Trying to get back to focusing on basketball a bit more. You know, because they are actually playing games. Plenty of random things as well.
Pitt had little trouble with Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday night. This surprised no one. Seeing Gilbert Brown go off, though, was something of a sight. It earned him Big East player of the week honors. Coach Dixon knows what is coming, though, in media questions when Brown plays well for a game.
“Every time he doesn’t follow up one (game) with another one, a lot of people jump on him or focus on being negative,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s hard to have big numbers every single game … but I like where he’s coming from, and I like where he’s going.”
Er, maybe because we haven’t seen consecutive good games from Brown since…? It’s not big numbers each game. It’s good shooting percentages. It’s just playing well.
I’d say, offensively with Brown, the most disappointing thing — and I saw it even in this past game — is that he no longer attacks the basket. He is way too eager to take a jumper. He has shown little inclination to drive to the hoop, and he has seemed timid when he actually gets there with any traffic around him. So, I think that has led to even more of his inconsistency with scoring. He will have nights like Saturday, where he was so on with his shot; but then it will streak (or clang) the other way.
While Pitt had no problem against the obviously overmatched MDES, the focus on defense all week finally had Pitt holding a team to sub-40% shooting. The one downside was that Pitt was so efficient on offense they couldn’t work on the one area of defense that was especially problematic in the loss to Tennessee. Their transition defense.
Ratting is Dixon’s terminology for hanging around in the backcourt and looking for a steal instead of getting back on defense. The metaphor being the ball is the cheese and the players, or rats, chase the cheese.
Dixon’s teams previously have been good at stopping transition offense, and he is stressing a return to some old fundamentals this week after the loss Saturday to Tennessee, when the Volunteers scored with ease on their fastbreak opportunities.
“If the other team has the rebound, we need to get back on defense,” sophomore point guard Travon Woodall said. “Don’t hang around. The other team isn’t going to pass us the ball. If one guys rats, or two guys rat, the offensive players will sprint his [butt] off to get down the court to try to get a layup. We just have to make sure we get back.”
Of course, when you shoot over 55% and dominate on the glass, it’s hard for the other team to even try and get out on transition.
2011 signed commit John Johnson was in Monroeville over the weekend for a multi-state match-up.
The “Battle of the Borders High School Showcase” is being put on by both the Gateway basketball program and Rise High Basketball. The name is in reference to a field that includes teams from the bordering states of New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania — plus the District of Columbia (DC, home of the Go-Go Sound).
Teams confirmed for the event include Huntington Prep (WV), Imani Christian and Gateway HS (Pittsburgh), Coolidge HS and Carver Vo-Tech (DC), Akron SVSM and today’s subject Life Center Academy out of New Jersey.
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“Pitt is a great fit for John and I’m really interested to see how Jamie Dixon works him into the Pitt lineup,” says Boudwin. “He’s got that end-to-end speed while being under constant control that Pitt hasn’t had in a guard before.” Our readers know that I’m very high on Johnson as a playmaker, a guy who can get into the box area and score or find people for easy baskets. I’m very intersted to see how his games progressed since the summer. Boudwin says one of the most unique things about Johnson so far is that nobody has drawn a charge on the always-attacking guard as of yet, as he has the ability to get into creases at the last second and turn charges into blocking fouls on the defense. Johnson’s also worked very hard in the classroom.
“It’s a rigorous academic school here and John’s impressed with the way he’s adjusted,” says Boudwin, “he actually skipped some preseason workouts to do classwork on his own and if you know John nothing can keep him out of the gym.” The academic focus will only help Johnson transition to college-level work.
Johnson played very well in the showcase. Taking home the MVP for the weekend. Johnson has seen his stock rise, fall and now start to rise again as a national recruit. The hardest thing to guess with this recruiting class is whether they will all qualify academically and who might end up displaced from the current Panther roster as Pitt is looking at two spots too many.
Skipping ahead to 2013, Pitt has offered one of the top players in that class. Noah Vonleh out of Massachusetts has an offer from Pitt (Insider subs.).
Vonleh, a 6-foot-7 point forward who is the No. 26 overall player nationally in ESPN’s Class of 2013 rankings, got a visit this week from Pitt assistant Pat Skerry, who first made a name for himself on the recruiting trail as an assistant at Providence before moving on to Jamie Dixon’s staff in Pittsburgh this season and landing a commitment from Khem Birch two months ago.
Boston College was the first to offer Vonleh this summer, and the offers should only pick up as schools like North Carolina, Syracuse and Kentucky have shown interest.
It just means Pitt is in early on this kid. Still a long way to worry about this one.
Finally, the SEC/Big East Invitational is dead. Long live the Big East/SEC Challenge.
The new BIG EAST/SEC Challenge format will feature 12 games over three days beginning on the Thursday after Thanksgiving of each year. The 2011 schedule will include four games a day Thursday, Dec. 1 through Saturday, Dec. 3. The event title will alternate to the SEC/BIG EAST Challenge in 2012 and be played Thursday, Nov. 29 through Saturday, Dec. 1.
All 12 games each year will be played at home campus sites with each conference hosting six games a year. SEC teams will alternate home and away games. Twelve of the 16 BIG EAST teams (17 teams in the second year) will participate each year with home, road and no-game assignments determined for 2011 and 2012 in advance of the 2011 event. Matchups, times and network assignments are to be determined.
In other words. Easier to follow, and hype. Yay.
There are few wretched defensive players on Pitt. Ashton Gibbs is one. JJ Moore is another. Gilbert Brown gets lost too much for a 5th year senior. Woodall doesn’t play low enough. Actually the only very good defensive player is McGhee. Wannnamaker and Robinson are okay. Zanna is mediocre.
Most important, the team plays awful team defense. They really need to get things together on the defensive side of the ball and fast. That was the reason for the loss against Tennessee. It wasn’t that Hopson went off, it was that Hopson and the entire Tennessee team went off. Pitt could never get a stop when they needed one.
Coach Dixon should know this and get it right before it is too late.
It’s also defense that has kept Dixon from playing Taylor more. He just can’t afford to have him out there major minutes because he’s such a liability on that side of the ball.
My hopes rest on the offense carrying the weight this year, but I’m just not sure the offense is ever going to be that good with Gibbs handling the ball for major portions of the game. Not his forte…….
I’m excited about John Johnson. Sounds like they finally may have found a guard who can really go. After yrs of watching slow guys like Krauser, Ramon and Gibbs, it’s going to be fun to watch someone who can turn on the jets. (Yes, Woodall can move but he’s jut not good enough for it to matter much…..)
I don’t think it is because they need his offense. They have other players that can score (Wannamaker, Brown, and Moore can all get buckets). Gibbs shoots a lot regardless if he is hot or not and they are almost always jumpers. It is much easier to get a defensive rebound off of a jump-shot.
When you have players like Wannamaker, Brown, and more looking to score you have to respect the drive. That means more help defense and weak-side offensive rebounds. I think this offense actually needs less Gibbs. That also gets him off the floor a little to rest and play better defense.
Coach Dixon might need to do more trapping and have this group take more chances to get turnovers. These kids aren’t capable of playing good defense every trip down the floor. Plus the more possessions for the offense, the better.
Regardless, something needs to be done. This team is getting shredded right now.
However, like most Dixon teams I expect them to get better. I fear for what Kemba Walker will do to them though.
A long way of saying I agree with Omar and hugh. Just do not think that our defense will win games for us this year. We are going to see a few teams with “Hopsons” on them – in the Big East and the tournament, and we had no answer for him, and I honestly do not see one on the team, at least based on who has played. And our half court offense is primarily 3 pointers from Gibbs, and tip ins. When we play an undersized team, McGhee goes crazy, and even guys like Brown and Taylor look great.
Not pushing the panic button yet, but our pre-season hype was based upon Brown finally living up to expectations, Taylor having a breakout year, and solid contributions from Zanna and Woodall. Except for Zanna, who showed some promise early against good teams, I am still waiting for those things to happen.
Folks, Coach Dixon will have many improvements on this team by March. I can tell you that there is a noticable concentration on upping the offensive pace of the game as we are very athletic and can get out and run. When you do that, defense suffers and you have to teach a whole new compensation for that. I specifically noticed that against Tennesee when we had a few fast breaks go awry and they had a few that succeeded.
It is very, very different game that this Pitt team is playing in 10-11. Give em some time to adjust. JD is one of the best coaches in BBall and he will get it under control. He also sees the need for more offensive productionn to move on in March…thus the upped tempo and fast breaks this year.
well put. I think a lot of the angst is related to having a team play a different style than any howland-dixon team of the past. So we should expect some growing pains. The one thing that does concern me, if we are going to play up tempo, is where the points are going to come from. Come big east play and we won’t be getting the easy hoops we’ve gotten against these undersized teams. Gil has to step up and bring it every night. We can’t have what we got from him last year.
link to youtube.com
After the game, Brown was *saying* the right things, about not hesitating, etc. We’ll see if he keeps that attitude. Shame that Moore is such a defensive liability because he definitely has a scorers’ mentality.
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That’s all well and good, but I’m still stinging from that Tennessee loss. The Vols did things to Pitt that I haven’t seen teams do in many years. As long as we fix that, we’ll be OK, but we have a long way to go.
The D does need work, though, I agree with everyone on that.
Big issue for me is, what is defined rotation? We are playing too many guys in my opinion. I’d no longer play Patterson…
(read this and think Dickie V.) It’ll be like 1989, baby, when little Dana Barros out of Boston College, went into the Fitzgerlad field house and lit up the panthers for 45 points.
I was there for that game, hoping history doesn’t repeat itselt on Monday.
