The best change to be made in the Capel era

[mo cheeks]

JD buried Birch behind Zhanna.
So Birch left
He had a point

No way Birch should have been playing Zhanna at any point in his career
Pitt needed someone who could bang and rebound
Zhanna was neither; Birch was both

I have no inside knowledge
Maybe it had to do with seniority or internal team management

But the view from here was: JD got this one wrong (and I loved Dixon)

Same could be said for Gilbert Brown and DeGroat

Sorry. I take zanna over birch on my "team" any day. Especially if you like to win

 

[mo cheeks]

Did Skerry leave BEFORE the season?? I know JD was uncomfortable with that deal. Khem was talented, but a primadonna.. If Steven had played a second year, the frontcourt of Adams, Zanna and Patterson would have been terrific. Birch would have pushed Lamar to SG. Top10 team.

Adams leaving that ream was a crusher. Definately had final four potential.

 

[NTOP]

I recall Zhanna getting more minutes than Birch and thinking that Birch is gonna leave and that he'd have good reason to go. The same could be said if Taylor was getting more minutes. Zhanna and Taylor kept each other company after getting pushed under the net for their entire careers.

As for Brown and DeGroat, those are two players who, I bel'v, JD did not use well. When Brown filled in for Briggs he was clearly better. But then he got buried the next yr and never played enough to hit his stride. DeGroat, like Birch, may have started, but was quickly yanked and never got off the schnied.

Gil only played for Biggs when Jamie went small. Biggs was a bit underrated, IMHO. Gil a bit overrated. Both contributed, though.

 

[Thee Jackie Treehorn]

I wouldn’t say frail , he was a slender young man and compared to a veteran player whose spent 3 yrs in the program and the weight room he could get pushed around . There are very few Blair’s coming out of high school . The raw athletic abilities he had would’ve helped Pitt .

Fine, slender then, I'll accept that correction. But Birch absolutely was not a "broad-shouldered bull" when he got to Pitt (I know that wasn't your phrase, but that's what I was responding to when I called him frail.) I was underwhelmed with Birch physically when I first saw him. The next year we did get a broad-shouldered bull in Adams, but unfortunately we only had him for one season.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Fine, slender then, I'll accept that correction. But Birch absolutely was not a "broad-shouldered bull" when he got to Pitt (I know that wasn't your phrase, but that's what I was responding to when I called him frail.) I was underwhelmed with Birch physically when I first saw him. The next year we did get a broad-shouldered bull in Adams, but unfortunately we only had him for one season.

Adams and Birch together would’ve been nice to see ! Adams made Donte Taylor look small .

 

[VincePITT]

This is OUR program, #ZooEra!

 

[joeydavid]

Imagine the success they would have had if UConn could recruit athletic players...

Personally -- I've always believed this "difference in the style of play" between the conferences was somewhat mythical, if not maybe media narrative.

If anything, for quite a while in the Big East, Dixon had talked about the idea of playing with a team with 3 or more 6-6ish guys who can play interchangeable positions. Over time, you could see some evidence of him going that route.

Regardless, my take is that Dixon wasn't trying to recruit different players for a different conference. He was just less successful in getting good players, and or good enough players who would buy into what he wanted (which always included defense and rebounding.)