This will be the start of an erratic review of the past season. Something a little new for me. I’m going to bounce around a bit as I look back on the past basketball season and games to try and figure out some of what we saw.
This was not a fun season for the team or the fans. The maddening inconsistencies, the horrid defense, hot or cold offense. Recency bias may play a role in it, but this season seemed worse than the disastrous 2011-12 season.
First up, the last game. Opening NIT game with George Washington. It seemed to be the summary of all the negatives of the season in one game.
The players did not want to do this. Oh, they can say other wise. Coach Jamie Dixon can say otherwise.
“Obviously, we have a disappointed group,” Dixon said. “I know we are better team than what we played —– this is how we perform. We had good practices, and I know the guys were excited about playing, so I can’t fault our effort and the fact we outrebounded them would suggest as much.
“Certainly the turnovers really hurt us, some of the passes and decisions we made are not what we normally do. We had opportunities, we fought back, it just got to a stretch where we couldn’t make the shot and we missed some free throws.
“This is a tough one because this is not the team we thought we could be this year. but this is how we finished [with five losses in a row].”
He can try and chalk it up to just a bad game. But when that was the fifth straight loss, it was something else.
The players tried to play it off as just not getting it done.
Pitt point guard James Robinson was asked if it was difficult for the Panthers to get motivated for the game given the disappointment of missing the NCAA tournament. He simply responded, “no, not at all, we prepared for this game, we just didn’t get it done.”
Like a mantra.
“It may be puzzling to ya’ll, but we just didn’t get it done,” said sophomore Michael Young, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
[Emphasis added.]
Dixon looked as visibly frustrated and dismayed as I felt during the game. Actually sitting down at times. The shirt coming untucked — I’ve never seen the latter in any game with Dixon.
And maybe the players did practice well. Maybe they did get prepared and wanted to play. Or at least that is what they told themselves. But when they stepped out on the court, it was something else.
The body language from the start seemed to be one of apathy. At best, it was an unwarranted overconfidence that George Washington would just roll over for Pitt.
The unwarranted overconfidence seemed like a theme all season. There is nothing wrong with confidence and believing in yourself and your teammates. At many times, though, it seemed like this team came out on the court expecting opponents to be the ones in awe of them.
Pitt shot 48.9% overall, but in that final 6:30 were only 1-8 with a slew of turnovers and 4-10 on FTs. (Five different players shot FTs in that grouping. Cam Wright was a baffling — even by his standards — 3-9 at the free throw line for the game while shooting 4-6. The late game yips, though, were a group effort.)
That kind of huge empty in scoring is why some thought this team was ineffective on offense. The issue, though, was not being ineffective. It was inconsistency. Again, a season long theme. Yes, there were games where there was no offense the entire way — just as we all know about the games where the offense was outstanding throughout. But more often than not, it was that Pitt would go on spells where they were flowing and scoring. Then reverse and look like a clueless team on the offense.
The defense. That was ineffective all year. That was consistently bad. The offense was simply erratic. This is where that attitude or chemistry of the team comes into question. No, they were never going to be a strong defensive team, but they should not have been as bad as they were.
This was a team that did not handle adversity well, and that fed into bad defensive efforts/habits. When they were not seeing their shots go or got stopped by teams playing better defense. They did not redouble their efforts on either end of the floor. Instead you saw visible frustration and a lot more players deciding that they were going to do it themselves. Leading to more wild shots, more stupid frustration fouls, more timeouts being needed to be called to try and get the players to be a team.
I’ve never watched the end of a Pitt game and thought, “On the bright side, this season is finally over.” That’s what I felt at the end. Some relief that this iteration of Pitt basketball was done. That there could be a reset.
My friends (w/ blue & gold glasses) keep looking back on the past 10 years with the idea that Pitt is an elite basketball program worthy of mention with some of the top tier programs. Unfortunately, the general public only looks at success in March as a barometer of success. While Pitt has enjoyed a high level of regular season success over the past 15 years, the only time Pitt made a regional final was when a transformational local talent (Dejuan Blair) stayed at home. My overall thesis is that Pitt basketball will never be Final 4 level elite unless Western PA begins developing transformational local talent….and those individuals choose Pitt. In the ACC, Pitt is never going to win the battle for elite talent with the likes of Duke, UNC, Syracuse, and Louisville. However, the reality is that western PA has never produced an abundance of elite NBA basketball talent over the past 25 years. This is why recruiting is so important, and why Pitt is seemingly always at a disadvantage despite being in an urban environment with above average facilities.
When I noticed that Wisconsin’s 2015 team featured 3 prominent players from the state of Wisconsin, I went back and charted regional final appearances since 1980 (the ESPN era). I think 35 years provides a long enough sample set to put things into perspective. Over the past 35 years, Pitt has reached a regional final (Elite 8) only 1 time, despite playing in the Big East and ACC, two of America’s premier basketball conferences. When you measure success in the context of regional final appearances, the results are pretty bleak if you look at the results objectively.
Compare Pitt’s 1 regional final to the success of basketball programs from the Eastern part of the state. Villanova (6), Temple (5), and St. Joe’s (2) have made it to the Elite 8 a combined 13 times in the past 35 years, despite the fact that Temple and St. Joe’s are in the Atlantic 10 (f/k/a Eastern 8). Does anybody think Pitt was truly better off in the Big East vs. the Eastern 8? The Eastern 8 conference seemed to work for Temple and St. Joe’s…or was it just the fact that these schools have access to abundant Philly talent. When you compare the success of the old Big East teams, Providence, Seton Hall, Boston College, and West Virginia all made 2 appearances in the Elite 8. I can remember when UCONN was a joke program that did not even have basketball facilities. Well, UCONN played in 10 regional finals and other Big East powers Georgetown and Syracuse played in 8, and 6, respectively. They should be building 20 foot statues of Calhoun for how he transformed that program.
Compare Pitt’s success over the last 35 years to programs from Ohio. I think this is a fair comparison given the geography. Ohio St. has played in 5 regional finals and Cincinnati (under Huggins) played in 3. Even lesser names like Dayton (’84, ’14) and Xavier (’04, ’08) have made 2 appearances in the Elite 8, one more than Pitt. Ohio schools have made 12 appearances in the regional final, on par with Pennsylvania’s 14 appearances. Is there more elite basketball talent in Cincinnati and Cleveland than Western PA? I think it underscores the importance of coaching at schools that cannot attract NBA level talent.
How does Pitt’s NCAA tournament success compare to other schools in the ACC? Pitt has the same number of regional final appearances as FSU (’93), Clemson (’80), and Notre Dame (’15). Traditional powers UNC, Duke, and Louisville have reached the regional final 18, 16, and 11 times, respectively. The only ACC teams to never reach the Elite 8 are Miami and Virginia Tech and Miami should have an asterisk because they dropped basketball from 1971 to 1985 and had to start over. The only Big 10 schools to not make at least 2 appearances in the Elite 8 are Northwestern, Penn St., Nebraska, and Rutgers. Yes, Minnesota (’90, ’97) and Iowa (’80, ’87) have both made it to the Elite 8 on two occasions over the past 35 years, albeit with some cheating in the case of Minnesota. Purdue has made it 3 times (’80, ’94, ’00) for those interested.
This success or lack thereof for Pitt basketball is why some of us on this blog are just tired. Tired of hearing about Big East winning percentage, kids that are academic overachievers, records against non-conference cupcakes, waiting for next year, etc. Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon have done a tremendous job bringing Pitt basketball back to a level of respectability, but many of us are still waiting for one magical run in March. I am 38 now, and after the move to the ACC, I really don’t see that happening in my lifetime unless Western PA becomes a basketball hotbed. Jamie Dixon is likely going to keep Pitt competitive in the ACC, but his system is never going to attract the kind of offensive talent that is required to take a team deep in March. While hope is always 1 player away, remember that Pitt has had the same number of Elite 8 appearances as Navy over the past 35 years. And the irony…..they hired the Navy coach (Paul Evans) and he couldn’t get Pitt there despite fielding the 2 most talented rosters in the last 35 years. And Calipari was the recruiter!!!!
GC – Dixon hires the coaches. They dont just show up. He like Chryst wants Yes Men around him. That staff is barely overwualified to coach the Gannon Womans Team.
1) like it or not, JD is the most successful BB coach in Pitt history
2) he has turned down at least 3 higher paying opportunities
3) he has not done anything to shed any negative light on Pitt … whether it be recruiting violations or personal behavior .. unlike a few coaches listed in dallas mike’s post.
4) Pitt has had more scholar athletes honored by the ACC than any other school since it became a member
Does any of this count? .. give him a longer leash?
Smug Smile Steve took all of your points into consideration when he extended Dixon’s contract through 2023. He gave Dixon a very long leash.
We can all argue about whether the current state of the basketball team is good enough, but that debate is really just academic. Pitt will not fire a coach who is doing all the things that wbb cited and is fielding an “OK” basketball when it would cost them well north of $10 million to rid of him. PERIOD.
I am of the opinion that Pitt could do better, but have resigned myself to the fact that Jamie will be the coach, barring something crazy happening, for AT LEAST FOUR (4) MORE YEARS.
Won’t be renewing my season tickets, mostly because of other priorities, but partly because the team just isn’t fun to watch.
After watching the NCAA tournament games live at Consol, I realized how much the game and Pitt’s team has changed since 2009. Pitt has nowhere near the speed and athleticism to truly compete for an ACC championship or for a final four.
You might get to be as old as some of us and still….are waiting…for that magical March run.
Overall I think the tease, is worse than just being irrelevant.
My guess is the word is ‘out on the street’ that playing for Dixon is not fun at all.
Nor does it get you into the NBA. Which is what any recruited player’s dreams are. To play in the NBA.
Unlike Pitt football which is the epitome of mediocrity over the last 30 years. Pitt football still is a decent route to the NFL. Pitt football has and is producing 1st round NFL picks who go on to super-stardom in the NFL.
On the other hand, since 2001, Pitt basketball for all it’s win’s and appearances on national TV broadcasts and many more on regional TV broadcasts, has produced 4 NBA players. None of which made any impact at all in the NBA and of which only one was even a first round pick. ** Adams might still make an impact, but that is not a given and he was from NZ, so that is not going to help in recruiting kids from America’s basketball inner cities.
If you don’t think other coaches use this against Pitt, you are sorely mistaken.
So in 12 years, 4 NBA players, 2 of which aren’t in the league anymore. The 3rd is the 12th man on his team and hardly plays.
Despite Pitt being in the highest profile basketball league and being at the top of that highest profile league for a decade, it has not helped in Pitt’s recruiting. Nor has the dozens of times Pitt has played on national broadcasts and hundreds of times Pitt has played on regional broadcasts. Again in the highest profile league in the country being beamed into NYC, DC, Philly, Boston, Up & Down the Eastern Seaboard, etc.
For this reason, Dixon has got to move on.
He has spent his wad and the gig is up.
I am meeting with some basketball well heeled alums at the game Saturday and will try to get some inside info on recruiting. My fear with Jamie/ staff is that we will not get a single new recruit and lose Herron to boot. His rep as a micro managing coach has gotten that bad.
It appears, just as Reed had indicated some time ago, that the priority is SCHOLAR athletes in both FB and BB with the W/Ls a secondary consideration. There is nothing wrong with that I suppose, but that should been made known to all alums and fans. I would have to believe that this is a Nordy directive given to SP.
How does Gonzaga do it located in little Spokane Wash.? Trust me, it is not the garden spot of Wash. State. PITT’s campus and City amenities have it beat. Plus Pitt should have a much larger budget for recruiting. There are a number of other schools with less to offer a player than PITT and still manage to recruit a solid big man.
Something went wrong and real fast.
Somebody has to start working a lot harder fast!!!!
Old Pitt Grad – good comment. And it’s not just Gonzaga. There were very few teams that were hurting for big men like we were last year. I don’t know why NC st pops out at me, but they have a whole group of big men, none of which are particulary good, and all of which looked like monsters against us. And the lack of athletic guards again… Uh…yeah. I think it’s recruiting.
Although the numbers are down with the population, Pitt has done very well with local guys like Marino, Dorsett, Fralic, Revis, Donald etc. Very few greats in basketball, while, Blair and Mooney were outstanding, not NBA HOF guys.
I have never thought Diallo would come to Pitt.
However, I think you all have missed a main point. I think one big problem is we have an on-campus arena. Move our program to the Consul Center, and watch the One-And-Dones come running to Pitt!
