Stallings vs Bennett

[Sean Miller Fan]

The last time (I think) Kevin Stallings coached against Tony Bennett, Vandy beat Washington State and Klay Thompson to get to the Sweet 16.

I bring this up because Tony Bennett reminds me a whole lot of Jamie Dixon. He coaches defense better, Jamie coaches rebounding better. Bennett is more personable and charismatic which makes him a little better recruiter but he is absolutely a "system coach."

And like Jamie, Bennett's "defense-first" teams usually go out of the tournament a round or 2 early thanks to a superior offensive performance. In this case, Stallings and his "roll the balls out" freewheeling offense took out Bennett and a possible future Hall of Famer in Thompson despite being a 6 seed playing against a 3.

To be fair, Stallings had very little other success in the NCAAT but that game gives you an idea of what is possible with an offensive team. If you can get there and you have scorers, you have a chance. As the color analyst on Saturday said, "good offense beats good defense."

 

[Piranha]

The last time (I think) Kevin Stallings coached against Tony Bennett, Vandy beat Washington State and Klay Thompson to get to the Sweet 16.

I bring this up because Tony Bennett reminds me a whole lot of Jamie Dixon. He coaches defense better, Jamie coaches rebounding better. Bennett is more personable and charismatic which makes him a little better recruiter but he is absolutely a "system coach."

And like Jamie, Bennett's "defense-first" teams usually go out of the tournament a round or 2 early thanks to a superior offensive performance. In this case, Stallings and his "roll the balls out" freewheeling offense took out Bennett and a possible future Hall of Famer in Thompson despite being a 6 seed playing against a 3.

To be fair, Stallings had very little other success in the NCAAT but that game gives you an idea of what is possible with an offensive team. If you can get there and you have scorers, you have a chance. As the color analyst on Saturday said, "good offense beats good defense."

Howland was more like Bennett. We have not had a great defensive team for awhile.

 

[Gep Dawg]

I think this is interesting although I think Jamie is more personable than he gets credit for. He alone is the reason big fella came to Pitt. I also think when Jamie had Tom Herrion running his bench he was much more flexible with his players during the game. Herrion was his Roy Williams to his Dean Smith. His Steve Lappas to his Rollie Massimino. He never replaced him with a good bench coach and it hurt him the last few years.

 

[propitt]

Congrats OP. Another hapless post to try to bring attention to yourself.

 

[UPitt '89]

Congrats OP. Another hapless post to try to bring attention to yourself.

Actually, it was a pretty good post.

Don't be a dik.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

The last time (I think) Kevin Stallings coached against Tony Bennett, Vandy beat Washington State and Klay Thompson to get to the Sweet 16.

I bring this up because Tony Bennett reminds me a whole lot of Jamie Dixon. He coaches defense better, Jamie coaches rebounding better. Bennett is more personable and charismatic which makes him a little better recruiter but he is absolutely a "system coach."

And like Jamie, Bennett's "defense-first" teams usually go out of the tournament a round or 2 early thanks to a superior offensive performance. In this case, Stallings and his "roll the balls out" freewheeling offense took out Bennett and a possible future Hall of Famer in Thompson despite being a 6 seed playing against a 3.

To be fair, Stallings had very little other success in the NCAAT but that game gives you an idea of what is possible with an offensive team. If you can get there and you have scorers, you have a chance. As the color analyst on Saturday said, "good offense beats good defense."

Good stuff.

The problem with the way this team is constructed is that come tourney time we can beat anyone. But with no guard play, making a run in either tourney will be tough. They are fun to watch though when things are going well.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

The last time (I think) Kevin Stallings coached against Tony Bennett, Vandy beat Washington State and Klay Thompson to get to the Sweet 16.

I bring this up because Tony Bennett reminds me a whole lot of Jamie Dixon. He coaches defense better, Jamie coaches rebounding better. Bennett is more personable and charismatic which makes him a little better recruiter but he is absolutely a "system coach."

And like Jamie, Bennett's "defense-first" teams usually go out of the tournament a round or 2 early thanks to a superior offensive performance. In this case, Stallings and his "roll the balls out" freewheeling offense took out Bennett and a possible future Hall of Famer in Thompson despite being a 6 seed playing against a 3.

To be fair, Stallings had very little other success in the NCAAT but that game gives you an idea of what is possible with an offensive team. If you can get there and you have scorers, you have a chance. As the color analyst on Saturday said, "good offense beats good defense."

The color analyst was wrong. No team anywhere in any sport can win championships without a great defense. That same team also needs a decent offense to score, but the defense is most important to win championships, win in the NCAAT, etc. Last night was one game and it's a blip on the radar in a very deep ACC. Let's let this play out and see what we can do against the rest of the league.

Also, don't shortchange the defense that Pitt played last night. That was as good of a defense as they have played all year. It wasn't a shutdown defense, but it was opportunistic. And the defense that UVA had last night didn't seem like their typical, shutdown defense. Maybe I'm wrong, but it didn't impress me. I know they're holding opponents to under 50 points average. But they sure didn't do that last night, even without the OT.

 

[Pittx9]

The defense has actually steadily improved the last two games. Obviously still some stretches where they fall apart horribly, but overall two good enough defensive efforts to win. Especially if our offense scores like they can.

 

[TD_istheman]

Dixon was always a nice guy when I talked to him , because of my job, but he lacked personality , and I could see why that hurt his recruiting. He is a good man for sure. As much as I wanted to see him go, it wasn't because of his character

 

[ksquared33]

There is much more going on in Coach Stallings system than just rolling the ball's out onto the court. Please people watch the game & enjoy the fact that Stallings was smart enough to understand he not only had 2 scorers but that both of those players were very willing & capable passes of the basketball.
I said yesterday that in order for us to beat UVA we would need someone other than our core scorers to step up their production & Jeter did just that. Someone is going to be wide open as teams are overplaying Mike & Jamel to the point where they will get uncontested scoring attempts. And when that happens they need to knock down those shots...Cam is going to score the ball but Sheldon & Jones have been M.I.A. so far this year. I have very little confidence that Chris Jones will ever be a consistent money player but Jeter is more than capable. And it seems he's coming out of his slump at the perfect time, let's continue to hope.
But for people to suggest that Coach Stallings & his staff have very little input, design, system about why we are such a better scoring team this year...well then they have no clue what they are watching other than the ball going into the basket or not.

H2 PITT !!!

 

[CaptainMurphy]

I said a few months ago that the success of this team comes down to Luther and Jeter and what we can get from them combined. We are going to be a tough team to beat for anyone if those two play as they did last night.

That said, we are only as good as our shooters. Luckily we have a boatload of them. I can't remember the last time we had so many guys capable of lighting it up from beyond the arc.

 

[TD_istheman]

I said a few months ago that the success of this team comes down to Luther and Jeter and what we can get from them combined. We are going to be a tough team to beat for anyone if those two play as they did last night.

That said, we are only as good as our shooters. Luckily we have a boatload of them. I can't remember the last time we had so many guys capable of lighting it up from beyond the arc.

And they are given the freedom to act on those talents this year

 

[Pittx9]

Jeter I think just was in a funk, I think he'll be consistently productive now. Luther will provide a nice spark off the bench pretty regularly. Cam can be hot or cold, if he's hot more nights than not we'll be in good shape. Jones though, seems to have one really good game in between 10-12 awful ones. And he's not even a good defender, he's really the only player amongst regulars I have real concerns about.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Dixon was always a nice guy when I talked to him , because of my job, but he lacked personality , and I could see why that hurt his recruiting. He is a good man for sure. As much as I wanted to see him go, it wasn't because of his character

So you have talked to Dixon but I can tell you didn't know him. That being said, please try and quit with the constant bringing up of Dixon and whatever shortcomings you think he had. You can't speak from experience. Besides, he isn't our coach now. The ACC season has just started and it has a ways to go and some games left to play. Try rooting for the team instead of making these inane comments about a former coach.