Tray Woodall (Graduation) - Woodall leaving severs the final tie to the 08-09 team, which was by far Pitt's best team ever. He did redshirt that season, however. In his first two seasons, Woodall was great at getting to the rim. He was the catalyst for Pitt's epic triple overtime comeback win over a top 5 wvu team in 2010. His junior season (which I've almost completely erased from my memory #CBIncredible aside) was plagued by injury. He played well enough last season to earn a professional contract in Turkey after graduation. That's as much as you can hope for from a guy who looks likes he fits in more with my 8th grade rec team than major college basketball.
Dante Taylor (Graduation) - A McDonald's All American, Taylor never lived up to the expectations of being a 5 star recruit. He would be brilliant for 3 minute stretches, and then disappear for the next 15. A natural power forward, Dixon forcing Taylor to play center from the moment he stepped on campus definitely hindered his development. Dixon has a habit of doing that. In his last two years, Taylor recognized his role and grew to love it. He continued to work and never seemed to let the disappointment of his career get to him.
Trey Zeigler (Transfer) - Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Get a DUI. Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Force up an off-balanced, contested leaner that misses badly. Transfer to TCU. And that, folks, summarizes everything Trey Zeigler ever did for Pitt basketball. There have been worse Pitt basketball players, but I can't remember a player who was supposed to be above average suck as much as Zeigler.
JJ Moore (Transfer) - JJ Moore could have been an All Conference player for Pitt. A slightly more muscular Gil Brown clone, Moore dominated games for stretches. Sadly, he shared a wing position with Lamar Patterson, and Dixon never figured out how to use them both effectively. I always thought with Patterson's passing skills he could have made a home in the backcourt, which would have allowed Moore to stay at his natural 3. Unfortunately, Jamie disagreed and tried to make Moore into a low post player. That's one of the few things I don't like about Dixon. I get that you want to find minutes for the guy, but sometimes you have to let the players do what they're good at. Moore, to his credit, attempted to develop an inside game, but he would have been a lot better off if he learned to use his strengths instead. I blame Dixon for that. He transferred to Rutgers to be closer to his ailing grandfather. He has been granted a hardship waiver and will be eligible immediately.
Steven Adams (NBA) - Adams declared for the draft and was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 12th pick in the first round. He is the first player out of Pittsburgh to be selected in the first round since Vonteego Cummings (26th overall by Indiana) in 1999. Adams was okay in his lone season, but he could have been absolutely dominant this year. With Adams manning the middle, this Pitt team would have had final four potential. Another year of seasoning and Adams would have been a no-brainer top 5 pick in the 2014 draft. He seems to have made the right choice, though, as his height and potential still landed him in the lottery. Going to a Thunder team that has championship aspirations but lacks a center is the perfect fit for him. Mark my word, Adams make the all-rookie team.
I've just learned that Hasheem Thabeet is also on the Thunder. I am contractually obligated to post this photo.
Okay, now onto the 2013-2014 season. Pitt opened with the Savannah State Tigers out of the MEAC conference. The Tigers won 19 games last season and lost in the first round of the CIT to East Carolina. The year before they won 21 games and made the NIT so chances are they would have beaten Pitt that year. If Savannah State sounds familiar, they did go winless in 2004 which was the first time that happened since Prairie View A&M in 1992.
Pitt jumped out to a 40-13 halftime lead and in the first 10 minutes I thought they might have a chance at 100. Savannah State shot better in the second half, but the game was never in doubt. There are a couple things to take away from the game. The first is the amount of fouls called. The NCAA made a few rule changes this season to limit physical contact by the defender. This will lead to a lot of fouls early on as teams learn to adjust. This will hurt Pitt initially, but eventually it will prove to be beneficial. One of the things Pitt has struggled with is the different way games are officiated in the NCAA tournament as compared to the Big East. In the Wichita State 1st round debacle last year, there were 48 fouls called. Compare this to the 32 fouls called in Pitt's Big East Tournament loss to Syracuse last year. Pitt lost to the Shockers by 18 and the Orange by 3 so the foul differential is even more incredible. Last night's game had 48 fouls. Moving to the ACC and having an entire year of games called as tightly as the the NCAA Tournament will be great for Pitt.
Now onto the first grades of the season.
Lamar Patterson - Patterson is back for his senior season. He'll again play the wing. Patterson is only
206 points away from becoming the 42nd 1000 point scorer in Pitt history. He should reach that mark in the first half of the conference schedule. It was a typical Patterson performance of 11 points 7 rebounds and 7 assists (career high). The 7 assists being a career high seems a bit low. I thought he had more in a game last season. After consulting the Internet, it turns out that he did have 7 against Detroit last year. The hope last year was that Patterson would make the usual jump in performance during his junior year that has been so characteristic of Dixon recruits (Sam Young, Gary McGhee, Brad Wanamaker, etc.). His scoring average and shooting percentage rose slightly, but his assists and rebounds both fell. I wouldn't look too much into that as Woodall being healthy for a full season and James Robinson being in the mix took away most of the playmaking responsibilities from Patterson. In the first half Patterson forced up a shot that hit the side of the backboard. It was an ugly shot, sure, but I'm taking that as a positive that he was a little more selfish. What I'm not happy about was the 4 turnovers. That part is unacceptable.
Grade: B+
James Robinson - James Robinson is going to be a really good 4 year college player, and that's it. He lacks the quickness necessary for the NBA game. Last year, he did everything you could expect from a freshman point guard, namely, take care of the ball. His assist to turnover ratio was very good. The problem with Patterson is that his shooting percentage fell off a cliff in conference play. He finished 37% for the year, but I'm pretty sure it was closer to 3% in Big East play. After a year of deferring to Woodall, this is now Robinson's team. Patterson and Zanna might be the better players now, but Robinson is the most important. Pitt is rail-thin at guard. Freshman Josh Newkirk will have to run the point when Robinson is taking a breather. Against the Tigers, Robinson had a game high 13 points, which was aided by an 8-8 night from the line. He made his only three as well. If Robinson can bring his field goal percentage up to around 45% while continuing to limit turnovers, Pitt will be in great shape.
Grade: A
Cameron Wright - Do you remember in the movie Major League 2 when Willie Mays Hays has to do pushups every time he hits the ball in the air? That's what Cameron Wright should do every time he takes a jump shot. It is still ugly. He's also from Cleveland.
However, Wright knows how to score in other ways and he plays excellent defense. I can think of at least 4 instances in the game where Wright either knocked the ball loose or flat out stole it. Wright looked awful in his freshman year, but so did Brad Wanamaker. Here's hoping Wright has a breakout year and I can make innumerable Wright puns. He also had 10 points, though I don't remember any of his 4 field goals.
Grade: B+
Durand Johnson: The transfers of Moore and Zeigler opened up a ton of minutes at the 3. Those minutes will be filled by the man they call Peewee.
After redshirting in 2011, Johnson wasn't a pleasant surprise in his first season. On a team of players unwilling to take an open shot (looking at you Patterson and Moore) it was refreshing to see someone actually shoot any time they were open. Johnson will fire from anywhere. I expect him to mature this season and improve his decision-making, but his aggressiveness will be welcomed. Durand hit three three pointers and had 6 rebounds.
Grade: B+
Talib Zanna broke a team rule and was suspended for the game.
Grade: Rulebreaker
That's it for the returning players. Wow, there are so many new players on Pitt this year it is ridiculous. I will be writing an individual post on each newcomer in the next week, but for now I'm just going to finish the grades because this post is entirely too long. Most of you probably stopped reading three paragraphs ago.
Jamel Artis - Artis is a 6'7" freshman forward from Baltimore. He missed both of his field goal attempts, but managed to grab 5 rebounds. He is a prime red-shirt candidate.
Grade: B-
Michael Young - Young is a 6'8" freshman forward who played high school basketball in New Jersey but is originally from McKeesport. He is a natural 4, but could be forced to play some minutes at center. Young is Pitt's highest ranked recruit this year (ESPN #67). He finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds and just missed being the first player since Blair in 2007 to record a double double in their debut. For the record, Blair put up 20 and 14 against Houston Baptist in the first regular season game I ever attended in the Zoo. Coincidentally that was the last time Pitt scored over 100 points in a game.
Grade: A
Josh Newkirk - Newkirk is a 6'2" guard from Raleigh, NC. If Josh Newkirk is 6'2" then I'm 6'6". For the record I'm 6'4" and Newkirk is closer to an even 6 feet. Newkirk could play a little at shooting guard, but mostly he'll back up Robinson at the point. He showed an impressive shooting touch from long range by making all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Grade: A
Chris Jones - Jones redshirted last year so there isn't much to go on. He played 16 minutes in this game but missed both of his shots (2-2 from the line though). He'll play this year, but who knows how much.
Grade: C
Mike Lecak and Josh Ko - They are the walkons. Lecak returns for his second season and Ko was the player of the year in the state of Hawaii. Ko made both of his shots and Lecak missed his one attempt. The game was so out of hand that Lecak even got in in the first half.
Grade: T for Tuition Payments
Derrick Randall - Randall is a 6'9" transfer from Rutgers where he played sparingly for two seasons. Yes it was Savannah State, but Randall dominated. He is the best rebounder Pitt has right now. He had 12 and 12 and shot 5-7 from the field. He has very strong hands. If he gets his hand on a rebound, he's coming down with it, very Blair-esque. We've had big men in the past (looking at you Gary) fail to secure rebounds they should have gotten so this is a nice change of pace. I'm not saying Randall is going to turn into a double double machine, but this was a good performance.
Grade: A (MVP)
That's it for now. Pitt plays Fresno State on Tuesday, and it should be a better game.
Hail to Pitt,
J.O.
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