I am completely tied-up today. The DVR it is for this game.
It is on ESPN2 at 7pm.
This is not the DePaul team of the last couple years, but they still are not a good team.
It is a must win for Pitt. Don’t care if it’s an ugly win. Just get a win at this point.
Travon Woodall is still out of the line-up.
John Johnson will be getting the start instead of Cameron Wright.
Malcolm Gilbert’s lack of playing time is explained in so far as he doesn’t bring much to the table offensively at this point. I think there’s a significant number of people who would take a chance on that simply because his defense might be stronger than what Dante Taylor has been offering.
What’s you’re seeing now is the purest essence of Dixon. Not being saved by a few NBA (ish) level players. Or sharp assistants. This is the shmoe who’s really in the driver’s seat now – and who everybody thought was bulletproof because of his gaudy win-loss record for the past 8 years. Here’s the truth, people: he’s a crap coach! He’s a consistently bad in-game coach, refusing to make rudimentary adjustments (like rarely going zone) and often bungles end of game situations horrifficly. His cupboard is currently bare. This team is losing, frankly, because it has no talent. And his most talented recruit in his entire tenure just bolted. Why? Because Dixon wanted to play him out of position at center! I don’t blame Birch! Look at what happened to Taylor, who’s really a natural 4 who came into Pitt with a much better face-up 10 ft. jumper than he did a back to the basket game. For a McDonald’s All-American recruit, it could be argued that Jamie Dixon ruined that kid’s LIFE by totally squandering his skills and trying to shoe-horn him into a position he shouldn’t be playing.
Point is…FIRE JAMIE DIXON. Maybe not this year, but please, please, please let’s all just consider it an option. Let’s all begin to realize that he’s just not that great of a coach. The window for Pitt to keep the ball rolling in terms of success is small. They can currently rope in a great young coach because of a.) their legacy of recent success; b.) their move to the ACC and c.) some of the juicy recruits coming in. Take advantage of this. Look ahead, not behind. Realize that Dixon has deficiencies that will NEVER be overcome, take advantage of your position, find a coach who can take you to the next level and MOVE ON. SOON.
And, if you think Taylor could play the 4, offensively, and more to the point, defensively, you’ve shown all you don’t know about hoops.
Ya, 8 years of success, Dixons’ had nothing to do with it right???
LMAO!!!
I’m still waiting for football to put two years in a row.
HTP.
Please enlighten us. Who is this great coach that you would bring in to replace Jamie Dixon?
Just a suggestion Upittbaseball, based on your posts, I would suggest switching allegiance to Kentucky. They seem to have what you long for.
Yes Big Bill it took those elite coaches on avg 11 years to get to their first Final Fours so Jamie has some more time. But those coaches also started their careers in a much different era. Today’s society is instant gratification and has little patience. My patience is running thin as well.
We all know Jamie is a good coach. To become an elite coach, he needs elite talent. Elite talent will take Pitt to that next level. Talent is coming next year and Jamie has gotten better athletes over his tenure.
But elite talent wants to play immediately and be the focal point of the offense and not be placed into a rigid system. I think (my opinion only) is that Jamie should adapt his ways and play his frosh and fine tune his system to take fuller advantage of the talent he has or will have in the future.
Tough, high B-ball IQ players who get coached up can only take Pitt so far. And this year’s team isn’t tough, doesn’t have much basketball smarts with such a poor assist to turnover ratio, and nor is it Jamie’s best coaching job.
A down year yes. But, I do believe Jamie does needs to tweak a few things about his coaching philosophy and make better attempts to recruit those players that elite programs get. If he does those little things, I believe Pitt can bounce back strong and go head to head with Duke and NC. Pitt is far closer to being elite in B-ball than it probably ever will be in football.
The only consistent through the past 8yrs of success has been Jamie Dixon.
He has flaws, and there were obvious coaching mistakes last night and setting up this season. This slump is certainly largely on his shoulders.
But he also got a sh*t-sandwich to start the year with Birch leaving and Woodall getting hurt.
Lots of comments that Dixon just doesn’t have goo players. I do not agree. There’s just been a perfect storm of problems:
– Gibbs is not focused, uninspired, playing out of position and does not have the guard support he’s had in the past.
– Woodall is a capable, if not very good, point guard and just as important, a team leader. He’s out.
— JJ. Moore is as skilled as Gil Brown was and also takes off the table the same things Gil did. But due to a mix of him not “getting” it until late and (in imho) poor player management by the coaching staff he isn’t producing like he certainly can. He’s been off the floor wayyy too much, lost confidence and gets yanked the second he makes a mistake. Not how you develop a guy like him
– Birch is gone.
– Taylor is out of position.
– Nas is a great role, but he has too many limitations. He operates great as a role player, but the team is not good enough yet for him to work within.
Anyway, down years happen. We needed almost everything to go right to have a good season this year, and pretty much nothing has.
Fan Backlash ======>>Very, very spoiled fans who have had their expectations dashed.
The senior leadership just isn’t there for this team right now. Which is probably why there so sloppy and undisciplined. In a system that requires dicipline to execute the lack of it is a recipe for disaster.
I think the future still looks good right now, but if they pull an 0-fer in the big east this year it may take a couple of years to build it back up.
Dixon isn’t going anywhere. He would have to lose bad for 3 to 4 season’s for that option to even be considered. He’ll learn from this adversity and be a better coach because of it (hopefully).
HTP