Though I watch every game and attend a few games even though I live in NY, I rarely post on the board. I tend to keep my postings to the football board, but I read all the boards regularly. Some comments:
1. It's obvious to me that Jamie is a victim of his own success. There's no question that for the past 15 years, the Pitt Basketball program has probably had it's best prolonged run in it's history. Undeniable consistency. The benchmark is always winning a championship, and Jamie has actually put that thought in our collective heads. Because let's face it, prior to the arrival of Howland and then Dixon who would have thought it?
2. Jamie Dixon is one of the top 20 coaches in America. I don't think many can question that and the one thing I always wonder when folks want the coach fired is who are you going to get that's going to be better? If I look at this year's team, a team that has 21 wins and 11 losses (albeit against a soft OCC but also close losses on the road to Miami, GT, VT) with little production from the 5 and the 2 spots. Think about that for a minute. You do realize that Duke has 10 losses too right? In fact, I think Coach Dixon has done a great job this year but are there problems? Yes
3. Pitt's rise has been on three basic principles: Defense, Rebounding and Efficiency. Redshirt good high school players (Not elite) develop them and play stiffling man to man defense and efficient offense with minimal turnovers. That was the formula and it has worked.
4. But as we all know that wasn't enough to make deep runs in the NCAA. Aside from one Elite Eight appearance, it became painfully obvious that Pitt needed to change it's formula and I think Jamie has tried to do that . Once you get to the sweet 16 your playing for the most part NBA players and your lack of elite athleticism hurt.
5. He has tried to change the team into a more offensive minded team. He has tried to recruit more athletic wings, though i think he has missed out on some key recruits (Cat Barber, Anya are two that come to mind). It's not like Jamie doesn't realize that in the ACC with programs like Duke/UNC you are competing against teams that have NBA players on the floor at multiple spots. Yesterday's UNC game was a perfect example. Look at the bodies that UNC threw at us and that game was in question with 8 minutes to go.
6. Pitt also has to re-engineer it's recruiting. We used to pull kids in from Philly and NY pretty regularly. You had annual trips to Villanova and MSG as a lure. You had local kids who grew up on the Big East and now he needs to venture to Virgiinia, down south maybe to grab kids. His recruiting base has suddenly changed. So the move to the ACC has not helped but I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
7. I do believe, assuming everyone stays, next year's Pitt team might be the best one in awhile. You will have much more quickness at the guard positions and some additional size in the front court and depth. While I love James Robinson, I think he's been undervalued by many, his inability to consistenly penetrate and stop penetration has been an issue. I think next year we will not have that but we might have more turnovers and it'll be interesting to watch if fans will pine for Robinson.
8. I do think we need to schedule better OCC though I think that's way overrated. We played in Maui last year, in Japan this year (which hurt us when the game was stopped at halftime) went to MSG to play Davidson and the Big Ten challenge but we need better opponents in maybe 2 or 3 other games. A WVU would help and maybe a former Big East team. Next year we have nice little tourney in MSG with good teams.
9. I remember sitting as a Pitt News reporter in a half empty Field House watching Sam Clancy battle for rebounds and thinking how great it would be if we had a decent basketball program. And now, we complain about a team who wins 20 games regularly and gets into the Show. But expectations is not just getting to the Show it's making annual deep runs.
10. So I'm squarely in the camp that getting rid of Jamie would be an absolutely horrible decision. No one is a harsher critic of the program than Jamie himself and don't think he doesn't realize that. BTW, let's also realize that the ACC is a bit of a tobacco road cabal. I know I'll get shit for saying this but having been to Duke, UNC you have to realize that those schools are somewhat protected because of their stature. I'll leave it at that.
Pitt82
1. It's obvious to me that Jamie is a victim of his own success. There's no question that for the past 15 years, the Pitt Basketball program has probably had it's best prolonged run in it's history. Undeniable consistency. The benchmark is always winning a championship, and Jamie has actually put that thought in our collective heads. Because let's face it, prior to the arrival of Howland and then Dixon who would have thought it?
2. Jamie Dixon is one of the top 20 coaches in America. I don't think many can question that and the one thing I always wonder when folks want the coach fired is who are you going to get that's going to be better? If I look at this year's team, a team that has 21 wins and 11 losses (albeit against a soft OCC but also close losses on the road to Miami, GT, VT) with little production from the 5 and the 2 spots. Think about that for a minute. You do realize that Duke has 10 losses too right? In fact, I think Coach Dixon has done a great job this year but are there problems? Yes
3. Pitt's rise has been on three basic principles: Defense, Rebounding and Efficiency. Redshirt good high school players (Not elite) develop them and play stiffling man to man defense and efficient offense with minimal turnovers. That was the formula and it has worked.
4. But as we all know that wasn't enough to make deep runs in the NCAA. Aside from one Elite Eight appearance, it became painfully obvious that Pitt needed to change it's formula and I think Jamie has tried to do that . Once you get to the sweet 16 your playing for the most part NBA players and your lack of elite athleticism hurt.
5. He has tried to change the team into a more offensive minded team. He has tried to recruit more athletic wings, though i think he has missed out on some key recruits (Cat Barber, Anya are two that come to mind). It's not like Jamie doesn't realize that in the ACC with programs like Duke/UNC you are competing against teams that have NBA players on the floor at multiple spots. Yesterday's UNC game was a perfect example. Look at the bodies that UNC threw at us and that game was in question with 8 minutes to go.
6. Pitt also has to re-engineer it's recruiting. We used to pull kids in from Philly and NY pretty regularly. You had annual trips to Villanova and MSG as a lure. You had local kids who grew up on the Big East and now he needs to venture to Virgiinia, down south maybe to grab kids. His recruiting base has suddenly changed. So the move to the ACC has not helped but I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
7. I do believe, assuming everyone stays, next year's Pitt team might be the best one in awhile. You will have much more quickness at the guard positions and some additional size in the front court and depth. While I love James Robinson, I think he's been undervalued by many, his inability to consistenly penetrate and stop penetration has been an issue. I think next year we will not have that but we might have more turnovers and it'll be interesting to watch if fans will pine for Robinson.
8. I do think we need to schedule better OCC though I think that's way overrated. We played in Maui last year, in Japan this year (which hurt us when the game was stopped at halftime) went to MSG to play Davidson and the Big Ten challenge but we need better opponents in maybe 2 or 3 other games. A WVU would help and maybe a former Big East team. Next year we have nice little tourney in MSG with good teams.
9. I remember sitting as a Pitt News reporter in a half empty Field House watching Sam Clancy battle for rebounds and thinking how great it would be if we had a decent basketball program. And now, we complain about a team who wins 20 games regularly and gets into the Show. But expectations is not just getting to the Show it's making annual deep runs.
10. So I'm squarely in the camp that getting rid of Jamie would be an absolutely horrible decision. No one is a harsher critic of the program than Jamie himself and don't think he doesn't realize that. BTW, let's also realize that the ACC is a bit of a tobacco road cabal. I know I'll get shit for saying this but having been to Duke, UNC you have to realize that those schools are somewhat protected because of their stature. I'll leave it at that.
Pitt82
