I'm not sure what Jamie is trying to do with this team, but...

[thebadby2]

it isn't working. They are soft, mentally and physically. The team lacks an identity-it's like they don't know what kind of team they're supposed to be, and they play like that. Real leadership is lacking and has been since Lamar P graduated.

Not sure what the answer is, and it's looking like JD doesn't have it either.

 

[iMissTheOldDays]

Boy how I miss Lamar Patterson ..

 

[Harve74]

it isn't working. They are soft, mentally and physically. The team lacks an identity-it's like they don't know what kind of team they're supposed to be, and they play like that. Real leadership is lacking and has been since Lamar P graduated.

Not sure what the answer is, and it's looking like JD doesn't have it either.

It's painfully obvious Dixon is trying to win with a team that only wants to play offense. There's no identity crisis. We win when we shoot well and can outscore the opposition. We lose when we don't.

Artis took the night off. The announcers basically said that a time or two during the broadcast. Sterling Smith was brought in to shoot. It's nice he has rebounded well, but he has to shoot more than 3 times in 22 minutes. Jeter was coming back from the concussion abd was a hell of himself. Maia is showjng why he was Ivy League. He's overmatched with legit ACC centers. ANO is mostly AWOL. Clemson is not chopped liver. They have a legit ACC roster and record, even if they are not a "name" basketball school. They're 3rd right now and could finish there. We have to do more than just show up to beat almost ANYBODY in this league.

I haven't been enough of a masochist to re-watch it but at least 10 times last night, Panthers simply ignored Clemson players and gave up shots with no defender within two steps of the shooter. That's basically inexcusable but maybe it's OK because frequently, it seemed every time we did get physically close, we got called for a foul.

The team is scoring better than last year. Defensively, it may be headed to becoming as bad or worse. There are no more options on the roster. He's trying all 11 eligible guys to see who is hot. He's been trying to motivate them to play defense for over a year now. For almost half a season, it looked like they had improved at least slightly, then Louisville stole our lunch money and everyone reverted to ignoring the defensive end.

We are what we are. I'm convinced at this point that this group is not going to get a testosterone boost and start playing tough defense.
We will have somewhere between 3 and 6 new players next year, at least 3 recruits plus Nix and Milligan. Maybe it ill change a bit but my guess is until the core of the roster changes, this is what we are and will be.

It's probably vital that we steal enough wins in the next 6 weeks to get to the Tournament, to establish some legitimacy with the next class of recruits in the Summer and Fall recruiting and early signing period. The next class will probably be our core for several years. Kithcart and Manigault are a good start but the November 2016 signees will replace Young and Artis and probably in the post. They are the future of the program, and may determine if Dixon finishes his contract and/or gets extended.

 

[Chairman Moe]

It's probably vital that we steal enough wins in the next 6 weeks to get to the Tournament, to establish some legitimacy with the next class of recruits in the Summer and Fall recruiting and early signing period. The next class will probably be our core for several years. Kithcart and Manigault are a good start but the November 2016 signees will replace Young and Artis and probably in the post. They are the future of the program, and may determine if Dixon finishes his contract and/or gets extended.

Sobering words, my friend, but they echo my feelings. And interesting that you use the word "steal" above in the quoted paragraph . . . clearly, Pitt is not creating enough turnovers and converting those turnovers to points (in transition) as we should. As you also pointed out in one of your replies to another post, we need to rebound better. In football, my matrices are: Most rushing attempts/yds per game (indication of offense/ball retention); fewest turnovers; time of possession. In basketball it is clearly fewest turnovers, points scored off of opponent's turnovers, and most rebounds. Not sure if winning those three always translates into a W, but I'd bet it does the majority of times.

 

[gary2]

It's painfully obvious Dixon is trying to win with a team that only wants to play offense. There's no identity crisis. We win when we shoot well and can outscore the opposition. We lose when we don't.

Artis took the night off. The announcers basically said that a time or two during the broadcast. Sterling Smith was brought in to shoot. It's nice he has rebounded well, but he has to shoot more than 3 times in 22 minutes. Jeter was coming back from the concussion abd was a hell of himself. Maia is showjng why he was Ivy League. He's overmatched with legit ACC centers. ANO is mostly AWOL. Clemson is not chopped liver. They have a legit ACC roster and record, even if they are not a "name" basketball school. They're 3rd right now and could finish there. We have to do more than just show up to beat almost ANYBODY in this league.

I haven't been enough of a masochist to re-watch it but at least 10 times last night, Panthers simply ignored Clemson players and gave up shots with no defender within two steps of the shooter. That's basically inexcusable but maybe it's OK because frequently, it seemed every time we did get physically close, we got called for a foul.

The team is scoring better than last year. Defensively, it may be headed to becoming as bad or worse. There are no more options on the roster. He's trying all 11 eligible guys to see who is hot. He's been trying to motivate them to play defense for over a year now. For almost half a season, it looked like they had improved at least slightly, then Louisville stole our lunch money and everyone reverted to ignoring the defensive end.

We are what we are. I'm convinced at this point that this group is not going to get a testosterone boost and start playing tough defense.
We will have somewhere between 3 and 6 new players next year, at least 3 recruits plus Nix and Milligan. Maybe it ill change a bit but my guess is until the core of the roster changes, this is what we are and will be.

It's probably vital that we steal enough wins in the next 6 weeks to get to the Tournament, to establish some legitimacy with the next class of recruits in the Summer and Fall recruiting and early signing period. The next class will probably be our core for several years. Kithcart and Manigault are a good start but the November 2016 signees will replace Young and Artis and probably in the post. They are the future of the program, and may determine if Dixon finishes his contract and/or gets extended.

I agree with almost all of this.

Harve, my question for you is would you agree we play with more structure (and take less bad or hurried shots) when Maia and Smith are in the game with our core three? I also think our interior defense is better with Maia in the game and we rebound better with Maia and Smith in the game. Smith does need to look for his shot more.

 

[Harve74]

I agree with almost all of this.

Harve, my question for you is would you agree we play with more structure (and take less bad or hurried shots) when Maia and Smith are in the game with our core three? I also think our interior defense is better with Maia in the game and we rebound better with Maia and Smith in the game. Smith does need to look for his shot more.

Sorry, but I'd have to say no. When either is at center, we're playng 4 on 5 on offense, exceot Maia will get his hands on a few rebounds.

I think Maia looked like a very smart addition until the Louisville game. Since then, he has pretty much been abused by every center we've played. I don't know if he lost his confidence or not but even BC's very ordinary posts lit him up for 20 pts. ANO as I said has mostly been AWOL. We haven't seen a A-10 Defensive POY performance by him since the first few games, if then. He's essentially last season's Uchebo, except without the bad knee as an excuse.

I really thought Maia and NAO would add maturity and eat up minutes and fouls. But, they don't draw any fouls. At this point, Jeter and Luther are much more productive against ACC foes.

Smith is needed for defense and reboundng but he HAS to shoot more than 3 times.

 

[gary2]

I think Maia looked like a very smart addition until the Louisville game. Since then, he has pretty much been abused by every center we've played. I don't know if he lost his confidence or not but even BC's very ordinary posts lit him up for 20 pts. ANO as I said has mostly been AWOL. We haven't seen a A-10 Defensive POY performance by him since the first few games, if then. He's essentially last season's Uchebo, except without the bad knee as sn excuse.

I really thought Maia and NAO would add maturity and eat up minutes and fouls. But, they don't draw any fouls. At this point, Jeter and Luther are much more productive against ACC foes.

Smith is needed for defense and reboundng but he HAS to shoot more than 3 times.

I appreciate that opinion.

Could you please address my question concerning "structure"? Thanx

 

[JS School]

They are stagnating on offense because they are not playing hard on defense. Even when they put a little effort into defense they still got poor results, so now it kind of looks like they lost what little heart they had to play on that end of the floor.

Luther looks like the only one who is at least trying to play hard on defense, and I don't think it's just a coincidence that his scoring has picked up in the last two games. You can't just turn it off on defense and turn it on on offense, it doesn't work like that.

 

[PittPoker]

Don't underestimate the impact of that Louisville game. I think that game totally destroyed their self-confidence and they haven't recovered. They have looked pretty bad ever since.

 

[Pittx9]

IMO Jamie going away from his philosophies was the right move with this bunch, but it backfired. It looks to me like the players have too much control. Quite frankly they just don't play very fundamentally well. They've got good players, but they look like they're playing street ball without the physicality. They force up way, way, way too many awful shots. They make horrendous decisions with the ball. I think Jamie needs to take control again.

 

[Harve74]

I appreciate that opinion.

Could you please address my question concerning "structure"? Thanx

I edited my answer just now. To expand further, basically, neither graduate center ever really participates in the offense. If either Luther or Jeter is at 5, they will shot more but they score sometimes too. More scoring options than Mike and Jamel is a positve, IMHO.

 

[gary2]

IMO Jamie going away from his philosophies was the right move with this bunch, but it backfired. It looks to me like the players have too much control. Quite frankly they just don't play very fundamentally well. They've got good players, but they look like they're playing street ball without the physicality. They force up way, way, way too many awful shots. They make horrendous decisions with the ball. I think Jamie needs to take control again.

That's the point I was trying to make with my post asking about structure. It seems to me we play better as a team (on offense and defense) with Maia and Smith in the game. Maia and Smith on a team that surely lack both, provide defense and rebounding. Maia hedges better than our other bigs. He blocks out and screens better than our other bigs. Passes as well as most of our other bigs and is our best post up defender. He is fundamentally sound. A big can contribute while providing little scoring.

With these 2 in the game, we seem to play more as a team and have some identity, structure and flow and are less likely to fall into playing the street ball you describe. I think in recent games the games started to spin out of control with Jamie's first substitutions. I think we would play best with the starting 5 on the floor the majority of the game.

 

[PittPoker]

That's the point I was trying to make with my post asking about structure. It seems to me we play better as a team with Maia and Smith in the game. Maia and Smith on a team that surely lack both, provide defense and rebounding. Maia hedges better than our other bigs. He blocks out and screens better than our other bigs. Passes as well as most of our other bigs and is our best post up defender. He is fundamentally sound. A big can contribute while providing little scoring.

With these 2 in the game, we seem to play more as a team and have some identity and structure and are less likely to fall into playing the street ball you describe. I think in recent games the games started to spin out of control with Jamie's first substitutions. I think we would play best with the starting 5 on the floor the majority of the game.

The only time the whole game we were leading and playing well was the opening 5 minutes with Maia in the game. Then once again and for really no reason Jamie takes him out, puts Adodo in and the rest was history.

 

[Pittx9]

That's the point I was trying to make with my post asking about structure. It seems to me we play better as a team (on offense and defense) with Maia and Smith in the game. Maia and Smith on a team that surely lack both, provide defense and rebounding. Maia hedges better than our other bigs. He blocks out and screens better than our other bigs. Passes as well as most of our other bigs and is our best post up defender. He is fundamentally sound. A big can contribute while providing little scoring.

With these 2 in the game, we seem to play more as a team and have some identity, structure and flow and are less likely to fall into playing the street ball you describe. I think in recent games the games started to spin out of control with Jamie's first substitutions. I think we would play best with the starting 5 on the floor the majority of the game.

That seems to be the best lineup, with Jeter being the 6th man and playing a good bit. ANO just is not working. The starting 5 I think would be pretty good if Smith shoots more. I think he's a great shooter, the more shots he takes I think the better our chances are. Shooting 3 or 4 times a game just doesn't work.

Agree about Maia also. Other than Luther who really isn't a center, we don't have many offensive options at the 5. So I think Maia is our best option, as he is a much better rebounder than ANO IMO. I've noticed as well as you have that when ANO and the other subs first come we seem to fall apart for a few minutes. Personally, I think Jamie is making mass subs way too early.

 

[Delpanther]

They are stagnating on offense because they are not playing hard on defense. Even when they put a little effort into defense they still got poor results, so now it kind of looks like they lost what little heart they had to play on that end of the floor.

Luther looks like the only one who is at least trying to play hard on defense, and I don't think it's just a coincidence that his scoring has picked up in the last two games. You can't just turn it off on defense and turn it on on offense, it doesn't work like that.

Pitt is also stagnating on offense because as the season has progressed we've begun to take poorer shots. There were a slew of shots Pitt took last night that were just horrible , particularly Artis, Wilson and Jones.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

There were a slew of shots Pitt took last night that were just horrible , particularly Artis, Wilson and Jones.

All three of those guys have a tendency to decide that they haven't shot the ball in a while so it is there turn now, so when they get it they do whatever they need to get a shot, no matter how bad that shot is. Jones did it at least once, and does it at least once in just about every game. Wilson did it twice last night and has done it before. Artis did it once when it was so ridiculously obvious what he was doing that Mike Gminski even commented on it.

It would be different if one if these guys was Michael Jordan or something and could get off at least a decent shot pretty much whenever they want it, but we all know that just simply is not the case. This team thrives on offense when it moves the ball and works to get an open shot for whomever comes free. It stagnates on offense when guys decide it's time for them to get theirs and do it all on their own.

 

[We_All_We_Got]

That seems to be the best lineup, with Jeter being the 6th man and playing a good bit. ANO just is not working. The starting 5 I think would be pretty good if Smith shoots more. I think he's a great shooter, the more shots he takes I think the better our chances are. Shooting 3 or 4 times a game just doesn't work.

Agree about Maia also. Other than Luther who really isn't a center, we don't have many offensive options at the 5. So I think Maia is our best option, as he is a much better rebounder than ANO IMO. I've noticed as well as you have that when ANO and the other subs first come we seem to fall apart for a few minutes. Personally, I think Jamie is making mass subs way too early.

Also agree on Maia being the best 5 option out of Maia/ANO/Luther. He seems to be the most 'court savvy' of the 3 in terms of rebound positioning, ability to disrupt driving and passing lanes, and overall awareness of what's developing around him.

Ex. In the FSU game he and Young were able to orchestrate a back door give-and-go, but the entry pass to Maia was a bit delayed. Maia zipped a bounce pass to Young, but it was already too late and thus the play went nowhere. However, it was nice to see communication between the 4 and 5 in attempt to generate offense and showed that maybe Maia can balance some athletic deficiencies with basketball IQ(?)

On the other hand Luther seems to have found some fire the last 2 games that he didn't have earlier in the season. Could be he's starting to believe in himself, or sees that he can snag playing time off ANO, or maybe he is just tired of seeing his team get whipped. Whatever the reason, hopefully this trend continues - having 2 guys (Jeter and Luther) who can come off the bench and make high energy/effort plays can really help a team out if a scoring slump (Gil Brown off the bench ally-oops come to mind).

 

[Zaratoughda]

It's painfully obvious Dixon is trying to win with a team that only wants to play offense. There's no identity crisis. We win when we shoot well and can outscore the opposition. We lose when we don't.

Artis took the night off. The announcers basically said that a time or two during the broadcast. Sterling Smith was brought in to shoot. It's nice he has rebounded well, but he has to shoot more than 3 times in 22 minutes. Jeter was coming back from the concussion abd was a hell of himself. Maia is showjng why he was Ivy League. He's overmatched with legit ACC centers. ANO is mostly AWOL. Clemson is not chopped liver. They have a legit ACC roster and record, even if they are not a "name" basketball school. They're 3rd right now and could finish there. We have to do more than just show up to beat almost ANYBODY in this league.

I haven't been enough of a masochist to re-watch it but at least 10 times last night, Panthers simply ignored Clemson players and gave up shots with no defender within two steps of the shooter. That's basically inexcusable but maybe it's OK because frequently, it seemed every time we did get physically close, we got called for a foul.

The team is scoring better than last year. Defensively, it may be headed to becoming as bad or worse. There are no more options on the roster. He's trying all 11 eligible guys to see who is hot. He's been trying to motivate them to play defense for over a year now. For almost half a season, it looked like they had improved at least slightly, then Louisville stole our lunch money and everyone reverted to ignoring the defensive end.

We are what we are. I'm convinced at this point that this group is not going to get a testosterone boost and start playing tough defense.
We will have somewhere between 3 and 6 new players next year, at least 3 recruits plus Nix and Milligan. Maybe it ill change a bit but my guess is until the core of the roster changes, this is what we are and will be.

It's probably vital that we steal enough wins in the next 6 weeks to get to the Tournament, to establish some legitimacy with the next class of recruits in the Summer and Fall recruiting and early signing period. The next class will probably be our core for several years. Kithcart and Manigault are a good start but the November 2016 signees will replace Young and Artis and probably in the post. They are the future of the program, and may determine if Dixon finishes his contract and/or gets extended.

I *WAS* enough of a masochist to watch the replay... but just the first part. Things were not going bad *UNTIL* Dixon decided to empty his bench. He had Wilson and ANO in for Robinson and Maia due to the latter two picking up a single foul... but shortly after that he sent Robinson back in with Jones, Johnson, Jeter and Luther... and THAT is when things really started to fall apart.

I can't imagine Pitino, Coach K, Boeheim or any other top coach ever doing something like that... EXCEPT when the game is late and lopsided one way or another.

And the worst part about it, is he is doing it EVERY GAME, and that is when we are digging holes for ourselves.

So the question SHOULD be, is it... Jamie Dixon... that is the masochist?

 

[Delpanther]

All three of those guys have a tendency to decide that they haven't shot the ball in a while so it is there turn now, so when they get it they do whatever they need to get a shot, no matter how bad that shot is. Jones did it at least once, and does it at least once in just about every game. Wilson did it twice last night and has done it before. Artis did it once when it was so ridiculously obvious what he was doing that Mike Gminski even commented on it.

It would be different if one if these guys was Michael Jordan or something and could get off at least a decent shot pretty much whenever they want it, but we all know that just simply is not the case. This team thrives on offense when it moves the ball and works to get an open shot for whomever comes free. It stagnates on offense when guys decide it's time for them to get theirs and do it all on their own.

With how poorly the defense has played people have kind of missed the fact that in contrast to earlier in the season when Pitt was taking a lot of shots which were good shots, they now at times look like they're playing street ball on offense. One guy gets the ball and plays one on one and the other 4 stand around and watch! The movement on offense hasn't been what it should be.

 

[Piranha]

The offense is stagnant. Too many guys standing around, not setting good screens, poor ball movement, and soft passes. It looks like they are at a practice rather than a game.

 

[Scruffy the Panther]

The offense is stagnant. Too many guys standing around, not setting good screens, poor ball movement, and soft passes. It looks like they are at a practice rather than a game.

If that's how they practice, that's part of the problem.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

If that's how they practice, that's part of the problem.

Do you really think that's how they practice ?
When the competition gets better shots become more contested and teams that do play good defense make it much more difficult to get open looks.
Something to think about if your team plays poor defense it's hard to practice and get use to tough defense because who are you practicing against.
Ps I've noticed that they don't set good screens

 

[Harve74]

If that's how they practice, that's part of the problem.

Well, if Jeter got his concussion at practice, as reported, that sort of makes "standing around like it's a practice" BS.

Not pointing at Piranha, but we have a lot of so called fans who have no idea what goes on in the program but love to throw stones aftef every loss. There's no question this is a flawed roster and Dixon reached to patch holes with 5th year guys. That woried in the OOC but not so much in the ACC. Janie didn'tvwant to come to this conference. It wasneverca fit for our program but the TV money was the lifelinecwe needed.

Actually, he's done a reasonably good job of retooling for a totally different style of play.

We may NEVER be what we were in the Big East , but then again, we had never been that before either.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

With how poorly the defense has played people have kind of missed the fact that in contrast to earlier in the season when Pitt was taking a lot of shots which were good shots, they now at times look like they're playing street ball on offense. One guy gets the ball and plays one on one and the other 4 stand around and watch! The movement on offense hasn't been what it should be.

Dixon has to use the stick of bench time for long stretches.
And I don't mean a few minutes...i mean a half or a game.

If we are going to lose ugly, I'd prefer it with less talented kids doing what they are coached to do.

 

[20-20Hindsight]

One of the standards of the teams from Howland '02 through Dixon '11 is that we nearly always won the battle of the uncontested/easy baskets. I'm not sure if it was a stated principal or philosophy on the part of the coaches, but it was certainly a consequence. On defense, we never seemed to give up an easy basket - everything was contested. On offense, we'd work the ball so well and wear down a defense so much that we'd often find a man unguarded under the hoop or one who'd sealed off his defender in such a way as to create an easy basket - often with only a few seconds left on the shot clock. It was not uncommon for us to outscore an opponent on the order of 16-4 in terms of easy buckets. That always seemed to give us a 10-12 point cushion that would more than compensate for any outside shooting or FT shooting difficulties.

Whether it was philosophy or consequence, we are SO far away from that right now. It should go without saying that we do not have the players who can regularly beat their man off the dribble (with the exception of M. Young). So we need to create shots some other way - and that's through passing and offensive flow. Whether it's an effect of the officiating, or the (lack of) passion of the players, we don't move well without the ball, and with the exception of Ryan Luther, our screening is awful. More awful is how or players use the screens - off the ball, we don't cut close and hard off screens. Cutters are going through the motions and there are huge gaps between the cutter and the screen. On the ball, we're neither quick or aggressive enough to take advantage of the milliseconds of time and advantage a screen can create. And other than Michael Young, there's really no one who's good enough with the ball to use the dribble to make something happen.

Truth is, we've not really beaten a team that has had a decent defense this season. Syracuse's is probably the best we've faced, but that's an anomaly for several reasons - namely, Jamie's had that one figured out for a long time. Florida State is probably the only other one with a defense that might be considered semi-decent.

Our defense is just bad - by anyone's standards. Since the UL game, we seem confused as to what a foul is, so we just seem to back off altogether. Our guys need to understand that refs still reward aggressiveness and moving one's feet. Our transition D is almost non-existent. It's so bad, that we might as well just send everyone to the offensive glass as it might be the better means of preventing break-aways and transition buckets. But our biggest weakness is that we can't stop anyone off the dribble. And while we do play help D fairly well, our rotation beyond that is often non-existent. Spread us out and then one dribble drive and one pass is usually the simple formula that beats us.

I don't know how Jamie gets this team better for the rest of the season. I don't know how many Ws are even possible in the remaining 10 games. 3 or 4 might be a realistic guess right now, unless something changes dramatically.