Mar 31 2009
I have been going through my inbox for the past few days since Pitt lost to Villanova. And many readers have questions concerning the Panthers and the future. Here are some of the questions and answers about the season just concluded and the prospects for next season. Also, join in on my final chat of the season Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. at post-gazette.com if there are any other questions you want answered.
Here we go…
Q: Thanks for a great season of covering Pitt, Ray. Your insight was trenchant and you called it honestly throughout. What's next year looking like? I know who returns (assuming DeJuan Blair does not) and I know about Dante Taylor, but what's the rest of the incoming class looking like? Do you see some stylistic changes in the works, especially if Dixon is not able to make an Aaron Grey out of Gary McGhee? Will we play more up-tempo and be guard driven? Would that necessarily be a bad thing? It has worked well for so many teams - teams that always give Pitt fits. Sorry for the multiple questions!
Steve
Location, Laughlin, NV
Fittipaldo: One could make the argument that the Panthers played more up-tempo this season than any other previous season under Dixon. I think the 78 points per game scoring average is a testament to that. Jamie Dixon has proven that he is quite capable of adapting to his personnel. But given the fact that younger players will be playing throughout the lineup I would doubt Dixon hands the reigns to them right way and allow them to play up-tempo as this team did.
As for the incoming class…Taylor, a power forward, is the best of the bunch. He is a McDonald’s All-American and will start next season. The coaches are high on Talib Zanna, but from what I’ve heard he is not someone who will be able to start right away unless it is out of total necessity. Patterson is a highly rated recruit who will add depth at the swing position and Richardson is someone who will add depth at the forward positions.
It will be interesting to see what happens at center because as you point out McGhee has not shown that he is capable of making the big jump that Gray did from his sophomore season to his junior season. He will be given an opportunity, and we shall see whether he is up to the challenge.
Q: Not so much a question but....I think we can all agree that this was the best Pitt team in recent memory. These players climbed a hurdle that Curtis Aiken, Charles Smith, Jerome Lane, Brian Shorter, etc, etc couldn't get past. There have been some terrific players at Pitt who never saw the Elite Eight, and never to see a No.1 ranking. I think that it's time for Blair to go to the NBA and give McGee a chance to play. If two of the four incoming freshman forwards develop, Ashton Gibbs continues to develop, Travon Woodall turns out to be a good point guard, then Pitt will rebuild/reload next year, and in 2-3 years from now, Pitt will be ready to knock on the Final Four door once again.
Gideon, Pittsburgh
Fittipaldo: One could certainly make the argument that this was Pitt’s best team. It certainly accomplished more than some of those other teams that had so much talent but underachieved in the NCAA tournament. For getting to the Elite Eight, we have to give credit to this team. I like the optimism about the future, but all of those players you mentioned have some very big shoes to fill. Levance Fields was one of the best point guards in the history of the program. Sam Young and Blair will go down as all-time greats in the program’s lore as well. Quite honestly, it would be presumptuous to believe that Jamie Dixon is just going to plug players into their positions and the Panthers will be knocking on the door to the Final Four again soon. This team was a once in a generation type of team that lost Saturday night. Pitt fans ought to temper their enthusiasm for next season a bit considering the players who played their last game over the weekend and the inexperienced players who will be taking their place. Dixon will continue to produce good teams – even very good – but there is no guarantee he’ll coach another team that was as talented.
Q: Considering that Gibbs, Wanamaker, Brown, Dixon and McGhee will have another year of maturity and experience, and with the incoming recruits, can Pitt continue to compete with the upper echelon of the Big East next year?
Rick Bralich, Wexford
Fittipaldo: Assuming Blair leaves for the NBA, I am on record as saying that Pitt will remain one of the upper echelon teams in the Big East. By that, I mean the Panthers will be among the top eight or nine teams. With the talented recruits coming in, I am confident that Pitt will not drop to the levels of St. John’s or Seton Hall or South Florida in the conference, but it’s going to be tough to hang with the best teams at the top. If Pitt is an NCAA tournament bubble team next March do not be surprised. All programs go through transition periods, and Pitt has not gone through a big one for eight years now.
Q: Do you think if Blair goes pro that Pitt will give the open scholarship to Deandre Kane considering we already have Dante Taylor, and Talib Zanna coming in?
Kevin, Pittsburgh
Fittipaldo: Good question, Kevin. I haven’t heard much on the Kane recruiting front lately. The incoming class is very forward-heavy, so that open scholarship likely would go to a guard. And Kane would bring a different dimension to the team. One Schenley High product moves on, another moves in…We’ll have to wait and see.
Thanks for the great job all year Ray in what was a GREAT season for PITT basketball. I have a few questions: 1. What are the chances are that Blair will declare for the NBA draft? Do you see him as a top 20 pick? 2.If Blair doesn't come back who do you think our starting line-up will consist of? 3. Without Blair, Young and Fields do you see Pitt as a NCAA or NIT team next year?
Eric Jordan, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Fittipaldo: I am not an expert on the NBA draft, but from everything I hear it is a very weak draft overall, so Blair would benefit from that as well as striking when the iron is hot (he is an All-American, so how much hotter can he get?)…The starting lineup for next season assuming Blair does not come back: Ashton Gibbs at point guard, Jermaine Dixon at shooting guard, Gilbert Brown at small forward, Dante Taylor at power forward and Dwight Miller (for lack of a better option) at center.
Mar 28 2009
Five hours from now (barring overtime) Pitt will be getting ready to go to the Final Four for the first time since 1941 or the season will be over.
A couple of things to keep in mind as you watch the game:
*Villanova’s penetrating guards against the perimeter defense of Levance Fields and Jermaine Dixon. Scottie Reynolds and Co. got to the basket way too much in Villanova’s 67-57 victory in Philadelphia in January. The Panthers can’t allow that to happen.
*Because the Villanova guards are hard to defend and because the Panthers could be susceptible to foul trouble again in the rematch, Jamie Dixon could go to a zone defense to protect his players and to throw a monkey wrench into Villanova’s game plan. The danger in that is the Wildcats shoot 36 percent from 3-point range. The top shooter is Corey Stokes (42 percent).
*Tyrell Biggs is due for a good game (would you accept a decent game?) Biggs did not score in 11 minutes against Xavier. He had six points and one rebound against Oklahoma State and three points and two rebounds against East Tennessee State. That makes his line in three NCAA tournament games: nine points, six rebounds.
Mar 27 2009
Villanova's victory over Duke tonight sets up the first Regional Final between two Big East teams since 1987, when Providence beat Georgetown to go to the FInal Four.
Pitt and Villanova will play tomorrow night with the Panthers attempting to reach their first Final Four since 1941.
It will be the second meeting between Pitt and Villanova this season. The Wildcats won the first game, 67-57, in the final college basketball game played at the Philadelphia Spectrum.
Pitt turned the ball over 17 times against the Villanova press in that game.
DeJuan Blair could only play 23 minutes because of foul trouble. He scored just seven points and had eight rebounds.
Tyrell Biggs only played 15 minutes. He did not score and only had three rebounds.
Villanova outscored Pitt, 41-26, in the second half to erase a five-point halfitme deficit.
It should be fun.
Mar 25 2009
Sean Miller’s closest friends from Pitt are coming to the game tomorrow to watch him coach against the Panthers. Jason Matthews and Darelle Porter are flying in from Pittsburgh. Bobby Martin, a personal trainer to college and professional athletes, lives in Boston.
They, along with Brian Shorter, formed the most heralded recruiting class in Pitt history in 1987. John Calipari recruited most of them to Pitt when he was an assistant under Paul Evans.
Matthews was hoping Shorter would find his way to Boston to support Sean, but he said Shorter has not kept in as close contact as everyone else from the class.
Porter spoke with Miller soon after Xavier won its second-round game. The others have traded text messages with Sean.
Miller has some other close friends on the Pitt bench. Pitt trainer Tony Salesi was in Miller's wedding and got close to him when Miller missed a season while rehabilitating a foot injury. Brian Regan, Jamie Dixon's director of basketball operations, has known Sean since childhood. He also was a graduate assistant coach under Evans during Sean's time at Pitt.
They all had some very interesting stories to tell about Sean. You can read about it in tomorrow’s Post-Gazette.
Mar 22 2009
DAYTON, Ohio -- Two down, four to go.
Pitt took care of business in Dayton in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, but the No. 1-seeded Panthers had to fight and claw get these two victories against East tennessee State and Oklahoma State.
All of the No. 1 seeds in this tournament had at least one breather in the first two rounds. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing as the Panthers move on to Boston for the third round against Xavier, which beat Wisconsin earlier in the way.
Levance Fields said he and some of his teammates went to see Xavier play Duquense at the Palumbo Center earlier this season after the Panthers beat DePaul at the Petersen Events Center. So they already have an early scouting report on the Musketeers.
Plenty of storylines this week with the Sean Miller connection to Pitt. It should be a fun week for Pitt alums.
One encouraging sign for the Panthers is their improved 3-point shooting in the first two rounds. They are 18 for 47 from behind the 3-point arc in the first two rounds of the tournament.
The Panthers also got back to basics and dominated Oklahoma State on the glass. They held a 41-21 edge in rebounding after a poor rebounding perfomrance against ETSU.
Mar 22 2009
*Today's officials are Roger Ayers, Ted Valentine and Bryan Kersey. The only official who does Big East games is Kersey. Valentine is a veteran and does not take much lip from the coaches. He used to work Big East games many years ago, but hasn't recently.
*DeJuan Blair could have a big game today. Oklahoma State tallest starter is 6 feet 6. In three games against Oklahoma State this season, Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, the favorite for national player of the year, had 17 and 19; 33 and 14; and 26 and 19. The Sooners won two of those games and lost the other by one point.
*With Syracuse's victory, the Big East has three teams in the Sweet 16. Pitt, Louisville and Marquette can make it, too, later on today. The Big East has had four teams in the Sweet 16 on three previous occasions. The league has never sent five teams to the Sweet 16.
Mar 22 2009
Colin Dunlap | 11:53 a.m. Sunday, March 22
MINNEAPOLIS
No. 11 seed DAYTON ( 27-7)
vs.
No. 3 seed KANSAS (26-7)
2:30 p.m. EST on CBS
Kansas is the defending national champion, while Dayton's victory against West Virginia in the first round was the first tournament win for the program since 1990. Many might look at this matchup and think, "well, this is big, bad Kansas against little A10 rep Dayton." Well, think again.
Consider this: In the last three years, the Flyers are 6-2 against BCS programs and have won four consecutive games against Big East opponents (anyone care to remember what happened to Pitt when they last visited UD Arena?)
If the Flyers are going to be successful, Chris Wright --- who scored a career high 27 against WVU --- will have to come up huge again. He will have to do the type of things going to the basket that he did against the Mountaineers, and maybe some things with his back to the basket that he didn't. If Dayton wants to win, Wright has to have another monster game and it wouldn't hurt if he could get Kansas' 6-11 stud Cole Aldrich in foul trouble. When Wright is on the floor, because of hiw athletic he is and how he gets off the deck, a huge concern for the opposition is always foul trouble.
You want to see precisely how Chris Wright jumps, look at this video:
Now, in terms of Kansas, it really all starts with Sherron Collins, who scores just under 19 a game. In a first round win against North Dakota State, he scored 32 and it is my contention he could have gone for 40-45 had he been even more selfish. That is the thing with this Kansas team --- they seemingly can get a bucket on most trips from the 1-spot (Collins) and the 5-spot (Aldrich), but it is the production they get from the other three starters (Brady Morningstar, Tyshawn Taylor and Marcus Morris) that will be the key.
PREDICTION: Kansas in a close one. I say Jayhawks 66, Dayton 63.
No. 10 seed Southern California (22-12)
vs.
No. 2 seed Michigan State (27-6)
Approx 5 p.m. EST on CBS
This much is certain: Lil' Romeo, who actually plays for USC and is pictured below, will not be a factor
OK, enough wiseguyness. About this game. Something tells me that Michigan State, because of the way they defend so well, should be able to mop up Southern Cal. The Trojans are tremendously athletic, but I don't know how physical they want to be, and when watching the Spartans play the other night, it looked like a Big East tournament game. So, in that regard, they have the edge, a heavy edge.
But, in saying that, if this game starts to go up and down the floor with Daniel Hackett, Dwight Lewis and Taj Gibson from Southern Cal making it a jailbreak kind of game, the Trojans very well could leave here and be on their way to Indianapolis.
I just don't see it, though. The biggest reason isn't really the Michigan State guards, who are ridiculously physical, but center Goran Suton, who at 6-10 likes to step out and knock down 15 footers, but also gets on the glass. Suton is the kind of player teams need to make a deep run.
PREDICTION: Michigan State in a Michigan State kind of game. Spartans 59, USC 48
Mar 21 2009
ESPN flashed a statistic on the screen this morning that I thought was very interesting. Pitt is the 12th No. 1 seed to beat a No. 16 seed by 10 points or fewer. None of those previous 11 No. 1 seeds went on to win a national championship.
I dug deeper into the NCAA record book and found out that only two of those teams advanced to the Final Four and one to the national title game. Here are the end results for those teams that had narrow escapes against No. 16 seeds in the first round:
*Michigan lost in the second round to Villanova in 1985
*St. John’s lost in the second round to Auburn in 1986
* Duke lost in the national championship game in 1986
*Illinois lost in a national semifinal game in 1989
*Georgetown lost in the Elite Eight in 1989;
*Oklahoma lost in the Sweet 16 in 1989
* Michigan State lost in the Sweet 16 in 1990
* Oklahoma lost in the second round in 1990
*Purdue lost in the second round in 1996
* Connecticut lost in the Sweet 16 in 1996
*North Carolina lost in a national semifinal game in 1997.
Pitt went through a walk-through this morning and the Panthers reported no major injuries. Jermaine Dixon turned his ankle against East Tennessee State, but he said he would be good to go against Oklahoma State. Levance Fields said once again that his groin is fine and was not a reason for his sub-standard play against East Tennessee State.
Oklahoma State center Marshall Moses is only averaging about seven points per game, but he had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the first-round victory over Tennessee. In talking to some of the writers who cover Oklahoma State, Moses either plays a great game or a lousy game.
Moses had 16 points and 12 rebounds in Oklahoma State’s loss to Missouri in the Big 12 tournament. In the previous game against Oklahoma – a 71-70 win for the Cowboys – Moses did not score, had one rebound and fouled out.
Mar 20 2009
Some late-night thoughts before departing University of Dayton Arena…
*East Tennessee State might have been better than a No. 16 seed, but there is now way the Panthers should have allowed the game to be so close in the second half. East Tennessee State wanted to win that game more, which is so strange because all Pitt’s players have been saying since last year’s second-round loss to Michigan State was that they weren’t going to come out flat again in NCAA play. And they did!
*Jermaine Dixon might have played his worst game in a Pitt uniform. He only played 17 minutes because of foul trouble and ineffective play. It’s not an excuse, but he had an ice bag on his ankle in the locker room afterward. For what it’s worth he didn’t use the sprained ankle as an excuse for his play.
*Here’s a question that needs to be asked tomorrow: Why is Fields – the nation’s leader in assist-to-turnover ratio – not bringing the ball up the court against the press? It would seem to me that you would want your senior point guard with the ball in his hands instead of others who don’t handle the ball as much.
It might have something to do with Fields’ injured groin, but they’ve been employing this system of breaking the pres all season when Fields was healthy.
*Fields has 12 assists and seven turnovers in the past two games. He led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio during the regular season (4:1).
*The 3-point shooting came around after a bad slump at the end of the season. The Panthers were 7 for 9 from behind the arc. Sam Young was 4 for 6 on 3-point attempts and Ashton Gibbs was 2 for 2.
*DeJuan Blair is the only reason Pitt won that game. Well, maybe not the only reason. Gibbs stepped up big. What does that tell you when a sophomore and a freshman in his first tournament game are the only ones playing inspired basketball?
*I know Young scored 14 points, shot 4 for 6 from 3-point range and had 13 rebounds, but it wasn’t his typical strong game. He did not make a shot from inside the 3-point arc and looked clueless against the press. Maybe that’s being too hard on him, but he has set a high bar to play that poorly in an NCAA game.
Check in tomorrow for more from Dayton
Mar 20 2009
Colin Dunlap | Friday, March 20, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS
DAYTON beat WVU: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09079/957145-100.stm
4:39 p.m. --- WVU is getting to the glass more, running its sets and doing what it set out to do with much more regularity. Dayton 48-44 with 11:30 left.
4:13 p.m. --- Dayton up, 33-28 at halftime. Something tells me it wasn't a pleasant Bob Huggins halftime locker room.
3:38 p.m. -- Dayton's defense-to-offense transition speed is absolutely stunning, undeniably some of the best in all of college basketball. And the Flyers are using it masterfully to get into their offense. They lead, 26-22 with 4:45 remaining before half.
3:24 p.m. -- West Virginia is simply getting outplayed by Dayton through the first half of the first half. The Mountaineers are giving up layup after layup and not rebounding the basketball --- and the scorboard shows as much. Dayton is ahead, 16-12, with 11:15 remaining in the first half.
2:57 p.m. --- Kansas fought off NDSU (and standout Ben Woodside who had 37 points) as the Jayhawks grabbed an 84-74 win. They will play the winner of this WVU-Dayton game, which will tip off in 2 minutes.
2:15 p.m. -- This one looked like it might be done for a second, as Kansas stretched its advantage to 10. Now, NDSU has fought back to make it 69-62 with 4:24 left. It should be ridiculously entertaining beneath the final TV timeout, which we have just reached. Also, the scoreboards in the arena are showing all the out of town scores and I see Utah State is ahead of Marquette and Oklahoma State and Tennessee are locked in a tussle in Dayton.
1:46 p.m. -- North Dakota State WILL NOT go away. Kansas is leading, 47-44 right now with about 15 minutes left. This is bad for the Jayhawks. The longer they let this team hang around ..... 
1:09 p.m. -- NDSU has hung with mighty Kansas, and with 3:32 left before halftime, the Jayhawks lead 36-29.
12:30 -- They just announced the starting lineups as the North Dakota State (14) and Kansas (3) game is about to tip. It is absolutely ridiculous how many North Dakota State people are here. They outnumber KU people at least 9-1. I would say there are upwards of 20K North Dakota State people in this building right now. Someone just told me that Minneapolis has the highest concentration of NDSU alumni of any city in the country. Looking at this crowd, I believe it.
11 a.m. --
* The ripples of the people thinking the Pitt basketball program can win a national championsip have reached Minneapolis. And I'll give you a few instances.
First, Robert Morris was checking into its hotel on Wednesday and I was speaking to a bell man. The guy asked where I was from, I told him Pittsburgh. He immediately says, "Oh, DeJuan Blair is a beast, I have them winning my brackets."
Next, I was grabbing a Budweiser Shasta last night at the hotel bar soda fountain and ran across some tremendously polite Kansas fans in town to see their beloved Jayhawks. I was speaking to one fellow named Ed and he says, "I picked Pitt to win my office bracket. I think they are the strongest team in the country, no question." And, trust me, this guy was Big 12 through and through.
Lastly, this morning I was walking over to a coffee shop to grab some Joe. There was a horde (and I mean horde) of North Dakota State fans. I was in line and one guy sees my credential and starts talking to me about the tournament. He says, "Oh, I love Pitt, their big man is just unstoppable. I think they are going to win it."
So, there you have it. Three vastly different people, from three different places all here in Minneapolis who I spoke to who think that Pitt is going to be the national champion.
* All teams are extended an opportunity to have a game day shootaround today, in the early morning. Of the eight teams here, just one accepted it --- Robert Morris. I don't know what to make of that.
* The most interesting question of the media conferences yesterday, I thought, was asked by a New York Times reporter to Robert Morris coach Mike Rice. The reporter asked, "When you are out on the recruiting trail, particularly a school
that is kind of overshadowed in Pittsburgh obviously by Pitt, what kind
of kids are you looking for and how do you go about selling them on
Robert Morris?"
Rice's answer was a gem: "Ones that will chew off their arm
for a victory, a win, and we look for guys who are basketball junkies
who just want to get better and understand that it takes hard work.
Look for talent. Look for an aggressive type of player.
And how we sell them is on success. We talk about, you know, off-court
success, academic success. And then what most importantly what the
young student-athletes want to hear is about how they are going to
develop their games.
And, again, my first line to a lot of our prospective student-athletes,
you didn't dream about coming to Robert Morris University. It's not
your dream to be called into the starting lineup and hear Robert
Morris. But, that being said, we can make you successful. We can do
this for you and develop you. And not only academically, but on the
basketball floor, too.
So having this success helps us in cities like your city, New York City
and Philadelphia, New Jersey, North Jersey. And we've done very well
the last two years because of people want to go and play against the
big-time because they think they were -- everyone thinks they were
under-recruited. And to show themselves what they can do against them.
So, yeah, I think this will help recruiting considerably next couple of years."
* This is the last photo they will let me take inside the building. You know, once those television cameras go on, they own EVERYTHING. But, anywhere, here is what the Metrodome court looks like through my BlackBerry lens.
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