Hey Panthers,
I know its a down season for Pitt, this isn't the peak Howland/Dixon teams but still a big deal for UCSB to take on an ACC opponent. I've written up an overview of Pitt for the benefit of UCSB fans and you're welcome to check it out on the Gaucho board (I go by Gauchofreg on that board):
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ucsbgauchos/ucsb-vs-pitt-t21549.html
And for your benefit here is my UCSB Overview:
The 2017-18 season is the start of the Joe Pasternack era for UCSB after Bob Williams was fired after 19 seasons as the Gaucho head coach. Last year was the worst season in UCSB history as the team suffered from a combination of injuries, academic ineligibility and being very young.
Pasternack, the former Associate Head Coach at the University of Arizona, immediately brought in two impact graduate school transfers in combo guard Marcus Jackson from Rice and Leland King of Nevada.
He’s also already signed the best recruiting class at UCSB since Ben Howland was our lead recruiter under Jerry Pimm in the late 80s/early 90s.
UCSB started off their season with a bang with a 19 pt win over North Dakota State who are expected to contend for the Summit Conference title. After that game NDSU drove south to take on the #10 USC Trojans in Los Angeles. The Bison led by as many as 10 and were ahead with 6 minutes left in the game before two of their starters fouled out and the Trojans pulled away late.
With a new coach, new system, new players, via transfer plus one new freshman, obviously there’s a lot of changes this season making accurate characterization difficult but here’s what we’ve got:
The system: UCSB is playing primarily man-defense and an up-tempo offense.
In game one we were led by sophomore guard Max Heidegger who underwent a major transformation from his somewhat disappointing freshman campaign where he really struggled with his shot. On Saturday he went for a career high 33 points on 8-14 from three. This while shifting over to pg to fill in for the injured Marcus Jackson.
Also leading the way was grad-transfer King who added 23 points while leading the team with 9 rebounds. He also proved to be an excellent passer with great awareness in the paint.
Senior Wing Gabe Vincent was all league his sophomore season, but got injured last year. He is playing reduced minutes right now recovering from his ACL injury but led the team with 8 assists in just 17 minutes of play. Being more of a facilitator is a new role as the team relied on him for scoring more the previous seasons. Despite his injury last season he is still the 8th leading three point shooter in school history.
Like Heidegger, Senior F/C Jalen Canty transformed himself over the summer, losing 30 lbs becoming quicker and with more endurance. He is a solid rebounder and has some decent post moves. He went for 13 & 7 on Saturday. He missed most of the year due to academic issues.
Rounding out the starting lineup, another sophomore, Christian Terrell, is in there because of his defense and ability to board. Not a reliable shooter, he can penetrate if given chance. He is 6’6” and plays 1-3.
With a faster pace, Pasternack played deep into the bench on Saturday.
Other players that get major minutes are:
F/C Junior Ami Lakoju who was also an academic casualty last year
Freshman pg Brandon Davis. Solidly built, seeing many more minutes due to the Jackson injury Jackson is not expected to play against Pitt.
Also in the rotation:
Sophomore wing Clifton Powell. Seeing fewer minutes this season due to more talent on the roster but was our best freshman last year
F/C Senior Alex Hart who is less athletic but put up some solid stats last year when Lakoju and Canty were out.
Junior wing/PF Jariesse Blackmon, athletic & rangy is good for defense and rebounding, not so offensively skilled.
Junior walk-on guard Sam Walters, a good outside shooter.
Given its only the second game, lineups are far from fixed so a good chance we'll see something different to start the game Wednesday.
This will be the first match-up between Pitt & UCSB. We do have a shared history via Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon. Howland is from Santa Barbara and was the lead assistant for Jerry Pimm in the late 80s/early 90s which was the hey day for UCSB hoops. The Big West conference then had a very different make-up of schools and UNLV was at their peak winning the National Championship in 1990 and going undefeated in 1991 up until their major upset loss to Duke in the 1991 Final Four. An answer to a trivia question, UCSB was the last school to defeat UNLV before they went on that run. Howland was a major part of the success, landing some of the best players in school history including Brian Shaw who went on to a nice NBA career including winning a couple championships with the Lakers in the Shaq-Kobe era. Jamie Dixon was also on staff for one season which is how those two became connected. Back then, the home court advantage was considered among the best in the west and the Events Center became known as the Thunderdome. Sadly, it resembles nothing of that now but the die hard fans are hopeful that Pasternack with bring back the crowds and the noise.
We understand fully that this is not a Pitt team of the Howland/Dixon era. Lot of youth and not the talent level you’re accustomed to. That being said, it is still a big deal to get a win over an ACC school in their house and the Gauchos, despite their poor record last season, bring the experience and talent that gives them a good shot.
A little bit about UCSB: the school is one of the top rated public universities in the country, sits right on the Pacific about two hours north of Los Angeles, and has multiple surf breaks on campus. It used to be known as a party school but that has pretty much passed, which kinda disappoints to be honest. With the basketball team having middling performance, the students became rabid soccer fans and UCSB has had attendance numbers that sometimes exceeded that for MLS soccer teams. They won the National Championship in 2006 and usually make the tournament but struggled this year. We host the Soccer championship next year and in 2020.
Although our hoops team has been mediocre, we have had three players in the NBA recently. Orlando Johnson was drafted in the second round in 2011 and played a couple seasons. His teammate James Nunnally had a cup of coffee with a couple 10 day contracts. Those two helped get UCSB into the NCAAs in consecutive seasons which resulted in two blow-out losses as low seeded teams... Lastly, Alan Williams just signed multi-year contract with the Phoenix Suns after a surprisingly good second year campaign. Unfortunately, he hurt his knee and will be out for most, if not all of the season. He led the nation in rebounding his junior and senior years at UCSB.
Ole.
I know its a down season for Pitt, this isn't the peak Howland/Dixon teams but still a big deal for UCSB to take on an ACC opponent. I've written up an overview of Pitt for the benefit of UCSB fans and you're welcome to check it out on the Gaucho board (I go by Gauchofreg on that board):
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ucsbgauchos/ucsb-vs-pitt-t21549.html
And for your benefit here is my UCSB Overview:
The 2017-18 season is the start of the Joe Pasternack era for UCSB after Bob Williams was fired after 19 seasons as the Gaucho head coach. Last year was the worst season in UCSB history as the team suffered from a combination of injuries, academic ineligibility and being very young.
Pasternack, the former Associate Head Coach at the University of Arizona, immediately brought in two impact graduate school transfers in combo guard Marcus Jackson from Rice and Leland King of Nevada.
He’s also already signed the best recruiting class at UCSB since Ben Howland was our lead recruiter under Jerry Pimm in the late 80s/early 90s.
UCSB started off their season with a bang with a 19 pt win over North Dakota State who are expected to contend for the Summit Conference title. After that game NDSU drove south to take on the #10 USC Trojans in Los Angeles. The Bison led by as many as 10 and were ahead with 6 minutes left in the game before two of their starters fouled out and the Trojans pulled away late.
With a new coach, new system, new players, via transfer plus one new freshman, obviously there’s a lot of changes this season making accurate characterization difficult but here’s what we’ve got:
The system: UCSB is playing primarily man-defense and an up-tempo offense.
In game one we were led by sophomore guard Max Heidegger who underwent a major transformation from his somewhat disappointing freshman campaign where he really struggled with his shot. On Saturday he went for a career high 33 points on 8-14 from three. This while shifting over to pg to fill in for the injured Marcus Jackson.
Also leading the way was grad-transfer King who added 23 points while leading the team with 9 rebounds. He also proved to be an excellent passer with great awareness in the paint.
Senior Wing Gabe Vincent was all league his sophomore season, but got injured last year. He is playing reduced minutes right now recovering from his ACL injury but led the team with 8 assists in just 17 minutes of play. Being more of a facilitator is a new role as the team relied on him for scoring more the previous seasons. Despite his injury last season he is still the 8th leading three point shooter in school history.
Like Heidegger, Senior F/C Jalen Canty transformed himself over the summer, losing 30 lbs becoming quicker and with more endurance. He is a solid rebounder and has some decent post moves. He went for 13 & 7 on Saturday. He missed most of the year due to academic issues.
Rounding out the starting lineup, another sophomore, Christian Terrell, is in there because of his defense and ability to board. Not a reliable shooter, he can penetrate if given chance. He is 6’6” and plays 1-3.
With a faster pace, Pasternack played deep into the bench on Saturday.
Other players that get major minutes are:
F/C Junior Ami Lakoju who was also an academic casualty last year
Freshman pg Brandon Davis. Solidly built, seeing many more minutes due to the Jackson injury Jackson is not expected to play against Pitt.
Also in the rotation:
Sophomore wing Clifton Powell. Seeing fewer minutes this season due to more talent on the roster but was our best freshman last year
F/C Senior Alex Hart who is less athletic but put up some solid stats last year when Lakoju and Canty were out.
Junior wing/PF Jariesse Blackmon, athletic & rangy is good for defense and rebounding, not so offensively skilled.
Junior walk-on guard Sam Walters, a good outside shooter.
Given its only the second game, lineups are far from fixed so a good chance we'll see something different to start the game Wednesday.
This will be the first match-up between Pitt & UCSB. We do have a shared history via Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon. Howland is from Santa Barbara and was the lead assistant for Jerry Pimm in the late 80s/early 90s which was the hey day for UCSB hoops. The Big West conference then had a very different make-up of schools and UNLV was at their peak winning the National Championship in 1990 and going undefeated in 1991 up until their major upset loss to Duke in the 1991 Final Four. An answer to a trivia question, UCSB was the last school to defeat UNLV before they went on that run. Howland was a major part of the success, landing some of the best players in school history including Brian Shaw who went on to a nice NBA career including winning a couple championships with the Lakers in the Shaq-Kobe era. Jamie Dixon was also on staff for one season which is how those two became connected. Back then, the home court advantage was considered among the best in the west and the Events Center became known as the Thunderdome. Sadly, it resembles nothing of that now but the die hard fans are hopeful that Pasternack with bring back the crowds and the noise.
We understand fully that this is not a Pitt team of the Howland/Dixon era. Lot of youth and not the talent level you’re accustomed to. That being said, it is still a big deal to get a win over an ACC school in their house and the Gauchos, despite their poor record last season, bring the experience and talent that gives them a good shot.
A little bit about UCSB: the school is one of the top rated public universities in the country, sits right on the Pacific about two hours north of Los Angeles, and has multiple surf breaks on campus. It used to be known as a party school but that has pretty much passed, which kinda disappoints to be honest. With the basketball team having middling performance, the students became rabid soccer fans and UCSB has had attendance numbers that sometimes exceeded that for MLS soccer teams. They won the National Championship in 2006 and usually make the tournament but struggled this year. We host the Soccer championship next year and in 2020.
Although our hoops team has been mediocre, we have had three players in the NBA recently. Orlando Johnson was drafted in the second round in 2011 and played a couple seasons. His teammate James Nunnally had a cup of coffee with a couple 10 day contracts. Those two helped get UCSB into the NCAAs in consecutive seasons which resulted in two blow-out losses as low seeded teams... Lastly, Alan Williams just signed multi-year contract with the Phoenix Suns after a surprisingly good second year campaign. Unfortunately, he hurt his knee and will be out for most, if not all of the season. He led the nation in rebounding his junior and senior years at UCSB.
Ole.
