So, it’s obvious that Coach Dixon has some personnel juggling to do.
The power forward position is becoming a big issue (to many it is already there). Kendall’s game is suffering right now. Whether it’s purely mental or something else, he is lost out there. Biggs is still a major work in progress. As the competition has dramatically increased, his results have plummeted. The foul issues and struggles in the OSU game, forced Dixon to put Young back at power forward and he responded with his best game. He may be undersized at the spot, but he played bigger than Kendall and Biggs — but even he still made the dumb fouls. It’s going to create a minutes crunch at the PF, but unless Kendall turns it around soon there seems to be little choice.
The problem is that means no back-up for Mike Cook at small forward. I think Dixon is going to have little choice but give up the redshirt on Gilbert Brown to give Cook some breathing room if he doesn’t go with Benjamin more — something that would really mean giving away size for the unit.
Consider what would be seen with Young 6′ 6″ at PF, Benjamin 6’2″ G/SF, Gray 7′ and then 2 of the 3 guards Graves 6′ 3″, Ramon 6′ 1″ and Fields 5′ 10″. Could Pitt, really go that small?
Now here’s the thing about these moves. None of them do anything to really help the defense. Brown is a freshman, he’s not going to provide greater defense than Cook, who is acceptable but much more a scorer. Young is aggressive at power forward, but always wants to do more on the offensive end. That just puts more on Gray to do inside.
One question, What the blank was Kendall thinking shooting threes at a critical part of the game?
surely there were better options.
It also reminds me of something that happened about 25 years ago. I played BB from the time I could basically walk through my high school and some college years – a real city gym rat type – and thought I knew everything about the game. I went to see Larry Bird play in person one time and did nothing but watch him the whole game – he ended up scoring less about 15 points, had a few assists and rebounds, but all in all a sub-par performance as far as stats go. But, I came out of the arena thinking that I had just seen the best BB player alive because he was always in the right position to make something happen on every possession, on both offense & defense. It was uncanny how he just seemed to know what would happen with the flow of the game and he had some sort of influence continually on the play.
Point being: I need to remember that good BB players don’t always put up the most points or grab the most rebounds, and there might be other reasons the coach keeps the player in the line-up.
Reed you are so right. There are some players that just know how to play. Jaron Brown was like that. Not the most talented, but he was always in the right place at the right time. Some guys just seem to know how the ball will bounce. I play rec. league still and you can tell that a few guys just know how to play.
i’m never caught up in how highly somebody was recruited. it’s an art, not a science. look at Biggs….he was a top recruit and now we know he’d have to play D2 to be a force inside. what impresses me about Fla is how well-coached that team is…..no bad shots, every pass is crisp, everybody knows their roles, etc. etc. when they do something wrong (like today Brewer took a couple bad shots), it stands out because the rest of their game is so fundamental.
We disagree on Biggs too. I think he is going to be a really good player for Pitt. Maybe not this year but next year or in 2008 he will be a solid contributor. He may not be a force inside, but he is tough and has a sweet jumper. Plus he works hard and has a good attitude. I expect good things from him.
You seem to really like Florida. No bad shots, you’re crazy. How about when Green pulled up from 30 ft. away. I know he is a good shooter and is making 50% on threes (and said shot went in), but are you telling me that is the best shot they can get with 3 seconds gone off the shot clock? Come on. Every shot looked great on Saturday because they all went in. You get that team in a halfcourt game and you win running away. They don’t run a good half court offense. Why play zone against OSU? Florida has enough athletes and Oden is playing with one arm. It means that their guards are slow and you can penetrate on them. Lot of weaknesses on that team, just as many as Pitt.