That means previews and seeing Pitt mentioned as one of the top-25 teams in most publications. Seth Davis at SI.com has a story with questions for many of the top programs.
Pittsburgh: Are the juniors ready to step to the head of the class?
I’m speaking specifically of the Panthers’ two junior forwards, Tyrell Biggs and Sam Young. Yes, there are a lot of expectations that 6-7 freshman DeJuan Blair will help make up for the departures of Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall, Pitt’s two leading rebounders the last two seasons. But anything you get from a freshman in that situation is gravy, especially since Blair could struggle with conditioning at the start.
Biggs and Young, however, have two years in this program under their belts, and don’t have much to show for it. Though they entered last season with much promise, Biggs and Young averaged 1.4 and 6.3 points, respectively, in Big East games (along with 2.7 and 3.1 rebounds). In Young’s case, those numbers were actually down from his freshman season. Pitt is well-stocked on the perimeter and has several big — though inexperienced — bodies to throw around inside. It needs Biggs and Young to provide consistent, versatile production if it’s going to challenge for the Big East crown.
Speaking of the heralded Blair, he seemed to have dropped a bit of weight. Even since the summer league.
Blair has slimmed down since the summer. He tipped the scales at 303 pounds when he first showed up for conditioning. But the AP Pennsylvania Player of the Year is down to about 270. “We’re still finding what his ideal weight is,” Dixon said. “But it’s going to be a big number.”
Blair seems a bit embarrassed about all the weight he had been carrying.
“I always look at the state championship (game tape) and say, ‘That was me? I was that big?’ ” said Blair, who acknowledges having been above 303 last season but won’t give an exact weight. “I didn’t look 300 at all, I carried it great. It didn’t matter if I was 300 or 200, I still played the same, still got up and down the court.”
Blair’s ability to post up against taller players down low, combined with his size and athleticism, is why he expects to be former Pitt star Aaron Gray’s heir apparent at center. Pitt’s offense revolved around Gray in the middle during the last two seasons, and it may do so around Blair very soon.
“He was a big factor on this team, and that’s another reason I came here,” Blair said. “They give the big man the ball.”
Blair said a lot of the right things on media day.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon always makes freshmen earn their way into the lineup, and there’s no guarantee that Blair will start in the season opener Nov. 9 against Houston Baptist, or in the Big East opener Jan. 6 at Villanova.
That’s fine with Blair, who grew up only minutes from Pitt’s campus. He feels at home there, and is determined to prove that he should start as a freshman on merit, not the reputation he built as a rugged inside player for 2007 Pennsylvania Class AAAA champion Schenley.
“He’s not going to say, ‘Oh, you’re coming in, I’m going to give it to you,’ ” Blair said. “That’s what I like about him. He’s not giving me nothing. He’s making me earn everything I got, and I’m learning from him. And there aren’t too many freshmen, I think, than can come right in and start (in the Big East).”
A great mix of confidence and work ethic in that statement. Just what you want to read from a freshman. I also like his eagerness to go out there and play where he would be out of position for NBA ambition.
“I want to play the 5, let’s get that out there,” Blair said, referring to the coaching vernacular for the center position. He cited the Big East’s reputation for toughness and the physicality of its play dating to the Patrick Ewing days in the 1980s.
“I would like to play the 5, play against the bigger, stronger guys like me. That’s why I picked Pitt, the Big East,” Blair said. “I think it’s the best conference in the whole United States. They battle and I like to battle.”
If he plays center, Blair would give up eight inches to UConn’s 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet, for example. But Blair predicted that he wouldn’t be overmatched physically against any Big East center.
“My arms are like I’ve got a 7-3, 7-2 wingspan,” Blair said. “I’ve got the same arm length as someone who is 7-foot, so that’s a bonus for me. I’m wide and I’ve got the arm length. I play like I’m 6-10.”
Of course, part of that is just wanting to get onto the court, and the center spot is the biggest hole in Pitt’s lineup.
Moving back to the issue of weight, conditioning and appearances. It seems that many of the players — once more — have slimmed down and reworked their bodies in preparation for 2007-08.
From point guard to center, Dixon rattled off the pounds shed.
It’s not strange for Dixon to talk about the conditioning of his players, but the remarks could be a telling sign.
Without Aaron Gray at center and Levon Kendall at power forward, Pitt’s most-experienced players are at the guard positions. And according to the players, the weight loss goes hand in hand with the Panthers shifting to a more guard-oriented, up-tempo offense.
“We’re going to be very different,” point guard Levance Fields said. “We’re going to be more guard-oriented. We don’t have that definite post presence like we had with Aaron and Levy last year. That’s the good thing about having veteran guard play, so it will be up to us to get things going.
“I’ve been waiting for this. Nothing against the system we’ve been playing. It works. It worked for the past seven or eight years. But now, due to the loss of Aaron and Levon, we’ll be more up-tempo, fast-breaking. It’s definitely exciting. It’s why me and Mike lost the weight that we did. We want to be able to get up and down the court as much as possible.”
Fields has lost 20 pounds since the end of last season and weighs in at 195 pounds. Cook is 212, down seven from his playing weight a season ago. And it’s just not the guards. Every player on the team has had their weight monitored strictly by the coaching and training staff.
“We’ve seen some dramatic changes in some guys,” Dixon said. “They’ve really responded in a positive manner. And they’ve exceeded those goals.”
I think there will be some added pressure on Pitt’s basketball team to do well this season by fans. The disappointment of the football season, rather than make many appreciate what the basketball team has and will do; may cause some fans to expect more from the b-ball team. Some sort of bizarre, unconscious compensation of balancing things out.
