Welcome to the new theme. Pitt isn’t scoring enough.

The offense that once struck fear into the opposition has slowed to a crawl. The Panthers averaged 78.5 points per game through the first seven Big East Conference games. In the past seven games against conference competition, they have averaged 63 per game.

In the first seven games, the Panthers scored 72 points or more in every game and had 80 or more three times. In the past seven the highest total is 71 (twice) and they have been held below 60 three times, including twice in the past three games.

“We just haven’t been hitting shots,” sophomore guard Travon Woodall said. “It’s been a stretch where we’re playing a lot of games. We’ll get back to what we’re used to. But right now, we’re not hitting shots. Coach has been emphasizing taking enough shots and getting our shots up. We have to get back to that.”

There are some reasons for the big drop in scoring, most notably the absence of leading scorer Ashton Gibbs for three of those games. The Panthers also happened to play the Big East’s worst defending teams early on in the conference schedule.

Five of the first seven opponents are currently ranked 11th or higher in the league in scoring defense. Of the past seven opponents, five are among the top seven in the conference in scoring defense.

Yeah, go figure, Pitt’s offensive numbers dip when they play better defenses. Add in three missed games for Ashton Gibbs, which allowed a lot more collapsing by defenses without the real threat of 3-point baskets.

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As just about everyone is aware of by this point, Ashton Gibbs has been cleared to play for tomorrow’s Nooner at MSG.

“I was probably the happiest man in the world when they gave me the OK to play,” said Gibbs, Pitt’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game. “I’m feeling good.”

The 6-foot-2 Gibbs, injured Feb. 5 against Cincinnati, took part in his first full-contact practice Thursday.

He said he didn’t feel any soreness after practice. And following a visit with Pitt trainer Tony Salesi, Gibbs, who grew up in West Orange, N.J., was cleared to play in his hometown.

“I went all-out (at practice),” he said. “I felt good. It’s not sore or anything. It feels normal. (Salesi) told me everything was fine.”

Gibbs, who may wear a small brace or tape his knee as a precaution, said his rehab consisted mainly of icing the knee, riding a bike and strengthening his quadriceps.

He was expected to miss 10-14 days and returned right on schedule.

“It’s close to 100 percent,” he said. “I can feel it a little bit, but it’s nothing major.”

I take it, this means he hast to return that bowtie to Orlando Antigua.

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During the Pitt cruising over Cinci, Ashton Gibbs came up limping. He gutted out the rest of the game, so most of us hoped/assumed it was just a charley horse or some sort of minor issue. Well, compared to a torn ACL, it is still minor, but it isn’t a cramp.

Pitt men’s basketball junior guard Ashton Gibbs is sidelined with a left knee MCL injury and will not play at West Virginia on Monday.

Gibbs, the team’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game, was injured in Pitt’s 71-59 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday. Team officials have not put a timetable on his return, but it’s expected he will be out 10-14 days.

That’s at least two big road games — at the Hoopies tomorrow and at Villanova for the marquee ESPN College GameDay night game.

Best case would be him coming back in time for the home game with USF before the road game at St. John’s. Otherwise, Gibbs might not be back until the home game with WVU.

Regardless, Travon Woodall has to slide into the starting role and more minutes. He and Brad Wanamaker have to pick-up a bit as both have been slumping lately.

The risk/reward of this is the potential for Lamar Patterson and J.J. Moore to see more minutes as well. The two bring more size, length and athleticism on the perimeter. Potentially creating better attacking of the basket along with Gil Brown.

While Gibbs isn’t Pitt’s best defender, he is consistent and does know where to be. Patterson and Moore will have to play tougher, better on the defensive end.

Well, it looks like a good chance that Nasir Robinson will miss most of it. At Monday’s practice, Robinson tore the meniscus in his right knee. He had surgery to repair it today — he is apparently doing fine.

Robinson will be out three to six weeks. At the short end, he misses the first few games of the season. At the full six weeks, he wouldn’t return until maybe Maryland — Eastern Shore.

Robinson may be challenged offensively at times, with a shot that had many last year screaming, NO!” That said, he was one of Pitt’s most aggressive defenders and would get after things. Being undersized at power forward did not diminish his overall effectiveness in Pitt’s game.

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That’s the theme now that Greg Romeus has had his back surgery — successfully — and is now recuperating. Speaking of which, one would think such opportunities exist on the O-line given their play in the first couple of games. However…

Offensive line coach Tony Wise said the progression of the line, which includes three new starters, has been “slow,” but don’t expect any shuffling. He said right guard Greg Gaskins, center Alex Karabin and left guard Chris Jacobson, who’s nursing a sprained ankle, will remain the starters. “There’s no substitutions because the other guys on the team are slower to respond,” he said.

/weeps softly into a Scotch.

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[My high speed modem died on Wednesday, which felt like losing a limb. Just got a new one set-up.]

Some very direct candor from Coach Wannstedt regarding Jason Douglas, Dan Mason and the DUI.

Also, middle linebacker Dan Mason was demoted to second team after being in the same car as running back Jason Douglas during a hit-and-run early Sunday on the South Side.

Max Gruder will start at middle linebacker and Tristan Roberts and Greg Williams will start at outside linebacker against Miami on Sept. 23.

Douglas, 19, who was driving, was charged with causing an accident resulting in serious injury, aggravated assault, DUI and underage drinking. Mason was a passenger in the car, but wasn’t charged.

Wannstedt met with Mason and his family Wednesday morning.

“This is for his good,” Wannstedt said. “He needs to prove to me that he can do the right things and be accountable off the field, in the classroom and on the football field. When he does that, he will get his job back.”

I don’t think it will be too long before Mason is back in the middle. But this is the minimum that has to happen to him.

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As most of you have already heard, Greg Romeus’ back has gotten so bad that it requires surgery.

“Our top priority is doing what is best for Greg,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “After consulting with him, his family and our medical staff, it was determined that immediate surgery is the best option for Greg both personally and athletically. We expect him to have a full recovery and return for the conclusion of the season.”

Romeus has a herniated bulging disk in his lower back — which kind of makes it stunning that he even played in the Utah game.

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Time to cram some things into posts and attempt to catch-up on training camp and the links to them, with a passing attempt to tie them together.

Starting with the injuries. Coach Wannstedt pointed out some before camp even began.

We do have a few guys that will be limited from an injury standpoint. Nothing has occurred this summer. Two or three of the freshman that have reported were banged up in All-Star games, and actually before they arrived here. There were some surgeries that a couple of kids had done: Jeff Knox had shoulder surgery from a basketball injury; Arthur Doakes had something done right after the season from an old shoulder injury; Derrick Burns hurt his leg up at the Big 33 game. He (Derrick) came here , was training and suddenly couldn’t participate. We have more incoming freshmen on the injury list this year than what we’ve had in years past.

…

Two players will be on the medical list and will not be participating. Aundre Wright had a bad knee injury at camp and Aaron Smith — neither of those two guys will be out participating due to medical reasons, and will be out for the duration of the year.

None of the incoming freshman were likely to even sniff the depth chart, so taking a medical redshirt is probably not a big deal.Wright tore his ACL at the end of spring practice and Aaron Smith’s injury was not disclosed.

At the start of last year’s training camp, Wright and Smith were at the top of the depth chart for kick and punt returns respectively. Neither exactly distinguished themselves. Wright is not even on the depth chart for kickoff returns, and was the 3d cornerback behind Antwuan Reed and Buddy Jackson.

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A real tough break for one of the top-ranked recruits in Pitt’s soon to be signed class.

Senior forward Anthony Gonzalez will undergo surgery next Wednesday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and will likely miss the remainder of the basketball season.

This is not the same knee that was operated on last September during football season.

It’s not major, but it is frustrating.

The injury is not expected to impede his football career.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt and assisant Brian Angelichio, who recruited Gonzalez, were in Bethlehem on Wednesday night to see him and are satifisfied that the injury will not jeopardize anything.

“He’s going to be fine; they were not concerned at all,” said Jim Tkach, a Liberty football assistant who is close to the Pitt coaches because his son, Tyler, is a member of the Panthers’ program. “He should be able to recover in time to play in the Big 33 game in June. Anthony’s a great kid. This is a tough thing for him, I’m sure, but he’ll bounce back.”

The cynical side says that this injury at least will keep him from risking any other injuries in basketball. The downside, is that between the injury during football season and now this, that is going to make hit harder to get back into shape. Not that I really expected him to play as a true freshman, but it won’t be any easier having to get into Buddy Morriss’ conditioning regimen after a couple extended layoffs.

While Pitt’s overall recruiting class has not been star-studded, it has been considered very solid and part of a building effort.

The Panthers have the chance to be as successful in the recruiting battles as they were on the gridiron. They were just an eyelash away from a Big East football championship in 2009 and are putting together an excellent class with 24 total commits and 18 are either four- or three-star quality. The Pitt program’s consistency the last few seasons has helped them compete for some of the best Big East talent and they are once again showing some success in-state against the Nittany Lions.

Top prospect: A national top 20 in the athlete category, Anthony Gonzales (Bethlehem, Pa./ Liberty), spearheads the 2010 class. Even though Gonzales missed some action this fall with an injury, he has made his mark as a multi-talented football player. He could end up at quarterback for the Panthers, but he has the toughness and overall skill level to line up at several different positions until his collegiate niche is found.

Don’t be surprised if: The Panthers continue their success on the field due to their recruiting the last couple of years. The 2009 class was solid, but this year’s class is even more impressive. Dave Wannstedt and his staff do a very good job of meeting their position-specific needs.

Some good news via Andy Katz’s Twitter.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Monday that Jermaine Dixon (broken foot) should be healthy enough by the CBE in Kansas City later this month.

That means that the x-rays came back as expected and he rehab will be on track.

Well, here’s one cliche you can almost certainly count on hearing and reading this year about Coach Jamie Dixon: “This may be Jamie Dixon’s best job of coaching a team, ever.”

The odds of this sort of cliched comment in a telecast or entire puff piece will increase exponentially starting at about 16 wins.

It fits. You have three starters in Fields, Young and Blair gone. The top reserve player, Biggs gone. Gilbert Brown suspended until late December. Lots of youth on the team. Now Jermaine Dixon has a setback that keeps him from rejoining the team until at least mid-November.

The latest was Dixon, who will miss a minimum of eight weeks after undergoing foot surgery Wednesday morning at UPMC South Side Hospital.

Dixon, the team’s lone returning starter, reinjured the same fifth metatarsal bone he initially broke in July. He had been back playing for about a week and was reinjured Tuesday night during a pickup game with other Pitt players.

Coach Jamie Dixon said Jermaine Dixon was jumping when another player landed on the foot “with heavy, major force.”

Pitt opens practice Oct. 16. Its first regular-season game is Nov. 13 against Wofford. Eight weeks would put Jermaine Dixon’s return in the middle of November.

I would dispute the cliche, though. If Pitt has a season that still manages to finish .500 or better in the Big East it would be his best job as a teacher.  Preparing the kids. Working them in the practices. Teaching them. Not as a coach in the games themselves.

It all leads to a less than serious question as to whether forces beyond the those of mortal men have aligned against Pitt.

3. It seems as if Pitt has been snakebit since Scottie Reynolds beat the Panthers at the buzzer in the Elite Eight. Should Jamie Dixon be worried?

DeCourcy: In the bad karma department, you really need to take it back a bit farther, to when the Panthers held a 67-63 lead and the ball with 3:05 left. The Panthers advanced the ball against a Wildcats press, Levance Fields gave it up too soon and guard Jermaine Dixon dribbled into a midcourt trap. Instead of calling an immediate timeout, he surrendered the ball. That’s where the bad news began for Pitt.

Since Reynolds’ shot went down, though, there’s been at least as much good news.

It’ll be tougher for them to reach their potential with Dixon missing most or all of the preseason with a broken foot and Gilbert Brown suspended for the fall term. But with the United States U-19 team, Jamie Dixon demonstrated once again that he’s an outstanding coach by leading the Americans to the gold medal. And Ashton Gibbs, recruited essentially to be a backup guard at Pitt, started at point for that team and played exceedingly well.

The Panthers will begin the season with their most coveted recruit in two decades: 6-9 power forward Dante Taylor, a McDonald’s All-American. They’ve got three excellent commitments for 2010 and 2011.

It’ll be a struggle to extend the string of NCAA Tournament appearances to nine, but the future at Pitt remains promising.

It’s admittedly been a bad few weeks. I suppose there could be a bigger case made with both Young and Blair slipping on draft night about things, but I think most Pitt fans were happy with the offseason. The USA U-19 squad coached by Jamie Dixon took gold. Not to mention that Dixon rebuffed overtures from Arizona and USC to stay at Pitt. Plus the transfer and immediate playing time for Chase Adams to help at point guard.

And Dante Taylor made Andy Katz’s list of freshmen who need to have an impact.

Panthers coach Jamie Dixon knew DeJuan Blair was likely headed to the NBA after his sophomore season.

Sure, there could have been a meltdown, an injury, something that would have kept him in Pittsburgh. But Dixon went hard after Taylor, and Taylor committed, knowing full well he could come in and make an impact. The difference between Blair and the new guy is this: No one expected Blair to be a star and off to the NBA in two seasons. Taylor? He comes in as a McDonald’s All-American with a lot of hype.

“Nobody was writing about DeJuan as an impact freshman,” Dixon said. The Panthers will likely pump up Taylor in the preseason, and they should, but Dixon isn’t going to put too much pressure on him. He arrived at the USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs last June for the team that Dixon ultimately coached to the gold medal at the Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand. Playing a few days there was a good experience, but Taylor wasn’t ready to make the squad and was not in the best shape possible. “He was a little heavy then at 250, but he’s lost about 15 pounds,” Dixon said. The Panthers did receive some bad news this week when their one returning starter, senior guard Jermaine Dixon, broke his right foot again; he will be out for the next eight weeks. Pitt was already down a wing after Gilbert Brown was deemed academically ineligible by the school for the first semester. Still, the experience Ashton Gibbs had on the gold-medal team this summer and the return of scorer Brad Wanamaker still make the Panthers a threat on the perimeter. But if they’re going to make it back to the NCAA tournament for a ninth straight year, Taylor will have to produce in the post. “He needs to rebound,” Dixon said of his prized recruit. If Taylor rebounds, he’ll score. This is a good year to come into the Big East as a freshman big man. The league suffered a big-man vacuum in the offseason as forwards Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien of Connecticut, Dante Cunningham of Villanova, Blair and Sam Young of Pitt, and Earl Clark and Terrence Williams of Louisville all left for the pros. There are still plenty to deal with, such as Gates, Georgetown’s Greg Monroe, Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, Marquette’s Lazar Hayward, St. John’s Anthony Mason Jr., and Syracuse’s Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. But Taylor has the body to compete with all of them. “He’s got good hands, he runs well, his post-moves are developing, and he’s a great kid,” Dixon said. If he can handle the hype and board — score on plenty of putbacks — he’ll be even more celebrated by March.

As for further in the future, John Johnson (noted back in late August as being a likely commit) made it an official verbal for 2011. Expect a lot of talk about his grit — like Wanamaker and Robinson — other recent Philly area recruits.

But in Philadelphia circles, he is considered the second-best player in his class behind Rakeem Christmas of Philadelphia North Catholic. He averaged 21 points, 5 assists and 3 steals per game as a sophomore last season. He scored 30 in the PIAA Class A championship game victory against Kennedy Catholic.

“His heart is his biggest asset,” said Jonathan Stewart, an assistant coach at Girard. “When he steps onto the floor he’s going to bring it 150 percent. He has that constant aggression.”

Johnson chose Pitt over Saint Joseph’s, Virginia Tech, Penn State and Georgia Tech. All had offered scholarships.

This is the quote that makes me really want to see Johnson at Pitt and succeed.

Johnson made his decision yesterday, a day after Pitt assistants attended a Girard College open gym.

“When Pitt started [recruiting him], you just saw his whole personality change,” [Girard College coach Tyrone] Morris said.

The 16-year-old is a good long-range shooter and has a great burst off the dribble. His quickness and playmaking ability make him a good fit.

The two-time Associated Press Class A all-state performer led the Cavaliers to their first PIAA Class A state title last season. Johnson averaged 21.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.4 steals en route to garnering third-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“I felt like I was already on the team,” Johnson said of Pitt. “They didn’t fill my head up with dreams like you are going to be this and that. They told me I have to work for what I want. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

[Emphasis added.]

Pitt will also be part of ESPN’s November 17 college hoop marathon with the game against Binghamton (my old law school roommate’s alma mater) on ESPN2 at 5:30 pm.

Honestly, news of a foot injury to Jermaine Dixon in July would not normally be a huge concern. It’ two months (8 weeks) out of action. He’ll be back before practices even begin. Dixon has shown in his first season that he is well-conditioned and it shouldn’t take him too long to get back into shape.

Of course what gives pause is this ominous factoid.

Pitt doctors are very familiar with the injury. It is the same injury that forced former Panther guard Levance Fields to miss a portion of the 2007-08 season.

The dreaded fractured fifth metatarsal on Dixon’s right foot. Something that nagged at Fields for a while and kept him from getting in shape through the summer as well.

Hopefully Fields’ experience will remain the exception and Dixon will be back and ready to go.

This is just one more reminder how much tougher Sam Young is than me.

Young participated in Friday’s skill work for the first time without a wrap on his left biceps. He was involved in one of the most bizarre incidents ever in predraft workouts.

A week ago in Toronto, Young was impaled by a metal piece off a vertical testing pole. “It was one millimeter away from hitting my nerve; three millimeters away from a blood vessel,” Young said.

He described the incident as follows, and the account was corroborated by at least one Raptors official: Young jumped up to slap the pole, turned in the air and the piece of metal popped into his skin. But the piece had two sides, and it went in two different directions, making it impossible for him to just pull it out. Young was suspended in the air on the pole before Raptors personnel gently took him down with the pole still attached to him.

“It didn’t break off, so I hung on it,” Young said. “They turned the vertical pole sideways. But I couldn’t take the whole thing with me. So the guys in the gym weren’t sure what to do. I waited 15 minutes for paramedics. They came, put a towel over my face and with a chain saw separated me from it. There were sparks flying everywhere.”

The worst part was when Young was in the ambulance. “I’m holding part of the pole that’s still in me, and the ambulance had to go over speed bumps to get out of the arena,” Young said. “I’m trying to keep it steady, but it’s pulling on my skin. It was crazy. I wanted to yank the whole thing out, but I wasn’t sure about the effect. I finally got to the hospital, they drugged me up, they fiddled with it and yanked it out. I would have been in trouble had I pulled it out. It was the craziest hour of my life.”

There were no stitches and almost no blood from the puncture wound. Young said he was told not to do the weightlifting portion of the testing in Chicago, and he isn’t supposed to do any lifting for two weeks as a precaution.

He said doctors told him to rest for a few weeks, but that wasn’t going to happen. Young went and worked out for Chicago and Indiana after the incident. He’s heading to Golden State for a group workout next week. “I was determined to not let it affect me,” Young said.

If it’s me, I’m running around freaked out screaming, “Get it out, Morton! Get it out!”

The more details that emerge from that incident, the crazier it gets.

Temple guard Dionte Christmas witnessed Young’s mishap.

“That was pretty crazy,” Christmas said. “He’s a tough guy. I can see that just from seeing him out on the court, but after that, he’s definitely got my respect.”

On the bright side, that means when the NBA commentators bring up Sam Young, they have something else to mention beyond the backflips and poetry.

Hopefully he got to keep the piece for the potential lawsuit.

I feel like there should be Facebook updates on this. “Levance’s groin feels good today, not so much in the tailbone.” I just don’t know. It’s like this injury is randomly moving around.

First it was a bruised tailbone. Then it was that he strained his groin. Now it seems to be some sort of sports hernia. The actual severity of any of these things is in dispute. One minute he can barely stand, the next he is good to go.

He’s sitting out practices, but there for games. It doesn’t help that Pitt and Coach Dixon have contributed to the confusion and questions over his status. Maybe they feel it is creating some sort of advantage. I don’t see it. Teams are going to prep assuming he’s healthy. It’s not like putting Gibbs, Wanamaker and/or Dixon out there instead is going to confuse them.

Yet Fields’ status barely gets a mention compared to Ty Lawson’s toe.  I guess, because at least Lawson’s injury has remained in one spot.

Both papers had stories on the good health of the team this year.  Well, yeah.

Luke Winn isn’t picking a winner yet for the NCAA Tournament, but has a top-3 that you should lean towards.

4. Are you a Pitt person, a UConn person or a Carolina person? Those are the only three teams I’d advise picking to win the national championship in your bracket. Vegas still views it as the Tar Heels’ title to lose — it likes them more than three times as much it as it likes the Panthers — but all three are viable options. Which one you pick is a matter of taste: Pitt is a tough, offensive-rebounding monster that can look vulnerable if DeJuan Blair gets in foul trouble; UConn is an athletic, shot-blocking force that’s the stingiest team of the three, but is missing its best perimeter defender, Jerome Dyson; Carolina is a high-octane scoring machine that’s prone to huge lapses in its perimeter D. As of now I’m a UConn person, because I tend to side with the superior defense … but I reserve the right to change tastes before my bracket is filled.

Bob Knight breaks down Pitt’s poor rebounding when Blair is out.

Brandin Knight doesn’t want to hear crap from people.

Nevertheless, skeptics remain. When asked if Pitt needs to advance beyond the Sweet 16 for the season to be considered a success, Knight nearly recoiled from the question.

“Everybody now is like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m a Pitt fan.’ You might have been a Pitt fan up until Charles Smith and those guys left, and then when things got bad you weren’t a fan anymore,” said Knight, 27. “Now, when you come back when things are going well, as soon as things get a little rocky, those are the people that turn around and are like, ‘Same old Pitt.’

“Everybody has their opinions. For some people, we have to get past the Sweet 16. Well, we have to get past the first round and the second round to get to the Sweet 16. Just getting past the Sweet 16 wouldn’t take this program to the next level. We want to win every game, and we don’t focus more on the Big East Tournament and just throw away the NCAA Tournament. We’re dedicated to winning every game.”

Love that. It just tells you how much the program means to Knight.

For all those wondering what Pitt was doing to get ready to deal with the press and teams trying to strip Pitt.

Pitt has averaged 20.5 turnovers in its past two games, and handling full-court pressure was a focal point at Monday’s practice. The whistles were put away.

“Coach Dixon told the press team to hack us and see how we are going to react,” guard Jermaine Dixon said. “We know we’ve got to cut down on the turnovers.”

Coach Dixon was apparently annoyed that the team spent too much time after turnovers whining at the officials. Let a team like Seton Hall chirp constantly. All it got them was 3 technicals in one game.