We havent won a game since we won the whole thing in 2008. The goal should be to win 2 of our last 3 regular season to finish 17-14 and secure a winning record and thus at least an NIT birth

I was a little surprised to read in today’s paper about winning 5 straight. Having lost 11 of 15 the emphasis should be simply on winning one. And building on it. They haven’t shown the teamwork, athleticism to run the table. Everybody has to step up.

Joe – couldn’t say it better myself…let’s just win one…or how about let’s not get blown out at L’ville…a distinct possibility. Line is L’vill by 8.5. Think that’s a bit light. I would make it 13.5 A lot depends on the health of our players.

I guess no one told PITT that lousville was gonna be able to pound them but they werent goign to be allowed to touch lousville without a foul called.

Did you see that BLOCK on JJ Moore …. James Harrison has been fined for less!

good work by the guys to make this a 1 point game going into half..proud of the toughness theyre showing out there..this game could (and maybe should) be a whole lot less close than it is

Too many turnovers. Pitt losing its poise. Technical when down by six. Ouch!

I didn’t know Tino played BB too. He is #12 right?

JJ Moore WILL be a player in the years to come..hes keeping pitt in this game

you blew it woodall. what a horrible shot with 15 seconds left

What a joke Pitt athletics have become

all in all a pretty good game for pitt. The obvious killer was the 20 turnovers..but even with that being said i thought the guys played with a TON of heart out there..they fought back multiple times and didnt fold when things clearly werent going there way

Positives:

I thought Dante Taylor played very aggressively and did some good things out there

Pitt looked good on defense for the most part other than russ smith killing them

JJ Moore had another good game, he still made some bad decisions but he certainly looks like a scorer

and pitt somehow stayed in this game with gibbs and woodall both playing terrible and patterson in foul trouble

and you cant say enough about robinson out there, the guys playing his ass off when hes clearly in pain, he deserves a better send off than what hes getting

Another Dixon blunder. taking 2 down 3 with 5 seconds left. genius.

Woodall was terrible today. I know the kid is battling thru some tough injuries. But the mental mistakes were the killers. You can’t take hat shot down by 1with 15 seconds and the shot clock off.

for the 2nd year in a row, I had a Pitt-Ville game going down to the wire interuppted by the opening commercials and tipoff for the great OSU Bucks. Yes, I said opening commercials

Can’t wait to move out of this area where it snows and the wind blows a hole thru you every Saturday … and you have the Bucks, Cavs and Browns shoved down your throat. No wonder Lebron moved away … wish I could follow (gladly would return to the Burg)

Tony C:

While Travon Woodall and Dixon look alike, Dixon used up his 4 years of eligibility at TCU.

This has to be the most inept group of players or the worst coaching in the last century.
20+ seconds to go, we get rebound, point guard(supposedly team leader) has the ball and immediately throws up poor shot with 13+ seconds left. We are down by 1 at this point.
Was the coach yelling there is enough time to get a good shot? I don’t know, but these kids play every day of their lives and don’t realize the situation?

I just hope james Robinson is the real deal and can contribute quickly.

Where is Sean Miller? Find him and pay whatever he wants.

Tony C – do you really think he told them to take the lay up with five seconds left? Did he tell Tra to shoot a ridiculous fall away with 15 some seconds left? All you have to do is what Dixon’s reactions to realize he is as flabbergasted and frustrated with the decision making of this group.

Now, one thing I will question is why Cam was out there after the flagrant foul and JJM was on the bench. THAT made no sense.

I cannot blame the coach for the shot with 13+ left, any point guard whether he is any good or not cannot do that. I mean he had to completely black out.
Maybe he just is not any good under pressure. That is his job to know the situation and run the offense accordingly.

And how does Gibbs tell his kids and grandkids, hey I quit and let my team down. Bench him.

I think Gibbs’s entire Pitt career will be seen differently because of this year. Last three games have been 4,8, and 2 points. How many Big East Player of the Year candidates have performed so poorly? I think this team will be much better next year simply because he won’t be on it.

Mac, I totally agree. Something happened this year that I don’t know about. Gibbs just doesn’t put forth any real effort.

CBS should be criticized for pulling off the Pitt-Louisville game today with a minute left so that “WE” could view the tip off of the Buckeye-Badger game. That was “BUSH LEAGUE and not worthy of a so called NATIONAL NETWORK. All in all the game itself was quite intense and the Panthers did much better than I had anticipated. Robinson should be commended for his gutsy play as should Dante Taylor who looks of late as if “he is getting it”. Obviously, Moore is a comer and by the time he is a senior should be a star. One more thing–in another venue: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BROOKS BOLLINGER? Is he in or not as the Panther QB coach? Rev. George from Columbus–who is NOT watching the OSU-Whiskey game. “Take that CBS”!!!

Pitt could have won this game even with 20 turnovers. Today it looked to me like no one wanted to shoot the ball when they had an open shot and made one too many passes resulting in a poor shot.

Although Pitt lost this game they played much better than they did against the University of South Florida. Pitt could get an NIT invitation but it will take a miracle for them to get an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

I think teams are playing tight defense against Pitt’s guards. All over the court. And if they have quicker guards, or at least better ball handlers, you’re in for a long afternoon. Pitt worked the ball better today than in a long time. Still too many turnovers. Need to concentrate more on having the defense drive the offense.

Rev George Mehnfey i dont know they said he
would name both his new coachs bye end of week
RB and QB but he has not.

and it is end of the week?

If this game were at MSG we would’ve won

I am going to say something I have said only once as a coach and never as a fan. There has to be something else going on with Gibbs! Maybe drugs, alcohal, steroids…something. You cannot become this bad a player, this quickly for nothing else to be going on. He has killed us all year and looks nothing like the player of his 1st three years.

You’re a better man than me Chas, I don;t want to see any good for Gibbs at the end of the year. He doesn’t deserve it. He dropped the mantle of leadership that has been passed through this program over the past 10 years in such a disdainful manner. He quit on his teammates, I can’t stand watching him sulk through each game. It’s not Pitt’s fault that he’s too slow and too short for the NBA, but I guess a respected career at a major college program wasn;t good enough for him. Have fun in Eastern Europe Ashton, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

The notion to get rid of dixon is assenine. A bad season happens to everyone… Including arizona RIGHT NOW.

Nas – i love the way he plays. If everyone on pitts team gave the same effort all the time that he does, i wouldnt care what pitts record was. Ive said it before, if you add 2 inches onto nas he would be a perfect pf.

I want dante taylor to be able to face the basket. Hes shown some good tough on the 15 footers lately so play to his strengths. Jj moore, if he keeps this up, will assuredly be a starter and the teams go-to-guy next year. I hope that happens. Hes crazy athletic. And that block was all ball…. Excepth for when the rest of behanans body sent moore flying out of bounds

@Tony C – fewer turnovers or a few made free throws (or baskets) and we would have won. This game, like several others during the year, was winnable. The team had no floor leader, no spark plug, to get to the win. It happens. Glad it is almost behind us. Hail to Pitt.

Barry Rohrsen spotted behind Pitt bench today. Was also at Seton Hall game two weeks ago. Hopefully he is coming back to Dixon’s staff, lord knows we need his recruiting, and his exp as a head coach can;t hurt, Dixon needs a voice he can respect on staff.

Moore showed he is becoming a player. Adams is the real deal and would of destroyed there Louisville center. Robinson is twice the ball handler of Woodall and Gibbs. He is also a better outside shooter than Woodall and penetrater than Gibbs.

Take 20 pounds off Taylor and him and Adams will destroy opponents underneath. On the zone but Moore at top of the key.

Next year if Dixon allows Robinson to learn from his mistakes and keep Woodall on the bench and moves allows Taylor to loss 20 pounds and moves him to SF, even Jamie cannot keep Adams on the bench recovery should be immediate,

The insanity continues. Wake me up with either Sean or Archie are hired. Dixon recruited this group of traveling carneys. He should be accountable. 10 years and what to show? Such low standards are amazing at Pitt.

We all agree Miller’s a fine coach. But would you be happy with him this year? Unranked team, doesn’t even get consideration for ranking, low strength of schedule, 1-5 against top 50 RPI, 11-9 against top 150, losing an exhibition game at home. I’m sure all here would be totally happy and at peace with this record? An off year for Miller’s team, an off-year for Dixon’s team. Both great coaches.

Gibbs is playing terrible basketball. He needs to sit.

This is a tough year for Jamie and his staff. We don’t like seeing Pitt lose the way they are losing; I don’t believe Jamie does rither. Blame can be passed all around but the crux of the blame can be summarized by no senior leadership and no Pitt pride. Hopefully, next season will not be a repeat of this season.

HTP!

Jamie dixon is a hecka of a person, and means well, yet he has never been able to make his team play smart in crucial times of a game, or how to not panic when pressured. Even when they were number one a couple of times and should have been the aggressor, they always retreat into thier shell and allow lesser teams to play with them or beat them. The difference this year is he doesn’t have experienced, or talented players to bail him out! He need a very good assistant coach to help him mold and lead this bunch of misguided players. Please i hope james robinson can handle the point next year, because we need smart point guard play. Steven adams is a beast and i don’t think they can mess him up. Maybe durand johnson will be a find, we are in desperate need of a 2 guard who can shoot. Cameron wright, pleeeease! As for JJ moore, only in spot duty until he gets tougher, and john johnson, let him play,would you> good luck ….next year

Everyone on the ledge, do us all a favor and JUMP NOW! Good, now I don’t have to read the whining.
This was a game of 2 possessions. Any one on defense when they scored and one of offense when we did not. That is the difference between a road win against a top 20 team and a 5th straight loss.
It rests between the ears. 2012-13 will be the real test. This season reveals our character…Gibbs has quit. That is sad. He will never have another chance, but Pitt will.
We win the BE next year in our swan song.

Win the big east when we can’t even go .500 this year? No chance.

We’ve only lost to two teams with an RPI outside the top 100. We’ve beaten twice as many top 100 teams as the number of sub 100 teams we’ve lost to. Even Wagner is comfortably in the top 100. Get over it. This is a weak team made worse by injuries and a transfer. It happens. Next year will be better. As the late Tug McGraw said, “Ya gotta believe.” Hail to Pitt.

That was just a horribly played game by both teams. I can see why Pitino is quitting coaching.
Pitt shot like 41% and L-ville won the game while only shooting 38%. The Free throw %’s were horrible on both sides at 64% and today showed why James Robinson needs to be immediately plugged in at PG, as PITT had another horrendous game in Turnovers with 20 with only 8 assists as a team.

The backcourt of Gibbs & Woodall produced a total of 8 points on 4-15 shooting and neither one made a 3 pointer. Basically when they’re up against good teams with better guards, they disappear.
As neither one is good protecting the ball, Gibbs as we all know by now, can’t create a shot for himself and while Woody can, takes a lot of careless wild shots. When they go in, as they did in that 2 game stretch that seems eons ago, he looks all-world, but that is not generally the case.

Moore had another good game on 6-9 shooting and 7 rebounds for 16 points and made our ONLY 3 pointer of the game. Seems like he should have been playing more back in December in retrospect.
Sleepy’s numbers looked better since he got more minutes (25) today than he has been getting as Zanna only got 10 minutes off the bench. Still 11 points for Sleepy is one of his better efforts of the season and he had Pitt’s only 2 blocked shots of the game.

A very poorly played game by both sides. L-ville will not go far in The Dance. Pitt will be lucky to get an NIT bid. Unless something bizarre goes on at The Garden.

HTP !
VEV !

Good: More time for Moore & Gilbert, less time for Zanna, who I have come to despise. Moore clearly getting far more comfortable. Shame it has to come at the end of the season when it all means nada. Nas, the effort, as always, but more patient and played much more within himself. Just one of those two FTs on the technical might have been nice, though. Taylor, nice all around performance. Front end of that 1-n-1 late, again, would have been nice.

Bad: Woodall, who I still believe is playing @ 60% and will be much better next year, and, of course, Gibbs, who apparently has simply forgotten how to catch and shoot.

Worst: The refs. Simply atrocious. Moore gets killed, no foul. A guy takes 3 steps and then bounces the ball above his head on a fast break and no travel called. And the ticky-tack garbage they call throughout the game and then can’t blow a whistle when Siva mugs Gibbs?

God I hate this.

We NEED Slice! Get him back.

Dixon will be fine next year. I hate to think Dan’s right but I think Dan’s right. Something’s wrong with Gibbs. I’m thinking it’s a sense of entitlement and a shitty attitude. I hope for his sake that’s all it is.

Gibbs has been such a disappointment and i don’t know that he cares about this team..which i soooo not the pitt way..next years line up should be as follows:
1,Robinson HAS to start at the point next year..
2.woodall and sg
3.moore at sf
4 taylor i would love if he lost weight at pf
5 adams at center…sounds like ncaa to me!!
what u think??

At a meeting all day so I didn’t get to see the game, but seems like they fought hard. They play the good teams tough on the road. I’m not asking for a BET title, but maybe a little magic to make it interesting. Just keep fighting fellas, that’s all we ask. Hail To Pitt!

@pk, TIMMEH and UPITTBASEBALL are trolls, don’t let them get to you.

I mean, c’mon, you should be able to see threw them, I mean, fire the coach because of one bad year after 10 years in the tournament???

And to suggest Sean Miller??? What exactly has he done?? Hell, he’s missed the tournament twice in 7 years, and he made the elite 8 once, we’ve allready done that, how’s he gonna help???

Probably WVU trolls I would imagine.

I mean, if you’re gonna say he recruited this bunch as an insult, I guess you have to give him the credit for the recruits the last 10 or 11 years, ya, going back to when he was an assistant.

And, putting Blair, Fields and Young team together, arguably one of Pitt’s best basketball teams of all time.

So, ya, gotta be trolls to say something so silly.

Upbasketball.

No chance at winning BE next year? Wow, maybe I have been watching a different league this year, but I haven’t seen a super team (UCONN-no: WVU-out and loses their stars anyway: SYR- good but sorry not great:..the list of mediocrity is endless).
What you are saying then is that Gibbs and Robinson are studs and we lose by replacing them, that Dixon sustained a level of excellence for a decade and it (not this one year) was a fluke and that arriving talent and improvement from within are negligible.
Nope…this is college basketball and turnover happens…I’d this were the NBA and we were the Clippers, then I would agree with you, but not here. Change happens much quicker in college basketball than anywhere.

Gibbs has no heart. He is the single reason why the chemistry is so bad with this team. And chemistry is far more important in basketball than football. Pitt will be better with his sulking ass on the bench.

Pitt’s next point guard, Mister Robinson. It came down to the final seconds of a tight playoff game and ….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wcac-boys-basketball-dematha-paul-vi-move-on-to-wcac-title-game/2012/02/26/gIQAJMojcR_story.html

Pitt’s best lineup next year will be with Robinson at the PG spot. Whether that means Woodall slides to the 2, or Moore is there, who knows, but it’s become clear this season that the ball cannot be in Tray’s hands the entire time — he is not a true PG. I really love the kid, he has great scoring potential, and he’s played his heart out this year, but I’m pumped to see Robinson control the game. (For those who will note Woodall’s excellent assist-to-TO numbers especially from last year, that’s because the ball was in Wannamaker’s hands more often.)

I can’t even say anything about Gibbs at this point.

I’m putting it all on Dixon. Gibbs returned somewhat reluctantly, Woodall goes down, Dixon puts Gibbs at the point. Gibbs is totally exposed, can’t handle the ball, can’t pass, can’t defend. Pitt’s offense disintegrates. Gibbs gets testy, moody, etc. He realized this is a wasted year for him. Sure it’s hindsight but great coaches/leaders anywhere have vision, Dixon only sees the pavement that the headlights are illuminating. Another stupid move: it appears we are more solid, intimidating with Gilbert at the post. He’s an endomorph, big kid, like Blair, Gray, Gary. In fact Gilbert is ahead of Gary at this stage and he’s the hedge against Adams leaving after 1 or 2 years. But Dixon would rather take long kids with ectomorphic PF body types, Taylor & Zanna and put them in the post. Taylor is a PF, Zanna is out of position and has limited skills, should never be ahead of Gilbert. Clearly Birch’s agents were telling him Pitt was a mistake, it was. There’s no logic for some of Dixon’s moves. Dixon should have put Epps in at the point when Woodall went down and Gibbs was clearly out of his elememt. Dixon has taken the program as far as he could, he blew two final 4 opportunities when other coaches would have gotton more out of those squads. I don’t like his coaching job this year, it stinks.

Yes all teams have down years, usually due to being a young team. This team has shown that they could and should have won at least 5 more games IMO, if only there was some consistency.
I also agree that it still would be a down year even with those wins a they don’t play D very well, they lack effort.
JD is a very good coach who has done some great things for Pitt BB, but also IMO he only knows one way and also IMO he is a lot like Wanny in that he is not a good gametime coach. Since he has been here I see no improvement in that part of his coaching.
I also think Sean Miller has a bigger upside in the longterm. Both very good young coaches. As long as JD is Pitt’s coach I am behind him 100% and sometimes I overreact.

Another year like this and Dixon will be on the hot seat.

I disagree with Woodall at point he dribbles into double teams because he has no fundamental ballhandling skills, keeping your head up on the dribble. Robinson is a fundamental ballhandler. It is embarrising watching Woodall being maneavered to the sideline on the dribble and his lack of selfawareness of the double (triple counting the sideline) coming from his blind side because his head is not up during his dribble.

Lack of coaching trying to break the press with the dribble. Pinto loves playing Pitt he knows he gets 12 to 20 points in any game on turnovers with the sloopy guard play from poor coaching trying to dribble throught the press rather than passing the ball.

Observation for next year – Take the 20 lbs. off Taylor 220 in H.S. move him to foward and his defensive skills and rebounding along with Adams offensive skills; hands bigger than Shag,giant wing span, and Blair type attitude the two will dominat inside. Also with Moore’s rebounding ability and shoting skills emerging because Dixon does not hook him after one bad play Pitt should quickly turn it around.

Start Robinson in the non-conference because we know that Woodall has no outside shot is careless and wreakless with the ball and is terrible on defense. The difference between Robinson and Woodall was high school coaching. DeMatha v. street ball. I would start Robinson against St. Johns over Woodall Wednesday. Basketball is basketball. Like Bob Knight said “I cannot believe how many of these kids coming out of high school do not know how to play basketball.”

Minnesota newspaper confirmed Bollinger is accepting the QB coach position.

Every school has a down year. Lets see how Jamie responds. With how badly Pitt played yesterday against a ranked Louisville squad just shows that we are not that far off from success.

I think Gibbs was really exposed this year when teams would concentrate on him early in the season and now he just looks like he has lost confidence. That is not good for him when he starts trying out for NBA teams. I see him going abroad and making some nice money. Nasir has been a great Pitt teammate and I wish him well in his future endeavors which will not include playing basketball. Lets hope we have a nice little run in the NIT and build confidence for next year.

I can concur with Dan72 and others.

I will say, I’m not even picking on Ashton.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the lad smile in 4 years. Ya, some people are like that, but, even those, at least smile once in awhile, or let a chuckle.

Bad childhood, chip on his shoulder??? Don’t know.

I don’t believe it has anything to do with “not making the NBA” or “I made the wrong decision coming back”……Now, maybe his play and effort have suffered because of possibly these thoughts he might have. Don’t know.

He’s been this way since he got here though.

Just seems like a sad kid. Sad for someone 18-23 years old to be that way allready. Sad.

There’s is no reason to think about getting rid of Jamie Dixon. He has one of the best coaching careers in the history of the school. This team has chemistry/mental issues and there’s not much a coach can do about that once the kids are thinking the wrong way. It happens in the pros all the time the difference being the pros can trade or release a player or two and change things up where as we have to graduate them.

This team sucks and next year doesn’t exactly look promising either.

It was a nice run while it lasted.

It is a little early to be writing off next year isn’t it?

Things change a lot year to year in college hoops.

If Adams comes in and is as good as advertised..

If increased size and strength at the center position (both Gilbert and Adams) leads to better overall team size and strength…

If James Robinson gets a chance to play significant minutes and turns into the floor leader that Pitt has lacked…

If Jamie hires a top notch assistant to help coach the bigs…

If Jamie gets a PF recruit who can contribute next season…

If Cameron Wright shoots 1000 jumpers a day over the summer and becomes a threat on offense…

If the light bulb comes on for JJ Moore and he realizes he needs to be first slasher not a jump shooter…

If Dante Taylor gets healthy and finds a role that suits his abilities (if there is one)…

If the subtraction of Gibbs and Robinson significantly improves the defense…

If the subtraction of Gibbs and Robinson significantly improves the on court chemistry of the team…

If the subtraction of Gibbs and Robinson allows better leadership to emerge…

I could go on all day, but you get my point. Most of these things probably won’t happen, but if enough of them do, next season could be a whole different deal.

Steve Adams, our 5 next year, was SI’s high school player of the week last week. If you watch this clip of him playing Nerlens Noel a month or so ago, you get a pretty good idea of why Pitt can be a much better team next year (Noel is considered the top kid in this year’s class by some of the recruiting sites). Add Robinson, a top 50 or so recruit, a much improved JJ Moore, a solid Patterson, and you’ve got reason for lots of optimism — regardless of what you think about Tray, Wright, Taylor, Zanna, Gilbert. Or Epps.

Adams is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpnqLsaFRA8

Too many ifs and too many assumptions.

The only thing we’re sure of is that Adams will be a big help. (And then how painful will it be to watch him leave?)

Everything else you guys are bringing up seems low probability.

The James Robinson stuff is conjecture. Pitt’s last 2 PG recruits, Woodall and Epps, have been horrendous. Sure, Robinson comes with a little better pedigree, but expecting him to contribute much his freshman year seem unrealistic to me. Let’s hope he’s a nice backup in the backcourt next year and turns into a solid player his sophomore and junior years and a big upgrade over Woodall. I’d take that.

Wright is limited offensively. Always will be. Really liked how he played against L-ville, but that’s what you’re getting with him. Good athlete, good defender……not much else.

At this point, coaching ain’t going to help Zanna and Taylor. The coaching ship has sailed.

JJ Moore is a classic playground player. That’s just his game. It’s actually fun to watch the things he can do, but fantasizing about him playing the 2 and becoming a better all-around player is a waste of time. Let’s hope we can get some scoring out of him for a couple years and be satisfied.

The defense at the hoop should get a little better with Adams (and maybe Gilbert playing more), but how can the rest of the defense get better with Patterson, Moore, J.Johnson, Taylor, and Woodall playing. They all play lousy D. Only Wright can defend and playing him means nothing on the other end of the floor from the 2 or 3 position, which is costly.

This is going to take a while to turn around. This isn’t Kentucky, where you bring in 3 or 4 studs every year and field a spanking new squad. Pitt’s facing a couple down years.

@velvil. Great video. Wow, he’s got a nice shot, soft hands, moves like fluidly.

Frankly, even if we didn’t have him coming, I’d be pumped for next year, just because of our tradition the last 10-11 years.

One bad year, several people are ready to run Dixon out of town. I don’t get it, I really don’t. If it’s Dixons fault for this year, then he gets the kudo’s for the last 8 years right???

What has he done????? Gone to the tournament, with Howland, 10 years in a friggin’ row, that’s what he’s done.

Only 7 teams, out of 351 Div 1 teams have dont that!!! That is, again, 7 out of 351!!!!!!

Ya, he hasn’t won the NC. You know what, most coaches haven’t won the NC.!!!!!!!!!!!

Also funny, I hear some people complain about his recruiting……….then I hear people say he should have gone farther with the talent he had!!!!!!!!

Which one is it????????

What do you expect though, leaving the restaurant where I watched the Steelers-Broncos game this year, I heard several people saying “friggin’ Steelers suck”, “Tomlin sucks”, “this player sucks, that player sucks”.

Playoffs every year, several Super Bowls on and on, “they suck”.

And if the Pens don’t make it to the finals this year, “Malkin sucks”, “Bielsma doesn’t know what he’s doing”, and “Crosby’s a wimp for not coming back”.

There is no getting around it, Pitt’s season was horrible this year, but some people really need to get a grip on reality.

@HughGreen, must have been posting at the same time.

Totally agree, might be a couple years.

Your end point was excellent,

People: We are not Duke, UNC, Kentucky or Kansas!

Not sure what you’re lookin’ for, but we have had one hell of a run in college basketball.

How is woodall horrendous? The kid cant make a sharp movement or shoot because of an injury that hes taking shots for. The kid is tough and a good player.

Next years starting lineup (assuming that pitts 2012 class is just adams, robinson, jones/jeter) that id like

Woodall
Jj
Patterson
Taylor
Adams.

What it will be

Woodall
johnson
Patterson
Zanna
Adams

Woodall had years to learn how to dribble with his left hand before getting injured. He chose not to bother, which makes handling pressure awfully difficult, especially if you’re not 100%.

Plus, playing PG is all about end-of-game judgment. Woodall has none and this doesn’t have a thing to do with his hip.

Yesterday, in crunch time, he took a horrible shot and made it (strike #1), then took a horrible shot with no conception of the clock and missed it (strike #2), and then he took a layup down 3 with five seconds left (strike #3).

WTF?

I might think it’s not realistic for Robinson to play right away, but that doesn’t mean I’m not hoping!

and I actually agree with the starting lineup you’d like to see and I believe that’s the one Dixon will go with next year. I think it’s clearly better than the one you think we’ll get.

But I don’t think either one is much good.

Completely disagree with Coach Ditka. Steve Adams is by far the best Pitt recruit since T.D. and Marino. In basketball one player can have a greater impact. Adams has outplayed every top center (Noels, Twarski)in the country.

Seeing him on tape shows why he would be the 3rd pick in the NBA this year if eligible. My fear is after watching him on videos is that he handles the ball better than our guards and is also a better mechanics on his foul shoot and jumper than our guards (Woodall -two hand release). Adams hit 2 3 point shots in a game. God forbid Jamie might play play him at guard next year. A parallel move to fatten up Taylor and play him at the 5. Freaked Birch out with the same decisions that ruined Taylor.

I agree that Dixon needs to take a look at his assistants, including Knight and the assitant head coach. Jamie always needed help with game strategy, i.e., play Robinson (your worst offensive player) at the foul line (the sweet spot) of the zone. Let him shoot/hope he drives so you can steal the ball.

Question Robinson is gutty but who would give a scholarship to a 6’5″ forward with no offensive skills? Worse yet play him 75% of the game.

@DRW–HOMERUN!!!!!! Ya, he does look he handles the ball better than our guards!!! Ha Ha LOL!!!

Someone posted on here, they’ve seen Barry Rohrsen behind the bench a couple rows at several games.

1. Was it really him, was he there??

2. If he was, does it mean a darn thing???

So Dixon makes the tourney every year and loses to inferior talent every year except maybe 2 years and you want to crown him. Your low expectations are troubling. He is expected to make the tourney. It’s a given. Call me a troll a WVU fan or whatever you want. I just have hire expectations of a team and a coach that has consistently lost in the tourney and only once made the Elite 8.

drw- As a role player last year Robinson was very good at fulfilling his role. Not every player can be a star. Notice how badly he shredded the Cuse last year from, you guessed it, the foul line area. I don’t remember much complaining last year when he started at the 4. The problem this year is he is being asked to play above his ability. His is playing at the foul line this year because there simply is no one else to do so and he at least has in the past. The kid simply has given everything to this program and played through injuries for quite some time. No he’s not a great talent, but he gave everything he had in his career and that will be missed.

@upiitbaseball. Where exactly did you get these expectations from?? We’ve never been a basketball power, hell, we’ve never even been a basketball school.

We had a great year in 74, some fun teams with Sam Clancy, and a couple good teams with Charles Smith et al.

We hadn’t even been to the tournament since 93′.

Most coaches don’t get to the elite 8, less the final four, and very few a NC. What’d it take Boeheim, 23 years or something???

I’d be interested to know where you got your expectations from??

I know we have blue in our color scheme, but we’re not Duke, UNC, Kentucky or Kansas.

Nor, do we get the recruits they do. You know DeJuan Blair, Khem Birch, Steve Adams????? Those teams get 4 or 5 of those type of players every year. They have players like that, sitting on their bench!!!!!!!!!

He’s expected to make the tournament? Ya, only because he has made the tournament so often. That could be the only place that expectation comes from, they hadn’t been there for 10 years until Howland/Dixon.

You do know there are 351 Division One college basketball teams, right?? Out of all of those, only 7 of those have made the tournament for 10 straight years. And, Pitt and Dixon are one of those 7.

Ya, I want to win a National Championship, hope it happens one day.

Suggesting replacing the coach after one bad year borders on insanity. Very troubling.

And he is one of my favorite Pitt players, what exactly has Sean Miller done coaching that would make you want to bring him here??

He’s missed the tournament twice the past 7 years. He only got to one elite 8, his Arizona team lost this year to a team called Hawaii Southern Shore or something like that.

He get the local recruits??? We don’t have any!!!

I would suggest your expectations are very low on coaching replacements.

Entitlement, Dan — it’s a sad state of affairs these days that so many people think they are “entitled” to incredible success. Whereas, like you correctly point out, most fans should be terribly disappointed by this season but still understand the leaps and bounds the program has made during the past 10.
Fans like that poster are the ones who barely paid attention — or were alive — before “The Pete” years.

Upittbaseball always loves hating on Dixon. He doesn’t like Dixon and he places way too much value on flukey tournament success (I’m not going to elaborate on it for the millionth time). And you know what, every single coach consistently loses in the NCAA tournament.

Sean Miller is a “Pitt guy” so that is what the fascination stems from. I think after coaching for over 10 years, Dixon is also a Pitt guy.

The only people suggesting Dixon should be fired are either trolls or over entitled yinzers who don’t understand the nature of college basketball. Dixon would have to have at least three straight seasons like the current one before he would even be close to being in the hot seat.

Woodall isn’t close to being healthy at this point. I think he’s more like 60%. Woodall will be solid when healthy.

Also someone mentioned who would recruit Nasir, I’m not a fan of Nasir’s game but he was recruited by other big programs and had offers from schools like Nova. Tyreke Evans said Nasir was the best player he played against in high school. So recruiting him was in not a mistake. It just shows how it is really hard to project how a player will develop after High School. Some players just have different max levels.

http://postgazette.com/pg/12059/1213194-142.stm

new shooting guard in the 2012 class…..

@JW-nail on the head.

@Ward, yes years of failure before it is even mentioned. To even talk about it is ridiculous.

It’s really silly to even mention, because even if someone as a fan thinks about it, guess what, it hasn’t even entered Nordy or Pedersons thoughts, and won’t, like you said, unless several bad years. So, why even mention it???

@PantherP. Good link. Was wondering, and I am one that usually isn’t that big on details, but, is he a sg or sf?? They have him listed as sf on scout. I’d love to have a 6’5″ shooting guard!!!

There is a shooting guard in the 2012 class james Robinson. Robinson played shooting guard at DeMatha until for the good of the team he moved to PG this year. According to his coach he could score 25 points a game if that is what the team neeed but now they need from to set up the offense.

Watching him in videos take outside shots I agree with his coach he has great mechanics, unlike Woodall or the line drive shots of Gibbs (no margin for error). Also he is a deft penetrator using his body to fend of defenders when attacking the hoop.

If Woodal could handle the PG than Robinson could play the 2. However the way Pitt tries to break presses I want Robinson at PG so we do not go into the game 10 to 14 points down off of steals in the backcourt and consequent layups.

Take away Woodalls strips in the Louisville game and Pitt wins by 10.

James Robinson 6’3″, Chris Jones 6’4″, guards.

I like it.

Robinson has a physical stature, too. I especially like that about him. Will help defensively and offensively. Woodall’s height isn’t as much a detriment as his size — he gets too easily bumped/pushed off the ball at times, leading to off-balance shots and passes, etc. Give him credit though, he scraps and fights even when he gets posted up down low.

Chris Jones 6’5″, for what it’s worth, my mistake.