I will almost certainly revisit this over the summer, when there is more time to ponder. Not to mention a little more space from the immediacy of the end of the season. And of course, because I’ll need filler material for the blog in the dog days.

It’s hard to get a bearing on how much better Pitt basketball will be in 2010. Certainly, the team will be in all of the preseason rankings and expectations will be there. What does that mean?

As far as the record goes, I could see them struggling to match this season’s totals. For one, they will certainly be looking at a slightly more challenging non-con with the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and some other games. Another factor will be that as a team with expectations and likely to be picked for the upper 4th of the conference, they will be looking at a harder conference schedule.

In 2008-09, Pitt was in the top-10 all season. They finished with a 15-3 Big East record. This season saw Pitt finish with a 13-5 conference record. Without context, that is a remarkable achievement to finish only 2 off the pace of a tremendous season. But with unbalanced scheduling, not all records are created equal (just ask Virginia Tech’s misleading 10-6 ACC record).

That, however, isn’t really the issue. The issue stems from Bob Smizik’s blog post, which essentially clips Chris Dokish’s blog post. A post in which, the focus had little to do with the next season as a whole, but simply the postseason.

Let’s just jump right to what Dokish concludes.

This program has a lot of excellent supporting parts. The problem is, there was no star. With DeJuan Blair on this team, suddenly Gibbs gets open, Wanamaker doesn’t have to waste energy rebounding over his head, McGhee comes off the bench, etc. But without that star player, everybody was forced to play over their head. Much to their everlasting credit, they did do more than they should have been asked to for much of the season. But you can only stretch so much before you break.

The same will probably happen next season, though as many as five new players enter the mix. And it’s those five that will be the center of this team in two years. If Moore is eligible next season, he has the ability to be a star as a sophomore. Epps and Wright will at least be good as sophs, and maybe even better. Gibbs and Robinson will be seniors, Richardson, Taylor, Woodall, Patterson, and Zanna will be juniors, and John Johnson will arrive as a freshman, along with one or two others yet to be named.

Bottom line, this year was a rebuilding year and almost ended in the Sweet 16. Next year should be better and a Sweet 16 is a good possibility. Not bad for a team with no stars. The good news is, the stars may be on the way.

I hardly think anything he said was that outrageous or down on the team.

What seems to have some annoyed is the suggestion  of player upside:

The problem is that the players with the highest ceilings will still not be ready yet, and the upperclassmen simply don’t have high ceilings.

Those players are Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, Gary McGhee, Gilbert Brown and Nasir Robinson.

I’m hard pressed to disagree with his assessment on four of them — strictly on a production standpoint. Gibbs, Wanamaker, McGhee and Brown are not going to produce numbers that much higher than what they had this year. Where you want to see the change in them, is in consistency, efficiency and fewer mistakes. Better shooting percentage, lower turnover numbers and less variation of totals from game to game.

Oddly, Robinson didn’t get mentioned. He’s the one player I actually have hopes to make a more significant jump. Oh, he’s still going to be inconsistent on offense. He doesn’t have a pretty game. I think we all know that. I can see him, though, becoming the defensive specialist. He has the requisite toughness, plus deceptive speed and wiriness to stay on a lot of wing players.

The biggest difference between this past season and the coming season. Higher expectations from the outset.

Good, free information on spring practices seems to be very limited. This is where we really miss the infodumps of Kevin Gorman’s blog. Everything else seems to be behind paywalls and subscriptions.

There’s a post-practice video interview with Jared Holley that lets you know he is happy to be back practicing and stuff.

A little old, but over at Cat Basket they talk a little about the opening of camp. Let’s just say they have their doubts over the actual openness of the QB competition.

Arguably, they are looking right in their predictions as Sunseri has practiced only with the first team — but Coach Wannstedt says not to read anything into that. Why would anyone do that?

Other details is that, yes, the TE spot is Mike Cruz’s to lose. Devlin and DeCicco have not shown Coach Wannstedt much yet.

Shayne Hale knows that he is not only learning to play DE, but that he is behind two of the best in the Big East. Still he is eager and has his cliches down cold.

“He hasn’t even played the position for a year yet, but he has really improved,” said defensive line coach Greg Gattuso. “We need him to be able to play 15 to 20 snaps a game next year and that is if [the two starters] are healthy. If we get an injury, we’ll need more, and if he isn’t playing that many there is something wrong.”

Hale, who is 6 feet 4 and 250 pounds, said he knows his time is now and he’s making sure he takes full advantage of the opportunity.

“I’ve been staying after practice working on things, I want to work with [strength and conditioning coach] Buddy Morris on getting even stronger,” Hale said. “I know I can be a big part of things in the future, but I have to start this year. Just getting on the field and making plays when my number is called, that is all that I can control.”

In controlled scrimmage, the retooled O-line got some work. Coach Wannstedt was upbeat (shocking and stunning) while offensive line coach Tony Wise, playing the part of crusty, curmudgeon coach was less so.

At times, Wannstedt liked what he saw during a 45-minute controlled scrimmage. But offensive line coach Tony Wise wasn’t overly impressed.

When asked if he feels confident about filling the gaps on an offensive line that lost three starters — center Robb Houser, along with guards Joe Thomas and John Malecki — Wise sharply responded, “No.”

Wise is expecting more from his returning starters, All-Big East left tackle Jason Pinkston and right tackle Lucas Nix. And he’s demanding more of the projected first-year starters — guards Chris Jacobson and Greg Gaskins, and center Alex Karabin — in the weeks leading up to the Panthers’ spring game April 17 at Heinz Field.

What is spring practice or training camp without concern over the O-line?

Nothing really noteworthy. While Oregon might come after Coach Jamie Dixon, assuming Gonzaga’s Mark Few rejects them once more, there is not much belief Dixon would seriously consider it.

Multiple sources have also told me that Oregon will target Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon — as USC and Arizona did a year ago — in an attempt to get the West Coast native to return back closer to home.

However, I’d be shocked if Dixon — who has done one of the top coaching jobs in the country this year and in his tenure at Pittsburgh — would agree to take an Oregon job that isn’t all that attractive except for its ties to Nike.

The Nike ties. It seems that with Phil Knight on hand, the coach had better be in the Nike stable.

Mike Bellotti’s decision to step down as athletic director makes it even more clear that former AD and influential Oregon booster Pat Kilkenny will make the hire with the nod from Nike’s Phil Knight, who has invested in Oregon as much as any high-profile alumnus at any other school. Don’t be surprised to see the next Oregon coach coming from the family of coaches who work with Nike.

The resignation of Bellotti is a huge strike against someone like Dixon taking the job — or really many top coaches. There’s no sense at who is in charge there in the future. And at a program where football is much more important, even a “name” coach has to worry about getting involved in a situation where the next AD will be hired after he is.

I think Oregon might already be aware that the chances of getting  Dixon and certain other coaches probably won’t happen. Witness this bit from a beat writer indicating a sudden concern by Oregon over the style of play by the coach they hire.

Oregon isn’t necessarily looking for style over substance in its new basketball coach. The Ducks want a whole lot of both.

We’re not talking uniform colors here, but playing style. Fast is good. Fast and smart is better. Fast, smart and defensive-minded? Sign here.

Oregon is ready to throw a lot of money at the right coach, a coach who can fill a big new arena. A coach can do that three ways: He must have a resume that inspires excitement, he must bring an entertaining style of play and – oh yeah – he must win.

…

Pittsburgh, under Oregon coaching candidate Jamie Dixon, is far from speedy — his Panthers play at a pace almost equal to that of Oregon State. Duck fans may be smarting over the Beavers’ sweep of their team this season, but they probably aren’t eager to adopt OSU’s style.

You would think, given the offseason that Oregon football is having, that getting players that won’t be arrested would make the list. But no, the article has quotes from (Ommygodthey) Kilkenny talking about how important the style is.

There is also the fact that it is not nearly as simple as shoveling buckets of Nike money at someone.

Oregon is shooting large by going after Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Pitt’s Jamie Dixon and Florida’s Billy Donovan. I’d be surprised if any of them were to take the bait. The money isn’t as grand as what apparently is being bandied about. The facilities are expected to be beautiful, but Nike czar Phil Knight has always been about improving the infrastructure at Oregon more so than supplementing a coaching salary.

That’s somewhat silly. When Phil Knight is footing the bill for infrastructure costs, then more money is freed to pay the coach. It may not be directly from Nike, but it impacts.

The fact that style of play suddenly has become a factor indicates that both Jamie Dixon and Mark Turgeon of Texas A&M showed little interest in the predictable feelers that have been put out there. You don’t make statements that effectively limit your pool unless you want to cover yourself from claims that you were rebuffed. That or they doing whatever it takes to get Mark Few from Gonzaga.