Miami’s Sheldon McLellan hunts down Cam Wright on a fastbreak attempt Wednesday. — PITT
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
“We’re not going to hang our heads,” Cam Wright was saying at the long table in the Petersen Events Center’s press room.
Immediately to his right was Mike Young, hanging his head.
“We didn’t make it any easier on ourselves, but we’re not done,” Jamie Dixon would tell us reporters a few minutes later. “Our focus right now is on beating Florida State.”
Kept a straight face, too.
“I don’t know what all the talk is going to be, but to me Pitt is a …”
Oooh, he almost said it, too. Those were the words of Miami coach Jim Larranaga, minutes after his Hurricanes blew right by the Panthers, 67-63, to leave the home side with virtually zero chance at the NCAA Tournament. And you just know he was about to tell us they still belonged.
Instead, he wisely took this route: “… they’ve beaten some awfully good teams.”
Yeah, they sure have. And it now sounds like a fine epitaph.
For Pitt, this is it. The Panthers are done. They’re 19-12 overall, 8-9 in the ACC with only a Saturday visit to Florida State remaining before the conference tournament next week.
Say what you will about the ACC’s special place in our nation’s basketball, but not even this conference deserves a .500 participant in the field of 64.
Say what you will about Pitt beating Notre Dame, North Carolina and Syracuse twice, but there also were losses to Hawaii, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
Say what you will about getting stronger as the season goes, but that 6-2 surge that included the bigger upsets, the one hope of catching the committee’s eye, just smashed into a cement wall with the loss at Wake and now this. The committee hates helping teams that won’t help themselves.
Say what you will, too, about going berserk next week in Greensboro.
“We know what kind of team we have, and we know we can do well in the tournament,” Wright said. “But our first focus is Florida State.”
Maybe, but soon it will be the NIT.
Which has to be, even when assessed in the most generous context, a serious disappointment for these players, for Jamie Dixon, for the university as a whole.
That’s not to suggest this was some championship contender. It wasn’t from the outset, and it was less so once Durand Johnson was suspended by the Pitt administration for disciplinary reasons. There wasn’t enough size, there wasn’t enough shooting, and there most certainly wasn’t enough experience on a sophomore-heavy roster.
But the Panthers were a preseason pick to finish middle of the pack and — yawn — that’s precisely where they are at 9th of the conference’s 15 teams. A notch below the middle, actually.
Remember when we could annually expect that Dixon’s teams would get picked low but improve and surprise everyone along the way?
Where was the improvement?
Offensively, absolutely, some got better. Young matured and gradually expanded his scoring range, as he demonstrated again Wednesday with an inside-and-out 22 points. Jamel Artis improved by leaps and bounds in that regard.
Take a look …
Sheldon Jeter and Chris Jones showed flashes, too. Even James Robinson, for whom shooting was such a struggle in his first two seasons, was smoother there.
But stop right there and try to name one player who became one iota better at defense and/or rebounding and/or any trait involved at preventing points.
Nope, me neither.
No number will sum up the season quite like this: Pitt’s defense ranks 142nd in the nation out of the 345 Division I programs, conceding an average of 65.3 points per game.
A year ago, Pitt finished 20th in that category.
I asked both Young and Dixon after this game to explain the defense …
Dixon was right to correct my use of the term ‘inconsistent.’ Because that would imply that the defense is sometimes good, sometimes bad. It’s been bad all winter.
There’s actually no better word than bad to describe the closing sequence of the first half Wednesday: Pitt had just taken a 33-27 lead on an Artis 3 that had the place hopping. The clock showed 5.6 seconds left. But Miami somehow swooped down the court and put itself in position to draw a foul from, of all people, Robinson.
Two converted free throws, and it was 33-29 with a sigh of relief for the visitors.
I’ll give the coach credit for expanding beyond his comfort zone and stocking the roster with skill. It’s clear that these sophs, in particular, are going to be quality scorers in the ACC the next two seasons. But it’s equally clear that, in a stark departure from the past, neither Dixon nor assistant Brandin Knight could teach these guys how to defend. Or, for that matter, how to rebound.
In this game, Miami had 13 offensive rebounds for 10 second-chance points and, in something once unthinkable at the Pete, an 18-8 edge in free-throw attempts.
“That one hurts,” Dixon said in a soft voice.
I don’t mean to go all downer here. My belief that this team could be an ACC contender next season is genuine. But it’s also based on Dixon’s ability to achieve the following in the interim:
• Get a big body underneath.
Yeah, I know every team at every level of basketball wants one, but Pitt will actually get one. Rozelle Nix, a 6-11, 345-pound behemoth at Pensacola State College, is signed up to spend his final two collegiate seasons in Oakland. His productivity is modest for the level — 11.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game — but no one would turn away the raw material. If Nix or someone similar comes along, Dixon can move Young out from the paint, possibly for a better defender.
• Add a point guard.
Robinson will be a senior, and Josh Newkirk looks increasingly like he’d rather try his hand at some other extracurricular activity next semester. Help is needed.
• Teach better.
Sorry, but even with Dixon repeating again Wednesday night that he’s not coaching Pitt to defend the way Pitt is defending, I’m not inclined to let the coaches off the hook. I’ve seen players pass through this program with far lesser tools who eventually figured out that, if they didn’t guard anyone, they were going to sit. This group, for whatever reason, no matter the practices, no matter the preachings, never bought in.
Dixon needs to reestablish the bar and that starts in the mirror.
The upcoming ACC tournament could be fun, maybe even a stepping stone, for these players. But not if they just show up and watch.
The Notre Dame win was big at the TIME. But no great shakes beating Carolina, which has been up and down like Pitt all year, and Syracuse is very twice-beatable this year. Florida State won't exactly inflate their RPI/at-large chances either!
To say UNC has been up and down like Pitt is not close to a true statement. They lost to Pitt @ the Pete when Pitt shot better then any Pitt team ever, but find another "BAD" loss if that is considered one. UNC lost to NC St at home, which may be their worst lost, but they also beat NC St.. Their other losses were to @ #1 Kentucky, #5 ND by 1, #2 VA, @ #2 Duke in OT (a game they should have won), @ #10 Louisville in OT (who they split with), neutral vs. Butler, and at home to Iowa (not a good loss at home, but not awful). All teams that were ranked or soon to be ranked. They didn't lose to WF, Va Tech, Miami, Hawaii, etc. You may see UNC dropped a few games in a row here and there, but look at who they played.
There was a stretch in the first half where pitt had 5 or 6 wide open shots and couldn't make any of them. Pitt was up 16-12 for what seemed like an eternity. I think if they could have stretched the lead then, they could have put pressure on Miami team missing their point guard and maybe best player. This was when Newkirk was in. His regression is remarkable.
I don't know what type of player Nix is or going to be. But entering year 3 of the ACC, I expected better than a juco big man who got offers from South Carolina and Loyola Marymount. I can't see him playing much next year.
I like Durand Johnson coming back but he's going to take minutes from somebody somewhere. I wonder how that plays out over the summer. There's a lot of 3s and undersized 4 on the roster. Good scorers as you mentioned, but after Young not many points in the paint. Uchebo and Haughton are about as unknown as Nix down there.
I'd like them to shoot more 3s next year, but with rebounding and second chance points lacking, that's probably dying more than living.
I don't know. I have to dive into more of what returns on other programs in the ACC to see where this things headed.
To me the reason Pitt has always been at the top of their conference, besides Dixon, is the leadership and play of the point guard. From Knight to Krauser to Fields and even Ashton Gibbs, even though he was a better shooting guard, those guys took charge, knew how to get the other four in position on the court, and led. James Robinson, while a nice player and I’m sure a good kid, doesn't come off to me as even close to belonging in that group. I think that's where a lot of this season's lack of tenacity and defense stems from.
Far too easy for teams to penetrate. The combo of not particularly quick guards and small inside is not good. So we're asking kids to do something they're not able to do. I know woulda shoulda coulda but Adams was expected to be a 2 year guy. We got only 1 but imagine Adams 5, Young 4, and Artis 3. We'd be having a whole different conversation right now.
Guard play was our downfall this year. I've never seen players regress like Newkirk and even Robinson under Dixon. They need better guard play. Best case scenario next year is having at least an ok big with Young at the 4 and Artis at the 3. And please recruit better. It's not good enough to occasionally get a top recruit when Duke and Kentucky fill an entire lineup with All Americans every single year.
If you want Pitt to be like Duke or Kentucky, that's just not going to happen. The only realistic expectation is to have a competitive team that can pull off the big win over those programs on the right night, which is exactly what we've had for the last 12 years, including this year. We may think we have a passionate alumni and fan base, but it's apples and oranges when you compare Pitt to the lunacy associated with those kinds of programs. As a result, there isn't a commitment to win at all costs. I actually quite like the priorities, for my $0.02.
I believe that comments about lack of shooting and creativity are missing the primary problem with this group of players. Can't say team, because they don't look anything like a team on defense at this point. In this, the 32nd game of the season, they are lost on defense. They were sniping at each other after baskets about who was responsible. That should not happen if players are paying attention. No one cares to block out for rebounds as they watch other teams get putbacks. Jamie has to et their attention on defense. NIT should be devoted to it.
What do you want them to do exactly? This Pitt team played a lot of 2-3 zone to cover for their height issues in the low post. As a result the perimeter got shredded. And it will lose Cam Wright, it's " best defender", which shows how far the defense has fallen.
Next year, you lose Nwanko and Randall down low, which probably isn't a big loss either. But Haughton, Uchebo and Nix are woefully inexperienced. They might have to go small again at times.
I just don't know what Dixon can do, coaching guys up. It's more of a roster makeup issue. There's a lot of guys like Cam Johnson, Luther, and the aforementioned Uchebo and Haughton that are gonna have to take their lumps before they start making strides.
I think there is more to last year's 20th ranked defense and this year's 142nd.
Jamie Dixon's teams have traditionally been extremely frustrating on Offense. If they had to run set offensive plays, they would throw the ball around the backcourt for 30 seconds, then throw up a prayer from way outside, hoping for a miracle or a put-back. Pitt's "Defensive Ranking" was helped by Pitt's Offense holding the ball = less possessions by the opposition.
Pitt this year has talented Offensive players: Young, Artis, Jones, Jeter. They have taken more shots, even earlier in the shot-clock. However, that has allowed the opposing team more possessions. Ergo 142nd, not 20th.
Rebounding has been more the culprit. 10 offensive rebounds by Miami, at least 4 I remember resulting in putback dunks or lay-ups. Miami shot only 42 %, even with those 4-5 easy layups/dunks that raised their percentage. Miami's shooting percentage would have been in the 30's without those offensive boards and easy buckets.
A defense is certainly adequate——even above average——if it holds opposing shooting percentage in the 30's.
Can Pitt make "the big stop" on defense when needed? Questionable. Does Jamie have a shutdown defender, especially in the middle to funnel ball toward? Very, very doubtful. In fact, no.
Yet throw out those "Defensive team rankings." Rebounding is the culprit in Pitt's defensive scenario. And Durand Johnson will not help this problem at all next season!!
That's a good point about possession I never thought of. Kinda like an NFL team that scores quickly and often, leaving their defense on the field a lot.
I was thinking too over lunch, you never saw Jamie press much, full court or 3/4. Says a lot about their defenders and athleticism or lack their of. Plus, its a weird team size wise. They have all these SFs, which I know I've beaten to death. All these 6-7, 6-8 guys that aren't quick enough to cover guards and are too small to defend forwards down low.
I use to complain several years ago they didn't have enough of those tweener types. I think they got too many now.
i don't know enough about the technicalities of defense, but the biggest thing I've noticed is the lack of rebounds, when that has been a strength, even in the recent past.
Overall, I'd say yes, the rebounding is not there. And a lot of that is due to size.
But I read some NMRish stuff on basketball data the other day that said offensive rebounds don't always tell the whom story. Especially if you don't convert on the possession...I know they crushed WF on the boards. They just couldn't convert, especially last six minutes. There was a lot of weird tips and misses last night too...they just don't have that Aaron Gray force on the roster.
Ifs and buts, I know, but I agree with bpn8pitt about both the Wake and Miami games. I could think of at least 10 occasions in each game where we had perfect position and just missed an absurdly easy layup. Don't know how or why that happens, but it's certainly not a matter of planning or teaching. I'm sad about this team. The notion that they haven't improved seems off base, though. Was I the only person who was there for the Samford and Oakland games? I remember walking out and telling my friends this team would be lucky to win two conference games...
Pitt has 2 ex point guards as their top assistant coaches and a head coach that played the guard position yet they can not teach nor recruit the position. Simply amazing.
If point guards grew on trees, everyone would have one.
Look how much better Arizona is after TJ McConnell arrived. All that recruiting punch and Sean Miller (former all star point guard) did not have an adequate point guard.
Robinson is a C+. Newkirk has regressed so badly they should be fitting him for Team Manager or Ballboy shirt.
Coaches can teach tendencies, but they can't teach judgment while under pressure.
Agree, AW. They've always gotten decent point guards and Dixon has always been able to coach up bigs to be more than adequate. So I'm hopeful on Nix - but the idea he can lug that big body up and down the court for 25 min a game ain't gonna happen. They need 5 spot help.
bjsimon brought up an excellent point last night about Robinson. How he could hardly get a blow because Newkirk is so lost. While I'm not happy about Robinsons play, I think it wad a fair observation.
Paul Zeise said the other day Luther could see a RS next year. The plan originally was this year, but Durands suspension and injuries forced him in.
I think we have to see how summer plays out. Durand is gonna take some minutes from guys; Newkirks regression. We could see a guy transfer out and Jamie could pick up another body.
What's crazy is, two recruits Pitt was in on awhile back, Maverick Rowan and Kyle Alexander? Every powerhouse in the country wants them now. Those are the guys Pitt has to start landing.
A huge problem Pitt will have is even though they will have virtually their whole team back, the ACC is a whole is just so tough. Look at UNC and Duke next year. UNC will have their entire team back as well. Duke has a lot coming back and look what is coming in for them. Pitino always gets top recruits and just won a NC 2 years ago. Virginia is now a powerhouse. NC State, Notre Dame, Fl. St, and Miami are always going to play you tough or be really good teams themselves. Having guys come back year after year isn't enough. They need difference makers like the other programs have.
We were there last night. The only time Pitt showed any energy or sense of urgency was when Phillips-Nwankwo came into the game. The guard play was horrendous and Jamel's shooting was off in the 2nd half. Having stated all that I truly believe this team could be very good next year, if the guard play improves. For all the Jamie bashers out there this is one his finest coaching jobs. Too many in this city doesn't appreciate how good of a coach Jamie is. Sure he may call too many timeouts and over coach at times but his stellar record with slightly above average talent is remarkable. H2P!
I appreciate your points in the isolated context of pure coaching, but the coach is responsible for accumulating the 'slightly above-average' talent, isn't he?
I'm really confused by the recruiting criticism. basically, what I seem to hear is that he doesn't get kids every year like Duke, Kentucky, UNC, Syracuse get. But even when Pitt had great teams, they did it by finding hidden gems who weren't Five Star prospects. You simply won't bat 1000 on that type of recruit over time. My consistent response: name another non-"Blue Blood" program that has stayed as consistently good as Pitt over recent history. All those stats that show Pitt right along with Kansas, Duke, etc. in terms of number of tournaments made and games won over the last 15 years mean a heck of a lot to me. The overwhelming majority of programs can't say the same. Every team has ups and downs in recruiting besides the few schools like Duke, who can just take everybody and then winnow the roster via transfers. I would bet almost any amount of money that any coach who could reasonably replace Jamie would make this program significantly worse than it is right now.
re the comment that Newkirk looks like he would rather not be playing basketball. I must not be watching the same kid. It seems to me, if anything, his problem is that he's trying too hard to do too much in limited minutes. He's not playing well. There's a reason why the term sophomore slump exists, after all. This is a college kid we're talking about; we have no idea what's going on in his personal or academic life. But he's simply shown too much talent both last year and earlier this year to say that he is a write-off. And, like I said, even in the Wake game, he made a bad play, but he was trying to make something good happen for the team, not shying away from the moment. It just strikes me as awfully harsh, unless you know something about his character that I don't, to ascribe lack of desire to a college kid who seems to be trying but struggling.
March 5, 2015
Column: For Pitt, even the grade lacks a D
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Pitt
Miami’s Sheldon McLellan hunts down Cam Wright on a fastbreak attempt Wednesday. — PITT
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
“We’re not going to hang our heads,” Cam Wright was saying at the long table in the Petersen Events Center’s press room.
Immediately to his right was Mike Young, hanging his head.
“We didn’t make it any easier on ourselves, but we’re not done,” Jamie Dixon would tell us reporters a few minutes later. “Our focus right now is on beating Florida State.”
Kept a straight face, too.
“I don’t know what all the talk is going to be, but to me Pitt is a …”
Oooh, he almost said it, too. Those were the words of Miami coach Jim Larranaga, minutes after his Hurricanes blew right by the Panthers, 67-63, to leave the home side with virtually zero chance at the NCAA Tournament. And you just know he was about to tell us they still belonged.
Instead, he wisely took this route: “… they’ve beaten some awfully good teams.”
Yeah, they sure have. And it now sounds like a fine epitaph.
For Pitt, this is it. The Panthers are done. They’re 19-12 overall, 8-9 in the ACC with only a Saturday visit to Florida State remaining before the conference tournament next week.
Say what you will about the ACC’s special place in our nation’s basketball, but not even this conference deserves a .500 participant in the field of 64.
Say what you will about Pitt beating Notre Dame, North Carolina and Syracuse twice, but there also were losses to Hawaii, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
Say what you will about getting stronger as the season goes, but that 6-2 surge that included the bigger upsets, the one hope of catching the committee’s eye, just smashed into a cement wall with the loss at Wake and now this. The committee hates helping teams that won’t help themselves.
Say what you will, too, about going berserk next week in Greensboro.
“We know what kind of team we have, and we know we can do well in the tournament,” Wright said. “But our first focus is Florida State.”
Maybe, but soon it will be the NIT.
Which has to be, even when assessed in the most generous context, a serious disappointment for these players, for Jamie Dixon, for the university as a whole.
That’s not to suggest this was some championship contender. It wasn’t from the outset, and it was less so once Durand Johnson was suspended by the Pitt administration for disciplinary reasons. There wasn’t enough size, there wasn’t enough shooting, and there most certainly wasn’t enough experience on a sophomore-heavy roster.
But the Panthers were a preseason pick to finish middle of the pack and — yawn — that’s precisely where they are at 9th of the conference’s 15 teams. A notch below the middle, actually.
Remember when we could annually expect that Dixon’s teams would get picked low but improve and surprise everyone along the way?
Where was the improvement?
Offensively, absolutely, some got better. Young matured and gradually expanded his scoring range, as he demonstrated again Wednesday with an inside-and-out 22 points. Jamel Artis improved by leaps and bounds in that regard.
Take a look …
Sheldon Jeter and Chris Jones showed flashes, too. Even James Robinson, for whom shooting was such a struggle in his first two seasons, was smoother there.
But stop right there and try to name one player who became one iota better at defense and/or rebounding and/or any trait involved at preventing points.
Nope, me neither.
No number will sum up the season quite like this: Pitt’s defense ranks 142nd in the nation out of the 345 Division I programs, conceding an average of 65.3 points per game.
A year ago, Pitt finished 20th in that category.
I asked both Young and Dixon after this game to explain the defense …
Dixon was right to correct my use of the term ‘inconsistent.’ Because that would imply that the defense is sometimes good, sometimes bad. It’s been bad all winter.
There’s actually no better word than bad to describe the closing sequence of the first half Wednesday: Pitt had just taken a 33-27 lead on an Artis 3 that had the place hopping. The clock showed 5.6 seconds left. But Miami somehow swooped down the court and put itself in position to draw a foul from, of all people, Robinson.
Two converted free throws, and it was 33-29 with a sigh of relief for the visitors.
I’ll give the coach credit for expanding beyond his comfort zone and stocking the roster with skill. It’s clear that these sophs, in particular, are going to be quality scorers in the ACC the next two seasons. But it’s equally clear that, in a stark departure from the past, neither Dixon nor assistant Brandin Knight could teach these guys how to defend. Or, for that matter, how to rebound.
In this game, Miami had 13 offensive rebounds for 10 second-chance points and, in something once unthinkable at the Pete, an 18-8 edge in free-throw attempts.
“That one hurts,” Dixon said in a soft voice.
I don’t mean to go all downer here. My belief that this team could be an ACC contender next season is genuine. But it’s also based on Dixon’s ability to achieve the following in the interim:
• Get a big body underneath.
Yeah, I know every team at every level of basketball wants one, but Pitt will actually get one. Rozelle Nix, a 6-11, 345-pound behemoth at Pensacola State College, is signed up to spend his final two collegiate seasons in Oakland. His productivity is modest for the level — 11.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game — but no one would turn away the raw material. If Nix or someone similar comes along, Dixon can move Young out from the paint, possibly for a better defender.
• Add a point guard.
Robinson will be a senior, and Josh Newkirk looks increasingly like he’d rather try his hand at some other extracurricular activity next semester. Help is needed.
• Teach better.
Sorry, but even with Dixon repeating again Wednesday night that he’s not coaching Pitt to defend the way Pitt is defending, I’m not inclined to let the coaches off the hook. I’ve seen players pass through this program with far lesser tools who eventually figured out that, if they didn’t guard anyone, they were going to sit. This group, for whatever reason, no matter the practices, no matter the preachings, never bought in.
Dixon needs to reestablish the bar and that starts in the mirror.
The upcoming ACC tournament could be fun, maybe even a stepping stone, for these players. But not if they just show up and watch.