Not TV. No internet. If you aren’t going to the game or don’t have Comcast in Western PA, you are out of luck to see this one.
This game is one Pitt should win easily. The real interest is seeing how Coach Jamie Dixon plays with the rotation. He needs to see if he can find a combination that will give Gibbs some more minutes to rest on the bench.
Agree about Wright. I’d much rather see Johnson develop into that first guard off bench (once Tray comes back). Like his offensive skill and defensive potential, even if it’s certainly not there yet. I’m not seeing any substantial defensive upgrade with Wright, at least enough to offset his offensive liabilities.
And Johnson is a player, and seems tough as nails. Let’s hope he continues to develop.
Dixon knows what he is doing. It makes sense bringing Johnson off the bench because the kid is a true freshman and also his ability to come in and score. He is a departure from most Pitt players who have come off the bench in that he can flat out score. Johnson coming off the bench is best for him and the team seeing that he is a true frosh.
This year the team should develop as the younger players get playing time. Next year Birach should be more physically mature and stronger with the addition of Adams who appears to be the rare H.S. big man that has both height and physical maturity (240lbs.) Pitt should dominate inside again.
Birch at strong forward (remember Dixon played SF with Blair)and Adams at center and the development of the youth this year next year should be very exciting.
I think he can be a more than adequate fill in for Woodall short term. Gibbs is better off the ball at the two.
Wright’s advantage is his size and POTENTIAL to play good defense. So far he hasn’t proven to be good enough defensively to keep Johnson off the floor.
Giving Epps too many minutes now is a waste. Pitt would have to be in BIG TROUBLE to need him. Right now he is just an upgrade over Nick Rivers as a practice player.
So if Pitt goes to an eight/nine man rotation come tournament time, the best case scenario for minutes would be:
Gibbs 32
Woodall 29
Johnson 19 – back up both spots
Wright – spot duty at the two and the three
Epps – nothing, needs to pick it up or think about moving on with his life’s work.
1) Crowd = pathetic. So many no shows. I hope to God that our fans are not so blessed that they give up on the “journey” and simply focus on the “destination”.
2) Epps = chubby, slow, careless and not going to be an option anytime soon.
3) Taylor is, simply put, a pussy. lots of athletic ability but lacks the “cock and balls” gene needed to play in the Big East. He is the anti-Nasir.
4) Johnson is small but fearless, almost LeVanc like. Looking forward to him playing more.
5) Cameron is playing solid defense, but he is easy discouraged. He’s Jamie’s project. Expect good things from him a year or so.
6) JJ Moore can be special if he can get a slashing mentality. Would love to see him beat people off the drible. His game isn’t there yet.
7) If Ashton gets hot, ride on it…that’s what I think for March…what the heck?
i HATE gibbs game right now. selfish, arrogant, entitled, and lazy are not going to get it done in march. his defense is the worst on the team. i can’t watch it any more. it makes me angry. i don’t understand why he gets a free pass. he gives up his offense on defense.
Check it out @
http://www.iampittbasketball.blogspot.com
(the name is an inside joke, don’t worry about it)
Sorry, give me Gibbs over the likes of Jermaine Dixon, Antonio Graves, Julius Page any day of the week.
You cant teach 20 points a game.
Say what you want.
Wait til he finds his stroke.
Buidling off of OLGP & Omar, I think what I realized last night was this year is the TRANSITION team. The transition from perrenial overacheiving, lunch pail, defensive teams to talented, offensive minded, scorer teams that bring youth and enthusiasm (and potentially “underachieving”) to the table.
Gibbs is playing like crap. His body language stinks. He shoots a million shots a game and turns it over trying to do things that are out of his circle of competence. I like him when he plays within himself. I think all of the positive press has gone to his head. It’s unfortunate because he can be an effective player when he isn’t asked to do too much. Right now he is hurting the team with his selfish play.
Gibbs’ leadership consists of scowling and pointing his younger teamates in directions so he can “take” a player one-on-one. It is horrible to watch. His effectiveness has deteriorated drastically without Brad Wannamaker.
Nasir Robinson is playing very efficient basketball and truly leads out there. He pulls teamates aside and tries to explain where they need to be. He doesn’t scowl or yell at them during the play. The foul at the end of last year’s Butler game has had a positive effect on Nasir. I love the way he competes.
This is a transition team to a new skill set of players at Pitt. Scoring first…grow into serviceable defense.
Winning the Wisconsin way will be a think of the past IMHO.
In the meantime, we are going to have a good (not great) regular season until the full compliment of talent in on the court.
This whole team needs to start playing with maximum effort on the defensive end. No more layups and wide open threes. Make teams work for a shot.
The schedule is not impressive and Pitt’s defense has been terrible. What do you think is going to happen when Pitt has to play some marquee teams? Is it going to magically improve? That’s not how it works.
I will state for the record that REBOUNDING AND TURNOVERS must always be a high priority and executed at the highest level. Defense, well…I am of the belief that it needs to be serviceable (read: contested shots, facing up, and blocking passing lanes). The lock down style of teams past is great for regular season, but I don’t see us going far with it.
Our furthest advancing team (Fields, Blair, Young) was probably our worst defensive team of the modern era.
How great of a defensive team was UCONN last year? How good of a defensive team was VCU?
All I’m saying is that we have to rebound, we have to be judicious with the ball, we need to show servivecable defense, and we MUST SCORE. #point shots, FT% and “make your own” off the dribble shots…with the “garbage tip-ins” from Rebounds.
That’s the formula in my mind.
He made it past the second round playing very little on the Young, Blair, and Fields team. In fact, he missed a couple wide-open threes against Villanova that year in the few minutes he played. This was also Pitt’s best offensive year at 1.22 PPP and they barely made it to the Elite 8 because of the suspect defense. Remember it took a hail mary by Levance to get us there. If Pitt plays top-25 defense in 2008-2009, then they cut down the nets. The best pros from that year’s elite 8 went to Pitt. Nova had no business even being in the game with Pitt. Mediocre defense let them hang around. Young and Blair are performing as well or better than all of UNC’s pros from the championship team. Offense and defense both matter. Pitt has sacrificed too much of one for the other.
I hope I eat crow on this. Unless Gibbs alters his game during the course of the season, I don’t think I will. Everybody on this site knows that I am as optimistic as they come with Pitt basketball, therefore I do not want to be labeled as a “hater”. I’m simply stating my somewhat informed opinion.
