** There was a time just a few off-seasons ago when I used to spend the better part of several Saturday nights enjoying a malt and hops beverage or two (we’ll leave it at that), while throwing out a dozen and a half or so useless personal observations on Pitt Hoops.
** On better days, this practice would at least create some hoops conversation on the PantherLair Hoops message board. At worst, well … mostly just crickets.
** But over the last few off-seasons, other priorities of life have most often taken the place of this weekly ritual. But a post I just read on the Football Board inspired me to give a shot at some thoughts tonight.
** This poster correctly observed that on the Hoops Board "there is very little enthusiasm and the posts are less and less," while still acknowledging it is the slow season for hoops.
** Additionally, this poster made the interesting personal observation regarding: "he has more enthusiasm I have for a football coach who hasn't coached a game at Pitt over Dixon who is so highly regarded."
** I appreciated the sincerity of these thoughts, and don’t even disagree. I recognize that many in the Pitt sports world share this notion. And the point tonight isn’t to change it.
** My point instead is to generate some enthusiasm for the coming Hoops year. I don’t say this because I think I think this coming year will be a great year. But I do think it will be a respectable, a year with results good enough that most Pitt fans can be proud of it.
** To be able to share my thoughts, please suspend for a moment, if you will, any of your more than understandable long-term concerns about the program, and more specifically, any worries about the state of out our recruiting.
** The concerns about recruiting will or won’t be quelled by Dixon’s ability to fill two critical scholarships for the 2016-2017 class. And with the way recruiting has been going of late, it’s hard to be comfortably hopeful about these prospects. But until then, let’s get back to the coming year.
** In his 12 years as Head Coach, one thing should be pretty much an accepted fact for a Dixon coached team. That is -- experienced players matter. And he’ll have lots of them hitting the court starting in November.
** To support this point, allow me to quote a post from a few days back from the very esteemed and extremely knowledgeable poster, B-man, who said: “Consistency and defense (usually) improves with experience. It has in the past for Dixon's teams. If those two areas just improve a little...just a little...the minimum expectations should be accomplished next season.”
** I agree with all of these thoughts, and I encourage hoop fans to check out B-man’s full post on the Center Court Board under the topic titled “hmmm …”
** Still, within B-man’s thoughts, he made no specific mention of Mike Young and Jamel Artis, who in my opinion will be among the 10 best offensive players in the ACC this coming year. I encourage even the least optimistic Pitt Hoop Fans to recognize this.
** And while B-man was good enough to recognize the possible contributions of our otherwise unexciting fifth year transfers, he didn’t even include possible improvements from Chris Jones, who averaged almost 11 PPG against ranked opponents plus Syracuse.
** He also didn’t mention Sheldon Jeter who had a four game stretch in the middle of the ACC season when he scored 56 points.
** If you add up all the names, you’ll find a Pitt roster that should feature ten juniors and seniors, assuming everyone is healthy and Maia is eligible. If you believe as I do that experience matters, that’s a recipe for success.
** To be more specific, I’ll define success as an NCAA tournament berth, and a team that should linger on the fringes of the Top 25 (much like the 13-14 team). This expectation assumes only a moderate improvement from last years’ horrible defense. If somehow our defense can become even decent, then things could get quite a bit more interesting.
** I realize that being optimistic about Pitt Hoops isn’t a very “cool” notion among Pitt fans right now. Actually, to me it seems like the more popular path for many posters is to take “shots” at Pitt Hoops and Coach Dixon at the moment. Part of me even has to acknowledge that this may even be a safer path to guard against looking foolish later.
** Like every Pitt Hoops fan right now, I recognize that things aren’t as highly hopeful as they once were, even just five years ago. Still, speaking only for myself of course, I know I much more enjoy looking forward to what our success just might be for the coming year, even if the likelihood for that success isn’t anything near a certainty. Personally, I just don’t see the harm in believing such.
** Finally, despite any concerns I have with what’s going on with recruiting, I still have more than enough reasons to believe that our Head Coach is indeed a pretty good coach.
** The truth is that I’m either right or I’m wrong about this belief. It's as simple as that. Some agree, while some others don't even think after all this time that he is a capable coach. And there are even others who have issues with his demeanor on the court, or how he shakes hands at the end of a games or how he dances to the Electric Slide. I think it's much better to put all of that nonsense aside and focus on his results.
** Again, I don’t see the harm of believing in believing that Dixon is indeed a pretty good coach, despite any flaws. And I feel pretty good about the years of evidence I have to back up my belief.
** With this, I’ll call it a night. But I hope my fellow Pitt Hoops posters will fill the rest of this thread with your expectations, whether they are optimistic or pessimistic. After all, regardless if they are positive or negative, I’ll always agree that any thoughts on Pitt Hoops are better than no thoughts on Pitt Hoops.
** On better days, this practice would at least create some hoops conversation on the PantherLair Hoops message board. At worst, well … mostly just crickets.
** But over the last few off-seasons, other priorities of life have most often taken the place of this weekly ritual. But a post I just read on the Football Board inspired me to give a shot at some thoughts tonight.
** This poster correctly observed that on the Hoops Board "there is very little enthusiasm and the posts are less and less," while still acknowledging it is the slow season for hoops.
** Additionally, this poster made the interesting personal observation regarding: "he has more enthusiasm I have for a football coach who hasn't coached a game at Pitt over Dixon who is so highly regarded."
** I appreciated the sincerity of these thoughts, and don’t even disagree. I recognize that many in the Pitt sports world share this notion. And the point tonight isn’t to change it.
** My point instead is to generate some enthusiasm for the coming Hoops year. I don’t say this because I think I think this coming year will be a great year. But I do think it will be a respectable, a year with results good enough that most Pitt fans can be proud of it.
** To be able to share my thoughts, please suspend for a moment, if you will, any of your more than understandable long-term concerns about the program, and more specifically, any worries about the state of out our recruiting.
** The concerns about recruiting will or won’t be quelled by Dixon’s ability to fill two critical scholarships for the 2016-2017 class. And with the way recruiting has been going of late, it’s hard to be comfortably hopeful about these prospects. But until then, let’s get back to the coming year.
** In his 12 years as Head Coach, one thing should be pretty much an accepted fact for a Dixon coached team. That is -- experienced players matter. And he’ll have lots of them hitting the court starting in November.
** To support this point, allow me to quote a post from a few days back from the very esteemed and extremely knowledgeable poster, B-man, who said: “Consistency and defense (usually) improves with experience. It has in the past for Dixon's teams. If those two areas just improve a little...just a little...the minimum expectations should be accomplished next season.”
** I agree with all of these thoughts, and I encourage hoop fans to check out B-man’s full post on the Center Court Board under the topic titled “hmmm …”
** Still, within B-man’s thoughts, he made no specific mention of Mike Young and Jamel Artis, who in my opinion will be among the 10 best offensive players in the ACC this coming year. I encourage even the least optimistic Pitt Hoop Fans to recognize this.
** And while B-man was good enough to recognize the possible contributions of our otherwise unexciting fifth year transfers, he didn’t even include possible improvements from Chris Jones, who averaged almost 11 PPG against ranked opponents plus Syracuse.
** He also didn’t mention Sheldon Jeter who had a four game stretch in the middle of the ACC season when he scored 56 points.
** If you add up all the names, you’ll find a Pitt roster that should feature ten juniors and seniors, assuming everyone is healthy and Maia is eligible. If you believe as I do that experience matters, that’s a recipe for success.
** To be more specific, I’ll define success as an NCAA tournament berth, and a team that should linger on the fringes of the Top 25 (much like the 13-14 team). This expectation assumes only a moderate improvement from last years’ horrible defense. If somehow our defense can become even decent, then things could get quite a bit more interesting.
** I realize that being optimistic about Pitt Hoops isn’t a very “cool” notion among Pitt fans right now. Actually, to me it seems like the more popular path for many posters is to take “shots” at Pitt Hoops and Coach Dixon at the moment. Part of me even has to acknowledge that this may even be a safer path to guard against looking foolish later.
** Like every Pitt Hoops fan right now, I recognize that things aren’t as highly hopeful as they once were, even just five years ago. Still, speaking only for myself of course, I know I much more enjoy looking forward to what our success just might be for the coming year, even if the likelihood for that success isn’t anything near a certainty. Personally, I just don’t see the harm in believing such.
** Finally, despite any concerns I have with what’s going on with recruiting, I still have more than enough reasons to believe that our Head Coach is indeed a pretty good coach.
** The truth is that I’m either right or I’m wrong about this belief. It's as simple as that. Some agree, while some others don't even think after all this time that he is a capable coach. And there are even others who have issues with his demeanor on the court, or how he shakes hands at the end of a games or how he dances to the Electric Slide. I think it's much better to put all of that nonsense aside and focus on his results.
** Again, I don’t see the harm of believing in believing that Dixon is indeed a pretty good coach, despite any flaws. And I feel pretty good about the years of evidence I have to back up my belief.
** With this, I’ll call it a night. But I hope my fellow Pitt Hoops posters will fill the rest of this thread with your expectations, whether they are optimistic or pessimistic. After all, regardless if they are positive or negative, I’ll always agree that any thoughts on Pitt Hoops are better than no thoughts on Pitt Hoops.
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