comparison of players through 15 games….
Player #1 John Wall (early pick for POY by many)
Player #2 Ashton Gibbs (early pick for ?)
What “great” individual talent did Villanova have last year? Please tell. And don’t say Scottie Reynolds because he was sent back to school by the NBA.
Just because Dixon doesn’t sign many NBA caliber players doesn’t mean he doesn’t acquire talent. Pitt gets many players who are darn good college players … Knight, Troutman, Gray and Fields all made all-BE teams, which is quite a feat if you ask me.