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January 6, 2010

A Sudden Lack of Doubt

Filed under: Basketball,Media — Chas @ 11:45 am

Welcome to the meme. It’s about not doubting Coach Dixon and Pitt. It’s about proving the doubters wrong. No doubt.

Gary Parrish at CBS offered up his mea culpa.

Basically, it taught me to keep my big mouth shut, and that Jamie Dixon is now worthy of earning The Bo Ryan Treatment. What’s The Bo Ryan Treatment, you ask? It’s when you resist the urge to doubt a team with a questionable roster for no other reason than the man coaching the team has proved capable of winning with any kind of roster. Ryan is the first member I put in that club, and I wrote about it last month.

Over the past three days, it’s become obvious that Dixon should join him because the 44-year-old California native just backed Saturday’s win at Syracuse with a win at Cincinnati, otherwise known as a place Connecticut recently lost.

For those of you who don’t follow Parrish, he has an amusing weekly feature on his blog where he rips questionable poll voting. He spent several ripping an AP voter from Georgia who kept ranking Pitt — even after the Indiana loss. I think it is a worthy feature, since I hate bad voting. Of course, others take it personally when their team is singled out. He even conceded to wanting a do-over on his top-25 from Monday.

Moving on to more doubting themes, Adam Zagoria at SNY caught up with Ashton Gibbs after Pitt’s bus ride back from Cinci.

“We’ve been having a lot of doubters from the beginning since we lost a lost of big-time players,” Gibbs said. “But everyone in that locker room knows what they can do and we all have confidence in each other and it’s really starting to show.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon says he plans to use the 6-6, 210-pound Brown in ways he utilized Young, now with the Memphis Grizzlies.

“We ran some sets for [Brown], and we want to use him similar to Sam. He finished strong and made some plays,” Dixon said after the Cincinnati game.

Both Jermaine Dixon and Brown add experience to a young team that features six freshmen and two sophomores. With Dixon back, former St. Anthony star Travon Woodall, a redshirt freshman, now comes off the bench

“They can play multiple positions and they really work hard and they’re leaders on our team,” Gibbs said. “It starts from the defensive end with those guys and it’s really carrying over to the offensive end as well.”

The numbers back up the defensive emphasis.

Speaking of that 2009 team, I spent the balance of last year yelling and waving my arms in an effort to convince people that the old Pitt stereotypes (rugged D, points scored with more brute force than skill) no longer applied and that this was one incredible offense. Indeed it was, but this year it might be time to move one step back toward the good old Panther preconceptions of yore.

You could make a case that this 2010 team is comprised of a strong defense that for the past three games has been momentarily joined by an offense that is hitting shots like crazy (e.g., sinking 45 percent of their threes in conference play). Sophomore Ashton Gibbs has said thank you very much for the available minutes and rather quietly emerged as one of the more impressive pure shooters you’ll find anywhere. For the year Gibbs is hitting 94 percent of his free throws (against the Bearcats last night he went 10-of-11) and 41 percent of his threes while taking the bulk of the shots for this offense. Pitt’s not as good as they were last year, but right now they’re much better than expected.

Coach Dixon of course, is not buying into the surprise (publicly, anyways).

I’m shocked that Pittsburgh has put together consecutive road wins against previously unbeaten Syracuse and Cincinnati.

Panthers coach Jamie Dixon? Not surprised at all.

“It can’t happen if you don’t believe it can happen,” Dixon said on Tuesday morning, shortly after his team knocked off Cincinnati on the road the night before.

Pitt is part of the group of teams that have beaten expectations already.





Luke, my most insincere apologies. You are the man.

This is me eating crow…

Luke, welcome to 2010. This is not 2003-2009. If you are going to be disappointed with anything less than 2-1, than you are in for a rough year. A mediocre Indiana team ran us off the court and we easily could have lost to Duquense. If you really expect this Pitt team to play 3 consecutive road games against ranked teams and go 2-1, than I tell you to stop drinking the gatorade. (I hope you prove me wrong. I will absolutly come on here and insert foot in mouth)

Hail to Pitt and Happy New Year
Comment by Todd Gack 12.31.09 @ 3:21 pm

Comment by Todd Gack 01.06.10 @ 12:01 pm

Todd, I must admit that I agreed more with you, and didn’t share Luke’s optimism

Comment by wbb 01.06.10 @ 1:19 pm

I have to admit I didn’t expect Pitt to be 3-0 in Big East play so far this year. The only thing I worry about is what happens when we lose 2 or 3 in a row which I think will happen at some time in the league this year. I think Dixon is a great coach, one of the best in the country. I just worry about inexperience with the mental factors of so many underclassmen. Can Brown and Dixon lead through example? McGhee gets easily frustrated so I just hope this team stays together for the rest of the season and if it does, I think 21 or 22 wins is a definite reality at this point.

Comment by beanboy 01.06.10 @ 1:34 pm

I think we all forgot how good Dixon the guard can be. His shooting after a good start, fell off.
If he can score and penetrate, the sky is the limit for this team. I cannot get over how good we rebound with the lack of size underneath.

Comment by Dan 72 01.06.10 @ 5:27 pm

Dan 72, good point about the rebounds. While we certainly will miss DeJuan on the offensive boards, it is uncanny how good Pitt does especially by the guards … it’s all about blcoking out and hustle.

Comment by wbb 01.06.10 @ 5:38 pm

McGhee does an excellent job of blocking out on the defensive board. We just have to get him some hand softeners. To me, it’s frustrating because McGhee is a competent player who puts a lot of effort into the game. He is just a little bit shy of being a really good player. Hopefully he will be able to get over the hump. If he ever does, it will make a huge difference in this team.

Comment by BigGuy 01.06.10 @ 6:12 pm

What this team has that really excites me is quality FT shooters at the guard position. How many games in the past 10 years did you hold your breath when teams played the foul/FT game against us at the end? Too many to count, I know. Our style of play, with two guards shooting 70% plus from the line (one 90%+) is money. Yeah, I know, we don’t recruit for shooters…but when you play a possession game that requires hold teams with 2 to 3 possession leads at the end of games, you have to have clutch FT shooters to seal the deal. Cincy was a perfect example.

With all due respect to Levance, Carl, Brandin, Ronald, Keith, and Julius….their FT shooting was horrible to mediocre at best.

I feel so much more confident with a lead in Hack-a-Shaq mode when Ashton or Jermaine are on the line.

Comment by Pauly P 01.06.10 @ 6:51 pm

Agreed, Pauly. Very good point. I actually exhale when we get to the line these days.

Comment by steve 01.06.10 @ 8:24 pm

Ronald wasn’t terrible… he was in the 80% range…fields was was ok too… but the rest yeah.. ugh.

Comment by snala the panther 01.06.10 @ 8:44 pm

Krauser could drain FT when the game was on the line. Same with Fields.

Comment by Charley Kennedy 01.06.10 @ 9:21 pm

Yeah don’t forget Fields’ absolutely clutch FT’s in the Villanova game last year in the tournament that at least gave us a chance at the end. That group of players is surely missed but I am really happy how this team is turning out, although cautiously optimistic. Hail to Pitt.

Just for kicks, this video has to give you chills…

link to youtube.com

Comment by Mark in DC 01.06.10 @ 10:19 pm

we have to go back to Sean Miller & Jason Matthews 20 years ago to see 90%+ foul shooters

off topic but interesting info from Zeise’s PG Blog
link to community.post-gazette.com

Comment by wbb 01.06.10 @ 11:14 pm

I think we all forgot how good Dixon the guard can be. His shooting after a good start, fell off.
If he can score and penetrate, the sky is the limit for this team. I cannot get over how good we rebound with the lack of size underneath.
Comment by Dan 72 01.06.10 @ 5:27 pm

Dan 72, good point about the rebounds. While we certainly will miss DeJuan on the offensive boards, it is uncanny how good Pitt does especially by the guards … it’s all about blcoking out and hustle.
Comment by wbb 01.06.10 @ 5:38 pm
———————————–

Hustle, grit, hustle, determination and hustle some more. That’s what I love about Pitt Basketball, the teams under Dixon, and even back in Howland’s days, have never, never been afraid to play the “dirty,” gritty and aggressive game.

Comment by dugdog 01.06.10 @ 11:56 pm

Very informative data furnished in the blog by Zeise in today’s PG. This should be a most interesting pre-season camp especially for the qb position. Incidentally, what about Kolby Gray? I think Myers would benefit from a redshirt year as would Gonzalez as an “athlete”. Coach Dave is finally in an enviable position when it comes to choosing assistants. I surely hope Pitt can improve on its defensive backfield and special teams. The blogs this spring should be compelling reads. George from Columbus

Comment by rev. george mehaffey 01.07.10 @ 7:55 am

FYI, FWIW for the 2nd time within the last 5 days, Sam Young scored over 20 pts for the Grizzlies. DeJuan started again (about the 6th time) last night and had 10 and 8.

Not bad for a couple of 2nd rounders

Comment by wbb 01.07.10 @ 9:33 am

Some Coach Dixon love…

link to msn.foxsports.com

Comment by Pittastic 01.07.10 @ 9:53 am

Rev George, note that the Stillers just fired special teams coach Ligashesky … maybe Pitt can rehire him and he’ll bring back the Swinging Gate

Comment by wbb 01.07.10 @ 11:31 am

Some Blair and Young love on an SI.com article about the halfway mark of the nba and the most surprising rookies…

“Mannix: I’m declaring co-winners in this category and they both are second-rounders from Pittsburgh. The consensus after the draft was the San Antonio picked up a steal in rugged power forward DeJuan Blair, and he hasn’t disappointed. The ACL-less Blair doesn’t have gaudy numbers — he’s averaging 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds — but that’s only because he’s behind Tim Duncan, Antonio McDyess and Matt Bonner on the depth chart. He’s been, at times, unpredictable, racking up 18 points and 11 rebounds one night, one and four the next. Then again, so are most rookies.

Sam Young didn’t have as much fanfare as Blair, but the athletic swingman has been a fixture in the Grizzlies’ lineup since opening night and has scored double figures in four of his last five games, including a season-high 22 in a win over Phoenix. Like Blair, Young is a keeper.”

Comment by Corey 01.07.10 @ 12:44 pm

Actually, I really think the Panthers can do better than a “rehire”. There are some fine young special team coaches out there who would readily accept a spot on Pitt’s staff. With all the grid schools in Pa. and Ohio the fields are ready for the harvest. Incidentally, I find it refreshing that Coach Wannstedt is sincerely desirous that his assistants are paid fairly. George from Columbus where coaches are kings and live in palaces.

Comment by rev. george mehaffey 01.07.10 @ 4:26 pm

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