I seriously couldn’t even get angry in the second half. It was such a debacle that it wasn’t worth the emotional energy. There are so many problems that it has to be hard for Dixon to know where to start. There is absolutely nothing from the front court. Zanna and Taylor were shoved around as if they weren’t even there. Gibbs can’t hit anything. Nas forgetting all he ever knew about pump fakes and guile around the rim. No creativity on the court anywhere. Wow.

if i hear a pitt player say “they wanted it more than us” one more fucking time…this team is soft. if i were jamie, i would take the balls away at practice today. run em till they puke. run some uasi cage match rebounding and loose ball drills. challenge them to step up mentally and physically.

When a team gets down like this, it’s very hard for a coach to get them back up. It takes an unexpected positive game — a win or even a hard fought close loss to a ranked opponent — to do that. It also doesn’t help that Tray, per Dixon’s statements, is cleared to play but won’t, for whatever reason.

Dante Taylor is the most over-rated, underachieving recruit I have ever personally seen Pitt put on a court. I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but the fact that he is getting a free Pitt education, based upon his efforts, is infuriating. Chris Taft times three.

I’m impressed that you stuck with this train wreck that long. That’s dedication. Get YOU a jersey man! 🙂

It’s painful, I’m not fare weathered and I don’t follow this team just for wins, but I just don’t enjoy watching any basketball played at this level. It’s the same reason I rarely follow the early non-con – the games are mostly one-sided jokes (well, they used to be at least). Win or lose, my favorite part of the Howland/Dixon era is that the teams have played the game the right way. This team couldn’t find the right way on a map. That was aparent early this season, and it hasn’t really changed.

Good for the fans at the Pete. Team quit on them and they had every right to quit on the team.

do you realize that ‘College Gameday’ is coing to town next Saturday?

pitts new RB coach EDDIE FAULKNER was a free agent with the steelers and played pro ball with the canadian football leade has played for wisconsin with ron dane coached at ball state and northern illnois

faulkner played for wisconsin from 1996 till 2000
he was also OC for bal;l state than RB coach at nothern illinois

The torch; toughness, fight, junk yard dog mentality, once established was passed squad to squad, with the leaders being the big men. The surprise was Gary rising up from garbage time, out-of-sync player to a true force. Pitt’s toughness starts underneath and the link from Gary has been broken, Taylor is worse than a bust. He messed up the genetics. A bust of this magnatude in other sports, once identified as a bust becomes a non-entity. When Birch realized he was sharing minutes with a complete fraud, when he saw he was not getting 30-35 minutes per game and also not getting his entitlement expectations fulfilled he quit. Last night Robinson displayed some of his frustration with Taylor. Taylor is inept at almost every element of the position he’s playing. He’s pathetic and so is playing him.

But it gets worse. Gibbs as PG is also a fraud. His jerking off in the backcourt is laughable. Dixon has no idea how to coach his way out of this. I’ll tell him how. Start Gilbert at center. He’s got presence, muscle. He’s better than Gary was when Gary was a Freshman. Taylor is a marshmellow, Zanna is a forward. The only true center is Gilbert. Johnson starts at the point, Gibbs goes back to 2 and runs his crap, even if he’s mostly a decoy on offense. Robinson at PF, Patterson at SF. Rotate Moore, Zanna in at 3 & 4, Taylor gets limited minutes just to save face. Rotate Epps at PG, Wright for situations.

If Dixon continues to play it the way he did last night he’s a dumb ass. My line-up could not be any worse than last night’s performance. Everyone who follows Pitt & the BE knows the symptons, does Dixon have the brains to ID the disease?

Have you bothered to look at the remaining schedule?

It’s amazing to say this in early January, but I don’t see another sure win with this lineup and its current performance. And only 1-2 more “maybe wins.”

Point being, the ugliness has only begun.

So if I were Jamie Dixon I’d start getting guys experience for next year. Give Gilbert 35 minutes a game, make the guys at PF earn their minutes, and play anybody else at PG until Trey gets back.

Russell Schell is a very good basketball player. I’m just saying…

For starters, I would bench Ashton Gibbs and Dante Taylor. Not that it is all Ashton’s fault, but he needs to sit for a while, even if it is only 10 minutes.

I was at the game. It was horrible. Cam Wright shouldn’t even be in the Big East. Epps is too young. Johnson (the only one who really shows promise) needs maturing. Gibbs needs a miracle cuz his shot is so ugly. Nasir gets blocked every time. Talib is too slow defensively and he misses to many open layups. Patterson and more are both patchy.

Rutgers is a BAD team too.

0-16 in the Big East could certainly be possible this year.

The Pete lost its swagger. The student section has nothing to cheer for. Jamie Dixon is a horrible in game coach. Absolutely NO adjustments. We have NO offense, poor shooting, and act like big pussies in the paint. Other teams are more physical and create their own shots better than we do.

This will have huge ripple affects. We ARE a basketball school. Now we don’t even have that. So what are we? We are just another school. We can’t even bring football recruits into the Pete because it lacks electricity. The Pete is usually our best recruiting tool.

These are very tough times for our beloved University of Pittsburgh.

@Ghost– Did you notice for that stretch in the first half when Gibbs was on bench they actually looked better? Didn’t think I’d ever say that before this season.

@JW Sadly, yes I did.

Despite all of this, I still hold out hope that they will turn it around. I wildly disagree with Timmeh’s assessments…

Maybe this will help shed some of the bandwagon fans. I sure hope so.

@Ghost

What do you disagree with? I am not offended but would like to know your opinion

I was never on this bandwagon and have parked it in the garage until the season is over. I may get back in next year. Football is less depressing at the moment. I have the football vehicle ready to hit the roads come Spring practice.

Might be desperate, but desperate times………..

Start the bottom 5 of the roster for the first 5 minutes of the next game??????????

M. Gilbert C
D. Johnson F
A. Nwankwo F
N. Rivers G

Other Guard , whoever of the others that get playing time, that Dixon feels actually works the hardest I guess.

About the only wake up call I know of.

Crazy?? Ya, pretty crazy last night.

p.s. maybe some of those guys aren’t on the team anymore, just pulled up the roster on the net, said they still were. Whatever.

It was clear from the start of the year that this team would struggle in two areas: Defense and Dribble Penetration. I was sure that Jamie could stop some of the bleeding when it came to the defense, but I saw no cure for the lack of being able to beat a man off the dribble. It’s key to today’s offenses, and it’s what opens up the outside looks. But at least Woodall could find the open man at the right time and deliver the ball where it was catchable. Right now, the passing is so bad that it defies description. When a pass isn’t intercepted or deflected, it’s hitting someone in the knee or foot. Woodall coming back will be the only chance this team will have to win a game the rest of the year.

@Anthracite and Soupies…
Making another 100 lbs in two weeks. Have 180 hanging now. You are now the only person I’ve seen on any Pitt Board know what they are. But you are obviously from my area. Kulpmont? Mt. Carmel? Shamokin?

I was also at the game and stayed until the end. Perhaps I need an evaluation.

There are so many problems that I feel strange about picking out only one, but…I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a team with two guys rotating at center that have such a lack of feel for the game. Taylor and Zanna are continually out of position on offense and late in getting to where they are supposed to be. On top of that, neither seems to have the hands necessary to play at this level – whether it be fumbling away entry passes or letting guys take rebounds from them. Lastly, neither has any real physical presence at all. At this point, I have to agree with the calls for Gilbert. At least he is a physical presence on defense. I don’t think he could do any worse on offense.

Chas correctly points out that defenses are overloading the outside shooters. One of the reasons they can do this is that they have no fear of either Taylor or Zanna consistently making a play on the inside. Teams are actually doubling Gibbs when he starts to penetrate.

Aside from changing personnel (I also think Moore needs to play more, even though he makes mistakes, because he is one of the few that is actually aggressive on offense), I’m not sure what the coaches can do at this point. What are the in-game adjustments that would have solved last night?

I feel the lack of “heart” on this team is due to a real lack of senior or upperclass leadership. Pitt has always had a floor general type player to lead the team emotionally. Neither Gibbs nor Nas are that type of player as seniors. There is no one to rally around on the team. Gibbs is going to just keep heaving bricks until he finds his shot, and Nas is just playing way above his pay grade. Unless Trey provides a miracle if/when he returns, what options are there for improvement. There are switches that NEED to made. Dante needs to sit, Gilbert needs to learn on the job, Johnson should keep getting more and more minutes, but there is no magic bullet awaiting on the bench. Nas needs to keep playing as he seems to be one of the few palying with passion, but without big man help he is overmatched. It really looks like an 0 for the rest of the season. Just hope we don’t scare off any recruits. K. Funaki Adams just ignore this team for a bit, we’ll see you next year.

Dixon should play only the young guys from now until the end of the season. They’ll take a ton of beatings but maybe they’ll learn something for next year.

Old School has it assessed just about right, IMO. The biggest problem of all is no muscle in the middle on offense. The 2nd biggest is no true point guard. Thus there is a fundamental weakness at the two most important positions on the court (post and point) which are the positions through and from which the rest of the offense flows.

The first problem may not be fixable this season–Gilbert needs to develop. The second would be significantly improved if a healthy Woodall returned. Until then the only improvement possible would have to come from anyone other than Gibbs at the point and sliding him to the off guard spot.

Shamokin is correct 429Meyran. 280 lbs of Soppressata!??! That should last you through the hoops season.

Ok Anthracite, how do I not know who you are? I was up on Bunker Hill, on Cameron St.
As for the Soupies, we did try ~60 lbs of Salami this year. Each year we try to mix things up. Last year was cappicolla (epic fail)

Too bad right about now that we can’t fall back on the rationalization that BB really doesn’t matter since we all know that “Pitt is really a football school anyhow”.

How’s the wrestling team do this year?

I would start Gilbert and work the ball into him, have him attempt slams if low enough in the post, banks and rolls if positioned or kick outs if not. I wouldn’t pull him in the first half until the first of these: 2 fouls or the 12 minute mark. Then I’d sit him for 4 minutes and put him back in. We have to re-establish inside toughness before we do anything else. Gibbs would be forbidden to play PG, he is as qualified to be PG as he to practice dentistry.

Against Syr put Lamar or Moore at the foul line for jumpers with Gilbert and Robinson and Zanna crashing.

Waiting for Woodall is like waiting for Godot. He won’t be right until next year, why rush him back? Dixon doesn’t understand that there is nothing to salvage this year except self respect. This is a basketball crisis that’s part of a bigger Pittsburgh sports karmic thing and the only way out is to fight, and you can’t fight with pussies.

Jamie won’t do any of it. He’ll keep doing what cannot work, what is failing. Keep this up and we’ll destroy the brand.

Gilbert is so clearly not ready for this level. People need to give up on this as a pet theory. He’ll have a few moments this year, but throwing him to the wolves against the Marquettes and Syracuses of this world will do nothing for him and it will send a sophomore or junior, who both need to improve for next year, to the bench.

Are they going to improve for next year???

Has JD lost this team or is that obvious?Something is going on in that locker run & it’s not good. I’m not sure what is worse Gibbs shot or his attitude. Confusing how JD is handling this team. He’s trying to spread out minutes but appears to be struggling w/finding the best five to have on the floor. PITT needs to get bigger. There is no interior threat. I have stated numerous times that Gilbert needs more playing time w/Zanna @ the 4 and Moore @ small forward. Put JJ & Patterson in the backcourt. Zone on the defensive end & start your offense through the post. JJ & Patterson appear to be best options @ guard to create & drive to the hoop. Size w/Zone defense for this team may help the defense & rebounding. I wonder if recruiting would improve if PITT played more of an NBA style or isthat also obvious? IMO. HAIL TO PITT

Dan i dont know if you read all the posts but i posted abought 1025 to day that pitt has a new RB coach eddie faulkner. he looks like a good one so far all coachs but one have a wisconsin tie in

Hey, Frank! Some football talk is needed after last night.

That’s good, putting his staff together.

I’m happy we got Shell, but, I’m hoping Ray Graham can have a great comeback. For him personally. Seems like a nice kid, and now looking back, what a real shame that was for him.

You know, his cutting ability, I hadn’t seen anyone like that in years, I mean anywhere.

He looked like he was on a ski slalom course when he ran.

Hopefully he’s rehabbing, and a good RB coach can help him!!!

Dan i cant talk BB it makes me sick but i will say this he has lost this team some how he did something to lose them they are not listening to him and they are not battleing hard no heart.
even a team with out a lot of telent that plays hard can keep the score close . this ship may not right it self i cant deal with it.

Forget playing experience at this point — players need to earn minutes and to some extent jerseys. Over-recruit if it means the threat of a dropped scholarship. Normally I don’t like that approach, but I’m all for quitting on players who quit on Pitt. This is a team of lost little boys. We need some men.

It really doesn’t matter who JD puts where. This team and all the individuals simply are not very talented. Moving them around and thinking things will change is putting lipstick on a pig.

Can’t point my finger on it, because they didn’t play that great earlier in the season. But since Birch left, something happened to this team. Now it’s hard to tell if if happened immediately because they were playing dregs like SC State and St. Francis. But they did struggle with a horrid SC State team which was another hint of things to come.

Obviously it’s had an effect on Sleepy’s play. Birch had two Doubles/doubles in effect, his first two starts. Wow, that seems like eons ago, when the Palestra was filled with chants of ‘Let’s go Pitt’. Sleepy then got his FIRST CAREER Double/double after being put back into the starting lineup after his migraines.

Zanna then says in an interview that PITT’s practices are so physical that he had trouble adjusting and Birch did as well, even supposedly crying during a particularly rough practice.

Question: if the practices are so rough & tumble, why do Zanna & Taylor play so soft?

There are a lot of perplexing questions about this team and this season. Surely they have more talent than Wagner, DePaul & Rutgers.

Obviously the move of Gibbs to PG has been a disaster, particularly for Gibb’s shooting %.

One huge mistake was not playing Johnson immediately at PG after Woodall got hurt. You still had several cupcakes on the non-con schedule, where Johnson could have gained a lot of experience playing the point. Surely they could have still won those cupcake non-con games with Johnson at PG.

Another perplexing thing, Woody hasn’t played since the Nov. 30th Duquesne game. With Gibbs at PG since then, Pitt then beat Tennessee and only had 6 turnovers. While Tenn isn’t great, they did just beat #13 Florida 67-56. Then PITT scored 97 points against VMI and then beat Okla. State at MSG shooting 53% with 10 turnovers. Then the two cupcakes, SC State & St. Francis.

Then came the collapse with Wagner at home, shooting only 40% with 18 turnovers. Horrid shooting continued since then and the turnover problem with 17,15 & 15 in the last 3 games.

Can Johnson at the Point be that worse?
At least that gets Gibbs back to SG.

Make the move Coach !

someone posted that Jamie used a zone during the Rutgers game. When? maybe I was in the bar after watching 10% shooting, but I don’t recall seeing any zone employed for any length of time. What pt in the game? seemed like the same old ineffective (with this starting lineup) man to man.

Emel is dead on with Gibbs. Move him to SG and sub at PG until Tra returns. Put Johnson there, not Epps. Johnson can shoot and hit FT (Epps-DePaul still hurts)and moves the ball as well as Epps. Gibbs needs a spark, and we need him to start nailing 3s again.

SilverPanther, enjoy your insights but I don’t view Gilbert as a “pet” project. Agree he is young, raw & inexperienced, but the alternative is Sleepy. Have seen enough of him over 2+ seasons. Willing to endure the pain of a 6’11” 240′ disrupter underneath and give him a chance to develop on the court. Season is pretty much shot anyway and his Redshirt is gone, and Adams is coming in, so why not play him now.

Sleepy/Zanna at the 5 is a glaring departure from tough Pitt centers we have enjoyed this century, as noted on here repeatedly. Zanna hustles and dives but is not a 5. I’ll go with the pet and hope he has some pitt bull in him. HTP

Rebuilding. Year.

I don’t think the season is shot. It doesn’t look good, but I’m not ready to give up. I don’t think any coach would jump to that conclusion at this point, throw up his hands, and clear the bench. Nor do I think Taylor has to be a bust next year. My assumption is that Gilbert is getting schooled in practice by Taylor and Zanna, so there’s a reason he is third on the depth chart. Anyway, rebounding and presence in the middle have not been a problem for this team. Don’t focus too acutely on the Rutgers game. The problems defensively are closing out shooters and stopping penetration. Sticking a big tall inexperienced guy in there is not going to resolve those issues.

More playing time for Gilbert, Johnson at the point. Neither of these are real solutions. They are the “Keith Benjiman should be starting!” arguments of the 2011-12 season.

I agree it’s rebuilding year, but we need to be careful about this stink infesting NEXT year (and maybe beyond). Pitt hoops has clearly lost its mojo. It could take a long time to get it back with a roster of quitters and players who are either completely lost or generally don’t give a f*@! We need to figure out which players belong on future squads and which can feel free to transfer out (if any low to mid majors will have them).

I never thought I’d say that about a Dixon team and it doesn’t reflect well on him either, but this group lacks the effort and focus of other teams with similar talent gap which mananged to at least compete and not embarrass the university.

And for the record, they gotten manhandled by equally inexperienced teams this year.

SilverPanther: I applaud your enduring hope for this season. My “shot” conclusion is after watching this team perform this entire yr, not just the Rutgers debacle. If Jamie makes no changes, I don’t see any miracles a’coming. This team is bad. As Boehim said, sometimes fans just can’t accept it. I do. I just want to see some attempt at change rather than hoping for a great stew result from the same old recipe. Coaches like Jamie will never give up but he is no alchemist (although you could argue McGhee was base stone transformed into a precious metal).

I hear ya on most of your reasoned response, but: 1. can’t visualize Dante or Zanna schooling anyone at practice, especially a big Philly dude 2. still remember Dante getting badly stuffed by Gilbert on a one on one confrontation in the Blue-Gold game (isolated, maybe silly, but there it was); 3. I never rooted for Keith B. to start. He was like JJ Moore, with flashes of brillance but inconsistent play.4. Presence in the middle IS a problem, as we have none. Not rebounds, but a shot alternator.

Gilbert may not be a solution nor save the day, but he was a top HS 20 center nationally, is 6’11”, 240 with an 88″ wingspan. He is a shot blocker, which we currently don’t have. He is raw and needs work, but I say play him and grow with him rather than watch reruns of Sleepy. So far, Jamie agrees with you. HTP

Except for Gilbert playing a lot, Dixon is making adjustments and trying different things and they aren’t working. They play zone a couple possessions a game now. Epps plays point. Johnson does on possesions. Taylor comes off the bench and plays limited minutes sometimes. Zanna starts, plays center and Patterson plays 4 sometimes. Johnson starts ahead of Wright. Moore gets more minutes. It cannot be said that Dixon’s not trying.

And please look at the numbers, we outrebounded opponents in pretty much every game- often by a large margin. We are getting beat by opposing guards. Not by lack of presence.

1) Why is Woodall determining when he will return to the line-up 2) Why aren’t reporters trying to figure out what is really going on with this team because they have quit on Dixon 3) When does Dixon’s grace period end?