Pitt Loss Becoming a Trend, on Dixon

Before we dive into all of the action from the weekend, I have to address the Pitt loss in some detail. Year after year now Pitt has continued to struggle in the NCAA Tournament. As one very adamant Pitt fan explained in detail to me yesterday, Jamie Dixon has now lost to a lower seeded team in the tournament all eight years since he has been in charge. He has never beaten a higher seeded team. Despite being 11-8 overall in the tournament, that is not a pretty fact. Jamie Dixon supporters, which I am one of, should stop calling him a “great” coach. He is good, not great at this point. Great are guys like Coach K, Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun and Roy Williams. Those guys have won championships, been to Final Fours and achieved great success with a number of teams.

As I mentioned, I am a Dixon supporter and think Pitt should give him a lifetime contract tomorrow if he wanted one. That being said, this loss falls squarely on his shoulders and he deserves all of the criticism being thrown his way this week. More alarming, however, is this trend that is developing with the type of games his Pitt teams have lost and their continued breakdown in close games. A different Pitt fan expressed his concern to me on Friday that he was worried about Shelvin Mack going off because he is the exact kind of player that has killed Pitt in the past. Well, what happened? Mack went off, the Panthers had to rally against an inferior team and then they eventually choked in the end. Dixon’s defensive strategy on great guards like Mack needs to change. Whether it was defensive breakdowns and missed assignments like Gilbert Brown alluded to in his press conference we will never know - only the guys in the room know that - but this has continually happened over Dixon’s career, and that was only part of the in-game strategy that was poor. There were countless other instances of poor coaching and/or preparation including the failure to even get a shot off before the shot clock violation leading by one late in the game.

Further, leaving the guys on the foul line for Gilbert Brown’s second free throw was inexcusable. I said it before the shot to those I was watching the game with, “why are they still on the foul line”. Sure, Nasir Robinson made a boneheaded play but he’s a college kid wanting desperately to be the hero. A “great” coach doesn’t put his player in the position to make that kind of mistake. No, a great coach puts his team in position to win everytime on floor, something Dixon has failed to do come tournament time. Dixon is a good coach and he’s learning on the job with no prior head-coaching experience but at some point he needs to get over his tournament troubles. I think that time will come. If you continually put yourself in position to succeed and he continues to bring in the kind of players he now is, eventually Jamie Dixon and Pitt will break through with a great tournament run. It would be nice though if that time came sooner rather than later.

I will be back a little later today with the rest of my thoughts on the action from this weekend.

Pitt Needs More from Brown

Gilbert Brown has proven over his career at Pitt that he is a fantastic role player. The fifth year senior is a terrific athlete, excellent defender, good rebounder, strong finisher and has even improved his jumpshot to the point that it is respectable. It has also become clear that Brown will never develop into the star some people believed he might early in his career after witnessing one of his incredible dunks or fabulous defensive plays. That does not mean he does not have more to give to this current Panthers team.

For the season, Brown is averaging 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game to go along with his stellar defense. Those are decent, but not great numbers and not all that much different than his numbers from a year ago. Balance is a trademark of Jamie Dixon teams and scoring has never been Brown’s forte but still, a jump in scoring should have been expected for a guy entering his fifth year in the program. What is more telling, however, is that while Brown has improved his free throw shooting, both his three-point and overall field-goal percentages have gone down from last year. Brown’s two-point field goal percentage has dropped significantly. This confirms what my eyes have been telling me in that Brown is not getting the easy baskets in transition and dunks in the half court like he was in the past.

Last year it was inconsistency that plagued Brown on the offensive end where he seemingly scored 20 points or 5 points from game to game. This year, while being a little more consistent, we have yet to see the explosiveness he showed in games last year. Case in point: Brown has scored 20 points only once this season and has scored more than 15 in only two other games while scoring more than 15 in a third of his games just a season ago.

One could say that Brown has taken a back seat to Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wannamaker on the offensive end but even in the three games that Gibbs missed with a knee injury, Brown failed to step his game up, only scoring a total of 24 points over the three contests. The Panthers were able to win those three games without Gibbs, in part because of Brown’s and the rest of the team’s defensive effort, but if the Panthers are going to reach their goals this season, most notably a Final Four appearance, both Brown and the Panthers are going to need to produce a little more firepower in the offensive end.

Pitt is having a fantastic season and is poised to earn a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Gilbert Brown’s role as a complimentary piece is a big reason why the Panthers are enjoying so much success but more can be expected of the senior. I am not saying the Panthers need Brown to become a 20 point per game scorer to reach the Final Four, but an offensive outburst here or there could sure enhance their chances.