I’ll get to the Backyard Brawl I swear. Honestly, though, there isn’t much at the moment. Everyone seems to be low-key. I think both sides are doing anything and everything to avoid the bulletin board. In the meantime, some stories from the game last night and a couple others I’ve been meaning to link.

Game recaps focus on the outstanding block by Travon Woodall in the final minute. No one knew Woodall could sky like that. Last year, I recall stories where Ashton Gibbs claimed he could dunk. Still haven’t seen it. After what Woodall did yesterday, I believe Woodall can.

And of course, there was the attention to the turnovers.

La Salle, which had averaged 80 points in its first three games, shot 43 percent and had a hard time scoring against Pitt’s half-court defense. The reason the Explorers were in the game until the final minute was Pitt’s poor offensive execution and turnovers.

The execution had its problems. There was a large stretch starting at about the mid-point of the first half until under 2 minutes in the half, where Pitt only scored 3 points. In that stretch, Pitt had 4 turnovers and shot a dismal 1-8.

The move of Birch to Center seems like a full switch at this point. As Ray Fittipaldo points out, this will give Birch more minutes and should minimize the time Zanna is out there.

Dixon likes the combination of Birch and starter Dante Taylor at center and Nasir Robinson and Talib Zanna at power forward.

Taylor had his best game of the season with 11 points and six rebounds. Robinson had 17 points and six boards. And although Zanna continues to struggle, he won’t have to play major minutes with Robinson as the starter and mainstay there.

Obviously there will be games where Robinson has foul troubles. In those games, I expect Taylor or Birch to slide over to the Four to pick up some of the minutes. The other reason why this switch is better for Birch is that playing center in Coach Dixon’s system is easier than playing at the power forward — on both ends. Birch doesn’t have to try and process as much while still growing into the college game.

This look at the game is all about the youth issue on Pitt’s squad.

After the Long Beach State loss, Dante Taylor was quite the whipping boy — and most of it fairly earned — for his poor performance. This piece is of the opinion that it stems from Taylor still wanting to play power forward.

Regardless, Taylor is starting to resemble Taft, maybe the only player Dixon couldn’t reach in his thus-far tremendous tenure at Pitt.

Taylor, like Taft, has his moments. In a win at West Virginia last year, he was invaluable off the bench. He had seven rebounds against UConn in the Big East tournament.

But he has never been comfortable with his move to center from his more natural power forward. Even as he was preparing to take over as McGhee’s backup last season, his thoughts drifted off to playing the four position in practice.

Taylor has bulked up, practiced hard and listened intently. But, after three years, he still is not sold on the position.

And it’s affecting his work ethic.

I don’t know about that part. His effort on the court has been questioned at times. But the work ethic seems to be pushing.

The rest where he compares Taft and Taylor and wonders if it is partially because Dixon is better suited/prefers coaching the underrecruited/underapreciated  kids. That, I just don’t buy. The first thing is that  the sample size is all of two players. The piece dismisses Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, because in midstream the goalposts are moved from dealing with highly talented and recruited players to adding the issue of lacking self-motivation. Probably because the piece really wanted to make the connection with Taft and Taylor.

Here’s the thing about players that aren’t self-motivated — and really it applies for most people. That means performances are going to be uneven and unpredictable. It doesn’t matter whether the coach is Dixon, Calipari, Roy Williams, etc.  They have to want it as much. Sam Young got it in time. DeJuan Blair knew it immediately. It doesn’t matter the coach. You can find talented players that any coach hasn’t reached. There is no shortage of highly touted recruits who don’t match the hype — whether overrated or having motivation issues.

And on the flip side was this piece on the 2012 recruiting class that is considered a top-10 haul by Coach Dixon.