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June 28, 2009

It’s a safe bet that with a 4-man recruiting class that is one of Pitt’s best in 20+ years, and 2 players that redshirted last year, that Pitt will be playing a lot of freshmen.

  • Travon Woodall (redshirt freshman guard)
  • Dwight Miller (redshirt freshman forward/center)
  • Dante Taylor (freshman forward/center)
  • Talib Zanna (freshman forward/center)
  • J.J. Richardson (freshman forward)
  • Lamar Patterson (freshman forward/guard)

Whether they start or are in the bench rotation, the freshmen will see a lot of action. Pitt has 6 freshmen (redshirt and true) and 6 other scholarship players:

  • Jermaine Dixon (senior guard),
  • Gilbert Brown (redshirts junior guard/forward),
  • Gary McGhee (junior center),
  • Brad Wanamaker (junior guard),
  • Ashton Gibbs (sophomore guard) and
  • Nasir Robinson (sophomore forward).

No matter how you slice it, this is a young and inexperienced team heading for the 2009-10 season.

I mean, good lord, this is inexperienced and young. Until I just put it down on the computer, I don’t think it truly hit me. This Pitt team is going to take some lumps.

Jermaine Dixon is the senior, but this is only his second year with Pitt. Brown will be in his 4th season, but he has had no luck staying healthy for a season which has limited his minutes and tantalized with his athletic potential. Gary McGhee, you just somehow hope the big lug can get to serviceable and not averge a foul every other minute. Gary Wanamaker has shown big improvement from his freshman to sophomore year, but seemed to wear down late in the season. Ashton Gibbs hopefully will get a lot out of extra coaching and high competition in the U-19 games — not to mention maybe realizing the team will need him to be one of the leaders. Hopefully Nasir Robinson will have a jump like Wanamaker did from freshman to sophomore year.

So, summer league takes on even more importance for building chemistry and getting the players ready for this year.

“We have to come in and be ready to play,” said Taylor, Pitt’s highest-rated recruit of the Dixon era. “That’s not asking too much. We all knew what we were coming into. We all knew who was leaving. Now we just have to prove what we have to do on the court.”

Taylor, a 6-foot-9 forward/center, is Pitt’s first McDonald’s All-American since Brian Shorter and Bobby Martin in 1987. He is a candidate to step into the starting center position that DeJuan Blair vacated when he decided to turn professional after his sophomore season.

At 6-9, Taylor is not the ideal size to play center in the Big East, but he and Zanna are the tallest players on the roster after 6-10 junior Gary McGhee, who is the only Panther with experience in the frontcourt.

“I think my best position will be [power forward],” Taylor said. “But right now we’re in the weight room, so by the beginning of the season I’ll put on a little weight and get stronger, so I’ll probably play [center].”

Taylor’s reputation took a small hit when he was cut from the USA Basketball under-19 team that Dixon is coaching this summer. Taylor admitted he was out of shape for the tryout but said that was the result of being inactive for two weeks while he tended to his sick mother.

Taylor, who labored through summer league games last week, said he is now focused on getting in shape for the start of the season.

In a way, the challenge of getting this team ready for the upcoming year makes Coach Dixon’s decision to take the U-19 responsibilities something of a gamble. Under most seasons, that would be spreading a coach thin. This level of inexperience makes it a real challenge. Of course, with NCAA rules prohibiting much work with the players in the offseason, it isn’t that bad. Still, while this team may have the most potential in a year or two of any team under Coach Dixon, there is no questioning that it is also his most inexperienced.

Then there is that still available scholarship. Everything says Pitt is just holding it for the 2010 recruiting class, rather than just tossing it to another player that may not be talented enough.

But what if he is. And he is a likely one-and-done? Cue the return of Lance Stephenson rumors.

Lance Stephenson is currently on a visit to the University of Cincinnati, a program that up until this point has not been involved in his recruiting process.

“He got here yesterday [Friday],” said a player on the team. “We just got through playing open gym. [He played] with the whole team and a couple old players.”

Memphis and Arizona may still be involved, but no visits have been set, as far as we know.

Other potential schools in the mix include Missouri, Pittsburgh and UNC-Charlotte, according to a source.

Stephenson briefly expresed an interest in Pitt but neither side seemed serious.

Stephenson is a McDonald’s All-American guard. The most talented kid not signed. He’s also got a boatload of baggage and question marks. Some writers have referred to him as a potential “cancer” and “coach-killer.”

My feeling has been that he would not work for Pitt. For Pitt’s system and the culture that has been established at Pitt. Stephenson is a pure one-and-done player. He would have declared for the draft if he could have. It is where he wants to be. College is a way-station for him.

And yet, I find that I can rationalize/talk myself into it. It would only be for one year… Coach Dixon is in a position now, where he can come down on the kid if he can’t play nice with others… Pitt is in a good shape with its APR so the program could stand the hit when Stephenson never even finishes his second semester… The NCAA investigation that comes with Stephenson is for stuff before he gets to school, and if he never gets to suit up it is not a big deal…

Nahh. This would still be a mistake and just ugly.





completely agree that Stephenson may be a mistake. Maybe we should take our lumps, for the first time in a while, with just an above average team that may struggle to make the NCAA.

However, much of the fun is in the process as we see these younger players developing … as opposed to this past season when the thought in the back of our mind throughout was just how far were we going to go in March. I am actually looking forward to this season to see all the yooung, albeit raw, talent.

Comment by w bill 06.28.09 @ 12:35 pm

I think that this team will surprise us all. No big expectations, this group should be loose, and play with nothing to lose. Remember, there may not ne the stars, aka fields, blair and young, but there is more talent and potential and depth from top to bottom in the entire roster. all hinges on wannamaker taking the next step like graves did a couple years ago, Gil Brown staying healthy and plying to his potential, and Gibbs to continue his red hot shooting. remember other teams lost talent also. I think the league is wide open.

Comment by Kurt 06.28.09 @ 2:17 pm

Wow yeah just looking at the list is really weird but I agree with the above posters, it’ll be fun. I don’t think anyone sees us seriously completing for the big east title with the class villanova landed and WVU’s success (Grr) but we’ll definitely win some games given home court advantage and make the NCAA tournament. Then with Epps next in 2010 and some experience look out. My only regret is by then I’ll be an alumni in law school god knows where. Hope I can get ESPN 360.

Comment by Matthew 06.28.09 @ 2:28 pm

If Dixon had played his cards right and had a reliable replacement plan at point guard going into this year, then we wouldn’t be facing such an uncertain season. Instead, we’re going to watch Woodall and a shooting guard (Gibbs) try to play PG and struggle to get the young inside talent the ball.

Just can’t get over the fact that Fields is gone and there wasn’t solid replacement playing backup minutes in the most important position on the floor.

Gibbs is never going to be a ballhandler and making him handle it wastes his shooting talents anyway and Woodall…………well, I want to give the kid a break but it just doesn’t look promising. (And we all know Jermaine Dixon isn’t a PG either.)

How does a program like Pitt’s end up in this situation?

Comment by hugh green 06.28.09 @ 4:59 pm

Gibbs, I think, may surprise, I think he is quick, and you have to remember, is deadly from outside (not sure any Pitt fans know what this means, as our teams are not known for this) which means a defender will have to be up on him, making the crossover a go to move. over all, I still think 3rd in BE is possible. While the talent under the basket isn’t Blair, it is a lot of fouls to give, and we should be able to wear teams down. another thing to remember Gibbs and Woodall (if ever healthy) will learn quickly from B. Knight and Dixon, 2 decent point guards in their day. I will stick with my first post, this team is better than advertised and I refuse to write them off. As a season ticket holder, I think we are in for a wild ride, and with not having to rely on any one player, a deeper rotation may leave us fresher for the postseason, where anything is possible. I agree, WVU should be good, but will huggy bear grow his talent as quick as Dixon? this is when we find out if we have a great coach or not. I think we do.

Comment by Kurt 06.28.09 @ 5:44 pm

I’m not sure we can say that it is a terrible situation until we see how both Woodall and Gibbs play out once the season starts. I actually think Woodall will suprise many. Yes, they will be young but I’m not sure we can say that either won’t be a good point guard at this point. Let’s give the kids a shot and wait until next year to judge them. I agree with you Kurt, I don’t think the the program is in a terrible situation at all. I think they are poised for a decent year, where they will grow and learn. Keep recruiting like they are and they should have tremendous success in the future.

Comment by Ontario Lett's Go Pitt 06.28.09 @ 6:18 pm

Could someone please just work on our foul shooting….please! How many games has it cost Pitt over the years??..Thank you

Comment by Dan 72 06.28.09 @ 8:04 pm

Hugh, I don’t believe it was Dixon’s plan to redshirt Woodall but had to do it due to an injury which he took a while to recover from.

In fact, a quick look shows that Woodall avaeraged close to double digit minutes in the first 6 games of last season … before his injury

Comment by w bill 06.28.09 @ 10:16 pm

Pitt isn’t recruiting Stephenson. Don’t worry about it. That’s Stephenson’s people spreading those rumors.

Comment by Mark 06.28.09 @ 10:18 pm

Hugh,

“How does a program like Pitt’s end up in this situation?”

It happened because Coach Dixon’s approach is to take the best talent, not reach for a spot.

Duke — for example — has only two guards on its roster for 2009 in Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith. Guess what? They have no guards on their incoming class. How does a program of Duke’s stature and ability to recruit not have any other guards to spell them?

Syracuse before Jonny Flynn came found themselves improvising for a season with players like Devendorf running the point because players didn’t work out.

Simple answer: spit happens. Players don’t develop or make a transition as expected or hoped. They leave early or transfer.

Comment by Chas 06.28.09 @ 10:19 pm

2012-2013 Season is going to be one hell of a year!

Comment by Patrick 06.29.09 @ 1:54 pm

I think Duquesne has a pretty good chance of beating Pitt this year, considering they only lost Aaron Jackson. They have a pretty veteran core in Saunders, Duty, and Clark. I look forward to this game every year and think it should be very competitive. I give the edge to the Dukes though since the game will be played at Duquesne this year.

Comment by terbush1266.blogspot.com 06.29.09 @ 7:46 pm

If we want Pitt to be an elite team, we have to expect things like what just happened, which is good players leaving and unproven players stepping up. We aren’t like a UNC who reloads top players every year. But Dixon has had question marks in the past, and delivered. I fully expect the same again this year. And even if we do take a step back for one year, who cares? We expected it to happen a bit after losing 4 top players. It happens to nearly every program. I think a bigger surprise is that a Pitt fan could ask, “How could this happen at Pitt”?

Comment by dunker 06.29.09 @ 9:31 pm

My point was that there really is no excuse for not having a replacement point guard plan in place. Other positions — maybe you can cover up gaps, but it just doesn’t work at PG.

Dixon has had years now to contemplate what the plan was when Fields graduated and Woodall was what he came up with? (I know Epps is coming, but let’s talk about now.) OK, I forgot, the other plan was to waste Gibbs playing out of position when he should be finding ways to spot up.

It’s just frustrating, because the other pieces are there. Sure, they’re green, but they’re talented inside and the swing players (Wanamaker, Brown, Robinson) have experience.

The Duke example is lousy. Smith was recruited (possibly wrongly) to be a PG and Elliot Williams is only going to be a soph. Add Scheyer in and you’ve got a decent corps of ballhandlers even before this year’s freshmen come in.

I don’t think Pitt’s year would be nearly so uncertain this year if they’d have had a better recruiting contingency plan at PG over the past couple years.

Comment by hugh green 06.30.09 @ 10:23 am

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