Right after the UCLA loss, Coach Jamie Dixon was about as down as he gets about losing. His quote
“It feels like a loss, and a bad one, a disappointing end-of-year loss,” Dixon said after a 64-55 defeat Thursday to Howland-coached UCLA in the West Regional. “I’m trying to remember the 29 wins. I only seem to be remembering this loss.”
And if you saw the press conference, you could see how hard it was on him to lose that game.
So, now a week later Mike Prisuta takes his run at the team losing in the Sweet 16. He seems particularly bothered that Pitt and especially Coach Dixon would mention the good side to this team.
The impression left by coach Jamie Dixon is that Pitt desperately wants to win more than two games a tournament and experience firsthand what all the real fuss is about every March. The trouble is, Dixon has a tendency to rationalize Pitt’s continued inability to get knee deep in the Madness, as he did on a recent appearance on Fox Sports Radio 970’s “Bendel and Benz” show.
“Schools would die to have the success we’ve had, even though that doesn’t diminish the disappointment we had,” Dixon said.
Then, why bring it up?
As for Pitt’s “success,” Dixon went over the top in assessing that when asked whether this year’s Sweet 16 exit was the most disappointing of the four in the past six years.
So, Coach Dixon goes on a radio show and defends his team and the program? That he won’t rip his players? That’s the problem? That he didn’t rend his shirt on the air and scream, “why? Oh, why can’t we win?”
I’m not sure that Dixon could win this no matter what. He said he was disappointed. He wants to win. Everyone was disappointed by the outcome. That he put anything positive on the season apparently bothered Prisuta to no end.
That’s crap. Part of Dixon’s job is to go out in the public, the fans, the alumni, the boosters and the media and sell the school and the team. Part of that is not just to talk about what you want to accomplish, but to also discuss what has been accomplished. To put it in a positive light.
This isn’t settling for some above average mediocrity. It’s selling the good in the program to date.
What normal human being would have not been down after losing? What normal human being would not be down for once again not getting past the 16?
You were beaten by a Final Four team, what freakin solitude can you take from that? I truly think that JD wants to not only win every game, but also see his program gain true elite status.
Da** straight the loss hurt him and doubly because added to the loss is the is the fact that he knows that his teams have to play near to perfection as possible to beat the best. He knows that his teams have limitations that the best programs do not.
I can’t wait to see what he does with Blair, Brown, Dodson, & Wannamker. Someone said that JD could not do what BH did with UCLA and its players. I say bunk to that because he was with Howland for a very long time, and Ben taught him all he knows about BB. Jamie ain’t no idiot. Now Prusita, that’s another matter!
What is wrong with that? Everyone needs to examine Mr. Dixon and the expectations that he is setting a little more closely.
Ben
As for Dixon, what’s he supposed to say in a end-of-the-season press conference???
If truth be told, most coaches publicly talk about their teams in positive lights. There are few Bobby Knights (thank God) in the world who criticize their kids. To be honest, if you end up listening to Dixon’s post game interviews with Groat and Hillgrove you tend to pick up the subtle hints that someone is not doing their job on the team. Sometimes they are not so subtle. Several times during the year, Dixon has said that Mike Cook needed to do a better job rebounding. He didn’t praise the kid, he politely criticized the kid.
Dixon’s job publicly is to ensure that he puts @$$es in the seats and so criticizing the team doesn’t sell entertainment tickets. You have to keep us fans coming back and listening to negativity from the coach will certainly drive them away.
And lets face facts, if the coach criticizes kids publicly, isn’t your inclination to wonder what the coach is doing to fix it. Coach Wannstedt has a slight tendency to be a little more frank and critical of his team. Every time he does that, I keep wondering what the coaching staff is doing to improve those season long problems.
Its a strange cycle this year. Before the NCAAs began, the stories were all about not getting past the Sweet Sixteen. When everyone found out it was UCLA we were playing, many, many writers said that it would not be a dishonor to lose to UCLA. Then we lose to UCLA and we are bums and the talk is all about not getting past the Sweet Sixteen again.
Just don’t know about the local sports goofs.
