I feel like I have to repeat this every time I post on basketball. The most important — and only — thing Pitt can do to make sure it gets into the NCAA Tournament is to keep winning. All bubble talk is reactionary and about “if the season ended today” speculation. That’s why I don’t worry or put much stock in the “last four in, last four out” stuff that every ESPN broadcast (and to be fair I caught similar stuff on CBS and Fox yesterday).
You can make yourself frantic for no reason by whipsawing between NC State losing to BC to BYU beating Gonzaga to Texas failing at Kansas while Boise beats SDSU meanwhile… oh, you get the picture.
I do get annoyed at anyone who says that the game for Pitt today won’t help Pitt, but it can hurt them. Winning helps. Period. Keep winning and you can’t be ignored or dismissed. Beating Wake helps in the secondary stage because the Demon Deacons beat fellow ACC bubble teams Miami and NC State. It doesn’t have to provide a bump in the computer numbers immediately, but as long as it doesn’t go down things are good.
This game also matters because Pitt has been so poor on the road this year. The Syracuse win last week was the first road win for Pitt since the beginning of January (BC). 2-7 in true road games this year. A minor uptick to 3-8 when you include neutral site games.
For the Panthers to win consecutive road games for the first time this season — they play at 6:30 p.m. today at Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Coliseum — stout defense and improved rebounding could be just as important as good shooting.
Pitt has won six of its past eight games.
“You’re generally going to shoot better at home, but you need to rebound and defend on the road every game,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “The passing and shot selection have been good, but I still think the defense and the rebounding can improve.
“We’ve got to be more of a presence in the interior and limit scores around the paint and not allow second-chance shots. It can be beneficial on the road.”
At home too.
Pitt’s assist numbers have gone up significantly in recent weeks while the turnovers have remained low. The low turnover rate shouldn’t be as big a surprise since Pitt is often playing with three guards and Jamel Artis and Mike Young have shown to value possessions. As for the increased assists, the simplest answer is that those go up when players are making shots. More shots go, more assists.
6:30. ESPNU
Artis missed 2 – but he wasn’t having that great of a game as it was. MY was having a great game and owned Thomas. Who teaches entry passes?
If we don’t, that’s 2 out of 4 years not in.
HTP
1) What is wrong with him ? (other than just some sort of soph. slump/rut/???factor)
Since he hasn’t been a factor since the Bryant game and has had diminishing minutes since then, with a low of 2 minutes on the court, 3 games ago against Cuse and after only 6 minutes against UNC, 2 games before that.
Confidence has to be at a season low, after scoring just 4 points over the last 5 games.
Add in he’s not a great FT shooter AND he has a loose handle. And this was crunch time and quite possible the season on the line. And nobody had fouled out for Pitt. And in a few minutes in this game he had 2 turnovers(3 total) and was yanked
2) Why on Earth did Jamie even have him in the game ?
I do wonder about his handle. Early in the season everyone was so gung ho about how quick he is…but if you don’t have the handle it does you no good. I have seen no ability from him to be able to drive because of it (well there are exceptions, but most of the time…). He is another one I would love to see improve his shot too.
Attached is the commitment file on Nuke … note that he was offered by the likes of Arizona, Indiana, Memphis, NC State, and Ok State among others. I for one have not given up on him yet.
Maybe the trainer could give Jamie a March Valium and lather him up with Preparation H during pregame! :>)
Interesting that our best ball handler ever, Coach Knight doesn’t seem to be getting much out of our guards.
Congrats to the Pitt Basketball ladies. Truly remarkable season and kudos to Coach SMS and staff!
Nuke was a Rivals Top 150 recruit, as it says in the link you posted. #29 PG
Bad thing is, next year with Durand Durand coming back, I guess and possibly playing SG, and Damon Wilson coming in and of course Jamie’s favorite, Robinson as well who will be starting PG. I see Newkirk’s minutes shrinking from that of this year. Especially if Wilson is as good as he’s supposed to be.
Maybe they could redshirt him and then he’d had 2 full years left AFTER Robinson leaves.
To those above… This is not Jamie hate speech!!! ( can we be big boys and girls enough to accept another’s opinion without
calling it “hating”)
The BC game, Nuke had logged over 20 minutes by then, was lathered up, had scored some points, dished out some assists and was a major factor in the game at that point. So he wasn’t really put into the game to save it at the end, he had already been in for quite some time.
Last nite, he goes in, cold off the bench, had no sweat, had not done anything positive in the limited minutes he was on the court, in fact it was just the opposite. His minutes equated to 2 turnovers.
So last nite was a totally different situation than the BC game.
Agree about Knight. He was never a great shooter, terrible from the FT line, he was a good passer.
Hasn’t bloomed yet as a coach, still time.
It’s pretty sad day in America when you have to put that disclaimer on an opinion.
Seems to be a growing trend.
No need to put in a disclaimer.
Leader of the legion of Doom
This would have been Birch’s senior year and Adam’s junior year. Then we lose the two guys we are counting on the most, Wright goes down with a broken ankle, and the day before the season DJ is suspended.
Birch leaving cost at least one tourney and probably two, Adams leaving cost us a deep run in the Ncaa’s, and a probable ACC Championship.
The combination of DJ’s suspension and Wright’s injury cost us the tourney this year. Tough to adjust to the loss of two guys to start a season with a lot of young guys.
This is a pretty long string of bad mojo. Hopefully the pendulum swings back and good things start to happen.
Agreed I just dislike nice, easy cozy explanations for complicated things. Why I disagreed last night with people quick to say they lost becuase Dixon instituted slogball and made all the players play tight. Its just too easy….simple minded thinking. An argument to fit seemingly every occasion. Now, Dixon putting Nuke in at that point? Its tough….yes, he was cold. But IMHO, Dixon was looking for something that had not happened for 10 minutes straight…some dribble penetration. Didn’t happen, Nuke looked lost, so in hindsight it was a bad call by Dixon. Look Dixon is far from perfect, I support him given his record, but blmae him suqarely for all sorts of things including slogball at times, not having a 5, badly called timeouts, etc.
I just dont like scapegoating him for every bad thing that happens.
“The world is gray, Jack”
It really is.
This shit is his fault. Don’t tell me he is the best they can get, because that isn’t true on so many levels. There is only one place to go to concerning the players on this team and it’s Dixon. He had McConnell in his own back yard and would not recruit him. Why?
People on here are always complaining that Pitt doesn’t have a guards who can shoot and take defenders off the dribble. Why is it, that no matter what team we play on any level seem to have one of these guards? There are plenty of them to go around, but they are not the type of players Dixon wants, because he knows he have to let them loose, and that isn’t how he wants to run his offense.
You all saw that in that game. Artis is the best shooter on the team, but he calls the play for Wright. Are any of you going to say that is the sign of a great coach with the game on the line? The players tighten up in the clutch just like the coach. And until Dixon corrects these issues, you all will be saying the same things next year, whether they get to the dance or not.
Sure, you are right. Everything that happens to Pitt bball is Dixon’s fault. Of course it is. Everything that happens in my own company is the fault of the president. Every bad teacher in my kid’s school is the principal’s fault. So sure, you can say that just like I can blame my boss when someone doesn’t flush the toilet. Clearly it is her fault. Not sure what that gets us here.
As for the playyers sucking, my only point last night was I really felt like the players fell short last night…not Dixon. Its just too easy to blame him for every lost, sorry. Sure I can blame him in the global sense. But in the particular, last night, I felt the players fell short, not Dixon. I might venture to guess the players might actually agree with me on that.
Anyhow, what can I say…these players do not suck. The Pitt formula for success has always, ALWAYS been having many upperclassmen peaking with experience and skill in the Dixon system. Sam Young was not a great sophomore (good though). Same with wannamaker. Fields. Patterson, Zanna, etc. etc. etc. etc….
We got a team of sophomores with a below average senior and an average at best junior. Pitt does not get top 50 players by the handful. They win becuase Dixon creates a team defense/offense system and the kids grow into it for 4 full years. These kids dont suck…I am excitied for next year and even more for the year after. Damn if Dixon could get a decent center, I would be really excited. These kids are good. But we don’t get to 25+ wins like its gravvy without juniors and seniors. We dont have them….right now. But we will.
And if Dixon cant do it in the next two years, then a reevaluation must happen….especially if Wilson really comes and is good, and we find a serviceable center or better. If those two things happen and we are not top 15 two years from now, something is terribly wrong. Becuase, these kids are good now and should, not could be great in two years.
Team is inexperienced.
Team lacks enough elite talent.
Coach made some mistakes like his players.
Coach needs to recruit better.
Coach needs to adapt his style to the ACC.
I am not quite ready to declare the present to be a sinking ship. There is too good of a core not to look forward to next year, not to mention back to back blue chip guards coming into the program.
Boston College beating Virginia Tech
AND
Syracuse beating Virginia
DD, you’re not by chance Jamie’s mom, are you? If you are, please know (all kidding aside)you raised a great son who is a very good coach, a great human being, and solid family man. You have lots to be proud of mom!
But the question is .. does he have to replace one or two assistants? I would like to see more of a re-emphasis of recruiting the eastern seaboard (NYC-NJ, Phila, DC-Balt), which in the past has been very good to Pitt.
From ACC website
Terrible coverage but may be expanded as last update to coverage was 2/23/5.
Wake – Duke at 8:00 getting all the TV love.
I have said on this board many times, the last 10 years give him some leeway…I am far from alone in that assessment, see Dokish, Werner, and many blatherites.
I have also said, he has mismanaged the 5 spot since McGhee; if we are not sweet 16 bound within 2 years we need to reevaluate; that Dixon has not been quick enough to open things up offensively when needed; that Dixon is not a great game manager by any stretch; and that Dixon leaves a lot to be desired re: recruiting.
I am a Dixon supporter, but also a Dixon critic. As with my last post, the world is gray. Blog sites often tend to attract people on both ends of the spectrum, but there are plenty of us moderates here too. Earlier in the year I was on him hard to for opening up the running game. Last year I was very critical that Zanna did not belong at the 5 and that was Dixon’s fault for having only 1 good 5 on the team the year before.
My most recent posts may seem pro-Dixon only because I felt the need to fight against the over-simplistic thinking that we lost our last game becuase Dixon had the boys wound too tight and forced them into slogball. Again those are stereotypes no better than racial stereotypes. They are not true in all isntrances all the time.
I gave Jamie plenty of criticism last year and early this year around his recruiting failings and talent evaluation but also said in each post that I thought he was an outstanding Xs and Os coach most of the time. When I did criticize him it was over his over-controlling style which made the players play tight as a drum and his insistence on running the shot clock down to 5 seconds and taking a bad shot. All true stuff and the team looked like crap – young or not.
When he opened up the style and let the kids run (and it worked) I praised him for being open-minded and adjusting to the lack of talent and defensive skill he is stuck with. He deserved the praise. Just like he and the team deserved the criticism after the WF game.
We all approach this differently and (I hope) love Pitt and want all the teams to succeed. But if all you want to do is blindly cheerlead and read flowery stuff, it’s easier to just visit the Pitt Athletics web site for your news.
One other thing I’d like to hear folks thoughts on. The guy I split season tickets with argues with me all the time about the “if the players can’t make easy lay-ups or free throws, that’s not the clashes fault”….I throw the bullshit card down and say that of course the players deserve the lions’ share of the criticism for that, but I ask “who recruits kids that can’t shoot free throws and what do they do in practice all week?”..He puts no responsibility on the coaches for this and I think that’s BS.
Love to get others’ view on this.
Pitt on last thread for NCAA.
Lack of even a part time center is a killer.
On the other hand (warning: pro-Dixon comment coming!!!), last year I looked up the stats and found that the average ranked recruiting class for Dixon was around 45 or so, yet the average end of year ranking was for the past 10 years below 20. So he is doing something right in practice. (and something wrong in recruiting).
“Hating”, “Hater” ………..the second most watered down word next to racist in our society.
The words used to be powerful and really mean something, now they are so overused, and used
so offhandedly, that they mean jack shit anymore.
Hater?? I think today it means “your opinion is different and I don’t like it”.
Good question! What astounded me during the Wake game was how M. Young missed a boat load of baskets at the rim and at the same time he steps out and drains 2 out of 2 from the 3 point line. HUH??????? M Young usually shoots a pretty good percentage from inside but certainly not last game.
Also, did anyone else CRINGE AS SOON AS Jeter released that needless cross court pass in the last minute – which of course was easily intercepted by Wake and turned into winning points? That pass seemed like it was in slow motion to me!
Also, it looks like Texas winning last night really hurt us too.
1) how he handles recruiting in all facets. He’s got to get some elite talent (Dokish used to say that all the time before he stopped saying it cause it wasn’t happening.)
2) When and if he gets elite recruits he’s got to use them (not less than 30 minutes per game like Adams) even if it means benching one of his pets.
Jamie gives the program stability and keeps it clear of NCAA interference. His product is usually entertaining.
He’s got a lifetime contract. Accept Pitt hoops for what it is.
We were a premiere team in the BigEast, as Dan-o has noted several times, ESPN would promote us as “Powerhouse Pittsburgh” vs. whoever or words to that effect in their future games promo’s.
In the ACC we are 19 wins and 15 losses, which is pretty ‘middling’. Certainly not anywhere close to what we HAD been in the BigEast.
I think these next few recruiting classes are the key to what direction from ‘middling’ Pitt goes. There is no reason I can see, why Pitt shouldn’t be able to land some premiere talent. And then you have to be willing to use it immediately in the non-con. Make that part of the season more useful than just collecting rent-a-wins. Practice the press, run a trap, etc. also during that part of the season, so when you do find yourself having to us a press for instance, it doesn’t look like it’s the first time you’ve ever used it.
We certainly struggled against some of the bottom feeders of the ACC this year. Even lost to VT & now Wake and struggled mightily against BC, not once but twice. Pitt teams of the past would have blown these type teams off the court. Not inch past them or lose. We’ve lost most of our swagger. Teams don’t dread playing us anymore. We are soft.
We don’t finish strong at the rim. We play with hesitancy and hope the ref blows the whistle to get to the charity stripe. Need to get back to that physicality we all loved in Pitt teams of the past.
The wins against UNC & ND were great, enjoyed them immensely, however realistically how many times are we going to shoot 65% FG and 54% from 3 to beat a team like UNC. Obviously that was an aberration. As was the 59% FG and 50% from 3 against ND.
Again I loved it, wish they could shoot those percentages every game. But it hasn’t been the norm. No way a perimeter shooting team can shoot those %’s except on the rare occasion.
Said it before, repeat it again….really need to land some of these premiere players we have offers out to, …….this season.
settling for “an entertaining team, a coach who graduated his players and gets the most out of them (finally!) in their 4th year” and on and on?? i.e planned mediocrity interrupted by a year or two of above average but disappointing finishes.
Jamie has had few expectations laid on him by previous higher ups and so he has floated along with asst coaches coming and
going like they are on a merry go round and coaching up
lessor and lessor talented recruits. We are paying him over 2 million$$ per year. It’s time for all of us to raise and reinforce expectations ! Here’s what I would like to see:
1. A one, three and five year business plan that included; recruiting, strategy for asst coaches, a look at new offenses and defenses and how the could adapt to today’s and future talent submitted by Jamie yearly to the AD
2. An evaluation post season of the staff’s assets and liabilities
3. Dittos with players assets etc (you don’t know where you are going if you don’t know where you’ve been)
4. A list of Pitt Alum’s suggestions and concerns as expressed by survey pared down to less than 10
All this to be reviewed in a day long meeting with Chancellor,
AD, coaches each postseason followed by a written list of expectations of the staff for the following season.
The days of Jamie not having anyone to answer to but himself have to stop! Ditto the days of low/ no expectations from his bosses and fans!
So while we still need a center and could use help at guard, which may be coming, our forwards are quite capable of competing in the ACC and we are quite deep. Young, Artis, Jeter, Jones, DJ, Luther, Cam J. I would not say any of these guys are lesser talented recruits than we had in the past, but have been asked to play much sooner than has been done because of the weak junior and senior classes.
Need to recruit better slugs !
But Dixon has totally mismanaged the 5 spot, really since McGhee left. That is a long time.