Dixon and Jay Wright

[Chescat]

I guess we can all remember on this board the comparisons made between these two back
when they competed in the old Big East. They each were young, rising head coaches and
both beat and lost to the other. I felt Jamie was the better of the two (despite the disastrous
Scotty Reynolds last second lay up). We were more often than not able to out physical them,
while they as always had stellar guard play. What we saw last night was typical Nova Bball.
Wright has a reputation and a well documented history for recruiting top level guards and
fitting them to his guard oriented offense (think he'd recruit any of our guards? LOL). Nova's guards
all seem able to handle, distribute, shoot well, and hustle on D.....seems like they got every
loose ball last night.

Having said all that......what a difference NOW in the two coaches and their respective programs.
Wright has been ale to build off his success and continue to recruit even better players than
before. No need for me to mention the fall off in Jamie's recruiting. So..... why the big difference??
Nova is in a weakened Big East, Pitt is in a stronger ACC. Nova is on the Philly main line and is
not an urban school as is Pitt. They get many players from the east coast, but not all from there.
So, in YOUR opinion, (I'll at least for now, not give mine...that's a change! LOL) what has caused
these two coaches to have gotten their programs to where they are now?

 

[Piranha]

I guess we can all remember on this board the comparisons made between these two back
when they competed in the old Big East. They each were young, rising head coaches and
both beat and lost to the other. I felt Jamie was the better of the two (despite the disastrous
Scotty Reynolds last second lay up). We were more often than not able to out physical them,
while they as always had stellar guard play. What we saw last night was typical Nova Bball.
Wright has a reputation and a well documented history for recruiting top level guards and
fitting them to his guard oriented offense (think he'd recruit any of our guards? LOL). Nova's guards
all seem able to handle, distribute, shoot well, and hustle on D.....seems like they got every
loose ball last night.

Having said all that......what a difference NOW in the two coaches and their respective programs.
Wright has been ale to build off his success and continue to recruit even better players than
before. No need for me to mention the fall off in Jamie's recruiting. So..... why the big difference??
Nova is in a weakened Big East, Pitt is in a stronger ACC. Nova is on the Philly main line and is
not an urban school as is Pitt. They get many players from the east coast, but not all from there.
So, in YOUR opinion, (I'll at least for now, not give mine...that's a change! LOL) what has caused
these two coaches to have gotten their programs to where they are now?

Recruiting and kids want to play in Jay Wright's system. JD wants to pound a square peg into a round hole if need be whereas Jay is a better recruiter and landed good players that fit into what he wants to do.

 

[pittguy81]

The difference between their respective programs? Nova is better than TCU

 

[Cap pitt]

I know the Dixon chapter is over in the book of Pitt basketball and he is no longer relevant, he had a really good run at Pitt the first eight years and regressed over the last five, he is gone now, on his own I might add, move on to the next chapter, let TCU post about him now

 

[maxxwell]

Yeah, it's kind of funny because other than that, (likely) most important game, it seems we fairly dominated them. No real insight but, hazarding a guess, with the realignment in the Big East, 'Nova is the Top Dog and is getting better access to players as a result. Meanwhile, we're in the middle of a highly competitive conference without any real recruiting advantage.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I guess we can all remember on this board the comparisons made between these two back
when they competed in the old Big East. They each were young, rising head coaches and
both beat and lost to the other. I felt Jamie was the better of the two (despite the disastrous
Scotty Reynolds last second lay up). We were more often than not able to out physical them,
while they as always had stellar guard play. What we saw last night was typical Nova Bball.
Wright has a reputation and a well documented history for recruiting top level guards and
fitting them to his guard oriented offense (think he'd recruit any of our guards? LOL). Nova's guards
all seem able to handle, distribute, shoot well, and hustle on D.....seems like they got every
loose ball last night.

Having said all that......what a difference NOW in the two coaches and their respective programs.
Wright has been ale to build off his success and continue to recruit even better players than
before. No need for me to mention the fall off in Jamie's recruiting. So..... why the big difference??
Nova is in a weakened Big East, Pitt is in a stronger ACC. Nova is on the Philly main line and is
not an urban school as is Pitt. They get many players from the east coast, but not all from there.
So, in YOUR opinion, (I'll at least for now, not give mine...that's a change! LOL) what has caused
these two coaches to have gotten their programs to where they are now?

Personality and Perception. That's it. Jay Wright has the personality of a talk show host while Jamie is a nice guy but doesn't speak or articulate as well.

Wright is perceived to be a guard-friendly offensive "fun" coach while Jamie is perceived to be a defense/rebounding/physical/tough play/grind it out coach who isnt "fun" to play for.