Wisconsin beating Xavier shows we could have been a Sweet 16 team with the right bounces......but I'm kind of sick about the fact that a Syracuse team that we beat 3 times could make the Elite 8
Maybe we were better than it seemed
- Thread starter jfk6668
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Played half the sweet 16 and were 5-5-1. So 1/3 of our schedule was against sweet 16 teams (with 2 more vs UL).
At least one we beat at their place is going to elite 8 (ND or Cuse)
Jamie would be perfect studio host given his familiarity with these teams and give even more attention to his chosen place of employment next year.
At least one we beat at their place is going to elite 8 (ND or Cuse)
Jamie would be perfect studio host given his familiarity with these teams and give even more attention to his chosen place of employment next year.
Beat me to it.
Went 10-10 overall in what is apparently the best hoops conference around.
It's funny. I mean, if Pitt football were in the Sec West and went 4-4 in conference 8-4 overall and someone like Wanny was the coach, you'd be worshipping guy.
No, I don't think so. We were 2-7 versus the RPI top 50 and had 1 win over a RPI top 25 team. Nothing else need be said.
SU caught an incredibly lucky break with the MSU debacle. I you played that game 100 times MTSU might win once, and Friday happened to be their one in a hundred day. If MSU had managed to fight its way to a win and survive their scare in Round 1, SU would have been in big trouble.
To quote Ty Webb, we weren't.....we weren't........we weren't.......... good...........
Really? How many coaches stay at the same school for 7 years, period? You think Roy Williams or heaven forbid Coach K would survive missing the Sweet 16 for 7 straight years? No coach would be safe, Pitino, Calipari, none of them.
Only if you are satisfied with mediocrity would you be safe.
At first. If it continued for 4 to 5 years then the worship would wear off. Unless being average is what the fan base is satisfied with.
No Pitt fan is satisfied with Pitts post season results or the current downtrend in talent but your comparing apples to oranges. Pitt may play in the same league as 3 of those schools ,but isn't in the same league in history or tradition and will never be . The commitment at the top to reach those heights just isn't there.
I just don't see any coach in college basketball today surviving with so little post season success in recent memory. Syracuse has actually won a championship and been to the finals under Boeheim, so he can get a pass (maybe). Even when Pitt had good regular season records they came up short in the Big East tournament and of course the NCAA tournament.
Everyone can whine and complain all they want ,but the powers to be know what it takes to get to that next level and they don't want to go there bad enough to do the things needed to get there. Recruiting is a dirty business and Pitt doesn't want to take the gloves off and do what it takes .
Not even sure if it really takes money to get good players, I mean were the players at Northern Iowa, Stephen F. Austin, and VCU highly recruited? Today's game relies on having quick guards who can shoot the three, and you can find guys like that everywhere. Pitt has slow guards who can't shoot.
ETA: Having big men who can shoot the three is an even bigger plus.
Like Ryan Luther agree on the guards but recruiting is just a dirty business when a kid can play there's always someone who wants something.
Took Mike Brey 15 years to make the Elite Eight, and he had previously been to the Sweet 16 just once.
Villanova is going to the sweet 16 for the first time since 2009.
Jay Wright hasn't even been near the hot seat.
Jay Wright hasn't even been near the hot seat.
You really just compared Pitt basketball to Duke and North Carolina?
If people are going to call Dixon one of the best coaches in the game then why shouldn't he be compared to Roy Williams and Coach K? He is 3rd in the ACC in per year salary (according to this board).
I just looked Brey up, looks like a similar situation to Dixon. Although Brey took over a program that was crap and made them successful instantly, didn't result in any Final Fours however. Notre Dame is probably happy to just have a competitive basketball team.
Is that what you want for Pitt? To just be competitive, with no real chance at a Final Four?
There's not a single coach I've seen thrown out that makes me think "next level". I think chances are far greater that Dixon maintains Pitt's relevance and is able to capture some lightning in a bottle than they are that Pitt makes a hire that catapults them to some extreme level of prominence.
The only schools that should expect Final Fours are the bluebloods and elites, IMO. The schools that sell themselves. Pitt's nowhere close to elite or blue blood status.
Don't shift the goalpost, hoss. You asked for coaches who go seven years between sweet sixteen appearances and survive. I gave you one.
Pitt is not maintaining their relevance they are quickly becoming irrelevant under Dixon
You aren't irrelevant if you're making the Tournament. Come on. This is just the typical Pittsburgh thing where people focus only on Pitt and consider themselves to watch a lot of college basketball because they see every Pitt game and watch Tournament games.
I typed "Jay Wright fired" into google and there was one message board discussion that stated "nova students want Jay Wright fired" and another discussion that asked the question "if Jay Wright were at a bigger school would he have been fired by now".
It isn't just Dixon that has faced these questions, when you don't win for an extended period of time a change at the top is the first question that goes through most fans' minds.
they are a 10 seed. On the bubble for the last two seasons (went to the NIT last year).
I wouldn't call that relevant.
So what do you call Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, or Florida State? Fine line between those schools and Pitt, objectively speaking. They're sub-elite programs who don't necessarily sell themselves.
LOL, that is some real in depth i-net investigating there. Jay Wright should be thanking his lucky stars.
Again, you said that coaches wouldn't survive. Wright survived. Brey survived. Mark Few went from 2009 until 2015 without a sweet sixteen. None of these guys got fired.
they are in the same situation as Pitt, I really don't know how FSU's coach has lasted this long. Danny Manning will be shown the door very soon if things don't change. Don't know much about the Clemson/Tech situations
point was that just like Pitt fans are on the net wanting Dixon gone for not winning Nova fans were saying the same thing about Jay Wright. This goes on at any school where a team underperforms. You won't see this at schools where the fanbase doesn't give a sh*t about the program.
And they have better talent than Pitt with poor results to show for it. Dixon would have gotten a top 4 ACC finishout of any of those rosters, IMO.
But whose fault is it for Pitt not having the talent? And again I think "talent" is overrated, I would rather have players who know how to play the game, high basketball IQ. Pitt has lost several games the last several years because of having players with low basketball IQ's.
Probably. The thing that gets me now is that people are damning the recruiting in recent years when, IMO, it's the recruiting from before then that's hurt Pitt.
2009 - Solid class in reality, strong class on paper. Zanna and Patterson both very good as seniors after developing, although Taylor busting was a blow.
2010 - Bad class in reality, another encouraging one on paper though. Epps was ranked Top 40 nationally when he committed and we beat UL head-to-head for Moore.
2011 - HORRIBLE class in reality, best in Dixon's tenure on paper. Totally blew up, although Birch, Gilbert, and DJohnson were all varying levels of heralded.
2012 - Eh in reality, strong on paper. Adams leaving dings it a lot, given how raw he as a frosh.
If Artis and Young return, you have a very solid team next year IMO. Probably Top 25. I think the recruiting recently has actually been better than it was when Pitt was pulling in 5*'s with some level of consistency. The blame is going to the current guys, but I think the 2011 class blowing up on them still hurt.
Then you develop a "system" like UConn, Arizona, Oregon, Iowa State, etc (Bagmen, Boosters, Shell companies with "Jobs", "Tutors") or you make smart hires on the assistant trail, guys who "deliver" players using that same aforementioned system. You think guys appear out of the wood work dreaming of playing in Ames, Iowa or Eugene, Oregon? Either that or you schedule East Liverpool State every year, watch coveted players go elsewhere, grind out 20 win seasons & flameout in the Tourney year after year.
It's not just the lack of NCAAT success with Dixon. Since his run into the Elite 8 in the 2008-2009 season, Dixon's team is 73-53 in conference, finishing the 2010-11 season as the Big East regular season champs. After that magical run, Dixon has not finished higher than 4th in conference, averaging an 8th place finish in conference over the past 5 years; which puts him squarely in the mediocre category.
I'm not a big fan of defining a coach by their success/failure in the NCAAT, but rather like to look at their body of work throughout the season. Unfortunately, Dixon's body of work when it comes to beating quality opponents has been mediocre at best over the past 5 years.
I'm not a big fan of defining a coach by their success/failure in the NCAAT, but rather like to look at their body of work throughout the season. Unfortunately, Dixon's body of work when it comes to beating quality opponents has been mediocre at best over the past 5 years.
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