ah yes, just another kick in the ol’ apple bag for the faithful Pitt fan.

I will take Penn over Milwaukee in 3 games, with Pitt being a semi-finalist.

I’ve been back and forth in my mind about this, but I think it’s a mistake. Do you aspire to elite status, to greatness, or not?

There’s nothing wrong with saying, “We won’t accept this. In our minds, our program is better than this, whether we’ve able to prove it lately or not. We were terrible this year, but we will not accept a third tier, pay-to-play joke tourney.”

Also, why prolong the horribleness of this season? be done with it, I say. I don’t care if Butler or anyone else doesn’t think it’s beneath them; it should be beneath us.

If we – players and fans and the University itself – don’t stand up for this program NOW, we will slide into the ACC as perennial lapdogs to Duke and Carolina and others, and live in the bottom level of our new home.

This is embarrassing, really.

Why did Pitt accept unless it was tourney experience for the young guys? If that’s the case Naz and Gibbs better get little playing time. Otherwise, the acceptance of this bid is pathetic.

What’s a Zebra Pen? Right up there with BBVA.

I’m guessing Pitt accepted because the players wanted to.

It’s not about us…

Wow, what a slap in the face. The NIT would never not take a 17-16 or whatever it is, UNC, Duke, Uconn, Syracuse, Marquette, Villy or any of the traditional powers. (we do have the best record in the Big East over the last 10 years)

I am now in worry mode, what this all means for the future of Pitt hoops.
This is just startling. PITT should just refuse this slap in the face. Come one, really the CBI.

If it embarasses you don’t listen or watch.

60K isn’t that much in college basketball $$ terms. And we get to keep playing (i.e. practicing).

EMBARASSMENT PLAIN AND SIMPLE

Pitt fans are such drama queens. No one is making Pitt fans watch or pay attention. So stop acting like it is the end of the world The CBI isn’t glamorous or cool or anything. But it does allow a young team to practice for potentially the rest of March. Guys like J.J. Moore, John Johnson and Cam Wright could all use the extra practice and game experience they can get. Extra practice really is a way to make your program even worse *eye roll*

If anything is embarrassing, it is the behavior of all the fair weather Pitt fans during one down season in 10 years.

Another thing, one down year in 10 years is bound to happen. And the bad year only happened because a starter left the team inexplicably in December and because another starter was hurt for most of the year. If only one of the two happens, then Pitt makes the tournament a year after 3 starters who played major minutes graduated. It really is annoying how pessimistic and doom and gloom everyone gets on here. I mean you’d think that Pitt has had a few mediocre seasons in a row with the team barely making the tournament culminating in Pitt miss the tournament this year. In case anyone forgot Pitt was a 1 seed last year, a 3 seed in 2010 and a 1 seed in 2009. Get your views in perspective people.

They’ve had 6 months to play and practice together and it didn’t seem to help much. This team was no better in March than it was in December, in fact they probably got worse. At this point I would think just ending the season and putting this embarrassment behind them might be best. Had they gotten the NIT invite I could at least see some small value but this is just a waste of time and effort.

Ya I wonder why any Pitt fans would be pessimistic??? I mean look at all of our success and things always seem to break our way (eye roll)

The practice/playing thing is overrated. A few more practices/games isn’t going to make a bit of difference for this group. And “pay to play?” This is about money, and that’s it. What good recruit wants to hear about playing Evansville in the CBI? I thought Georgetown put this team out of its misery, and now they get “rewarded” — or is it punished — by having to play in the CBI.

Because Pitt is really going to make money on the CBI. Get serious. It costs 60K to get in. Max number of tickets they will sell like 2K. Even at 20 dollars a tickets that’s only 40K in ticket sales. Plus, Pitt will have to pay for workers and everything. Pitt will be lucky to break even. The players and Coach Dixon wanted to play so it is there right to play. I think the players and the coach have a better idea of what is and what is not a waste of their time.

Yeah look at the success 10 straight years of basketball excellence. Such a lack of success.

So if we win this thing do we get to hang up a banner? National Champs right?

Players always want to play. And a coach’s legacy often says how many years in a row (s)he took his/her teams to post-season play. If we didn’t go, and this was the only bump in Jamie’s consecutive post-season appearance record, it would be sad. Let’s assume those are the reasons Pitt is playing in the CBI and let’s hope that, from now on, it’s all NCAA post-season.

I don’t see how the NIT has any more value than this tournament. You could make all the same arguments about the NIT. Yet many seem to think that playing in the NIT would have been more acceptable.

I don’t have a problem with Pitt playing in the CBI, wouldn’t have had a problem if they had chosen not to either. If the kids and the coach want to play, and Pitt is willing to pay. Then play. That is the point of having a basketball team. To play games.

Pederson talks CBI:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_786123.html

I hope Wofford has their own version of Taylor and Zanna at the 4 & 5 so the game stays close.

Vegas has Pitt 17.5 point favorite over Woford

Folks are trippi, way too much about this. Pitt was not going to make the NIT because the number of upsets and the amount of teams that made it to NCAAs tha really should not have made it. Remember there are many confernces that are one bid only and thus pushed Pitt into the CBI. Bad seasons happen, deal with it. It’s not like Pitt has had a tradition of winning basketball outside of the past 10 years and before 1950. Shoot, I was a student during the Willard years and the only highlight was the occasional Georgetown/Syracuse upset. Now Pitt not making into the NCAAs is a big deal, back then, Pitt was not going to play any basketball beyond the BE tourney. Next year Pitt will be much better and we won’t be talking about the NIT or CBI but our travel plans for which NCAA city we want to go to. Everyone calm down, it’ll be okay.

Pitt might get a chance to avenge the loss to Butler in last year’s tournament. Hope Jamie clears the lane if we get a couple of free throws to win it!

Honestly, if Jamie keeps Gibbs and Robinson to UNDER 25 minutes a game, I think this could be good. I will be glad to watch the young guys get a few more games. Moore, Zanna, Taylor, Gilbert, Johnson et al will benefit from a few more games.

But if this turns into a “one last shot for Gibbs to impress the NBA” thing, then I’ll be pissed. That ship has sailed, literally…he’ll be heading overseas to play soon enough.

Gibbs and Naz should start play about 7 minutes in the first half then sit. There is no reason to give them tons of time.
Gilbert should start at center and stay on the floor until he get is foul trouble.
Epps should get a cameo and a letter of rec for the next school he plays at.

I guess I’m not as upset about this CBI thing as most. I’m not excited either, but I remember as a player that I would do just about anything to keep playing games, so I’m guessing the players are all for it. In terms of development, I don’t think the extra practice time will mean much, but the experience of playing in a tournament (even one with little exposure or overall value) might be valuable to the younger players. There may be an internal value to the players that cannot be experienced by the fans. I have no problem with that.

And to answer Chris Dokish’s post, if they win the thing, I’m pretty sure they won’t be hanging any banners, but the freshmen and sophomores will carry that experience forward, and it may be valuable down the road.

No banner but a trophy in the case.

It’s actually pretty simple.

If coach Dixon uses it to play lots of the under-classmen and see what they can do, maybe try some different presses, zones, etc. etc. I’m all for it.

If this is just more of the same, with Gibbs and Robinson getting lots of playing time, I’d have to question why the Ath. Dept. is paying 60k to be in this.

To above statement, theres not much difference between NIT and CBI, there certainly is, we’re paying 60k to play in this thing.

Peanuts or not, an Ath. Dept. often talking about money, should be questioned about this.

Again, if Dixon is using this to see what he has for next year, fine, anything else, we’ve seen this movie for four months and this movie gets 4 rotten tomatoes!!

P.S. As for a couple comments above, I’m about as close to a Dixon apologist as you’d get. I love him. Great years, great teams, one down year, no big deal.

This isn’t about that. This is about going to this tournament, and paying to get in, peanuts or not.

I’ll be interested to see the playing times of Gibbs and Robinson.

Remember when Pitt was ranked #1 during the regular season a couple of years ago, and they sold commemorative tee shirts?

Any chance I can get my “Pitt in CBI – 2012″ shirt somewhere?

Steve said it above — its not for us. These kids want to play basketball because that’s what they do. They’ll keep playing any game they can against other college competition. Good.

F you look at the NIT teams, they pretty much ALL have significantly better overall records than Pitt, or won the regular season title of their conference but not the conference tournament. There’s some selection guideline for the NIT that speaks to this. Anyway, we weren’t very close to getting in the NIT I don’t think, considering this.

So fine, lets watch a few games of the CBI. I watch non-conf games for the same reason I’ll watch this. I like basketball and there are little things we may be able to learn about this team.

That said, these are game for basketball purists — and basketball purists i mean purists the same sense those monks who take a literal reading of the bible and flog themselves are religious purists.

Ok thats an exaggeration. Looking forward to the off-season recruiting and forecasting articles.

My embarassment and disappointment in the basketball season is maxed out. Nothing they can do can hurt me now. Might as well let them play. What’s another bad loss? It means as little as if they ran the table and won the CBI. I still wouldn’t think much of this 2011-12 team. HTP! There’s always next year.

I think it’s a very good thing for them to do this tournament. There are 10 freshman and sophomores on this squad and having to play and do a quick turn with little or no time to prepare for the next team (assuming we win), is an important lesson for these kids.

Why play? Why do we spend ridiculous amounts if money to golf, or hunt or whatever else we spend our time and dollars on? What a selfish, bratty, blow hard bunch of pricks some of the people who follow this blog are. I’m embarassed to be a Pitt fan and it has nothing to do with the teams.

Birch leaving did have an impact on the program this year and perhaps in coming years because of the position he played; strong forward, like Taylor they have NBA aspirations but know they need to work on their game but not at center were they could never compete in the NBA. The 6-7 to 6-9 5 stars may now stay away from Pitt.

A greater impact for this single year was the failure of the coaching staff to recruit a true center 3 years after recruiting McGhee. Simply another McGhee would likely have made a big difference. Taylor and Zanna are not and never will be centers.
Take the hook away from Dixon so that Moore got considerable more playing time in the non-conference. With a legitmate center, Taylor and Znna could have moved to the 4. Its not the amount of rebounds its the number of points you and your opponents score in the paint.
Finally watching Woodall his injury was not a problem he gives away more points than he gets on baskets and assists.

Finally a guard has been recruited who can run the offense. He certainly has the skills to be a Brandon Knight with a shot and the ability to penatrate.

No size, awful guards, bad player usage, and poor coaching to disguise our weaknesses and maximize our stengths combined for a lost year in football and basketball. Jamie actually pulled a Graham.

Given the strict limits on offseason organized practice, I’m not surprised to see Dixon want more time with this team. Especially with no real pressure.

I was a little relieved to see this season end without getting emotionally involved in the tourney. We’ll be back soon enough for me to resume tearing out the remainder of my hair.

First, I still blame Tino Sunseri. Second, please don’t let Cam Wright be in with the guys considered “the future.”

I’m assuming it was a team decision to play in the CBI. It is what it is guys, and every practice will help in the long run. Hopefully there will be a lot of “looking in the mirror” over the next week for the players and coaches. A mile or so down the road the biggest event in college sports tips off, and the night before you’re playing Wofford in a 3rd rate CBI. Just don’t let this happen again Panthers.

DRW — are you James Robinson’s dad? He’s gonna be good, but take it easy. And please don’t say Dixon and Graham in the same sentence unless your using the former to prove the latter is a piece of sh*t.

And, FU for reminding me what kind of front court we could have next year had Birch stayed. Man oh man, we could have been one of the best teams in the country. We’d have had all the pieces (fyi, no less than Julius Paige said there’s no difference between a 2 & a 3, so there is or would have been room for both Moore and Patterson). Imagine:
PG – Woodall / Robinson
Guards: Moore & Patterson, with some John Johnson mixed in as needed
Forwards: Adams and Birch.

But we’ll be OK next year, just need to figure out the PF position.

For those of you with the attention span of a fly and the memory to go with it. haha
I believe Wofford almost beat our great #1 NCAA seed team last year. At the Pete to boot.

This team needs to quit practicing(as that seems to do no good at this point) and of course quit going hand and hand with that, quit playing games.
Enough is enough for one year.

And i love these ppl calling us fair weather fans. I’ve been going to PItt games longer than you’ve walked the earth, maybe longer than your mommy & daddy have walked the earth as well, bub.

So please keep ur stupid remarks to yourself.

To be accurate, DRW, it was Wanny who had no real recruiting plan at OL, not Graham.

I’ll see you guys at the Wofford game. I’ll be there! I don’t care if its not the show — we still need to beat whomever is on the schedule. The real embarrassment is staying home, a la UCLA

(notice I was polite)

For the kiddos.

Pitt’s 1974 team made it as far as the 2008 Team, that being the Elite Eight. That was PITT’s best team ever, the 1974 team as it had PITT’s best all-time player, Billy Knight and it won 22 straight games that year. Only to be screwed by politics and have to play the eventual national champion NC State on basically their own frickin home court in Greensboro, NC. So with that and the great teams we had in the mid to late 1980′s and early 90′s..Pitt certainly did have some tradition in basketball.

It just didn’t last for a 10 year straight period since Pitt didn’t spend $300 Million to build a state of the art arena back then. I get tired of hearing we had no tradition prior to 2001. BS

I am wondering? Did anyone else note that when Gilbert was playing Georgetown that Sims did not seem as effective. Maybe I am just so down on our current big men that I percieved this improperly. Any thoughts?

Also our beloved Panthers were in the Final Four in like 1943 or so. haha

Granted the tourney was a little different back then, but a Final 4 it twas. lol

One can also not forget the exploits of my mother’s doctor and great Pitt hoopster,
Donnie Hennon. Dr Don Hennon.

Here learn something:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hennon

HTP !
VEV !

Emel, the normal venue for the ACC tournament and indeeed the next 3 ACC tournaments is Greensboro, which is packed by NC & Duke fans. Our road got steeper and the load got heavier and we don’t know how far we’ve fallen. Was it just a bad year for the team or did the program fall down a flight of stairs? This team clearly doesn’t know how to win and it takes time to instill a winning attitude, doesn’t come overnight. How quickly can Dixon bring them back?

Absolutely EMEL!!! I see a couple people have come here to mouth off, that I’ve never even seen post on here before.

Apparently, there is a question as to whether we should be playing in this tournament. It’s all that was on talk radio all day, with peoples different opinions.

So, there is a question.

As for continuing to golf, we keep going, to try to improve, try to get better, and maybe try some different things.

If you’re not getting any better, you have to adjust some things, because if you keep practicing with the same swing and same stance, you get the same results.

Selfish fans, eff, these kids have had 34 or more games to prove themselves, how is that selfish that some may question whether we should have gone to this tournament. Besides, even if they don’t play in this tournament, they’ll be at the gym everyday playing anyhow, shoot arounds, pick up games. I mean the poor kids thing is really weak. That doesn’t even make sense.

Which brings me back to my two points.

1. This tournament is different than the NCAA and NIT because, those you got invited too. This one we are paying to play in. At a time when all you hear is “ticket price increase”, “we need more donations” “and with the state taking money away”, there certainly is reason to raise a question, PEANUTS to a university or not.

2. I have stated, like many on here, and I believe is exactly the correct answer.

You wanna play some more games to see what you have with frosh and sophs, get them some game experience, play them at some different positions, try some new things, some presses, some different zones, some different offensive rotations, then I’m ALL FOR IT!!!!!

If you’re telling me it’s going to be ditto of the last 20 games I just watched, with the same players, doing the same thing, for the same amount of time, and the same rotation of players, thaen wtf are we doing this for???

It’s for the kids?? WTF does that even mean?? They want to play basketball?? No kidding, and they’ll be playing somewhere everyday, at the Pete, at other gyms, in pick up games.

It’s for the kids?? To play Wofford, for a chance to play Evansville, for a chance to play North Dakota State?? Are you effin’ kidding me??

Like Emel said above, I was taking blue and gold craps before some were even born, so don’t come on here and try to scold people, or call out people as fair weather fans.

You know who you are too, because, all of us regulars know who each other are, and there are a couple names above and in the previous posts chiding some on here as fair weather fans.

Shove it!!!

Instead of getting more practice for next season by playing in the CBI, I’d rather see these guys spending more time working on their QPA.

Truth be told, I’m more upset over this year’s basketball program than our football program. Going from a #1 seed to bring snubbed by the NIT is beyond comprehension. Admittedly, Jamie had some issues but we lost many games on lack of fundamentals. I keep hearing that things will be better next year but I’m not convinced. Until Pitt play’s better fundamental basketball, we may again see a repeat of the 2012 season. I how I’m wrong.

Playing in the CBI has no redeeming value. Pitt’s 2012 season should be over and its student athletes should become students for a while. HTP!

Ya, really Mike. And to all regualrs who I’ve bantered with and mostly agree with the past couple years, and even argued with at times, disregard post above. You are all past that.

I’m referring to the past couple weeks, some new names appearing, (and Lord knows, this is Chas’ post), and always fun to have newbies, with new opinions and new ideas.

Lord also knows, we need as many Pitt fans as we can get.

Don’t come on here and start calling people out that you’re ashamed to be a Pitt fan with the way some people act.

If, you’re saying that about some call in show, or Pitt fans at work, please state that, because everyone on here, is a die hard fan that bleeds blue and gold. To have even wanted to find a site like this, shows that you and we are die hards.

Also, notice, that allthough we may all bleed blue and gold, we all don’t wear blue and gold glasses, and if we feel something is wrong, we state it. That has nothing to do with our love for the university itself, and the sports teams.

Ok, enough pontificating, I thought it was only me the past couple weeks, but when I saw EMEL mention it, I knew I wasn’t dreaming.

Emel, Dan, there has an uptick of trolls on Pitt boards lately, and we’re not immune here. So save your anger — they’re trying to provoke.

Dan, like you, I think Dixon is a very good coach. But CBI is a waste of time. And next year will be a fun one — watching WVU form new rivalries with teams thousands of miles away who can’t fly into morgantown, and getting clobbered, while we make a last and sweet tour of the BE.

Ok folks. Let’s be realistic. In prior years we had a decent perception of what the following year looked like. This team is a work in progress. We don’t have a proven point guard like Wannamaker, we don’t have a respectable 3 point shooter like Gibbs and we don’t have a presence underneath like Naz. Maybe Woodall, fully healthy, will be a better fit for shooting guard than point guard. The CBI will be a good place to start to put the pieces together. And for what it could put in the coffers next year, 60K is chump change.

Emel – that was 2 years ago when Pitt had to rally to beat Wofford in the opener.

This team has no talent. If they want to play more that’s fine with me but I’m not going to pretend like we’re going to use this as a springboard to next year. There isn’t a single player on the team who can’t be replaced in about 2 seconds. It’s going to be at least a few years before we become contenders

Last year I was in Washington supporting our #1 seed NCAA tournament Panthers. This year I will be at the Peterson Center supporting our 16-loss CBI Panthers. It is easy to root for a team in good times, but those good times are so much better when you have supported the team through the bad times as well.

Accepting the CBI bid is a no-brainer. It is valuable game experience for the underclassmen. Every game until the championship series will likely be played at home so there is no interruption of the players’ coursework. If the Panthers were above playing in the CBI, Pitt would have been invited to another tournament.

Contrary to other posts, I think Coach Dixon should start the two seniors and give them their normal playing time. Certainly neither player lived up to preseason expectations, but they still give Pitt the best chance to win. It seems awfully backward for a coach to not play his best players in the name of experience for underclassmen, considering a loss would end the season. The Panthers are in the CBI, so the goal has to be to win the CBI.

I hope to see many of the dedicated fans of this board at the Peterson Center, supporting this team. HTP

this tells (1) the fee schedule for hosting a CBI game and (2) the reason why Pitt is participating … looks like the freshmen may see some increased action

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12073/1216269-175.stm

It’s been sort of said before, but it bears repeating. If Dixon would really use this tournament to play underclassmen more minutes, then this would be worth doing.

But he won’t, just like he didn’t all year.

Gilbert won’t get 20 mins and Moore won’t get 25 mins. We’ll see Gibbs and Robinson play most of the game, and maybe they’ll do well because we’re playing Wofford.

One other thing — people need to stop wondering if Woodall can play SG next year alongside Robinson. Note to posters: when you post about that, it lets us know not to pay attention to anything you say about hoops.

Not going to the CBI would be plain and simple
arrogance.
After this season a period of humility should be
in order.

Tough two days as a Pitt fan. Mixed emotions and its difficult to put aside fan passion and look at things without bias. Best case…this will turn into a real positive for the development of the younger players and provide some momentum going into next season if we play well. Worst case…lose early and it adds to the disappointment of the down year. I’m willing to accept the latter for a chance at the former and believe it’s a good call to play in this. I’ll be there as always to support the team….hopefully you’ll all be there as well.

Nobody even pays attention to it (easy not to). I think national pundits will respect Dixon for taking this path….no prima donnas in Pittsburgh. The only ones who will throw it in our face are the trolls…they don’t bother me. HTP

Most of the younger Pitt fans are just plain spoiled. As a student at Pitt in the late 60′s
our football team had a total of 3 wins in the
3 years I was there (graduated early had a war to
go to).

Dan (in reply to your post far above) — paying to get into the CBI is irrelevant. The NCAA is the only tournament that matters. The NIT is first among also-rans, but still an also-ran tournament. Any embarressment about playing in the CBI should also have been felt about an NIT bid.

This is indeed a dark day for Pitt fans. There is a front page story in the Charleston Daily Mail how Hoopie fans are hitching up the wagon trains and invading our city to play in our tournament in our town. Think about it, all these drunk Hoopies in the ‘burgh. Better tell the city police to have extra patrols and extra parking for all the horses and wagons that will be strewn all over the city. Beware of the droppings on the streets too!

we still get a big east basketball share of the ncaas right, anyone know 9 teams in.

@JCE if 60k is irrelevant, I’ll send you my address, send me a check!!

And your answer may be, irrelevant to such a big university. In that case, don’t raise ticket prices, don’t bomb we with mail for donations and quit telling me the state cut our money.

I’m good with that.

Seriously name one negative about playing in the CBI that isn’t some subjective thing like oh its an embarrassment or so forth. VCU won the CBI and the very next year went to the Final Four. I’m pretty sure Shaka Smart doesn’t regret stooping down and being embarrassed when he chose to play in the CBI.

If the team wants to play they should be allowed to play. I don’t care if you don’t want to watch more horrible basketball or so forth. It is there decision. NO ONE is making you pay attention to the CBI. I didn’t like watching this team play this year at all but I’m not going to rip on how horrible they were ad nauseum because they decided to extend the season. More practice and more game experience definitely won’t hurt and can only help.

And a lot of people are drama queens on here. I mean seriously this team with a healthy Travon Woodall (which he wasn’t after he was injured) wins the following games for sure: Wagner, Cinci and DePaul, which would have made the team 20-13 and on the bubble. Also, in my opinion Travon wasn’t right after for the rest of the season after he was reinjured around the South Florida game. So Pitt might have been able to pull out another win or two. So even with Pitt losing the starting center for most of the year the team could have easily made the tournament. This team isn’t that far off as a lot of you think they are.

And another thing, I remember a bunch of posters on here saying how terrible the Long Beach State loss was. FYI they made the tournament as a 12 seed, quite a dreadful loss.

Again, I’ll state, I have no embarrassment of the CBI, allthough many posters do, (and I can see their point) and many people on the radio. It’s the running joke on 93.7. (Getting their CBI brackets ready).

Embarrassment is not my argument. If it’s used to get the younger guys some playing time, I’m all for it.

If Gibbs and Robinson are going to get 30-35 minutes, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

They’ve had 34 games and hundreds of practices the past 4 months. We’ve seen the movie.

A couple more games and a couple more practices won’t make one iota of difference, unless you use those to see a little bit of what your future players can do.

If you’re not going to do that, and going to play games just to play games, then pull the cord, and go to class.

Hopefully, the time will be used wisely.

Dan — you are missing my point. The amount makes no difference. People are acting embarressed simply because it is the CBI. And not the NIT. And not the NCAA. The fact that Pitt has to pay to play in the CBI is irrelevant to their embarressment. That fact is just used to pile on their embarressment later.

I really didn’t think it was that hard to follow…

Ok, I got ya. As posted above, I wasn’t looking at it from an embarrassment point of view.

I hope most of us agree, and I don’t think it’s that hard to follow either, if they aren’t going to use these games to let their freshman and sophmore gets some real game time, it’s totally pointless.

If they’re just playing games to play games, really, kind of silly.

The embarrassment comes from having an athletic director who has presided over an athletic program which:

1 Has no stadium of its own and busses it
students to games

2 Has a six game home schedule, two from
division 1A

3 Can only participate in basketball post
season by paying an entry fee to get an

Invite

4 No longer merits a blog in the biggest
paper in town.

5 Sends out an invoice for tickets renewal
and expects the masses to pony up.

Dan — I hope that the sophs and freshmen get extra playing time in the CBI too. From the article in the PG, it looks like Dixon is leaning that way.

Wally — all 3 points are ridiculous. Heinz Field is a great venue, and in place of decrepit Pitt Stadium we now have the world class Petersen Events Center. The schedule is the Big East’s fault. Not Pitt’s. Pitt played in the NCAA for the last 10 years, so obviously the program is capable of post season basketball “without a fee”.

Chas, is there an NCAA tourney bracket challenge this year even though Pitt isn’t in it? Its still fun to pick. Sorry if I missed it.

PantherP we all have our opinions and no I am not Robinsons father. What I am is proponent of fundamental basketball skills. Neither Woodall or other guards had the blessing of playing for DeMatha High School who is traditonally ranked in among the top 20 high schools.

This is not only because the program has produced many players in D1 and ranked several among the top 50. This year 3, two seniors and a junior. It is also that they are coached well and focus on fundamentals rather than dunks and acrobatics.

I agree with most analysts that Robinson is the type of player who is now ready to contribute at the highest level of D1.

Also Adams is not a forward. He is all-center, 7 feet tall, large wing span, huge hands who likes to get physical inside. What makes him really special he is the only big man I have seen except in college except Thomas at Kentucky who is a threat away from the basket.

I’m no Steve Pederson fan but I do not blame the 2012 FB schedule on him (unless you are against his place in urging the admin to join the ACC.)

I am also sick & tired of the lack of stadium on the Pitt campus argument. 1st, there is absolutely no evidence that the FB program would draw better if it was located in Oakland especially since its highest seasonal attendance has been at Heinz.

2nd, and this has to be said … what campus?

Yes wbb, no blame anywhere for our schedule.

Just a situation we’re in because of the move to ACC. There were only a handful of Div 1 teams left, and I mean like 3 or 4. FSU, Mizzou, TAM, they all wanted home games as Pitt did.

As a fan, I wanted them to play FSU away, as a realist, we needed a home game.

Just because Pitt NEEDS Adams and Robinson to step in and lead the team right away doesn’t mean we should EXPECT it to happen.

Be very careful of reading too much into well edited YouTube clips. I remember seeing some highlight videos a few years back that made Isaiah Epps look like Kenny Anderson.

Those clips of Adams playing against the Noel Nergens (or whatever his name is) look good, but I saw NONE of the away from the basket stuff in the game in Ambridge. I won’t re-post my assessment, but my conclusion was, he is far from being a freshman phenom savior.

Robinson looks to be exactly what Pitts needs at the point, a good ball handler, excellent decision maker, natural passer/facilitator with a very high basketball IQ. His athletic ability (quickness) and defense are still TBD. Will Jamie trust an 18 year old at the point with a 22 year old fifth year guy already in place?

Woodall is just never going to be consistent enough to be a 35 minute a game point guard for a big east championship contender. When he played well this year, Pitt won. When he didn’t Pitt lost. He didn’t play well in enough games (both due to injury and due to ability level and decision making).

Jamie has shown a reluctance to let talented freshmen learn on job. He did slowly start to give Birch some run, but had him on short leash. I do HOPE Jamie gives this incoming freshman class more latitude than he’s given previous freshmen. I would rather gamble that they’ll get better, live with some mistakes, than go with the guys we know can’t get it done.

But we shouldn’t expect too much, too early.

I fear that Taylor and Woodall will be next year’s Gibbs and Robinson and Pitt will be playing the in CBI again next year.

Drw, we’re gonna have to ease Robinson. There’s no way around it. Its a team without leaders as of now and you can NOT expect a freshman to ocme in and take over. This kids probably very very good, but he’s not Derrick Rose. He needs to ease in or else you may burn him out.

Also, your point that he went to Dematha and no other guards incl woodall did, well it falls on deaf ears. Woodall went to St. Anthony’s, one of the best 3 programs in the country and coached by the legendary Coach Hurley. No lesser authority than Hurley has said of Woodall that he was one of the most mature players he’s ever had. Woodall was a PG on the undefeated team (that happened to have Kemba Walker, but still).

Woodall needs to cut down on TOs, sure. If he does that (and he very well may because he’s mature/smart enough to know he has to and because the offence will better and he won’t be hurt) he absolutely should be the starting PG and get starters minutes, Robinson will get 10-15min.

Adams, I agree, is the real deal. His outside shot may not be used often if ever in BE play, but its there. It doesn’t matter. He’s doing everything else right.

Before we pass final judgement on the BB team this year we need to know about the injury to Woodall and the lasting effectes. Frankly, I believe that had Woodall not been hurt (and possibly not still hurting) PITT would have had 4 to 5 more winsand been a bubble team for the NCAAs. The mislead freshman who left had a ripple effect on the team then the injuries and I was glad to see Dixon did not lose the team (although one player seemed to give up). This coming year Adams (if he is not drafted by the NBA) will be a god-send, as there will be a true center and perhaps Taylor can get an opportunity to play the 4, and Gilbert gets his redshirt and can step in when Adams leaves. By the way if Adams can shoot from 10 to 15′ and it seems so from all accounts then driving will be easier for the guards because if he moves out then the opposing center has to follow. Not worried about the future Dixon has shown the ability to coach a team- next year no Birch distractions and hoepfully no major injuries.