The last couple of road games have kind of smacked Pitt and us back to the truth that this is only a slightly above-average team even with Tray Woodall back in the line-up. A team capable of going against the top-four teams in the conference, but just as likely to fall on the road to teams in the middle.
Overall, with a healthy season, this team would have finished with 10-12 conference wins and been a 5-8 seed in the NCAA Tournament depending on what happened in the Big East Tournament. Disappointing based on preseason expectations, but realistic based on which players have and have not developed this season. It doesn’t matter the team, coach or pedigree of the player. It happens. Syracuse, Florida, UConn, Villanova, UCLA, Ohio State, Georgetown, UNC, Texas, Washington, Cal, and so on. It sucks when it happens to your team. No one wants to hear excuses or that it happens to others as well.
The NCAA Tournament is not happening this year. The injury to Woodall messed that up. Any goodwill that the team might have been building with the selection committee over Woodall’s injury being a mitigating factor has gone out the window with these road losses. The only glimmer would be to win 5 straight (including at Louisville and at UConn), and then win at least two games in the Big East Tournament. Even then, Pitt would be sweating the bubble — worrying about how other teams finish.
Unlike the USF game, where Pitt never led and it just fell apart in the second half. Pitt was up, got down big, clawed back before the half, took the lead and almost had control — and then let it get away.
“We put ourselves in a position where we have play at a high, high level and not let any get away,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “This one got away from us.”
I guess you can say that as Tray goes, so goes Pitt. Woodall has had two straight bad games. He struggled with turnovers (4 in each) and his shot just not going. In USF he was 4-13 (1-6 on 3s) and yesterday against Seton Hall it was 2-10 (1-5 on 3s). We know he isn’t all the way back, and he is taking injections before every game to deaden the pain. He had to miss some practices this week. The only thing that heals the kind of injury he has is rest. Something he isn’t able to get, and I can’t help but wonder if the effort and minutes are already starting to grind him down once more.
Ashton Gibbs bounced back from a horrid USF game to get 26 points, but really found little help. Lamar Patterson had a very good first half, but tailed off later in the game. After that, not much else. Taylor had a couple buckets including showing some range — but it was still terrifying to see him take those shots. The frontcourt, however, was completely ineffective offensively. It was a nightmare for him other than getting rebounds. Zanna was off — and called for a technical no one quite understood. Malcolm Gilbert even got a couple minutes, but was so lost out there defensively that he was promptly returned to the bench. Robinson had nothing in this game.
[As an aside for a useless factoid that could kind of sum up the day. Going into it, Herb Pope was shooting 59.6% on FTs (59-99). Nas was 54.8% (40-73). Not exactly huge differences. Pope went 6-6 and Nas 0-5.]
The bench remains an empty place. Moore followed up his slight uptick against USF with complete invisibility. John Johnson does not look to have any confidence out there. Cam Wright can make a bonehead mistake in his first minute in the game, and then shut-down a guy right afterwards. Overall, I like his defense when he is out there. The biggest issue for Wright has been getting himself into the flow of the game. He definitely struggles to find rhythm coming off the bench, but given his offensive limitations he will not be a starter anytime soon. That lack of offense to his game is definitely a limit to his minutes considering Pitt has returned to its offensively struggling ways in the two road games.
First third we had the full compliment, then next third with Birch leaving and Woodall injured we had to adjust to playing with yound and undeveloped talent, then third third back to having a legit starting point guard.
I don’t think its a coincidence that Patterson found a groove (when no one else could) then sort of slipped when Woodall came back. His role had to change slightly. Dont think its a coincidence that Woodall came back, played within himself to very good/great results for 2 weeks, then took that as a greenlight over-extended himself agaisnt USF/SHU. (i’m not faulting him at all for this, Dixon pushed him too).
We could never settle a productive equilibrium. We just settled into a funk in each phase of the season so far.
The only consistency through the year has been a bad front court, which was no where near a strong enough foundation to withstand inconsistency in the back court.
I dunno. I’m grasping for answers and it seems like we just didn’t have a strong/ experienced / talented enough team to withstand the key injuries.
I’d like to see us get some more minutes for the underclassman as the season progresses. Nas is going to have to get comfortable with less minutes. Love the guy but we need to get Moore some confidence. Same with Gibbs and Johnson / Wright. Keep the Sr. legs fresh, develop the youth for next year and maybe we can pull off a miracle at MSG. HTP!
I think next year will be fine. (At least an improvement from this season.) Adams and Robinson won’t have to carry the team, but each will in some way be an improvement over what Pitt has now — certainly Adams as a skilled, inside presence, and Robinson as a physical point guard. (How many times does Woodall get bumped off the ball, easily trapped in the half court, etc.). With Robinson at the 1, Woodall 2, Patterson 3, Zanna 4 and Adams 5 I think that’s an effective nucleus.
Of course, any sort of “jump” from someone like Moore or Johnson, etc., would make me feel better.
but on the other hand, spring practice starts 3/12 and the spring game is on 4/14
The team will have two legit young true centers on the team. Both of whom will demand minutes
Taylor hasn’t played well enough to feel good about having him play center next year. And he hasn’t shown the ability to play forward.
I would hate to see him transfer but that may be his best option.
The only way Epps stays is if they don’t need his scholarship.
I also think Jamie Dixon is quite stupid for continuing to play Ashton Gibbs at the 1 when Woodall is out of the game. He is much smarter than I am in the context of basketball, but this is an idiotic decision and he deserves the criticism. Pitt played infinitely better in games against Syracuse and Marquette with Isaiah Epps in the game. Ashton Gibbs is a marginally talented player when he is allowed to focus on shooting. When asked to do much else, he stinks. Why not keep Epps in the rotation when Woodall takes a break or gets in foul trouble? I don’t believe that there is an answer.
Jamie Dixon gets a C- for his coaching job this season. Worst defense Pitt has played in a decade, awful combinations, very little improvement, and pathetic leadership from the seniors. Atrocious season. Hopefully the two newcomers make a difference, but we aren’t going to the final 4 for a while.
Watch now,as he get’s an extra bump, check and look from defenders on defense. This was not happening the first five games back. If you shut down Tray and Gibbs, you shut down Pitt.
We have no where else to go for scoring.
In addition, Gibbs has become a human turnover machine at the top of the key and in the key (Patterson also). His high spin dribble with no bar arm up is an open invitation for a steal and a layup. His lazy assed passes at the top of the 1-4 offense Pitt runs against man defense have cost Pitt 28 points in turnovers the last five games. Again, I know we are lacking in talent this year, and lacking in depth but I can find no reason why their is such an abundance of basketball IQ stupidity.
Less of Nas/Gibbs
More of Sleepy/Moore/Johnson/Epps/Wright/Patterson
Nothing to lose, lots to gain
Using Epps would be a waste. He clearly couldn’t handle any pressure, and certainly never showed that he could drive and dish. I agree though that Gibbs shouldn’t ever be at 1 — Johnson can handle it for 10 minutes a game.
The 1-5 end-of-shot-clock screen is another example of ineffective coaching this season. Neither Gibbs nor Woodall can work with the ball screen effectively — we’ve seen the past two games how opponents will just trap Tray until he gets in trouble or turns the ball over. (And Gibbs is completely ineffective.) Yet under 10 secs we go to them every time. An adjustment needs to be made. Either try a wing screen w/Patterson, or something different out top.
As our inside defense is terrible, having Birch would have certainly helped, certainly couldn’t have hurt and his presense also spurned Sleepy to better play. (naturally)
As for next year, as I’ve said for quite a while now, Sleepy is playing out of position. He did win the skills competition at McDonald’s all-star game and he can hit 15 footers. Just because your 6’9″ does not mean you have to play Center.
Hopefully he will be given the chance at PF next year, as you want Adams on the floor as much as possible as well.
And as I posted late last night, Woody & Gibbs are both playing too many minutes now, Gibbs had 39 mins, yesterday and Woody had over 35. Not much choice though since Johnson & Wright have regressed. Fatigue has played a part in Woody’s & Gibbs mental errors late in these games. Woody hasn’t played well since Villanova really dogged him all game, last Sunday, he is hurting as he couldn’t EVEN play without the pre-game pain injections. Abdominal injuries are really bad as in a game like basketball, you’re constantly aggravating a not completely healed injury. He was brought back too soon against ND which further aggravated and delayed his healing process. Coach, sorry to say, panicked after we lost to Wagner and threw Woody in the next game against ND, when he was not fully healed.
This season you could say, has been the ‘Perfect
Storm’ type of season. Injuries, a transfer, lots of questionable moves by the coaching staff and a very unlike PITT, soft team.
As Chas mentioned it happens to the best of programs and we have been the best program in the BigEast regular season in the last 10 years.
However it is now imperative that we rebound in a big way next year !
This team needs a load of new talent.
And please no more projects. At this point in PITT’s program we should be able to recruit near finished products. Guys that can actually shoot, dribble penetrate, create their own shot and pass.
It makes things a whole heck of alot easier.
*note I said NEAR finished products. Or at least nearer than the recruits we’ve been getting.
Epps & Wright are not guys that get recruited by Top 10 programs. Neither really are Zanna or Moore. Patterson would be a bench player on Duke or North Carolina or Syracuse or even Uconn.
We need to really step up our recruiting, as last year’s team had a very difficult time with Maryland who was/is a middling ACC team. Our usual plodders are not going to do well in a more uptempo league. Time to get some thoroughbreds.
We got to step it up !
They sliced and diced us for easy layups and 3s.
Projects vs. products, I’m thinking now give me the latter.
You can’t do that playing Center in Pitt’s offense.
Wright was offered by Wisconsin (not too shabby a program) and Indiana; Zanna by Villanova, BC and Oklahoma; Taylor by UConn and WVU; Patterson by Michigan. Those seem like some top 10 schools to me and these kids were considered big “gets” at the time; so was Epps. There’s no sure thing in recruiting. Ask Jay Wright and his top 10 recruiting class that makes up his junior class right now.
I really, really (really!) hope that Dixon does give some of the younger guys more PT. There is nothing to be gained from giving those minutes to Gibbs and Nas, particularly Nas.
Amazing to me to be thinking, “I can’t wait ’til these seniors are gone,” but that is clearly the case. Gibbs is just not likable and not a leader. You can see that during the games. The rest of the team does not respond to him. He can go to Europe and make some decent coin for a decade.
Nas is Nas. He’s been playing injured and asked to do things he is not physically capable of doing. His playing days are over.
Just thinking about Pitt playing in the NIT makes me feel ill.
Have to say I see only two making contributions going forward. Wright and Moore are not among them.
A: One. Malcolm Gilbert.
Dixon has completely bungled this kid’s freshman year so far. How can you burn a kid’s redshirt to average what 2 minutes a game? On a team that is going nowhere? Coaching malpractice.
Even with Adams coming in next year, Gilbert should make a significant contribution to next season.
After watching Dixon coach for 10 years, I KNOW THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN, but it is time to start thinking about next year. Jamie could that easily by tweaking the rotation.
Get Gilbert >15 min/game at center now. Reduce Taylor’s minutes by 5. Move Zanna to forward and sit Robinson for 10 min. Zanna is going to play forward next year. Get him ready too.
Gibbs needs to sit for >15 minutes a game, too. Give those minutes to Moore, Johnson and Wright. One of those guys is going to START next year. Time to figure out who that’s going to be and get him some experience now.
You never know who is going to step up until you give them a chance. I don’t want to hear about practice. Practice is important but it isn’t a game. There are great practice players who can’t get it done in the games and vice versa.
My plan would not be to throw in the towel on this year. Pitt would still be trying to win the rest of the games. But they could do that while giving some younger guys a shot.
He got picked a couple times because he doesn’t have a left hand and isn’t strong enough to protect the ball from defenders. That’s not his abdomen, folks.
It certainly is true that Pitt is dependent on how he plays because no one else (including Epps, for god’s sake, who shouldn’t be playing at this level) has any PG skills on this team. But expecting Woodall to play even reasonably well every night is a pipe dream.
I think next year is going to be tough, too. Adams will help inside and Robinson will get better as the year progresses (maybe as lead guard, maybe playing alongside Woodall), but players like Zanna, Taylor, Woodall, Wright, Moore are going to play a lot of minutes and I don’t think they’re good enough to win a lot of BE games. Even John Johnson, who I started out a fan of, is starting to scare me because I just don’t see ANY ballhandling ability from him.
Get on the recruiting trail, Jamie, and get yourself some better players!
pitt can’t get away with even one minute of gibbs at the point. play somebody who can at least go through the motions of the position.
who knows what happens next year? maybe the team is only a few pieces away. i don’t think losing gibbs or robinson is going to hurt very much. they may lose some offense, but the defense is where this team needs the most help any way.
it will also help to have more than one player on the floor that can get to the hole. last year we had wannamaker, who could get to the rim on anybody, and brown who could drive when given an opening. this year we have woodall who is okay, but not great and nobody else. maybe wright, moore, or johnson can develop or robinson comes in and contributes right away. who knows. i do know that pitt isn’t going to the final 4.
My first impression, he looked like a heavy legged, marginal athlete who was way closer to 6’0 than 6’3″. The first player I thought he looked like was Ronald Ramon. Honestly, I thought here we go again, an over-acheiver, with a ton of heart, who plays on a good team. But certainly not an instant impact player. Needless to say, I was not encouraged about the prospect of him helping Pitt next year. The kid he was gaurding, a UNC recruit, looked much, much quicker.
Then as I watched him play, I saw a natural point gaurd. He can dribble with both hands, effectively protecting them ball. He made good pass, after good pass. He didn’t turn the ball over and seeemed to run the team very well. He played tough defense and could really rebound. He’s strong and tough as nails.
He was a really good, drive, draw and dish guy who set up his teammates for easy shoots.
Then he gets two ridiculously stupid technicals and is out of the game. His team actually adds to the lead when he was out.
So I have no idea what to expect from him next year.
I think part of the initial impression also was due to Dematha’s game plan– it looked like they wanted to post Robinson up against the other PG (the one going to UNC). Not much early in way of attacking, etc., on his part. Didn’t get to see what sort of shot/outside game he has– he was way more of a distributor. The announcers mentioned that in their last meeting, he pretty much took over offensively, hitting pull up jumpers, etc., to bring Dematha back.
The technicals were dumb, probably because it was a local, traditional, heated rivalry. Everyone seemed shocked by it.
For what it’s worth, the announcers were raving about him all game (until he got ejected, of course). I liked what I saw, too– he won’t be a savior but I expect him to contribute immediately.
Woodall goes down, but the team survives and Birch begins to emerge as a legit presence inside on defense.
Birch quits the team, Woodall is still out, 8 game losing streak.
Woodall comes back, 4 game winning streak. However, the streak ends when we lose to USF mainly due to a lack of an inside presence (Thanks Khem!)
Anyways,in a perfect world where Woodall doesn’t get hurt and Khem never quits, this is a monster team, especially considering that Birch would’ve continued to improve on defense, and most likely start contributing more on the offensive end as the season wore on.
We’ve been lucky to avoid or been able to survive these situations that happen to a lot of team over the past 10 years.
In 2011-12, the luck ran out.
You try playing basketball while you’re recovering from town abdominal muscles.
Travon Woodall is the LEAST of my concerns heading into next year for this Pitt team.
He was on fire, and for a few games teams keyed on him. It’s up to his teammates to pick up the slack, and aside from Gibbs against Seton Hall, they haven’t.
Taylor’s a bust and Zanna isn’t that good. Since Birch quit there’s no real inside presence on this team. That changes next year.
Washington Post reports that Edsall told O’Brien he won’t release him to go Pitt or Cuse or any other ACC team.
