Jay Bilas was impressed by what he saw from Pitt on the court and, well, on the court. He gave “1st team honor roll” kudos to both Levance Fields and DeJuan Blair, but also another moment (Insider subs.).
Heartwarming: Watching a young man go down with a season-ending injury is gut wrenching. But there can be heartwarming moments out of tragic situations, and we all witnessed one last Thursday when Pittsburgh’s Mike Cook went down with a catastrophic knee injury in overtime against Duke. With Cook on the floor writhing in pain and knowing that his season was over, Coach Jamie Dixon kneeled over Cook and held his hand through the ordeal. All the while, with the game on the line, Pitt’s assistants kept the team together and focused in the huddle while Dixon attended to his injured player. After the game, Dixon could barely hold back tears while he worried about Cook, his status and how he was feeling. Don’t tell me how it’s all about winning. It’s all about people. Dixon demonstrates that over and over again. It’s just too bad that a young man got hurt. Speedy recovery, Mike Cook. You are and have been an outstanding and courageous player. It has been a pleasure to watch you play and fight on the floor.
As Ray Fittipaldo noted in a Q&A, Dixon has growing national respect in the game, and things like that are also why the players are always with him.
Levance Fields took home Big East Player of the Week honors while DeJuan Blair was Rookie of the Week. It’s the second straight week that Blair took Rookie honors (oddly enough Donte Green of Syracuse had the first 2 weeks, then Dominique Jones of USF the next 2 before Blair) and the second Pitt player to get POW honors (Young in Week 1).
SIOnCampus.com has Levance Fields leading off their Dean’s List this week.
Levance Fields has got a huge pair of cajones. That’s what you’ve got to have when your team is down by two points to Duke with 4.7 seconds left in overtime and you decide to jack up a three-pointer. Then you’ve to have the skills to actually make the shot. The Pittsburgh guard has those, too. Thanks to his awesome performance in Pitt’s 65-64 win over Duke at the Garden on Thursday, Fields is this week’s Dean’s List Player of the Week. He dropped 21 points on the Blue Devils, but none as exciting as the last three. And what’s more impressive is that he did it minutes after his best friend and teammate, Mike Cook, basically snapped his left knee. Okay, to recap, Levance Fields has cajones, skills and composure.
Levance Fields gets the puff piece over the holiday as the guy trying to do much off the court. The best part to me, though, was having a sense of humor about the fan abuse on the road.
Chants of “taser” and “stun gun” were constants throughout the games against the Dukes and Huskies. Athletes often say they can’t hear what the crowd is saying, but Fields heard them loud and clear.
“It’s funny, but I try to hold it in,” said Fields, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound junior. “I don’t want to let them know I’m laughing about it. You never want to be in that situation. You’d rather just be booed. But it is what it is. I can’t change anything. I can’t do anything about it. I know crowds are going to do that, so I’m prepared for it. It doesn’t bother me. I just try to get the win. If we do that, at the end of the day, they can chant whatever they want.”
The Pitt win over Duke is one that may actually shift perceptions of Pitt more than thought.
This was so unlike Pitt basketball, taking the daring three when a two could extend the game. Pitt displayed a new-found balance throughout the game, which will carry over through the season. This edition of the Panthers has more talent than any other of the Jamie Dixon/Ben Howland era, and as a result they will be the type of team that can truly contend.
Levance Fields also took the lead honors in the ESPN.com Weekly Watch as Player of the Week. Not surprisingly, Pitt is also on the upset alert list with the Saturday Night game on ESPN2 with Dayton. The Flyers are a better team than last year, and a coach that needs to get his team into the NCAA or face job questions. This is his best team, but the Flyers have fallen short and the fans have never warmed to Gregory.
The Pitt-Dayton game also made the weekly 5 to watch from Rivals.com. Even before the loss of Mike Cook, this would be an upset watch.
The loss of Cook, means more attention on Gilbert Brown. The redshirt freshman was expected to come along as the back-up to Cook, but is now under the microscope.
Player to watch this week: Redshirt freshman Gilbert Brown is the likely successor to Pitt small forward Mike Cook, who was lost for the year with a knee injury in the Panthers’ big comeback win against Duke. Brown is an extraordinary athlete who can give his team a new dimension, though he can’t be expected to have the same level of creative ability as Cook. Brown will face his first full test in an 8 p.m. Saturday road game at Dayton.
Believe me, everyone has this game on Saturday on the potential upset list. Dayton is actually a pretty good team, and with a very talented freshman of their own by the name of Chris Wright.
Meanwhile Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com can’t stop gushing over DeJuan Blair.
3. DeJuan Blair is my favorite player in the country
There, I said it. It started this past April at an AAU tournament in Pittsburgh. His team was playing the Gauchos, a tough group out of New York. The two teams got into an altercation in which haymakers could have been thrown, but Blair, with a smile on his face, assumed the role of peacemaker and broke up the potential brawl all by himself. This is a kid who has overcome a pair of torn ACLs (the summer of his freshman year and again as a sophomore) and is probably no taller than 6-foot-7. However, Blair plays with as much passion and smiles more than anyone in the country, and he’s a load in the paint.
Goodman also takes note of how Pitt has done under Dixon, and how well the hiring of Herrion could play out.
…but it’s still hard to ignore a 106-30 career mark. Dixon could also benefit from the addition of veteran assistant Tom Herrion to his staff. Herrion could be the Larry Shyatt of the Panthers. Shyatt was instrumental in the Gators’ success after Billy Donovan brought the former Clemson coach on board. Herrion averaged 20 wins per season at Charleston, but was fired after a rift with the AD.
That may be a bit optimistic, but I wouldn’t be complaining.
