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Maia

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Mike83

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Jul 5, 2001
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Maia has exceeded all my expectations this year. Most (me included) yawned when he was recruited as a 5th year transfer. He is a legit major college rebounder, passes well, hustles 100% of the time, and seems to be an excellent teammate and very coachable.

Anyone wonder what could have been if he had been in the Pitt program since his frosh year. Four years in the training program building his body, working with this staff, you would think he'd be even a bigger contributor this year to what has developed into a pretty good basketball team.
 
Mike83 said:
Maia has exceeded all my expectations this year. Most (me included) yawned when he was recruited as a 5th year transfer. He is a legit major college rebounder, passes well, hustles 100% of the time, and seems to be an excellent teammate and very coachable.

Anyone wonder what could have been if he had been in the Pitt program since his frosh year. Four years in the training program building his body, working with this staff, you would think he'd be even a bigger contributor this year to what has developed into a pretty good basketball team.
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He's built like one of the old barrel-chested Boston Celtics: Kevin McHale or Bailey Howell. Elevates about the same as they did, too. But I get a kick out of watching a guy like Maia use his size, savvy, box-out technique and positioning to get the job done.
 
How many of you guffawed yesterday when he made the steal and started lumbering down the field? He was gassed by the time he wanted to go up for a layup. But, mad props for the active hands.
 
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Our three grad transfers aren't putting up huge stats, but they are all contibuting a lot. Some value added things are things that don't get into the box score, like boxing out so a team mate gets a rebound, sealing off a defender so a teammate gets a layup, or deflecting an opponents pass. Maia especially has been one of those glue guys. He won't put up a lot of stats, but his play has added so much to the team that we didn't have last year.
 
KGSB Panther said:
How many of you guffawed yesterday when he made the steal and started lumbering down the field? He was gassed by the time he wanted to go up for a layup. But, mad props for the active hands.
Click to expand...

It was pretty amusing. I had a hard time being upset at that though, because that was one of the few turnovers we forced yesterday.
 
KiwiJeff said:
Our three grad transfers aren't putting up huge stats, but they are all contibuting a lot. Some value added things are things that don't get into the box score, like boxing out so a team mate gets a rebound, sealing off a defender so a teammate gets a layup, or deflecting an opponents pass. Maia especially has been one of those glue guys. He won't put up a lot of stats, but his play has added so much to the team that we didn't have last year.
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I don't know, his rebounding stats are pretty darn good.
 
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KGSB Panther said:
How many of you guffawed yesterday when he made the steal and started lumbering down the field? He was gassed by the time he wanted to go up for a layup. But, mad props for the active hands.
Click to expand...

That was one of the best / worst things I've ever seen. It was great. It was a slow break.

The transformation in his game and body from the beginning of the year to now is great. He was out of shape due to a number of injuries that kept him from working out. When you saw him, you could really tell. He has really transformed himself. Taking a page from the Shaq playbook and playing himself into shape.
 
I greatly enjoy him.

As some noted, kid might be the most physically limited player we will see play any substantial minutes all year, but has all kinds of moxie.
 
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Maia should be in more - guy has really come on and his rebounding has been great lately.
 
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PittMan 72 said:
He's built like one of the old barrel-chested Boston Celtics: Kevin McHale or Bailey Howell. Elevates about the same as they did, too. But I get a kick out of watching a guy like Maia use his size, savvy, box-out technique and positioning to get the job done.
Click to expand...
Announcers jokingly said Maia has a 4.5 inch vertical leap. Then, gave him high marks on his rebounding capability.
 
I see him as somewhat comparable with Gary McGhee even if not as athletic. monster rebounder, who at best might score 5-6 ppg.
 
ANO and Sterling Smith both decided to transfer here for their final year of eligibility. Maia, HAD to transfer because in the Ivy League he was not eligible to play another year and he decided to come here for his last year.

It is interesting to see if these players get what they hoped for in coming here.

I think the chemistry for these players with the rest of the team is good and maybe outstanding.

Smith though... needs to improve his game re the competition in the ACC.... but it seems as if he is getting there.

ANO... has to adjust to coming off the bench after starting the first part of the year... but he seems to be getting there also.

I should say... there are teams with more athletic Cs where ANO is probably the better choice than Maia. You STILL want to start the bigger player (Maia) to wear the opposing C down a bit but then play the more athletic player more.

Louisville is such a team. Their C (Onuaku) is 6'10" but just 230 and is scoring 10.1 PPG with a 647 FG% (!!). Was watching him against Clemson and he seemed almost unstoppable with an overhand hook shot. ANO, might be able to give this guy some problems, moreso than Maia, with his reach and shot blocking ability.

Yeah, Onuaku got injured in the Clemson game and ended up sitting much of the first half. Ended up with 14 points on 7-8 shooting and 10 rebounds... this in just 20 minutes. The guy is a good player.

Edit: Oh yeah, ANO also has to stop committing unnecessary fouls. This has been an ongoing problem and Dixon sent him out there against ND and he had an unnecessary foul and Dixon sat him right down. A little later Maia got his second foul so Dixon sent ANO out there again and he had another unnecessary foul (hand check). Yeah, this is when Dixon decided to play Young at C and that is when Young got 3 fouls in a bit over a minute.
 
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Zaratoughda said:
Smith though... needs to improve his game re the competition in the ACC.... but it seems as if he is getting there.
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I agree with with your entire post. However, I have to say, Smith is an extremely proficient rebounder for his size/position. Watch him next game... he has a real knack for getting to the loose ball.
 
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The Sisco Kid said:
g

good question.
Click to expand...

Maia has been getting destroyed by opposing bigs, giving up short put-backs and dunks repeatedly to the better post players in recent games. And, he adds zero offensively Dixon has had no choice but to sit him in recent games. Replacing him with ANO has been useless too. Actually, our best post defender last night was Luther. He held Abu down pretty well in the first half but played litte if at all in the 2nd half.

Maia is limited in what he can do physically. Were he a part of the old Pitt defense, leaning on the opponent, getting help from guys doubling down and packing the lane, he might be fine, but with the rules today, he's frequently overmatched.
 
Harve74 said:
Maia has been getting destroyed by opposing bigs, giving up short put-backs and dunks repeatedly to the better post players in recent games. And, he adds zero offensively Dixon has had no choice but to sit him in recent games. Replacing him with ANO has been useless too. Actually, our best post defender last night was Luther. He held Abu down pretty well in the first half but played litte if at all in the 2nd half.

Maia is limited in what he can do physically. Were he a part of the old Pitt defense, leaning on the opponent, getting help from guys doubling down and packing the lane, he might be fine, but with the rules today, he's frequently overmatched.
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I disagree with this totally. Maia has a knack for making contact that is limited enough not to get called for a foul, yet effective enough to disrupt the shooter. That is exactly what he did on NC State's first attempt down low and I also think he played effectively against good inside players for Geo.Tech and ND. They scored and rebounded some, but we did not get overwhelmed like we did last night.

Maia also rebounds, disrupts passes, boxes out, screens and passes well. He gets open too, even if he doesn't always finish. He is a poor foul shooter. When Maia and Smith are in the game we concentrate on getting the ball to who should have it - Young and Artis. When they are not in the game, we see a lot more one on one than (it is my turn to take a shot) play. Several posters referenced this in a different manner (We got out of our offense - lost our poise - played too fast - forced things, etc)

I hope we are not seeing a rerun of last year. We started out trying to play a center only to abandon it and go with Mike Young or even Jeter at center. I think that was a mistake last year (even with the centers we had - I would have continued to play Randall and Joe) and it would be a mistake this season with marginal upgrades at center. Not everybody needs to be a star or even look the part.

Maia and Smith have been solid contributors to our success against everybody, not just the cupcakes. I think Jamie would be making a mistake to move away from what has basically worked. I believe we can still have a fine season if we stay with what has taken us to this point. I really don't want to see Mike Young playing big minutes at center. I really do not think Cam Johnson is ready for big minutes in ACC play. Jamie has been good with experienced teams - we should ride our experience.
 
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gary2 said:
I disagree with this totally. Maia has a knack for making contact that is limited enough not to get called for a foul, yet effective enough to disrupt the shooter. That is exactly what he did on NC State's first attempt down low and I also think he played effectively against good inside players for Geo.Tech and ND. They scored and rebounded some, but we did not get overwhelmed like we did last night.

Maia also rebounds, disrupts passes, boxes out, screens and passes well. He gets open too, even if he doesn't always finish. He is a poor foul shooter. When Maia and Smith are in the game we concentrate on getting the ball to who should have it - Young and Artis. When they are not in the game, we see a lot more one on one than (it is my turn to take a shot) play. Several posters referenced this in a different manner (We got out of our offense - lost our poise - played too fast - forced things, etc)

I hope we are not seeing a rerun of last year. We started out trying to play a center only to abandon it and go with Mike Young at center. I think that was a mistake last year (even with the centers we had - I would have continued to play Randall and Joe) and it would be a mistake this season with marginal upgrades at center. Not everybody needs to be a star or even look the part.

Maia and Smith have been solid contributors to our success against everybody, not just the cupcakes. I think Jamie would be making a mistake to move away from what has basically worked. I believe we can still have a fine season if we stay with what has taken us to this point. I really don't want to see Mike Young playing big minutes at center. I really do not think Cam Johnson is ready for big minutes in ACC play. Jamie has been good with experienced teams - we should ride our experience.
Click to expand...
He wasn't effective at rebounding or playing defense last night.
We're talking about this one game...
he's usual a positive contributor.
 
SoufOaklin4Life said:
He wasn't effective at rebounding or playing defense last night.
We're talking about this one game...
he's usual a positive contributor.
Click to expand...

If it was only about one game, I would not be posting this. Protes posted and I have seen, at the first sign of trouble Jamie takes Maia out, then goes to Odoba and then (maybe Luther) finally just plays Jeter. Sometimes, Maia never returns (although he did get to return and be effective in the second half against BC). Harve just posted about Maia being ineffective in recent games and being so physically limited.

Like I said, I have seen this act before. I fear Jamie is moving to a front line of Young, Jeter and Artis. That puts our three best players on the floor together, but in my opinion, does not result in our best team.
 
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gary2 said:
If it was only about one game, I would not be posting this. Protes posted and I have seen, at the first sign of trouble Jamie takes Maia out, then goes to Odoba and then (maybe Luther) finally just plays Jeter. Sometimes, Maia never returns (although he did get to return and be effective in the second half against BC). Harve just posted about Maia being ineffective in recent games and being so physically limited.

Like I said, I have seen this act before. I fear Jamie is moving to a front line of Young, Jeter and Artis. That puts our three best players on the floor together, but in my opinion, does not result in our best team.
Click to expand...
I'm specifically talking about Maia playing poorly last night which limited his minutes.
 
9 mins is not enough PT for him. Maia and Young are best when paired together with Artis at the 3.
 
I still think Maia is the best we have and we have to stick with him. It is sad but true.

1 rebound...I get it. Guess what... it was worse when he wasn't out there. The entire team was hot garbage. ANO was a disaster. He had a Gary McGee redshirt-freshman type of game last night. Can't comment on Luther because I had already turned off the game by then (and I am glad I did).
 
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