That's an article in the Post Gazette today. I did not read it, so I can't tell you what's in it, but I'm sure it's super flattering. And I know the program has it's issues. But every once in a while I'd like to maybe an article about Femi's breakout after the Johnson transfer or how Champagnie evolved into a top ACC player or how Nike overcame the NCAA transfer issues and limited playing time to find his groove or....you know anything like the positive fluff pieces they will still write about PSU hoops after the whole team transferred ....I can see it now: "Look Out Big Ten, There is New Era in Penn St Basketball!"
"The End of Pitt Bakstetball"
- Thread starter Pitt_Boss
- Start date
Pretty good article. Its about the Butler game which ended the Dixon I era and Pitt basketball as we knew it.
I was at the game. The place was packed with Pitt fans. Felt like a Pitt home game. I couldn't believe it. I'll never forget the Metro ride back. Here's a subway in Washington, DC absolutely jam-packed with Pitt fans all complaining about the game to each other. It was surreal.
We watched about 10 minutes of the following game before I was asked if I wanted to leave. It was at that point that I realized I didn't even know who was playing.
Left the game and drove back to Burgh. At the rest stop between Breezewood and Bedford saw the two guys who sit on the chairs on the floor at the Pete next to announcers tables at that time. We were all wearing Pitt gear and they were loudly complaining about game and Dixon. Felt like that was the beginning of the end for Jamie with the big donors.
We totally planned on staying for UConn/Cincy but we got the heck out of there as quick as we can. I was so mad I left my digital camera there which at that time was like $150.
The articles that you would like to read, or ones similar to them, have been written, you just missed them.
My buddy bought seats on some secondary market website for the game (not Stubhub) and since it was last minute, the delivery had to be made in person. It ended up being one of those guys
I did too. Was planing on staying for at least the first half of the second game, and then deciding based on how good the game was whether to stay for the second half or not. Instead I was so pissed off I just left.
Didn't see the article but if it was written by Starkey I heard them talking about it on The Fan today. Interesting twist on Nasir Robinson gaffe. They said in the days after the game Robinson got a message from Charles Barkley praising him an encouraging him to put the mistake behind him and not dwell upon it. They also mentioned that Nasir was 7-9 from the field in that game, a fact of which I was not aware. Don't know exactly why, but I ended up watching that game at Peter's Pub and, yes, we didn't know it at the time, but you can say it was the beginning of the end of Pitt's relevance.
Gil Brown was 8-11 from the field and 4-5 from three and made his first four foul shots. And then he missed the fifth.
I don't wish to take issue with your post, per se, but I wanted to comment on the "beginning of the end with the big donors." In fact, I might even agree with this comment in regards to the donors.
But I must comment against the notion of "the beginning of the end" in regards to Pitt Hoops.
It certainly marked the end of our elite status. But I think history has shown that the next five years weren't all that bad.
During those five years, I took a great deal of heat from fellow posters when I reminded that "just" making the NCAA tournament was not such a bad thing.
And I certainly "get it" knowing that Dixon was simply bad in the NCAA tournament, and just getting there didn't offer much hope. But I always maintained that getting there and losing was always much better than not getting there at all.
I don't wish for this to turn into a Dixon thread, because I personally now believe that his time had come to an end at Pitt. But I will maintain that Dixon II (as @SeanMillerFan calls it) was something to be appreciated more than we did at the time.
Allow me to also add that I promise to let it go when we are actually in the tournament again. Let’s hope that’s sooner than later.
What I was trying to relate was my surprise at the dismay with Dixon by those guys. I really thought that only us upper deck fans were insane with disappointment.
I agree with that, DT. Pitt fielded competitive teams, even tournament teams for most of the next five years, and that period wasn't as bad as a lot of fans thought. But as you also say there, our elite status came to an abrupt end after that haunting Butler loss.
Starkey's column is titled "The end of Pitt basketball (as we knew it)" and it's hard to argue with that characterization.
These are my own hastily gathered stats but by my count Pitt's regular season conference record was a staggering 124-44 (.738) in the decade leading up to the Butler game, and is 64-116 (.356) in the decade since. With a dismal 19-71 (.211) in the last five years.
Even before the Butler loss, Pitt's tournament experience over those ten years was known primarily for underperformance. And yet looking back now, the Panthers had an Elite Eight and four Sweet 16s in that decade, with an NCAA record of 15-10. And then a tournament record of 1-3 in the decade since. We haven't seen the second weekend of the tournament since Will Jeffress was, what, five years old? We all remember the losses, we all remember the disappointments of Kent State, Bradley, all of them, they were real and they were spectacular. But wow looking back at that first decade, even its lowest points, it's almost like a fantasy from our current vantage a decade after the Butler loss.
DT is one of the most loyal Pitt fans ever and certainly has a way of putting things in its proper perspective.
DT, I wish we'd make the tournament again, maybe even in the next decade. It's funny how you don't know how much you have until you don't have it anymore. I'm just afraid that we're not going to have it for at least another coach's tenure after Capel is gone. I am not a pessimist at all and normally see things very positively. But I think we're still a coach or 2 away from respectability and getting a sniff of the tournament. I hope I'm wrong. I've been wrong before and will admit it if I am.
Didn't know that, and that's admirable. Do recall thinking he had a good game, save the one critical missed FT.
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Brown had played a really great game. He and Robinson kept Pitt in that thing when Gibbs and Wanamaker had below average production. Such a shame the way it ended.
