don’t forget ND.

great answer, Talib!

Basketball in the ACC is going to be awesome. What happened with Detrick Mostella? He’s not on the roster or anything. The only thing that comes up when you Google him is his commitment to Pitt.

The closer we get to the season the more I think we could have a pretty good year. I don’t think the ACC teams we will be facing are any tougher than what we have been seeing in the Big East for the last decade and are possibly a little softer. We have always held our own against Syracuse and figure we can’t do any worse against Notre Dame. I am concerned about all the new faces but I’m also excited about losing some of the dead wood. I think there are some so called experts who will underestimate us and have already seen one poll picking us 9th behind teams like Boston College and Virginia. Even on a rebuilding year I feel pretty sure we will do better than that. I think we are likely to be among the top 6 and could threaten the top 4 of the ACC. The chance that we will be less than that exists but seems to me unlikely. Dixon has been very consistent in conference and my bet is he continues that success here. I am thrilled to play Duke and North Carolina. They have been able to avoid us for too long and we have been able to compete with both storied programs now for several years. I am also very excited about the media coverage advantages afforded ACC teams and the benefits we should see from the ESPN fixation with all things ACC hoop related. Finally all Duke and North Carolina have to do is invite, not recruit. With that advantage they should never lose ,but we are going to beat them both with some regularity, and that should be a lot of fun. This season seems as good a time to get that fun started as any. I only wish Steven Adams would have stuck around for the party.

@Wardapalooza, Mostella has enrollment hurdles that I will invite someone else to explain. I have heard he is definitely coming though and suspect we won’t see him play here before 2nd semester or next year. I would really appreciate anyone who has insight giving us the story on this as I think I am only repeating rumors.

I think Pitt’s success will hinge on the performance of the freshman and transfers. Because of this, I’m not as confident as SOS 22.
Patterson/Zana/Robinson don’t give me a good feeling that they can be relied upon to score consistently.

@Taxing , We never score consistently. Never. What we do consistently is win 10 or more conference games. I think you are right about Freshman and transfers being relied upon however and understand your concern. The newcomers seem to have some talent and, I suspect Wright might surprise us with his play this year and, I keep praying Zanna plays to the level he seems capable of too.

@Ward and Spirit, a couple of weeks ago I did a pretty extensive search on the net and among some friends and found nothing on it, other than what you said, 2nd semester.

Dokish says not til next fall. Has to get grades up.

I don’t care what enrollment hurdles that Mostella has in front of him. I’ve seen his dunk videos on Youtube, I’m confident he can jump over them. HE GOT HOPS!

Thanks guys. I knew it was academics related, I just didn’t know his current status/whereabouts. It just seems so weird with how much recruiting info is out there in general that there is nothing on him anywhere.
Scoring might be a problem at times but when you have a solid point guard like Robinson it makes everything much smoother.
Zanna might benefit the most with a switch to the less physical ACC. I could see him scoring a lot.

I am SO excited for Newkirk. I can’t remember the last time we had an athletic, slashing, score-first guard of his caliber. I’d love to see him on a second-unit that boasts athleticism first and RUN THE FLOOR. Can you imagine having basically 2 different units: one that grinds you out and plays a half court set, and another that’s a fast-paced-push-it-up-the-court-and-get-transition-baskets? My god this team could be unreal if it’s coached properly.

@Wardapalooza, There have been times when I thought Zanna was really starting to emerge. He looked can’t miss as a redshirt freshman and was instrumental in beating Maryland and Texas in the Garden. Before he broke his thumb I thought he just needed to mature some as a sophomore and his absence might have been the difference when Magee was forced unsuccessfully into playing 40 minutes down the stretch. Last year when he showed so much improvement at the foul line and in his jump shot looked as you noted “very ACC”. Then he kind of curled up and hid in Adams’ shadow although he was taking over in the second half against Syracuse in The Big East Tourney when the games key foul shot went in and out and we couldn’t recover. One of my most wished for things is to see Talib Zanna have a senior season that sees him emerge as the player he has shown glimpses of being. If he could play a confident 30 plus minutes, average a double double, and keep opposing centers from steamrolling us inside, we will have a real good year. He is capable of all 3, but also capable of graduating without being any better than he was as redshirt freshman. Talib is a big key for us, both in his personal performance and the example he sets for the newcomers. My guess is being a senior and having leadership forced on him will be to his benefit, but that is only a guess and a very wishful one at that. Talib is a hard guy to figure out for sure.

Uchebo looks to be Talib II in the making.

The post gazette blog said Mostella is not enrolled and working through clearinghouse issues.

ESPN ranks our non/con schedule the softest in the ACC giving it 1 on a 1 to 10 scale. I think that means they weren’t permitted to give it a 0. Clemson got a 2 with a schedule described as “ick”.

spirit, I have been somewhat disappointed with Zanna’s league play over the last few years, however, I do agree that this kid is an effort person who will produce most of time. Now, he may have a real hard time with some of more talented big men, but he may surprise a time or two also.

I don’t see Uchebo making a big splash this year, so it’s likely that Zanna will have t be a major player

@wbb, I agree Uchebo won’t help much this year. Some might note that he and Talib are both Kenyan’s and big strong ones at that however.

Espn’s national basketball blog says our non/con schedule might be the worst in the country. We could live without that designation and certainly have the basketball reputation to do better. I hope this is the last year Dixon and Smilin Pete embarrass us with this crap.

Zanna has had good games SPELLING others at C, but was not very good when starting at C which he did for much of the season two years ago. So, remains to be seen how much of an impact he will have starting at C when he is just at 230 (small for a C).

Mike Young though, is gonna be playing PF and that is his natural position and he may indeed have a major impact there as a freshman.

I also expect Jamel Artis to be a factor playing PF off the bench. Randall, will spell Zanna at C and won’t score much but otherwise will hold his own.

Cam Wright, at the B/G game looks like a player that is making the ‘great leap forward’, so we will have to see if this continues into the season.

There are big questions about Josh Newkirk’s ability to play defense. Could turn out to be the next coming of John Johnson. We will have to see if Dixon plays Wright some at PG in the event JN starts getting eaten alive out there.

We are gonna need more 3 ball shooting with a trio of pass first players (Robinson, Patterson and Wright) starting on the perimeter. The hope is that James is able to answer the bell on this one.

Z, How much impact will Durand have as he has shown signs of being able to deliver the 3.

Oh, the hope is that Uchebo, starts seeing regular minutes before the end of the season. If not, then he probably won’t be ready to start at C come 2014. Otherwise, he has not practiced with the team yet so I would not expect anything significant from him in 2013.

DJ missed the B/G game, apparently having had a concussion in practice a few days earlier.

I was hoping we would see DJ starting at SG this year because he is the 3 ball shooter that would complement Robinson and Patterson. But, with Wright having the big game in the B/G game, that seems unlikely now though still possible.

The guess is that Dixon will have DJ spell Patterson and maybe spend some time at SG as well, though we not only have Wright there but Chris Jones, who has shown some stuff lately, there as well.

So, if Patterson is playing sluggish like he did at the start of last season, he may see his PT reduced with DJ playing more minutes, all at SF.

Let’s see if the ACC can handle Big East BB… not the other way around… if it wasn’t that Pitt is in a bit of a down cycle I would be a lot more obnoxious….

I just want to see us run, run and run some more.

You play like that and you’ll attract some better recruits.

Look at UNLV, they’ve got several top recruits from the east coast going way out to Nevada to play hoops in a crap conference.

Anyway our personnel suggests if we’re going to EVER run, this is the year.

Newkirk can push it (apparently)
Zanna can run better than 99% of other Centers.

Hopefully we can find some finishers since Moore and Zeigler weren’t somehow aware of the apparent change(?) in JD’s philosophy.

Additionally I never played with anybody in hoops, whether it be pickup, YMCA, HS or College who didn’t enjoy a uptempo game.

You want to recruit elite NBA type talent, you need to be uptempo.

@Emel, You are 100% correct. I don’t think Dixon wants to recruit the “elite NBA talent type.” It sure didn’t work out too well for his buddy Howland out west. I also agree that up tempo is more fun, but fun and wins are 2 different things. Wichita St. came close to stealing it all last year playing Dixon’s style and no “elites.”

Zanna has gotten better every year though. I think last year he slumped after the great start because he just didn’t have the body type to be a grinder in Big East play. I’m more bullish on his ability to play the 5 because one of his best games in BE play last year was when he started at the 5 when Adams was hurt.

Dixon is soley responsible for the scheduling and in the past he was forced to play certain games in order to make money. With the ACC increase he’s supposed to have more freedom. Who knows though. I’ll let him slide a little on this year though because there is no way he could have known the preseason tournament would be bad and the team is going to be really young.

Based on his offers, Newkirk is a different level of talent when compared to John Johnson.

EMel, you are right the personnel screams time to run. I always thought that the team played best last year when they were running up and down the court and scoring in transition.

Wardapalooza, Other than foul shooting I don’t think Zanna has shown improvement over what he brought to the table as a redshirt freshman. In his defense though last years team was a very confused group that never really seemed to mesh and his sophomore year we sucked. I thought he looked pretty good as a freshman and as I previously stated his broken thumb coincided with two squeaker losses to the teams that played for the national title. This could be his year and the ACC style might suit his game better and as a senior he should have an opportunity to assert himself.

Emel, UNLV has had nothing but headaches off of their elite recruits and they bowed out last year as early as us. This year all they have left is Khem Birch and another elite prospect. They lost 2 “elites” to transfers and 1 to the NBA draft. They run all over and it hasn’t gotten them squat, except some bozo hotdogs jumping in and out of the program.

Watched the ACC Media Days on ESPNU and heard some scary changes to the hand-checking and charging rules this year which may not bode well for JD’s defensive style of play. These changes are, according to Boeheim and 3 other ACC coaches, to enhance scoring and give elite talent more freedom to operate.
Chas, this may be a good topic for a future blog since it speaks to the challenges Pitt may face in transitioning to the ACC. I’m not sure of exactly what the rule changes are, but it definitely sounds like the NCAA wants scores in the 70’s and 80’s and not in the 50’s and 60’s anymore.
I have total respect for how JD comes up with wins in conference (despite pathetic non-con games) but Pitt’s physical, defensive first and half-court style my soon go the way of the dinosaur.