It’s a testament to the success of the program and faith in Coach Dixon that there is a lot of optimism and enthusiasm for the upcoming season. This despite losing 2 NBA level talents along with 2 other seniors now playing overseas. This despite the football team performing well for a second straight season.
Coach Dixon is not afraid to say he expects this squad to measure up to past groups. Not just in a year or two, but this year as well.
“This team can be as good as any team we’ve had,” Dixon said Thursday afternoon at Petersen Events Center. “Where we are now is not going to be where we are in January or February or March. That has to be our belief, because if our freshmen play like freshmen in January, February and March, we won’t be as good as we want to be.”
The Panthers added a senior point guard in Centenary transfer Chase Adams, redshirt freshmen in forward Dwight Miller and point guard Travon Woodall and true freshmen forwards that Dixon calls “the best four guys we’ve ever brought in” as a recruiting class: Dante Taylor, Lamar Patterson, J.J. Richardson and Talib Zanna.
The Panthers lost their starting frontcourt when Blair left early for the NBA, and Young and Tyrell Biggs graduated. Pitt also returns 6-10 junior center Gary McGhee and 6-5 sophomore Nasir Robinson – both of whom appear much leaner – and the 6-8 Miller along with the four freshmen.
“They’re going to play,” Dixon said. “Just look at the numbers. Some freshman is going to play a lot of minutes this year on the front line. It’s a great opportunity.”
Heck Dixon really sounds like he expects things to go much better than it seems possible with such a young team.
The assistant Brandin Knight said: “With some guys, it just clicks. You never know how a guy’s going to be when there’s 12,000, 13,000 in the stands. Some guys come out and it’s like, What do I do? Other guys relish the moment.”
Pittsburgh is the only Big East team to win at least 20 games over all and 10 conference games and play in the N.C.A.A. tournament each of the last eight seasons.
“We always seem to adjust, find guys who surprise and play roles we didn’t anticipate,” Jamie Dixon said. “We’ve got a 3,000-person waiting list for season tickets. We’ve got to keep them happy.”
There seems to be some attempts to try and divine the subtext of what Coach Dixon is doing by being this positive and enthusiastic about the young players. Especially since he has often down-played and shown reluctance to use/rely too heavily on the underclassmen.
Here’s my view. Yes, he is mostly being honest about the talent. More importantly, though, he is sending the players a message. No excuses. They should know that he will help them. He will have their back in the season, but they are not going to be allowed to rely on the excuse of being young and learning. They want the playing time and the chances, then they have to know and be ready to meet the expectations
It’s partially a reflection of how he has grown as a coach. He is more comfortable and confident expressing things in public beyond mere coachspeak. He is actually using the media and public statements to let the players know that he really has meant the things he has told them in meetings and practices.
Dante Taylor is widely expected to have an impact right away in the starting line-up. From high school accolades and recruiting sites, he is Pitt’s biggest recruit since Paul Evans had John Calipari as his assistant in the 80s. It was news to Taylor.
“I wasn’t aware that they hadn’t had a big name in a long time, but I was excited to come here because I like the team and like the coaching staff,” Taylor said. “I like my teammates, the whole environment, I like the city and the school , I didn’t want to go to a school just because of its name.”
Knight likes that Taylor didn’t arrive with the attitude that he’ll be around only until he can turn pro.
“He works hard and he’s trying to learn like everybody else,” Knight said. “He doesn’t carry himself like he’s better than everybody else. His expectation isn’t, ‘I deserve this. I’m going to show up and I’m going to be that guy.'”
In case the other freshmen are somehow unaware, there is one nearly foolproof way to be one of the kids getting lots of minutes and perhaps even start. Play defense.
“That’s the first thing coach Dixon talked to us about,” senior guard Jermaine Dixon said. “We’re going to be better defensively. None of us are high-profile players like Sam [Young], DeJuan [Blair] and Levance [Fields]. We’re definitely going to get ours on the defensive end more.”
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“They’re buying in,” Jermaine Dixon said of the freshmen. “We’re already having sessions together. We’ll go to my house or Brad [Wanamaker’s] house. We’ll talk over the defense. They’re definitely listening and they’re picking things up.”
And even though the vast majority of the players on the roster only know typical Pitt defense by reputation and not by experience, they are embracing what their coach is preaching.
“This year we’re trying to be at the top of the country in defense and rebounding,” sophomore forward Nasir Robinson said. “Defense brings offense, so we’re out there trying to lock down, play together and play hard. We have size, athleticism, guys who can jump and rebound. I think we’ll go back to that Pitt defense that it used to be.”
That will also mean some stretches of frustrating offensive ineptitude and cringe-inducing shhoting. In other words, the growing pains of a young team.
What is positive, is that the players who were on and playing last year are saying the right things about putting the defensive effort first.
