Pitt Hoops: They're Kind of A Big Deal

Hey college basketball fans, Don't act like your not impressed.

Aaaaaaand that's enough Anchorman for one post.

Anyway, how about those Panthers, ehh? The performances by DeJuan Blair and Sam Young really can't be understated. Sam I Am was filling the basket like he was playing Northeastern Missouri Southern College in early December or something. He was superb.

And DeJuan Blair was absolutely dominant. I know I've said it before, but the guy is the MVP of this squad. He's more important than Sammy or Levance Fields. He, along with the stupendous coaching job by Jamie Dixon and company, absolutely shut down Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet was badly exposed as being an all-D no-O player and I'd say his now infamous 20-20 the other day goes down under the fluky category. Against a physical player like the Grizzly Blair, Thabeet just gets run over. He's like a latter day Manute Bol or something. I think this guy is going to just get destroyed in the NBA by the big boys down low.

Anyway, Blair proved once and for all something that I have been saying for the past year.  The guy can play against anybody.  It doesn't matter how tall they are.  He has the right mixture of incredible bulk, smarts, strength and arms that are so long you expect him to start swinging up the backboard like an orangutan.  The 7'3 wingspan makes him play more like someone who is 6'10, not 6'7 (probably more like 6'6 in all honesty).  Because in all honesty, why is it important how high off the ground your head is?  Doesn't seem to be too relevant to me.  

One thing that surprised me about Blair tonight was his attempt at developing a range.  It made a bit of sense as Thabeet makes it so very difficult to score inside (though Blair made a number of power moves to counter-act Thabeet who I thought was too aggressive at times).  However, it doesn't help anyone to have Blair chucking up 18 footers.  He makes that shot 10% of the time, maybe.  12 footers, fadeaways, and jumpers off screens are more than fine.  But he shouldn't be within a few feet of the 3-point line. 

On the flip side, it was great to see Sammy's long range game really working.  The guy was hitting the 3's early on and forced UConn to try all sorts of different matchups against him, and even better, none of those things worked.  The Huskies had absolutely no one to put up against Young and everyone on the court knew it.

The one thing that concerned me a bit was seeing Levance getting taken by the much quicker Kemba Walker.  Walker is a youthful freshman who is still a long from being a decent point guard, but he has a lot of talent and incredible speed.  And although Walker didn't have a big game on either end, he was easily able to neutralize Fields until the final desperate moments, even though its unclear if he had any idea what he was doing.  We all know that Fields isn't the quickest point guard in the league.  No surprise there.  But I never realized how big of an edge pure speed would give an opposing point opposite Fields.  this was probably his worst game of the season.  5 assists, 4 turnover, very un-Levance-like.  

Still, this is just me nitpicking, and I will stop now.  After all, we just took down the number 1 team in all of the college basketball world and have what is probably the best-equipped team for a title run that we have ever seen at this school.  Being that we were number 4, it follows we should have a pretty good claim for the number 1 spot.  That probably isn't likely though.  I'd guess either 2 or 3 unless both UNC and Oklahoma surprisingly go down.  

Live Blog of Panthers- Cardinals

5:58 We are live from... our apartment in Oakland! All set to put together a live blog of the Pitt-Louisville basketball game that is slated to get under way in precisely two minutes. This game boasts the number one team in the nation (god I will never tire of saying that) matching up against the 20th ranked Louisville Cardinals in Louisville's Freedom Hall. The key players for our Panthers are, of course, DeJuan "The Windex Man" Blair, Sam I Am Young, and Levance Fields. For the Cards, its freshman star Samardo Samuels, Earl Clark, and 10th year senior Terrance Williams (just kidding of course, it only SEEMS like he's been there since the 80s.) Should be fun.

6:00 Soooo....yeah the Big Ten matchup of Illinois-Michigan State is going long. Its not enough that the Big Ten has to play awful basketball, they have to play slow awful basketball that forces the rest of us to inadvertantly watch them disgrace the James Naismith's game? Just appalling.

6:05 Evidently the tipoff has been delayed until 6:10 PM. Well okay then. By the way, I've seen youth league YMCA basketball games that were more interesting and better played than this atrocity of a game. There's still 3:56 left in this trainwreck.

6:11 ESPN is so appalled by having to broadcast this Big Eleven disaster with its 0.0 Nielsen rating that it briefly takes us to a split screen of Pitt-Ville where Ty Biggs drains a trey. Then they immediately switch back to Illinois-MSU. What a tease.

6:16 Panthers are up 9-2 right now and we are still suffering through this worthless Big Eleven game. I'm freaking out right now, I've seen more Big Eleven basketball today than I have in my entire life, and I understand why that is so. These teams would get debacled by Pitt.

6:18 Hey Michigan State finally F-Ing wins this game. ESPN can't cut the chord to that one fast enough. Ahhhh.... Big East basketball. Thank God. Of course they are at a media timeout. All 5 Pitt starters have scored we are told.

6:20 Superb! The wonderful Bill Raftery is calling the game alongside Sean McDonough and Fran Frischilla. This is a pretty good crew calling our game. "Send it in Jerome!"

6:21 Jermaine Dixon welcomes us to the game by nailing a 3. He is playing about 1,000 times better in the last couple games.

6:23 What happened to Edgar Sosa? Wasn't this guy supposed to be a really good player when he came here. I just looked up his stats and he has gotten worse statistically every year since he got to Louisville.

6:28 Edgar Sosa gets hacked going to the basket and falls away from the basket out of control and does a weird hug/dance thing with one of the refs. Kinda creepy. I don't think anyone knew what the hell to make out it. The Panthers are driving me crazy right now. Louisville is picking up steals and offensive boards all over the place right now. Despite a nice lead, I'm seeing a lot of the danger signs of sloppy first half play for the third game in a row.

6:36 Jermaine Dixon breathes on Terrence Williams the wrong way and gets called for a foul. This refs are calling a lot, a LOT of fouls right now. If this keeps us, there are going to be a fair amount of players on both teams in trouble.

6:40 Pitt has let the Ville back into this game, it's 23-17 as we head to a media timeout with 7:57 remaining. Too much sloppiness for Pitt after the red-hot start that no one actually saw. Ville is on a 10-3 run right now.

6:44 The refs appear to have wagered heavily, very heavily on Louisville, as Sam Young gets his second foul and is likely done for the half. Then, a Louisville player commits aggravated assault on Levance Fields and nothing gets called.

6:47 DeJuan Blair gets his second foul at the same time the ref's shirt gets untucked to reveal Cardinal Red underneath. What a bunch of B.S. Louisville takes their first lead of the game, but having 8 men on the court (including the refs) will do that.

6:50 After watching Gary McGhee play defense like he's missing a chromosome, I've determined Pitt would be better off playing with 4 men on the floor then with 4 and Mcghee.

6:55 Please God can Pitt learn to shoot free throws one of these F-ing years? Ashton Gibbs clanks two critical ones and Pitt is down 3 right now, 29-26.

6:58 Louisville is pwning Pitt on their offensive glass. I've never seen Pitt get shoved around like this on the glass. Of course DeJuan and Sammy haven't played in like an hour, so that might have something to do with it. I'd like to think we could at least hang with them though. I guess not.

7:03 And that's a half... Pitt surprisingly is up 32-30. If you had told me Sam and DeJuan would miss huge chunks of the first half with foul trouble I would not have expected to be up on Louisville at the half. So I'll take that, at least. Back for the second half.
SECOND HALF
7:20 We are back and the its good to see Sam and DeJuan back in the ball game. I'm nervous as to how the Cardinals are going to attack the foul-ridden Panthers. Biggs immediately picks up a foul, his 3rd, and this alarming stat is dropped on us: 6 PANTHERS HAD 2 FOULS AT HALFTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey dumbass refs, I think you may be calling a shade too many fouls!

7:24 DeJuan Blair is making his presence felt right now. He picks up an offensive board and dunks it in traffic and then next possession down grabs another offensive board and gets a foul called against the Cards for a reach-in.

7:26 Panthers are on a mini-run, a 7-0 stretch capped by a Sam Young trey. The anouncers celebrate it by making a weird reference implying that they went out drinking with Bill Hillgrove and Dick Groat last night. Sounds like a grand old time.

7:31 Our first Sam Young shot fake of the evening. Man I was way off! I had 6:25 in the poll. Anyway it sets up a Jermaine Dixon trey, his third of the night. If Dixon can keep up the great work on threes he could turn into a real weapon and give them the one thing they are really lacking.

7:32 Crap. DeJuan picks up his 3rd foul on a silly reach-in. He heads to the bench. Gil comes back down the court on the next possession and picks up HIS third foul. Biggs, Blair, and Brown all have three now. Not good folks, not at all good.

7:35 Sam does a double ball/head fake. That's like the unicorn of Sam Young fakes. We just saw a truly special moment. of course he celebrates by turning the ball over almost immediately after.

7:36 Biggs is freaking OWNING the offensive glass. He is a tremendous inside role guy and continues to do his season-long impression of Chevy Troutman. Sam hits a banker after Biggsy gets those 2 offensive boards. 46-39 Panthers. Timeout Ville.

7:38 Okay this can't possibly be right, but ESPN is telling me that Tim Frye played in the first half of the game. Uhmm... What? The same Tim Frye who is the stereotypical short walk-on white guard who plays only in the final minute of blowouts? I mean I know Pitt was in foul trouble, but that can't be right can it? There's no way I could have missed that, right?

7:43 Sam makes a great steal but can't control as he is racing downcourt and tosses one to Dixon who tosses it to Fields who, clearly trying to look elsewhere for a fancy pass or something, lets it slip out of bounds. Bad job by Levance who sometimes will do things like that to drive you crazy. The Cardinals come down and score to make it 46-42.

7:44 Jermaine Dixon is having a spectacular day. he snatches a rebound, outlets to Levance who races upcourt and somehow Jermaine makes it all the way back up court and takes a bounce pass from Fields for a layup. This kid is turning into a legit offensive weapon all of a sudden, and I, for one, am stunned by his exponential upward progress. I guess he just needed to get comfortable or something, but he's been great. 48-42 Panthers

7:47 DeJuan Blair comes back in. I will be watching closely to see how Louisville attacks him and how he responds. Just as I type this, Sam makes an easy steal and puts in an absolute monster dunk on a breakaway. He walks menacingly away from the hoop looking like he's ready to run through a brick wall or something. The boy is fired up.

7:50 I haven't mentioned this yet, but Jamie Dixon is employing Brad Wanamaker in a point guard role to bring the ball up against the Louisville press. I'm not sure why exactly he's doing this, but he is doing a tremendous job at it.

7:51 DeJuan picks up his 4th on a ticky-tack 4th foul. It wasn't much of anything, but Blair took an unnecessary chance and paid the price. The kid still needs to learn.

7:53 All of a sudden Louisville is only down by a point as Pitt spends three straight defensive possessions crapping themselves and taking dumb shots on offense. I don't get how they can fall apart so quick when Blair comes out of the game like that. Grrr.... Pitt had a 10 point lead at one point. I had a feeling the Cards would work their way back into this sucker, but I didn't think that THIS would happen, especially so quickly.

7:55 Bill Raftery gives us what we wanted all day... a little parody for Sam Young's earlier dunk, shouting, "Send it in... Jerome!"

7:58 Blazing hot Jermaine Dixon drills a pair of free throws, Pitt is up by 3. He now has 18 points on the night. I have a done a total 180 on this kid in the past week or two.

8:01 A monster dunke for Louisville and this sucker is tied up. Yikes. We head into the last media timeout 58-58. They just showed the replay of the dunk and Gil Brown had an alarming petrified look on his face. Not what I want to see there Gil.

8:06 Levance Fields gets called for a foul that I think the Louisville fans made from the first row. Especially because the ref clearly signalled double foul at first and then pretended like he didn't. What f-ing garbage. Such a homer call. Cardinals are up because of this homerism.

8:08 Biggs makes a god-awful pass to Blair. Just a terrible idea. 19 turnovers for Pitt today as they are playing crazy sloppy right now.

8:11 Here we go, 1:07 to go in this puppy. It's gonna be a fight. 62-58 Cardinals right now.

8:12 Clark hits a monster shot as the shot clock expired. Not sure if its a 2 or 3, the refs are reviewing. I think its a 2 though. Yup it is. Shit. 64-58 Louisville. Pitt is hanging on by a thread, if that. The worst part is Clark hopping around like an idiot afterward. I hate that.

8:14 For some bizarre reason, after Louisville grabs a rebound after another missed 3 for Pitt, the Panthers take about 10 seconds to foul a Cardinal player. Just sloppy and not wanting it enough.

8:17 Truely bizarre, DeJuan Blair gets fouled as he goes to score and the bucket is good. Pitt down 66-62. Pitt may not have the best odds right now, but at least they still have some odds...

8:19 Louisville hits both free throws to go up 68-63. It's over now. Oh, and then Sam Young makes an awful inbound pass and Blair fouls out trying to get the ball back. Ugh.

8:22 Yup that's a wrap, 69-63 Cardinals. Pitt drops its first game of the season. I don't think I'll be doing another one of these anytime soon. Sorry Panthers for jinxing you guys. Still, it was a very good effort, and kind of a weird game filled with lots of runs and streaks. I'll be interested to see where we rank come Monday morning.

Impressions From Pitt-Georgetown

After countless critics questioned just how good the Pitt men's hoops squad really was for the better part of November and December, Jamie Dixon's crew went out and made a very powerful statement earlier today in whooping up on Georgetown 70-54. Leading the way for our Panthers was DeJuan Blair who, after a dreadful M.I.A effort against Rutgers a few days ago, was an absolute beast out on the court. Blair put up a 20 point, 17 rebound effort, and set the tone for the Panthers early and often. The Panthers dominated the Hoyas on the glass, outrebounding them by an incredible 43-17 margin. Pitt had 18 offensive boards to Georgetown's 4, another incredible margin. Some other impressions:

-The much ballyhooed "next great Georgetown center" Greg Monroe has a long LONG way to go to live up to the hype. Yeah the guy can fill the basket, as he put up 15 points, but defensively he is an absolute liability against savvy offensive players like our marvelous DeJuan Blair.

-Let's hope Gil Brown is okay after going down with a shoulder injury late in the game. Brown was a real difference maker for the Panthers today, using his incredible athleticism to really cause some big time matchup problems for the Hoyas. Brown is further cementing himself as a guy who can do it all, as he played the 2, 3, and 4 for extended periods in the game, and was excellent at each spot. At the 2 he can use his size and at the 4 he uses his speed. I think this guy has a very, very bright future ahead of him as a pro someday. For now, he is a spectacular force coming off of the bench.

-Speaking of great bench play, how about the work of Brad Wanamaker the last two games? Who or what lit a fire under his butt? After pouring in a career-high 15 against Rutgers, Wanamaker may not have filled the stat sheet quite as well (5 points, 4 boards, 2 helpers), but he was excellent out there. I've never been a believer of Brad's in the past, and never could understand the appeal of him to Jamie Dixon, but I am a believer in him now and think he will be a big part of this team's success as the 7th man.

-How about Tyrell Biggs doing his best Chevy Troutman impression? Biggs is a perfect mucker-and-grinder type of role guy, and today he showed a strong knack for taking advantage of the space opponents are forced to give him when Blair is lighting it up as he was today. If Blair keeps playing like a force of nature, Biggs will benefit as much as anyone, and let's hope the efficiency (7/10 shooting today) continues.

-Very little was demonstrated by our deep bench guys that reassured me we can survive if either Levance Fields or Blair is in foul trouble or (knocking on wood) injured. Ashton Gibbs is a nerve-wracking point guard who appears very uncomfortable with the position, and Gary McGhee looks mostly like the same player he was a season ago. I hope one of these guys or a guy like Tra Woodall or Nas Robinson can make a Wanamaker-like improvement, but I'm not holding my breath.

-How did I get this far in without mentioning Sam Young and Levance Fields? Fields, despite what some announcers say, looks as close to 100% as ever, and continues to be nothing short of brilliant as a point guard. He is one of the national leaders in assist/turnover ratio, and certainly did nothing to hurt his status with an 8 Assist 0 Turnover performance. He also got Georgetown sharpshooter DeJuan Summers very, very irritated. Hard to say if this had anything to do with it, but Summers was not nearly as effective after getting T'ed up. Not saying it was a great thing to happen (Fields was T'ed up too) but maybe, just maybe Fieldsy got in his head a little bit.

-As for Sam, it was something of a ho-hum day for him. He put in 14 points and snatched 8 rebounds, but this wasn't a vintage Sam I Am game. Don't get me wrong, he played well defensively, and you could tell G'town was definitely keeping an eye on him at all times when the Panthers were on offense, but we've all seen better from Sam. With that said, it was very encouraging to see the Panthers look so crisp and be so successful without Young having to go for 20+ points and be the go-to option. Be quite sure that we will see many teams make shutting down Young their number 1 priority this season, so if the other guys on the roster can learn what they have to do to win when this happens, the Panthers will be all the better for it.

-I'm still having a lot of trouble forming a real opinion on Jermaine Dixon. Defensively, he seems very good, though I did notice at least two lapses on his part, but it wasn't because of a lack of talent, so it can at least be corrected. Offensively, if his shots aren't falling early, he seems to disappear. I'll stand by my statement that I made a couple weeks ago: Jermaine Dixon may be a starter for the whole season, but Gil Brown will be the finisher. And Brown would have been the finisher today had it not been for the injury. I also might add Brad Wanamaker to the role of a finisher over Dixon right now, too. Dixon was a miserable 1/7 on field goals and 0/5 on treys. Jamie Dixon needs to get Jermaine touches from inside the arc. He seems fine from the 15 foot range, yet is inept on 3-pointers. I would take that 3-point option mostly out of his hands and get him to take more close jumpers. If he starts to hit those and gain some confidence and gain a good feel, THEN allow him more rope to attempt the long bombs.

Pitt Hoops comes through for us

Whew...It was not a very aesthetically pleasing weekend for Pittsburgh sports, was it? The Pens get absolutely crushed by a very mediocre Toronto squad in front of thousands of freakin' invading Maple Leaf fans at the Igloo, the Steelers get run over by the Titans, and, even in a moment of victory, the Pitt B-ball squad picks up a W over Florida State in one of the most hideous displays of basketball the world has ever witnessed. If James Naismith had seen this coming when he invented the game, he probably would have gone back to the drawing board.

Neither team could shoot the ball to save their life, and I was quite terrified that I would be subjected to the chants of "A-C-C" from giddy ESPN analysts who love anything that can promote the glory of Duke and UNC and its even better if they can tear down the ACC's biggest competitor at the same time. I know this FSU squad is not highly regarded in the ACC, but I'll tell you this: that is a good ball club. They may not be ready to challenge Duke and UNC for ACC supremacy, but that's a tourney-bound team in my book, as they are extremely athletic, have a legit star scoring threat in Toney Roberts, and a spectacular D orchestrated by their coach Leonard Hamilton.

To the Panthers' credit, they responded well to their first extreme adversity of the season. Just as I hoped, Sam I Am Young took control of this one when Pitt needed him most with 21 points and 7 boards. Also coming up big for Pitt was Jermaine Dixon who posted a surprising 11 points after a dreadful start that saw him looking a bit too eager to shoot (and miss I might add), and Dixon was also excellent defending the perimeter, though I'm not sure he is "one of the best perimeter defenders in the country" as the announcers for the game claimed. I thought Jamie Dixon did a nice job on a night when the shots just were not falling at all for our Panthers. Let's hope this was an abberation and not the beginning of a trend. Dixon used a lot of subbing and put out some surprising crunch time lineups (Brad Wanamaker played more minutes than Gil Brown!) that somehow gelled enough to get a W on the road against a tough matchup.
The Mayor (DeJuan Blair NOT Sean Casey for those of you not in the know) had a bit of a tough night, as the athleticism of the FSU defenders seemed to fluster him quite a bit. Not that I'm the least bit worried about Blair, but it will be interesting to see how he matches up against similar defenders and game plans in the future now that the Noles achieved some success in stopping him, at least offensively. He was still a force on the block, though as he hauled in 12 boards including a startling 5 on offense.

The Panthers bench continues to worry me, though. I originally thought this had the potential to be one of the deepest teams that Pitt has ever had, but I am growing more skeptical with each passing day. Gary McGhee has made next to no progress this season, quelling any hope of getting him serious minutes next to Blair in what would be a terrifying combo, Brad Wanamaker may be solid fundamentally and can eat up minutes but has next to nothing offensively, Ashton Gibbs has looked terrible when really challenged at the point and his shot has been pretty awful when playing the 2, Tra Woodall has mysteriously disappeared, Nas Robinson is barely playing, probably because he's too similar to Gil Brown to get many minutes (though that doesn't explain why he didn't play more than 2 minutes tonight when Gil was in foul trouble), and Gil himself continues to be a freak of nature on the court, but his scoring touch hasn't evolved like I'd hoped.

The biggest glimmer of hope for a late-season bloomer among the lesser bench guys right now is probably Robinson, but that's only because he hasn't played enough to really get a good feel for him. He was pretty highly touted coming in this season as a recruit, so the skills certainly are there. I am hoping the biggest reason for his lack of minutes is because there are only so many minutes available in this lineup for a 2/3/4 ultra-athletic swing guy available, and that Gil Brown was gobbling them all up. Obviously, I'm not as sure now. I think Jamie Dixon would be wise to try to find more minutes for Robinson, as he is at least a threat to create and make plays offensively, unlike Wanamaker and McGhee, neither of whom look even remotely capable of being difference makers in Big East play. I think it's highly unlikely this actually happens, as Jamie seems to want to spend this season having Nas sit and learn and be molded into a Pitt man, and only be used very, very, very sparingly. Robinson played 81 minutes in the first 5 games of the season, but in the 7 since then, he's seen just 35 minutes total. Clearly, something is a bit off here, but its hard to say exactly what that is.

Blair a Man Amongst Boys; The Zoo Strings Gottlieb Up From the Rafters

Although Pitt-Siena was slightly marred by refs who had apparently never seen a Big East basketball game before judging by their shock at the Panthers' style of play, and by Pitt's difficulty in going for the jugular, it was still a highly entertaining late night at the Pete for any number of reasons. What follows are some of those highlights:

-DeJuan Blair continues to be an absolute monster underneath the boards. Smaller, less physical teams are going to get absolutely obliterated by this guy. He was brilliant as a freshman, but rarely was he good enough to dominate and become the best player on the court. That has already happened several times this season, and it happened for the entirety of the 30 minutes of playing time he logged last night. He put together 21 points and 16 rebounds and was absolutely hosed by the freakin' refs in this one. He was given the Shaq treatment where, if he so much as breathed in the wrong direction the refs whistled him for a foul, yet down on the offensive end, Siena did everything to stop him short of using pitchforks and torches yet nothing was called because the refs continuously choked down their whistles. Ridiculous. The good news is, the Big East regular season typically gives us competent refs, except of course this guy:For those of you unaware, that's the Notorious T-I-M aka Tim Higgins. Anyway, Blair's progression has been eye-opening this season, and while the stats may not really show that much of a difference from last year, one look at this guy on the court and the difference is unbelievably obvious.

-If there have been any unknown government advances in cloning in recent years, I volunteer Levance Fields' cells be the first to be replicated, because the Panthers NEED to find a way to get him out there for 40 minutes a game come Big East time. I'm sorry but Ashton Gibbs had the complete deer-in-the-headlights look going tonight when Siena put the press on him. In case you weren't aware, the Big East coaches, to a man, are probably 16 of the best defensive coaches in basketball and are guaranteed to be licking their chops at the thought of sicking the dogs on him. If he's doing anything other than running the point in blowout home wins during Big East season, the Panthers are going to have some issues. And I'm not sure what happened with Tra Woodall tonight, though I'd guess he's a bit banged up, as he didn't play despite some promising efforts in recent games.

-I know he made 2 treys, but can someone please tell Tyrell Biggs it's not okay to launch threes and long-range jumpers? He does know he's a role player whose sole reason for being on the court is to grab rebounds and hustle back on defense right? The only way he should score is if Sammy or Levance clank one and he shoves the putback in.

-Jermaine Dixon may start every game this season, but mark my words, in close games he'll be popping a squat the same as Gary "The Koopa Troopa" McGhee, Gibbs, Woodall, Nas Robinson, and the white guy scrubs. That's because Gil Brown's energy, athleticism and versatility will make him the ultimate weapon late against their Big East foes and he'll be the guy playing the two spot instead of JD. Now, you may say, "Well why wouldn't Gil start then?" And my response is this: He's the perfect weapon off the bench. Around that first media timeout when Blair and/or Biggs and Dixon come out of the game and the Panthers have to work in a 2 or 3 new guys into the game for the first time that day, Gil is the ultimate spark plug to keep that lineup going and give them a bit of a different look. Then have Gil move down to the 3 (or even 4) spot when Sammy takes a quick breather and put JD back at the 2. I mean let's be honest, despite the fact that this Pitt team has as much talent as any Pitt team that I've ever seen, there is a definite hierarchy to this team. It really comes down to the Big 6 (the starters and Gil), the Small Big 1 (Gary McGhee whose enormous but small in court presence and ability), the Small Small 2 (Tra Woodall and Ashton Gibbs, who combined weigh roughly the same as the Koopa Troopa), and the Other 2 (Nas Robinson and Brad Wanamaker, both of whom have talent but are too similar to Gil to really merit serious crunch minutes). So the more minutes they get out of the Big 6, the better off this team will be.

-Although I knew Doug Gottlieb has snubbed our Panthers and the Big East as a whole in years past (though his idiocy really isn't confined to a single team or conference), I didn't anticipate the venom spewed his way tonight by the Oakland Zoo. As always I was sitting right smack dab in the middle of things, and was shocked, amused, and at times even a little uneasy over the rioting mob mentality that developed toward him. Good, clean, fun chants like "Where's my Visa?" (A reference to Gottlieb being given the boot from Notre Dame many years ago after, I think, stealing credit cards or some kind of credit card scandal) started the night off. From there, things got crazier in a hurry. Much like the Anchorman fight, "That escalated quickly, I mean that really got out of hand fast...Roc killed a guy..." After some of the self-proclaimed "leaders" of the Zoo put some inflammatory quotes on their little dry erase boards claiming that Gottlieb claimed the Zoo wasn't a tough place to play, a recurring "Gottlieb sucks" chant started and continued for much of the second half. This obviously isn't anywhere near as creative or fun as the Visa trade, and led to only more malicious stuff, such as a number of derogatory sexual slurs directed at himself, his mother, and other family members. Good times all around!

-Gary McGhee, if you can't even freakin' dunk the ball, why are we keeping you around? He was matched up against someone named Josh Duell tonight who was easily 40 lbs. overweight for most of his breathtaking 6 minutes of PT, and it's probably safe to say this clash of the titans wasn't quite what James Naismith had in mind. And the highlight (or more accurately, lowlight) came when Duell took McGhee off the dribble around the 3-point line. And by off the dribble, I mean he stared head down at the ball as he slammed it insanely hard into the ground while slowly moving forward. I'm pretty sure that was the quietest the crowd was all night long as all 12,000+ in attendance gawked in horror at what was taking place. The weirdest part of all was Duell draining two treys despite looking like he would lose to Casey Hampton in wind sprints.

-This Siena team may have been a frisky bunch that played with solid fundamentals and had a smart, if somewhat loathsome, head coach, but I can't figure out how in the hell they ever beat Vanderbilt last year if this was their team. Pitt, if this was a meaningful game, would have blown the doors off of Siena early in the second half instead of subbing in the backups, who allowed the Saints to stay within striking distance. Any half-decent squad could've beat them tonight, and I really didn't see much in the way of potential three-point ability for most of the game that so often characterizes those mid-major Cinderellas. They were 6-23 from downtown, and no one on that team, except for maybe the aforementioned fat guy, looked comfortable shooting it, either, so I don't think it was just an off night.

-Our Panthers are now 11-0, and there is no way rest for the weary, as they play an athletic Florida State team Sunday evening in Tallahassee in what figures to be a very interesting game to keep an eye on. The 'Noles may not be a powerhouse ACC program, but they know how to play with the big boys, and add that to the fact that it's outside of the 4-1-2 area code, and it's probably the toughest non-conference game the Panthers will play this season.

The Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

As always on Sunday night of Monday morning, here's my weekend recap, complete with thoughts, links, stories, and inane anecdotes about all the teams from around the Three Rivers, with some other stuff thrown in to boot.

Penguins
-Sidney Crosby suddenly is a man on a mission these days. Granted Geno still holds a 5 point lead on Sid for the scoring title, but there is little question as to the identity of the hottest player on the planet right now. In the past few seasons, Sid would often go on these tears where he'd put up (at a minimum) a couple points a night, but the point totals usually were heavy on the assist side, as the playmaking gene in the Kid emerged. But this time, it's been mostly the actual scoring of goals that Crosby has been involved with. Which leads me to this bold statement: The way Sid is playing right now is the best total hockey he has played in his entire career. The goal scoring, the playmaking, the work on the PK, the way he and Geno can take over a game when they are paired together. If Crosby can even come close to sustaining this pace, he will run away with the scoring title, and the Pens will blow past the Rangers to the division title.

-I don't want to shortchange Geno, either, as he is having one unbelievable season right now. I've been very surprised to notice his development as a playmaker this season, as evidenced by his huge assist total. It's sort of interesting to note that he and Sid have sort of reversed their stereotypical roles of late, with Sid having a comfortable team lead in goals and Geno having the edge in assists. I might be an enormous Pens Homer, but I really think there is a very good chance these two end up being far and away the 1 and 2 in the scoring race come season's end. Not sure who finishes on top (at gunpoint I'd probably say Sid) but I wouldn't be shocked at all to see each go well past 120 points, assuming they both stay healthy.

-While John Curry certainly is no Ty Conklin, I thought he at least proved he has the ability to be a backup 'tender in the league. Of course, he'd be best served spending this season with the Baby Pens developing himself. Still, I was highly skeptical of his future prospects, but I thought he showed poise and skill in his two appearances.

-And of course, there's the work of Dany Sabourin, who has really brought his A game since the Flower went down. He also still sits atop the league in Goals Against Average. A downright jaw-dropping achievement if you had seen him a few years ago in his first start for the Pens when he gave up 4 goals on 14 shots in just over a period of work.

-Janne Pesonen's bizarre season continues to amplify in bizareness. The Swedish import, who some thought might spend the season playing on the wing of Geno or Sid was sent back down to Wilkes-Barre yet again this morning. It's not surprising that he was sent down if you watched the two games he actually dressed for, as he played about 6 minutes Friday night and just over 7 minutes last night. Still, I thought he put together solid efforts when he was out there, and although he was a -1 last night, I think he deserves more of a chance up here to show himself. Apparently Mikey Therrien disagrees though.

-It was also interesting that Pesonen dressed for the Buffalo game Friday night when Ruslan Fedotenko was a healthy scratch, and that Pesonen dressed again last night while Pascal Dupuis was scratched for reasons unknown.

-Marc-Andre Fleury's injury looks like it will hold our top netminder out for at least a few more games, as he was described by Mikey Therrien as being "week-to-week"

-Dave Molinari has an interesting look at the state of nutrition in the NHL these days, which includes an amusing little anecdote about our beloved Super Mario, and also gives us a reason to ask, "What do Eric Godard and Elvis Pressley have in common?"

-If you watched the game last night, is there really any player in the league that is more dramatic and breathtaking than Sidney Crosby? I mean don't even think there can be a debate on this topic. Even if you think Semin or Ovechkin or Zetterberg or whoever is the best player in hockey, none of them can make you rise to the edge of your seat like Sid can when he is playing like he is now. He was flying around the ice all night, and each of his three goals were "WOW" goals, even the empty-netter.

Steelers
-That was one heck of a show the Steelers just put on earlier tonight in their statement game win over the Patriots. To answer the question that I asked earlier today in my game preview, yes, the Steelers are a legit, top-of-the-AFC contender right now. I would put them on an even plane with the Titans, and ahead of the rest of the AFC's squads and behind only the Giants in the entire NFL after this tour de force performance.

-After a shaky start, Ben Roethlisberger really came around today. His final numbers might be a bit deceiving: 17/33 179 2 TD 1 Int, but if you watched the game, you saw a very solid performance. His receivers hurt him big time, as Heath Miller uncharacteristically dropped 2 very catchable passes, Willie Parker dropped an embarassingly easy swing pass, and Nate Washington dropped a sure touchdown pass that was perfectly thrown after making two more difficult catches earlier on.

-The defense was, in a word, dominating. The Patriots were able to make some head way on the ground with 122 yards rushing, most of it coming on 6 wildly effective carries by Kevin Faulk. Sammy Morris also grinded out 45 tough yards too. However, James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley were monsters in the second half after struggling through the first. Troy Polamalu also had a monster of a game, with several passes defensed and was all over the field as usual, and added a league high 6th interception. Polamalu is even better than I thought possible now that he has been consistently healthy.

-Mewelde Moore and Willie Parker were once again a very effective tandem. Parker had some early issues and sat out the entire second quarter, probably due to lingering issue effects, but was excellent toward the end of the game at killing the clock. Moore, meanwhile, was a very dangerous run in Parker's absence, and for someone his size is also a very tough runner as well. I was also pleased to see Gary Russell punch one in for a touchdown, but with 3 carries for 1 yard, Russell still has quite a bit to prove as an everydown back.

-Ryan Clark's hit on Wes Welker was RIDICULOUS. I don't think I have ever seen a more violent hit that wasn't head-to-head in my entire life. Just a sickening sound, a sickening sight, and a sickening result.

-It would have been a very different game if Randy Moss doesn't drop that touchdown pass from Matt Cassel that he would have had 99 times out of 100. When Gostkowski shanked that field goal, you knew the Pats were in trouble, but if Moss snags that sucker, the game is on.

Pirates
-Not much to report on the Pirates these days, but you should check out Dejan Kovacevic's story about the Pirates happenings in the Dominican Republic. If you are a real baseball fan and understand the workings of the league in present day, it will give you some renewed faith in the Pirates organization's overall workings, even if their major league club may struggle mightily in 2009. Also, this is the first part of a 3-part series on the Bucs in Latin America, so be sure to check back on the PG's website the next few days for the remainder.

Pitt Football
-I covered quite a bit of Pitt football stuff in my post-Brawl column, but thought of a few more things I wanted to add.

-The experts seem to like our Panthers heading to the Brut Sun Bowl to play Oregon State. Would be interesting to see how they would fare against a team that was on the cusp of going to the Rose Bowl. It's also worth noting that this is all assuming that Pitt beats UConn.

-With one game remaining, there is a pretty strong chance that LeSean McCoy will at least tie for the national lead in touchdowns at the end of the regular season, and maybe even lead the thing outright with his 20. Javon Ringer currently leads with 21 but is done until bowl season, and Shady is tied for second with MiQuale Lewis of Ball State (who has the MAC Championship this weekend) and Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State (who is done until the Bowls).

-The Panthers are back in all of the rankings thanks to Friday's win.

Pitt Basketball
-Sam Young continued his march toward all kinds of postseason awards with a pair of excellent performances Friday and Saturday night to go with his career performance from Tuesday. What's more, those were two nice wins the Panthers put together as well over Washington State and Texas Tech. Hard to say if either is a tournament-caliber squad (I doubt Tech is, not sure about Wazzu) but wins over Big Conference schools, no matter which ones, are looked upon favorably.

-I was more than a little surprised to notice that Nasir Robinson didn't get into the game at all last night against Wazzu. Not that he'd be lighting the world on fire or anything, but I would not have expected him to be a guy to plummet to the bottom of the bench so quickly given his athleticism and reputation as the top recruit from this class. I can't really argue much with it, though either, and I think that Gil Brown's return to the lineup might make it difficult for Nas to get minutes, as they are similar types of players, and Gil is obviously the better player right now.

-While I made quite a bit about the Panthers bench and depth early on in the season, I also want to add that I think this could quickly become a team whose minutes are dominated by 6 players: Fields, Dixon, Young, Biggs, Blair, and Brown off the bench. Of course McGhee will get his minutes spelling the big guys, and Woodall and Gibbs will see time at the point when Fields is given a rest, and Wanamaker and Robinson will carve out some minutes as well, but the versatility of the top 6 guys makes it so that Jamie Dixon can rely heavily on the cream of the crop for probably 25+ minutes each. I mean think about it: Gil can play the 2,3, and even 4. Sammy is adjusting to the 3, and has a brilliant history at the 4. Blair and Biggs can both move seamlessly between the 4 and 5. And while Dixon and Fields are both probably only going to play their respective guard spots, Fields is a warrior who will probably average 35 minutes a game in Big East play, and Dixon has been nothing but impressive in his early play, and should have no trouble assuming a heavy workload.

-I've been very impressed by Levance Fields' newly found scoring touch. I would not have pegged him as the guy most likely to pick up the Panthers scoring slack this season, but he has been excellent this season. He has emerged as a surprisingly potent 3-point scoring threat, nailing over 40% of his bombs so far this year, establishing himself as the definite top option on the team in that regard.

Other Stuff
-This Texas/Oklahoma/ Texas Tech mess really makes its own case for a college football playoff system of some sort, doesn't it? I mean this is absolutely ridiculous. And since I already have my plan for a playoff system laid out, here's what it would look like as of now, if the season ended today.
Seeds:
1 Alabama (SEC Champ)
2 Oklahoma (Big 12 Champ)
3 USC (Pac-10 Champ)
4 Utah (Mountain West Champ)
5 Texas (At-Large Bid)
6 Penn State (Big Ten Champ)
7 Cincinnati (Big East Champ)
8 Boston College (ACC Champ)
9 Florida (At-Large Bid)
10 Texas Tech (At-Large Bid)
11 Boise State (WAC Champ)
12 Ohio State (At-Large Bid)

First Round Matchups:
Texas vs. Ohio State
Penn State vs. Boise State
Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech
Boston College vs. Florida

Second Round Matchups
Alabama vs. Boston College/Florida
Oklahoma vs. Cincinnati/Texas Tech
USC vs. Penn State/ Boise State
Alabama vs. Texas/ Ohio State

-Lastly, I wanted to give you a heads-up, for the next week and a half or so, I will be forced to dive headfirst into school work, what with Finals week looming on the horizon, and because of this, the blog is likely to take a hit as far as activity. I'm not giving up entirely, but will be forced to tone it down. I will give it my best effort to be on here with something at least every other day, but circumstance will dicatate that.

Impressions From Pitt-Fairleigh Dickinson

The Pitt Panthers began their march toward defending their Big East title this evening (even though this game had nothing to do with how they will be seeded come Big East tourney time) and the school noted this championship in a very high-profile and pride-inducing manner by way of a nice little banner-raising ceremony prior to the game. Each of the players from last season's squad were publicly announced, the scores of the games were announced, and then, with the lights out and a single spotlight on, the championship banner was slowly raised to the rafters at the Pete.

Anywho... here are some impressions formulated from my spot amidst the inmates at the Oakland Zoo:

First of all, DeJuan Blair looked like an absolute BEAST out there on the court. Blair was a scoring machine, was the ultimate windex man (cleaning the glass), and had his usual surprisingly adept quick hands in scraping up a few steals with a double-double and a pair of steals. I think Blair could be poised for an even bigger season than originally thought. He was a court leader out there too, an even bigger surprise to me, given the seniority of the team's other stars.

The team's other pre-season star, Sam Young, looked like he was a little bit of adjustment issues from his new spot at the 3. He took a few early 3's and clanked each one and ended the game at an 0 for 4 clip from downtown. He also didn't spend enough time early on fighting his man inside on the offensive zone, and if you had seen the guy that was attempting to guard our beloved 2-3, you would have seen just how easily Young could have dominated this guy. And like I said, while his opposing 3 wasn't anything special, Sammy did show that he is capable of guarding a typical 3 on the perimeter as well as absolutely obliteratiing him if he dared try to head inside. Playing outside also didn't really prevent his typical inside presence defensively. He only pulled in 3 boards but he was in on several others and helped out countless times. I do think that we could see him hit some dry spells early on if he continues to play on the perimeter too much, as that long range tre definitely could use some work. It will be very interesting to see how this work-in-progress continues as the season goes along.

Levance Fields surprised just about everyone in the house when it was announced during the pregame intros that he was going to be in the starting lineup. I was pretty skeptical of this decision by Jamie Dixon to allow our hobbled point man to play, but Fields showed absolutely no ill effects from the foot injury and looked like his usual warrior self at the point, playing typically selfless and smart ball with 8 helpers and pouring in a somewhat unusually high 15 points, including an impressive 5 for 5 from the charity stripe.

Tyrell Biggs looked like every bit the role player I expected him to be. That may not sound like a compliment, but it actually is. This squad doesn't need anyone to carry the scoring load, unlike past Pitt squads that had 5 guys averaging double digits. With Young and Blair both likely to go over 15 a game most nights, Fields likely to get double digits, and an incredibly deep bench, they need guys like Biggs who are happy to play 25-30 minutes and only grab a handful of shots while grabbing some serious rebounds and playing really tough D on the opposing team's 4 and 5's.

The new guys made some interesting first impressions. For all the impressive numbers and efforts put up by Ashton Gibbs in the 2 pre-season games, Travon Woodall looked like the better of the two to me tonight. Woodall had 5 assists and very rarely looked for his own shot, whereas Gibbs appeared a bit more selfish, though it may have been because he played some serious garbage minutes, but he had just 1 assist to go with a turnover. Nasir Robinson showed the impressive athleticism that made him the most heralded recruit on the roster, but he looks pretty raw to me. He reminds me a bit of Gilbert Brown with less polish. I think his minutes may be hard to come by after Brown returns unless he shows more polish as the season goes along. Lastly, Jermaine Dixon did a solid job from his starting spot at the 2, but if Gil Brown comes back healthy, I think he eventually takes that job from Jermaine. Dixon looked solid out there, and it's still early to really get a good handle on what kind of player he could be, but you can tell immediately he isn't in the same ballpark as Gilbert in the athleticism department. He looked like he had the smarts for the job though, and my bet for now will be a platoon situation at the 2.

As for the others, well Gary McGhee was clumsy, Brad Wanamaker disappeared for a while and still doesn't impress me much and I think will fall down toward the bottom of the depth chart, and Dwight Miller didn't play and is likely headed for a redshirt.

One final note before I go, I was certainly concerned with the lack of 3 point shooters on the roster. Levance and Ashton Gibbs both were productive from beyond the arc, a fact I neglected when I discussed Ashton earlier, and a fact that could make a difference in his playing time if he keeps this up. Sammy struggled, and Jermaine Dixon was a mildly alarming 0 for 3 from out there, as well. Travon Woodall was the only other Panther to attempt a bomb, and was 1 for 2 for the day.

Pitt Basketball Season Preview

PA Announcer at Petersen Events Center: "And the coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers, Bob Huggins"
Thousands of screaming, seething, excited, and basketball hungry Pitt fans (In unison): "HE SUCKS TOO!"

That's right folks, it's basketball season, and as a Pitt student I really couldn't be any more excited to spend another season with my fellow lunatics in the asylum that is the Oakland Zoo. Cheers like the one above just warm my soul. And so, with another season about ready to tip off this Friday evening at the Pete against the mighty Fairleigh Dickinson... hold on a sec, let me look up their nickname on Google... Knights, I thought I'd usher in what looks to be the Panthers best returning team since the Brandin Knight/ Julius Page/ Jaron Brown era with a little season preview.

Returning Contributors
This past spring, after the Panthers were yet again knocked out too early in the NCAA tournament, many a Pitt student thought they had seen the last days of Sam Young wearing the home 2-3 jersey for our beloved Panthers. Turns out they were wrong, much to my surprise. For those of you not aware, Young is 23 years old right now, and will be 24 before next June's draft, and I will go to my grave thinking he made a mistake in not going pro last year. NBA teams just usually aren't interested in 24 year old rookies, but for now, I suppose there's no use jumping ahead.

No, instead, I should be rejoicing (and believe me, I definitely am) that our studly go-to player of a year ago has returned for what should be an excellent senior season. What's interesting about Sammy is that, despite putting up excellent numbers from the power forward position a season ago, the wise Jamie Dixon has opted to switch his All Big East performer to the small forward position. I wasn't totally surprised by this move, given Pitt's lack of perimeter players and abundance of inside men, but I was surprised when I read that Dixon has no intention of playing Young at power forward at all this season. No matter though, as I still think we should be able to pencil in Sam I Am for a minimum 18-20 points and 5-6 boards a night and some serious mismatches against smaller, less physical players. And therein lies the point of what Dixon is doing. He knows that with Young at the 4 and Blair at the 5, the Panthers, no matter how talented those two are, are still badly undersized. With Young at the 3 though, he knows that his ultra-athletic star can not only more than hold his own defensively against quicker, smaller guard-like small forwards thanks to his jaw-dropping athleticism, he can also abuse these same players with his physical style on the offensive end. I mean, think about some of the 3-men Pitt has had over the years. Sure, Mike Cook probably could have done a okay job against Sam, but remember when the Panthers were starting Keith Benjamin at the 3 towards the end of last season? Or Antonio Graves? Or (wow I can't believe this guy started for Pitt) Yuri Demetris? While Graves and Benjamin could have defended Young on the wing, he would have broken the two of them in half on the inside, and Demetris couldn't have covered Sam Young with a baseball bat. If teams think they are throwing a 3 guards lineup at the Panthers and getting away with it, they are sorely mistaken.

Sliding in and taking the Samster's spot at the 4 will be senior Tyrell Biggs. Biggs has been the consummate prototypical Pitt role player for the past three seasons. His freshman year he was sparingly used toward the end of the season and appeared a little overweight and out of shape for much of the season. He came back his sophomore seasons looking much more svelte (that's a fun word) and while he looked like a totally different player, his path was still blocked by the two immobile giants, Levon Kendall and Aaron Gray, despite the fact that Biggs could have beaten either in a foot race with cement boots on. Still, Biggs kept working and last season saw some consistent playing time thanks to a rash of injuries and the inconsistencies of freshman star DaJuan Blair. He average right at 20 minutes a game, and while he was rarely spectacular, he proved to myself and any loyal Pitt follower that he was more than capable of stepping in and playing some serious minutes, which is why it was no surprise when I heard that he was the reason Sam Young was shifting to small forward. I will definitely be intrigued to see how Biggs reacts to being a starter this season, and while I think he won't be playing nearly as many minutes as Young, DaJuan Blair, and Levance Fields (when healthy), he will be an important cog for the Panthers all year long.

Starting next to Biggs will be hulking sophomore sensation DaJuan Blair, the 4-1-2 kid himself. Blair had one of the best freshman seasons in Pitt history, and there's little reason to expect anything different from him this year. The switch of Young to the 3 and Biggs at the 4 should benefit Blair quite a bit this season, as well. Having three players who are all essentially power forwards should make it a little easier on Blair underneath as they spread opposing teams' big men out a little more. It will also be intriguing to see if they follow up with a rumored plan to get Blair some minutes at the 4 spot with Gary McGhee at the 5. It could also even be argued that Biggs and Blair will both be 4.5's and not a 4 and a 5 given that Biggs is the taller one. Getting Blair minutes at the 4 would also be a beneficial move for his career as his natural position for the long term is clearly at the power forward spot no matter how much he may play like a center.

The backcourt will see the return of the consummate floor general, Levance Fields. Fields enters his senior season with lingering questions about the foot injured that derailed much of his junior season. He is questionable for the opener Friday night against the Fair Dick Knights (that's a far superior name), and even if he does suit up, expect Coach Dixon to ease him back into the rotation. If the Panthers expect to finally break through that ceiling that has developed in the Sweet Sixteen, they will need a healthy Fields during the Big East season to ensure a good seed and they will especially need their point guard come March Madness time, so if he skips out on a few early season games and plays limited minutes in some others, I won't lose much sleep over it. If anything, this could be somewhat beneficial for the team to develop the chops of a few youngsters who will back Fields up. With the development of Blair and the continued excellence of Young I fully expect Fields' assist numbers to be spectacularly high.

One serious X factor for the coming season will be sophomore swingman Gilbert Brown. Brown got a bit of bad news recently when he developed a stress facture in his foot, and likely will miss some time because of it. That aside, he is basically the definition of an energy bench player and his athleticism lets him play the 2 or 3, both potentially critical positions for the Panthers this season. With Sam Young playing the 3 for the most part (though I'm not sure I really buy that Young won't play any 4 this year), expect Brown to see a fair amount of time playing the shooting guard. At 6'6 he will be one of the biggest 2 guards in the entire country and yet definitely has the skill set to match up with the shorter counterparts. This could be a big season for Brown, and while he likely lost the starting job for now when he got injured, he is going to be a definite crunch time player for the Panthers and it will be worth keeping an eye on how he develops his scoring touch, especially a potential perimeter game that could make him a legit star and pro prospect down the line.

Brad Wanamaker will be a part of the group that splits time at the 2 guard, and he showed a little ability last season to spend some time playing the point guard. I doubt we'll see much of him at the 1 this year, but it's worth remembering nonetheless. It's difficult to say if he'll see much more time than last year, as he still looks a little raw to me after watching the early exhibition games. The development of the other potential guards, especially JUCOer Jermaine Dixon, will go a long way toward determining Wanamaker's playing time.

Gary McGhee rounds out our returning players, and he will be an interesting case to keep an eye on. McGhee reminds me a fair amount of what Aaron Gray was when he came to Pitt some years ago. Of course this by is not to suggest that I think McGhee will develop into a double double machine around whom Pitt will base its offense for 2 years, but it is at least worth noting to the detractors out there who feel McGhee is nothing more than a minutes eater. Jamie Dixon's track record suggests he can mold McGhee into a solid player (at worst), and I think we should expect to see some serious improvement from McGhee this season to the point that they may rely some on him to play some minutes in the clutch that will allow DaJuan Blair to spend more time playing the power forward spot, as I previously delved into.

New Players
In the early stages of the offseason, many assumed that the biggest new contributor would have to be JUCO transfer Jermaine Dixon, who is the brother of former Maryland star and NBA player Juan Dixon. Dixon is certainly the most Big East-ready of the bevy of new players brought in, and has demonstrated something of a knack for the perimeter shot early on. He is also a slasher and should be able to put up some nice numbers on the board in the early going, assuming he wins the starting job. I mentioned earlier that I felt that Gil Brown was a definite X Factor for this year, but I think that Dixon is probably every bit the same X Factor, as the Panthers need at least one (and preferably both) of these two to really step into legit crunch time players, and if this leads to not enough being available for the two of them, then so be it, but that's a very good problem to have in my opinion.

At this point in the preseason, though, I'm not so sure that Dixon is actually the most important newcomer, as I think that circumstance may have transferred that role to true freshman Ashton Gibbs or potentially fellow true freshman Travon Woodall. With Levance Fields out, these two have filled the gap through two exhibition games by mostly splitting time. Gibbs has had slightly more minues, and has definitely looked like the better of the two, and if Fields can't go, expect to see Gibbs get the starting nod. Both will undoubtedly go through growing pains, and if either is asked to taken on a lot of minutes during the Big East season it could certainly be to the team's detriment. I also don't think either will be asked to do much in the way of consistent scoring, but both have demonstrated something of a knack for hitting the 3, and if one can learn to consistently hit the tre, it would be hard to keep him on the bench given this squad's general lack of long range threats.

I'm curious to see how the two freshmen forwards are used. Nasir Robinson was the higher ranked recruit of the two and looked to be further along after the two games, but Miller is a better inside presence as opposed to Robinson's presence on the wing. It's worth noting that neither one would likely see a whole lot of playing time once the Panthers hit the meat of their schedule, so how they fair in practice, in the two exhibition games, and in the first game or two of the regular season may determine whether or not one, both, or neither take a redshirt this year.

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Panthers appear geared for a big season, and with a number 6 ranking in what is undoubtedly the toughest conference in college basketball, it's safe to say that the expectations don't get any higher. They have a good mix of experienced and wildly talented veterans to go along with talented and potentially productive newcomers, and they also have players who more than understand their roles, guys like Biggs and Brown. Their bread will be buttered with the post game, same as it has the past few seasons, and while they certainly will take a lump or two in the unbelievably tough Big East Conference, few teams in the country have their overall talent and as they say, the cream always rises to the top. I expect big things from the Panthers this season, and as a very bold prediction, I'm saying, right here and right now, that the Panthers finally smash that threshold and become a Final Four squad, inciting riots Oakland-wide, because if we riot for a Philadelphia World Series championship and for the results of a Presidential election, it's about time the students here had a real reason to riot.