It may be the rubber chicken circuit, as opposed to sitting down with media to discuss the team for 2009, but Coach Dixon is not in the mood to sell Pitt short for next year.
So Dixon, whose team went 31-5 last season and reached the Elite Eight for the first time, isn’t about to throw in the towel after losing senior point guard Levance Fields, forwards Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs and sophomore center DeJuan Blair.
“Every year we’ve lost two or three starters,”?Dixon said before speaking at Sunnehanna Country Club on Tuesday night. “This year we lost three or four. Every year it’s a challenge. Our players may have made it look a little easier than it is.”
Dixon is hoping that his returning players, along with an influx of young talent, can make the transition even easier this time. That 20-win season in 2003-04 was Dixon’s worst, which says something about how far the Pitt program has come in the past decade and even more about how it has been able to replace quality players year after year.
Dixon is also coming out and saying that the front court will be starting freshmen. Not even pretending otherwise. He’s also putting expectations squarely on Gilbert Brown’s shoulders.
“We’re going to be playing freshmen on the front line,”?Dixon admitted. “We haven’t done that as often, but our perimeter is very experienced. That’s something that you like to have.”
Guard Jermaine Dixon returns after starting all 36 games as a junior transfer. Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs also saw quality minutes in the backcourt.
But the key to the how Pitt responds next season could be junior Gilbert Brown. The 6-foot-6 swingman has shown flashes of his extraordinary athleticism, but he hasn’t been able to consistently produce in 72 career games.
“He’s got to get healthy,”?Coach Dixon said. “He’s had three years of being injured throughout. You can only accomplish those things when you’re healthy and able to play throughout, not in bits and pieces or short stretches.”
The Pitt coach reiterated that message to Brown a few weeks ago at the team’s year-end banquet. But it didnt quite have the impact Dixon had hoped it would.
“He turned his ankle after the banquet, when I talked to him about not getting hurt anymore,”?Coach Dixon said. “He turned it the next night. He’s had every injury known to man in his three years. We’re looking forward to him healthy.”
I would question laying this on Brown, except that Brown will be a redshirt junior. Coach Dixon has had him around for 3 years, and has shown in his time that he has figured out what works to motivate each player. Whether it is privately talking and trusting the players (Fields, Ramon, Graves), trying to keep humble/motivate (Blair) or letting people know that he’s going to be the “man” (Young).
He must know the psyche of Brown at this point. Clearly he believes that Gilbert Brown needs to publicly hear that he will be the man on this team. Probably as much to reassure him that the young frontcourt won’t be the focus or other wing players coming in are not going to supplant him.
Dixon is also proud of the players leaving after this season, and the fact that they are all going to play professionally somewhere.
“Sam, there’s a real buzz about him because of how he played at the end of the year and in the NCAA?tournament,”?Dixon said. “There’s a lot of excitement about him, no question about it. And DeJuan, the same thing.”
Dixon said seniors Levance Fields, who was an AP?All-America honorable-mention pick, and Tyrell Biggs also have the opportunity to play professionally.
“All four will be in NBA?camps,”?Dixon said. “All will have opportunities to play at the next level. That’s what our guys – they come to graduate, get better players, grow as people and play in the NBA. We’ve put those guys in a position, with their hard work, to have the opportunity to reach that dream.”
Blair has been down in Florida at the IMG Academy working out and getting ready for the draft. Going to IMG for training, also means more chance to be hyped. As the IMG blog does light interview pieces on each player down there.
On his infamous shoulder toss of Hasheem Thabeet… I see the picture almost every day. It was funny to me because of how he landed. The way he flipped over was incredible. I didn’t think it happened until I saw the replay. I think I would have broken his arm if he would’ve kept standing straight over me.
On Barack Obama and March Madness… It was great when Barack said my name and Dwyane Wade picked us to win on SportsCenter. I’m going to get that video of Barack. But it didn’t help us. You know how people say their life passes before their eyes, well, the whole season flashed before my eyes when (Villanova’s) Scottie Reynolds hit that shot. We didn’t fulfill our dreams. I guess in a way it was a successful season and it wasn’t.
Sam Young has really not been heard from since the season ended. He’s been getting ready for the draft and workouts are getting underway. Unfortunately, Sam Young was scratched from a workout in Toronto.
The team hoped to work out six players yesterday in advance of the NBA draft, but the two headliners, Terrence Williams of Louisville and Sam Young of Pittsburgh were held back until today, because Young was injured while taking a physical.
What kind of physical do they give in Canada?
