I have tried to avoid this sort of thing in the past. A little too common and a bit trite. Still, at this point it seems that something has to be said in summary of 2007 for Pitt.
Basketball in December:
Austin Wallace, left patella;
Mike Cook, Torn ACL; and
Levance Fields, fracture in his foot.
Heck you can go back to last February when Aaron Gray sprained his ankle near the end of the Washington game. He never had a chance to fully recover.
Football, well I think we’ve been over this before so I’ll just rattle off the names:
Derek Kinder, Bill Stull, Chris Jacobson, Gus Mustakas, Mick Williams, Jason Pinkston, Dan Matha, Kevan Smith, and LaRod Stephens-Howling all missed the season or time with injuries.
A brutal year, physically for Pitt players.
This will truly be the most significant test for Dixon & Co. but despite the injuries incurred, I still have a lot of confidence. Brown and Wanamaker must be the difference makers in order for us to have some success. Ramon cannot be forgotten. Believe me, he will regain his swagger at the 2. (Hopefully Wana plays the 1) Blair will lead the pack while Cook and Fields provide vocal support and leadership from the sidelines. Remember guys, Pitt didn’t man-handle WVU purely by skill, it took a shit load of HEART. 1 min til bingo…Let’s GO PITT! Happy New Year!!!
If you read my post i tell you that the lineman from parkersburg (jenkins) is visiting on Jan 18th.
There is a chance playing w/o Fields will help in the long run. I say this because of the history of the BB team over the last few years. As great as our record is we seem to have one major flaw… the teams peaks in January. If the NCAA’s started right after the New Year Pitt would have a National Title or two. It seems that the team begins to tail off in February and by March is not playing in top form.
So, with the injuries we have the team will still be going through growing pains in January and into February. Hopefully by the end of February, Dixon will have determined the best starting five, each player will be settled into their new roles, and the team will start to improve as it goes into March.
It would be great to see the team steadily get better near the end of the season like Georgetown and Louisville seem to do every year.
Comments?
Nix looked like he struggled a little, and there wasnt alot on shayne hale
One (now former)fb player to keep an eye on is Marcel Pestano- he regularly plays hoops during the summer and seems capable of hitting jumpers and driving. kids got hops too
Watched Brian Billick get fired down here in Baltimore and one of the comments made was that
his lack of talent as a coach was particularly exposed when mass injuries hit.
As a former BBall coach, I am very anxious to see what our terrific coach, JD, does to compensate, get the best out of whoever shows up, and maybe steal a few games we are not supposed to win.
Let’s all have some fun this New Year, enjoy our success’s and not take so seriously our defeats.
I just watched all the WVU post-game interviews. A month later and still SOOO SWEET!
Happy NEW YEAR!
I think one of the main things pitt has always had is a good point guard. Ramon is in his fourth year, and let’s face it, he is awful at the PG position. He hasn’t improved one bit. I wonder how many games it’ll be before we just give in and play Wannamaker at the point…
This is going to be brutal. See you all at the game tomorrow…
Jenkins visiting Pitt on Jan 18th but Bball team on the road