Coach Dixon gets another article focusing on him. Mainly about how he’s managed to go with such a deep rotation this season.
“We’ve got great kids,” Dixon said Monday, rejecting a suggestion that he’s the primary reason for the Panthers’ meteoric rise to ninth in the latest national polls.
Yet Dixon is the man who seemingly has molded a team of young players like this to accomplish what it has this year.
“He’s really coming into his own,” junior center Aaron Gray said. “He has such high expectations coming in. He has surpassed everyone’s expectations. It’s his team. He’s making his own coaching decisions, balancing a 9-, 10-man rotation — which not a lot of guys can do — and keep everyone happy and focused on winning.”
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“He does a great job of getting people to play their best,” Gray said. “One of the reasons we are such a good team is that every day in practice is like a game to us. Everything we do is competitive, and everything we do we want to win, no matter what the drill is. He knows you have to coach everyone differently.”Dixon said he had a vision before the season that convinced him that his team would do well. He could see the chemistry forming early on, and today that chemistry is a major factor in Pitt’s success.
“It’s unique, I know, to play 10 guys in the rotation,” Dixon said. “But I said from the beginning this would be the best thing for this team, and I think it’s come to fruition.”
The deep rotation has not only worked this year, but it sets the tone for next year. It means the kids know they will have to work hard in practice and over the summer to get starting minutes and more playing time.
Biggs, Young, Benjamin and even Hudson all battling to replace DeGroat as a starter (and give Kendall more competition for playing time next season). At guard, Fields and Ramon will be competing to be the starting point guard and face more competition at the shooting/two guard with transfer Mike Cook becoming eligible. Graves will still be there and Freshman Gilbert Brown will be trying to make some noise.
Sorry, getting a little ahead of things. The focus should be on this year since there is still so much that can be accomplished. Still, it is exciting to realize the potential is there to keep the high level of performance in Pitt basketball continuing. There are now entire classes of students at Pitt who have no idea that this team could suck. There have been some students who have even managed to graduate without even seeing a .500 season in conference. Starting with the 1982-83 inaugural year for Pitt in the Big East (PDF pp. 61-66) through the 2000-01 season, only 5 times did Pitt finish the Big East Conference schedule with a record better than .500. Pitt is preparing to complete a 5th straight season of above .500 in conference. That, to me, is more impressive than winning 20+ games in 5 straight years.
