I want to make sure my man does not beat me off the dribble.

I want to make sure I get a hand in my man’s face when he takes an outside shot.

I want to make sure I get inside position for this rebound.

I want to make sure I don’t get posterized.

You can have the most gifted team, athletically. But, unless they “want to” be great defensively, it isn’t going to happen. Obviously, what Jamie is preaching is not getting through to these guys as well as it has in the past. I put that mostly on the players because I’m sure he is using similar methods. Maybe some of the attrition is costing them. Maybe that has caused a breakdown where older players were not around in key positions to mentor the younger ones and keep the defensive continuity going from year to year.

It’s hard to play good defense when you don’t really play a 5. If Nix and Haughton can just stand on the court next year, then the D will be much improved.

James Robinson is solid. Nothing wrong with being solid. Fields was solid. But the team as currently constructed needs more than solid from the PG. He has basically the same stats as Fields, it’s just that Fields had better teams around him.

I think I figured out the mystery that is the DJ suspension. So after reading something on Rivals there might be a Pitt rule that if you fail 1 class then you are suspended for an entire year. So say DJ fails some random 2 credit course. His other grades aren’t horrible so technically he still qualifies academically. Would explain the rumblings that Dixon might have been mad about the suspension.

wbb, WVU is good this year. But how was WVU the two seasons before this year?

Also, the lack of bench minutes is an issue. The bench continues to shorten. The starters are all playing 30+ minutes. They’re a bad defensive team to begin with. Playing starters all those minutes against top 10 teams will just exacerbate the problem.

Conventional wisdom is you need a guy on the bench who is a scorer that you can bring in for a shot in the arm. Well, having a defensive stopper is also an advantage. But the first 4 guys on Pitt’s current bench could be some of the worst defenders in the history of the program, so no help there.

Last year’s WVU team faced in large part what Pitt is facing this year … they were in a league that had 4 or 5 ranked teams that were legit, still finished 9 and 9. Hope Pitt can do the same this year … as well as improve next year like WVU has done this year.

I do think the fact that we get consistently beat in one-n-one situations tells us more about our athletes than anything else. We simply need better athletes to defend better, and that’s something that’s not going to get fixed this year. I think we’re all just hanging our hats on the hope that Damon Wilson’s teammates join him.

Thought we’d stayed in the group that has
stayed outta that fray.

When black outs and white outs and orange outs
and all that started, the uniforms the teams wore had nothing to do with it.

The crowd did it. They didn’t have to “match”.

On top of it, there’s nothing to them. Looks like a black wife beater, black gym shorts and
someone sewed Pitt on it.

Not a fan.

Really glad to see we finally have a got that can shoot a basketball.

Unfortunately one out of five or six win’t get it done.

The thing that is surprising is that before the season I thought this team would be deep, how wrong.

Obviously losing DJ hurt the most, but the fact that Jeter was supposed to be fighting for a starting position and is totall worthless with his height and athleticism is mind boggling. Add to that zero production from any of the alleged centers and a blown redshirt for Luther, it really makes you wonder.

Not recruiting enough superstars is one thing, but how many absolute busts can you tolerate?
The Malcolm Gilberts and John Johnsons that just were not good enough to compete in the ACC.

The fact that we only have 6 guys that can play anything close to ACC level basketball is dumbfounding.

I know, it is a down year and that can happen, but how many ACC teams are carrying as much dead weight on their benches? Luther and Johnson should have good careers, DJ should be back. But there is little hope that Ochebo contribute and Haughton is the mystery man, not a word about how he is doing in practice.

We are pinning our hope for next year on Nix being at least productive or a miracle named Diallo. Without that we are still a middle of the back team, better than this year, but….

Kids care about the uniforms though. Kids love having different uniforms. Having cool and different uniforms from Nike is definitely a bonus for a program.

gc, Jeter’s main problem is that he completely sat out last year. He wasn’t on a team so he didn’t practice. Missing a whole season of practicing every day with coaches is going to hurt anyone.

I don’t see how Luther is a blown redshirt. Someone has to play.

The current team loses 1 contributor in Cam Wright. And at minimum gains DJ, Cam Johnson and Damon Wilson. All guys who will be able to contribute next year. Plus, hopefully another solid recruit. Also, Nix will at least be an upgrade over Randall because it’s impossible not to be.

I think Uchebo needs to be deemed to injured to play and given a non-athletic scholarship to get his degree at Pitt. It was worth taking a flyer hoping he would recover from his injury since he was pretty talented. But clearly he won’t be healthy.

The fact that we have one senior and one junior tells me something went dramatically wrong with recruiting.

The Junior and Senior class is the problem he had two top recruits as big men and both left early. You can’t tell those guys no. But Pitt would be in solid shape if Pitt had said no to them and went for top 150 guys like Pitt normally gets.