The Stanford job is open, but seriously, that’s not a job Dixon would take at this point. Aside from, at best being a lateral move, Stanford AD Bowlsby was an idiot. He put off Trent Johnson’s contract talk all season — then wasted two weeks after the season without making an offer (Johnson was in the last year of his contract). What? He thought no one would be interested in a classy, clean coach who won at Nevada and Stanford?
Besides, how eager would Stanford be to hire a Pitt coach after what happened with Walt Harris?
That said, expect rumors and reports that Jamie Dixon is in California. Because he is.
Pittsburgh basketball Coach Jamie Dixon is returning to the Southland Saturday to be honored by his alma mater, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, at the school’s annual Knights of Honor dinner-auction gala at the Universal Sheraton.
…
UCLA Coach Ben Howland, a close family friend, will introduce Dixon. Jimmy Kimmel is the master of ceremonies at the event.
Yes, Jimmy Kimmel is the MC of a HS alumni event.
Bob Smizik puts himself into an interesting little corner in his chat.
SDWC: Hi Bob, I noticed in your column this morning a line stating “It’s nice to see a coach with his eye on the real target “. Was that meant to be a quiet dig at Jamie Dixon and the Pitt BB philosophy?
Bob Smizik: Yes, it was a reflection on how Pitt proceeds in the post-season. It was refreshing to see Therrien have his eye on the big prize and not the conference title.
There’s a few other Pitt basketball questions after that, and then this.
Baxter: Who has had the more successful basketball program over the past several years? WVU with two sweet 16 appearances and one elite 8 appearance with an NIT title in between or Pitt and its early exits from the NCAA tourney.
Bob Smizik: Pitt, with its Big East TOURNAMENT championship, probably feels it has been more successful. I also think it has the better record, although I don’t have those numbers in front of me. But based on NCAA play, the big prize, I’d say West Virginia has the more successful program.
By recent years, that is then limited to just the past 4 because WVU hadn’t been in the NCAA Tournament since 1998, prior to 2005. Then by that logic, John Brady and LSU is a more successful program in recent years. A lot of good that did the new coach at Arkansas -Little Rock State.
Sorry, I can’t buy into that. There’s no question that the NCAA Tournament matters. That it is the big prize. But to be outright dismissive of the regular season and the Big East regular season and the Big East Tournament is beyond moronic. No, I take that back. It speaks of someone who just doesn’t care about college basketball beyond the NCAA Tournament at best. Arguably, it is one of the worst things about being a college team in a pro town. The mindset.
It’s that reasoning which allows the BCS to survive, as proponents point to the claim that at least with the BCS, the regular season matters. That every game counts and it isn’t just to get to the playoffs.
Every well respected coach has said the same thing over the years – conference play is the important part of the season and winning the conference championship is the main goal of the team. Anything else is peripheral and – while a good tournament showing is great – not the key focus.
Crackbaldo hit it on the head earlier, Bob just really likes to write shit, because Bob cannot write an in depth analysis regarding sports, once a turd always a turd.
I’m outta here……..
Sure I would like to see them go further, but I can also appreciate the team’s successes in all four phases. That Duke win in December was great, the Georgetown win at the Pete was a lot of fun, and I marveled at the run Pitt made through Marquette, Louisville and Georgetown (and Cinci) to win the BET. That was a tremendous achievement. Given the health problems (Fields, Cook, Wallace, Diggs), the Dodson unexpected disqualification, and the resulting need to regularly use 3 or 4 freshman in the line-up (with two starting), the team performed amazingly well. Anyone who ignores all of this to focus solely on the — admittedly disappointing — NCAA toournament is honestly missing a big part of what college basketball is all about.
If you look at it from the players’ perspective, winning the NCAA tournament is the ultimate achievement, of course, but the odds of getting there are slim (you have to be both good and lucky). I would guess that being in the championship game and maybe the Final four are also very rewarding to the players. However, once you get beyond that, I suspect that the season record and especially the BET become more important. Fans often say that no one ever remembers the BET champs, but they do remember the FFs. I can’t fully agree. The players remember. Ron Ramon and Keith Benjamin can hold their heads high years from now while telling folks they won the BET in their senior year. Just as I was proud to see Brandin and crew win the BET in 2003, I was delighted to see Ron and Keith (and company) win it this year.
Now that I’m off my soapbox, do we have any shot at that Mt. Vernon kid whose leaving florida?
gmoney swallows
open wide g
