My primary focus is on the Albany game, since I paid attention to that one. The Rider game, I have watched a little of online. PittScript has a better write-up of just the Rider game. Opening games are hard enough to judge. Wildly different performances from one to the next make it that much harder. Pitt is still 2-0 after the start of the season, and there is plenty of reason for optimism — and some things to be concerned. Really, the best thing to say about the first couple games: no injuries. Just ask Louisville.
From the Albany game, Lamar Patterson played a great game offensively. More importantly, he seems to have embraced the idea of being Brad Wanamaker. Still his own player. Different strengths — better rebounder, better ball control — and weaknesses — free throw shooting, ability to attack the basket. But Patterson is as much the natural facilitator as Wanamaker. He may eventually turn into this team’s de facto point guard. He sees the floor and judges angles where the ball is going on rebounds. He is slimmer and stronger this season. I would say he understood during the offseason that if he wants to get the playing time over J.J. Moore and hold off some of the up-and-coming talent, he has to completely understand the system and become a very well-rounded player. In the first two games he has 15 rebounds and 11 assists.
Travon Woodall will not keep up the hot 3-point shooting. Especially when Pitt plays teams with better defenses and bigger guards to defend him. But his confidence is high and he really wants to be the point guard for this team. The issue for Woodall — and really all the guards — will be getting the ball inside. There’s a lot of talent there, but the experience and knowledge by that talent to get free for a pass is still a work in progress.
Ashton Gibbs is not a point guard. He wants to show those skills. He wants to prove that he is more than a shooter. His ball handling is better. But he is not a point guard. He doesn’t trust the young kids and/or his own passing skills. Have I mentioned that Gibbs is not a point guard?
In the first half and second half, right around the 12 minute of the Albany game, Coach Dixon had a line-up out there that included Khem Birch, Talib Zanna, John Johnson and Cameron Wright. The first half featured Travon Woodall running point with that group. The second half had Gibbs. One game only a few minutes of actual game time total. Very small sample size, but the difference was significant.
Woodall was moving the ball around on the team. Whether it was trusting them more, or seeing things better the ball was shared and everyone touched the ball during that time. Gibbs, however, held the ball too much. He dribbled around with it. He did not look comfortable finding someone to pass it to.
Nasir Robinson is still Nas. He knows where to be. He is positioned well to handle the ball inside for scores and plays harder than anyone else inside. The position he gets on offense is very noticeable, especially when compared to Khem Birch and Talib Zanna. Both of them are definitely still learning. They don’t take the best positions inside to receive passes. If they can’t establish positions and flash open better, then they won’t get fed. Nas simply knows where to be. He’s there for the pass and has a much clearer line to the basket.
Dante Taylor looks a lot stronger. Leaner, but stronger. His defense continues to improve. He puts himself in a better position on the offense to get the ball and get decent looks.
Talib Zanna appears to remain a work in progress. It’s not a knock on the kid. He has talent, he seems to have desire. It is simply that he is not terribly skilled. As long as he keeps working and improving he will see more time and be an important back-up this year, and have chances during the rest of his career.
Khem Birch is very good. Natural and instinctive. And continually out of position on offense.
Ray Fittipaldo pointed this out after the Rider game about the frontcourt.
The most notable: they attempted 34 3-pointers.
More than half of Pitt’s shot were from behind the arc, something that drew the ire of Dixon.
“Way too many 3-pointers,” Dixon said afterward.
Rider was certainly inviting 3-point attempts with its zone defense, but the Panthers have never relied on making 3-pointers to solve a zone. Here’s a history lesson Dixon ought to be teaching today and tomorrow: against the 2-3 zone of Syracuse last season they attempted only 15 3-pointers. And they won the game going away, 74-66.
Ashton Gibbs attempted 14 3-pointers versus Rider and Tray Woodall 10. They combined to make 10 of their 24 attempts, but their teammates did not fare so well. J.J. Moore was 0 for 3 and did not play in the second half, probably because he displayed poor shot selection in the first half along with some questionable defense. Lamar Patterson was 1 for 4., Cameron Wright 0 for 1 and John Johnson 1 for 2.
The answer is attacking the zone from the inside, but Pitt’s post players are so offensively challenged that they might not provide the answers.
Nasir Robinson is great against the zone. He scored 22 against Rider, but he can’t do it alone. Dante Taylor, Talib Zanna and Khem Birch have no confidence right now.
Does anyone remember what Albany coach Will Brown said after the opener? “We were going to let them throw it into their big men all night.”
The volume of three-point shots stood out in the box score. Mainly because Pitt only attempted 62 total field goals. Over half the shots came from outside the arc. It would appear that just as in the Albany game, the frontcourt players were definitely trying to figure out where they should be in the offense. That’s why Nas can thrive, despite being undersized and Zanna can’t get a pass coming his way despite his size. In Pitt’s offense, the frontcourt players have to know where to be and be positioned to receive a pass. The backcourt will not force it inside if they aren’t getting open. They have been coached not to do that. Nas knows the offense and can read what the defense is doing. He moves without the ball and finds his spots.
Pitt is going to be very good this year. They will have another excellent season, there will be more inconsistency this year. A lot more like 2009-10 or 2007-08 than 2008-09 or last year. The obvious area to improve will be on the defense.
Jamie Dixon repeated the same refrain about a half-dozen times during Sunday’s post-game news conference.
The words weren’t identical, but the message was sustained.
“We have a lot of work to do,” the Pitt coach said.
Obviously the defense will be an issue. Forget the absurd numbers with Rider. Albany was able to shoot over 40%
I’ll pass judgement in a month.
We really need Taylor to play to his potential and become, not only a defensive force, but the scoring threat that Gary wasn’t for the past 2 years.
He doesn’t have the horses in the backcourt to get in anybody’s face anyway. That’s just not something Woodall or Gibbs or Patterson are physically equipped to do. Woodall may be quick enough to apply some pressure, but he’s not the intense type of player who’d ever do it. Some guys were born to defend — to get in their guy’s jock (no Sandusky jokes here) and none of Pitt’s perimeter guys are that type of player.
I’d relax on the Patterson-Wanamaker comparisons. Lamar is a nice all-around player who understands the game and does a lot of things pretty well, but he’s not going to facilitate or draw fouls as well as Wanamaker did. Wanamaker was the alpha male on last year’s team and everything ran through him. I’m happy to see Patterson slimmer and I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s a far smarter basketball player than Moore, but he’s never going to handle the ball enough to run everything through him.
I will say this — Pitt is lucky to still have Robinson around. Getting 10 points total from the rest of the front line against a Big East opponent would be an achievement. Taylor, Birch and Zanna just aren’t guys that make you want to throw it into the post. Robinson is the only one who understands cutting and finding the soft spot in a zone and high-low post passing. If only he were 2-3 inches bigger……but you still have to love what he accomplishes.
Watched the ‘Cuse play last night. I think everybody’s back except Rick Jackson. They’re loaded, even if Fab Melo is still soft. Between Syracuse, UConn and Louisville (even though their players are dropping like flies), there’s some serious comp coming up in the Big East. Looking forward to it……….
Agree with Chas too about the Gibbs/Woodall comparison — right now the offense is stalling a bit too much when Gibbs runs the show. A lot of stationary dribbling, not much ball rotation. Granted, when a guy can pop 25-footers like he can, their are worse alternatives.
Hugh- I agree that Woodall and Gibbs aren’t the best duo to apply pressure on the perimeter. They aren’t great defenders. Dixon has had a lot of success. It’s undeniable. However, his post season success has not matched the regular season. Turnover % is a big reason why. I’m not sure that Gibbs or Woodall would be any worse off extending the defense a few feet past the three point line.
John Johnson is a player that can play some defense. This was evident in Greentree and in the first two games this year. He needs to play a role this year.
I do think extending the D scares Dixon. It just violates his principle of pack-it-in man. I think he’s understandably scared, especially with Gibbs and Woodall, that opposing guards will get penetration too easily.
hugh- gibbs and woodall are tough to have out there at the same time. both are small and gibbs is not very quick. extending is a concern, but i think it is the right move in the long run. i’m not getting paid $2 million to coach, therefore i will defer to dixon on this. however, i do think there is some correlation between the pack it in defense and second round exits.
My expectations/prognostications for the year is that we end up in the lower half of the top 25, make a nice run in the BE tourney, and end up a 3seed….
Maybe Johnson will turn out to be that guy. I do agree that he looks good so far and may end up being the first guy off the bench, at least the first guard, if he keeps it up.
I’m sure he’d like every shot to be contested but faced with the choice, he’s more willing to play the odds of someone hitting a 3 rather than giving them an easy 2. The stats bear it out.
a three pointer is worth 50% more than a two pointer. therefore a 33% three-point is equal to 50% from 2. said differently I only need to make 3.3 threes to get the same number of points from 5 twos. hence the uncontested, or lightly contested, three is more efficient than anything but a layup or dunk.
I don’t disagree with your statement about uncontested 3s or your point that Pitt should apply more pressure on the perimeter. I’d like to see that too.
I’m saying that given who he typically has on the court – Gibbs who usually gets beat off the dribble and Woodall who is a bit too small to go chest to chest with bigger guards – Jamie will play the percentages that a team will make less 3s than 2s. So he’ll have those two play off their men a bit to stop penetration.
The one element you leave out is free throws, which are the most efficient shot for most teams and which generally come because of penetration inside the arc. That can easily offset the extra point gained by hitting a 3, in addition to putting your best offensive threats on the bench in foul trouble.
If Johnson, Wright, Patterson or someone else can turn into that on-ball stopper, like J. Dixon was, you may then see more perimeter pressure.
Remember the 2008-09 defense? They were pretty strong despite Fields’ defensive deficiencies. I think that’s because you had Dixon, Sam who was a decent on-ball and excellent help defender and Blair who could clean the glass all by himself. We’ve got the talent to do that again. I just think the young guys need some time and experience in the system.
2008-2009 (Young, Fields, Blair) defense was statistically the worst of the past 3 years. The offense was better that year.
I just demonstrated, mathematically, that the % on threes has to be less than 33% for it to make sense to give them up. My point is that a successful defense guards the rim and the three-point line almost equally.
Free-throws are important, but they are not the best shot in basketball. The best shot is a dunk, the second best shot is a free-throw from a 70% shooter or better, and the third is a three.
Pitt needs to do one of a few things. Increase turnovers because this takes away possessions from the other team. Pitt can guard the rim better (they do a decent job now). Or they can guard the three-point line better.
I am not a coach, therefore I can’t tell you which one is easiest. I might argue that increasing perimeter pressure will result in more turnovers and lower three-point %. However, there may be a statistical jump in FG% because of more open drives. Jamie needs to figure it out.