I think Pitt basketball survives in the ACC

For me -- and for many other college hoops fans -- one of the most interesting and depressing plot lines through this realignment madness has been what the future holds for some of college basketball's elite programs.

What happens to Georgetown and Villanova? Will they continue to be able to play at the high-major level without a football program? What about Kansas and Kansas State? Are they going to find a home? Will Louisville and West Virginia?

The topic that has made headlines of late is how a move to the ACC will affect Pitt basketball. Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News opined over the weekend that the move could be the death knell for Pitt's program. His reasoning? Jamie Dixon has built his reputation by recruiting kids from Philly and New York that fly under the radar. His selling point is the chance to play in the Big East, a prospect that every kid on the east coast dreams of, which would provide ample opportunities to return home to play in front of their friends and family.


There are no teams from Philly in the ACC. The only New York school is Syracuse, which is actually further from New York City than Maryland is. DeCourcy's argument is that without a strong local recruiting base in Pittsburgh, Dixon's will slowly have the legs cut out from under his program. As DeCourcy is wont to do, he makes some very valid points.

But it wasn't enough to convince former Pitt assistant and current Marshall head coach Tom Herrion.

"I think it will have zero effect," Herrion told Jeff Eisenberg of The Dagger. "Jamie has built that program to continue to sustain success. They've proven over the last 10 years that program can win against teams all over the country. There will be a transition period and an adjustment geographically, but I think it will have zero effect on the program."

"It might even help them in a lot of areas. They may even be able to go into other areas and get kids that they couldn't before."

To be frank, there is an argument to be made for both sides, and only time will tell which is accurate.

But what needs to be mentioned is that Dixon's program hasn't been built on blue-chip recruits. While players like Khem Birch and Steven Adams (who hail from Canada and New Zealand, respectively) are both considered top ten players in their class, they are the exception that proves the rule of Dixon's philosophy. Pitt isn't a place you go if you are a one-and-done kind of player. Its a program that attracts kids that have been overlooked by some of the other big programs, kids that Dixon coaches up to become all-conference players by their junior or senior year.

Pitt is the definition of a "program". Its runs the same way that Bo Ryan's runs his program at Wisconsin or that John Beilein runs a program at every one of his stops. Its more about finding players with the right fit than players with the right rankings on Scout.com. If the kids from Philly and New York that Dixon currently chases down don't want to play in the Big East, there's a pretty good chance that Pitt takes an initial hit from the change in conference affiliation.

But there are under recruited prospects all over the country, not just in those two east coast cities. And, eventually, Dixon will find them.

I have to side with Herrion on this one. Five years ago, this move could have brought about the demise of Pitt Panther basketball.

Right now, there is too much momentum and Dixon is too good of a head coach.
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Jamie Dixon helps pull crash victims from a turned over car

Jamie Dixon may be the head coach for one of the best basketball programs in the country, but that doesn't mean that deep down, he isn't human.

On Saturday night, Dixon was heading north on I-279 in Pittsburgh when he saw a car flipped up against the guardrail. Dixon pulled over and helped get the driver and the passenger out of the vehicle. Initial reports claiming that the car was on fire were incorrect, but this was a serious accident -- a woman in the car suffered at least a broken ankle, and Dixon cut his hand bad enough pulling them out through the windshield that he required medical attention.

WPXI in Pittsburgh has some video.


Kudos to Dixon for being a good samaritan. Its always refreshing when you hear about celebrities (and yes, Dixon qualifies as a celebrity) that are good people.

The most impressive part? After playing superman, Dixon's hair was still perfect.

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Pitt's system is the key to their success

Let me paint you a picture.

Pitt is loaded. They have the Big East player in the post, an all-conference 20 ppg scorer on the wing, and a senior leader at the point running the show. They have depth, balance, quality role players, and one of the most unappreciated coaches in the game.

That was last season.

This season its a different story.

DeJuan Blair is gone. Sam Young is gone. Levance Fields is gone.

Before the season started, the consensus seemed to be that with those three went Pitt's hopes of an NCAA Tournament trip. Nothing the Panthers did before the start of Big East play changed that assumption. Not coming back from a 13 point second half deficit against Wofford. Not an ugly, two overtime win over Duquesne. Not the 47 points they scored against New Hampshire. Not the loss to Indiana in Madison Square Garden.

But there's something we didn't take into consideration.

Jamie Dixon isn't like most coaches.

Jamie Dixon has done a great job with Pitt this season.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Jamie Dixon doesn't rely on talent to win. He doesn't need a roster full of McDonald's all-americans. In fact, when Dixon brought freshman Dante Taylor into the program, he was Pitt's first McDonald's all-american since Bobby Martin and Brian Shorter joined the Panthers in 1987.

What we ignored was the fact that Dixon develops players. He grooms the kids that are overlooked by other programs to fit his system. Like Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon and Tyrell Biggs and even Levance Fields and Sam Young before them, guys like Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, and Gary McGhee bided their time last year. They played their limited minutes while practicing every day against some of the best players in the country, while learning how to defend, execute, and carry themselves like Big East champions.

Now that Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown are back in the rotation, now that this Pitt team is finally complete, we are finally seeing just how good the Panthers are; just how good of a program and system that Jamie Dixon runs.

Pitt's team is built on toughness, defense, and execution on both sides of the ball. While we pointed out in the preseason that the Panthers had flaws this year - they don't have any sure-fire lottery picks, they don't have a dynamic playmaker at the point, they don't have anyone that can go out and get you 25 points on a given night - what we didn't point out was that they have a group of kids that bought into what Dixon was selling.

Like every team in Dixon's tenure, this year's Panthers defend. They rebound. They get seemingly every loose ball. They run their offense until they get an open look or a lane to the rim. They hit big shots. They demonstrate the physical toughness and the mental make-up required to compete with more talented teams, and to beat them on the road.

And they have just enough natural talent to get by.

Proof?

How about a 4-0 start in the Big East.

Three of those wins came on the road - in Syracuse, in Cincinnati, and in Hartford. All three are difficult places to play, and all three were NCAA tournament caliber teams.

When playing the cream of the Big East crop, there will be few games where the Panthers will be considered the more talented team on the floor even with their run the last two weeks. But rest assured, the Panthers will come away with more than their share of wins.

If the Big East was a car show, Jamie Dixon would be me and Pitt would be my 1995 Honda Accord. While the Jags breakdown, and the Lambo's get speeding tickets, and the Corvette's are traded in for newer models, and the Hummers guzzle gas, my Accord keeps getting the job done. The paint may be chipped on the side, the AC may be broken, there may be four blown out speakers that are useless because I don't have a cd player and the radio antenna was ripped off, but you better believe that Accord gets me where I need to go and gets me there on time, all on 30 miles-a-gallon.

And while Pitt may not be the most aesthetically pleasing basketball team to watch, Dixon keeps steering this team right where it wants to be.

Atop the Big East standings.

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PITT LANDS CENTENARY TRANSFER: Centenary's Chase Adams was the Summit League's defensive player of the year in 2009. He also averaged over 14 ppg.

But with Centenary dropping to DIII, Adams was given permission by the NCAA to transfer without having to sit out a year.

The 5'10" Adams will be a senior, and will help provide the Panthers with back court depth after losing Levance Fields. Ashton Gibbs will be the starter at the point, and redshirt freshman Travon Woodall will also receive some minutes.

While this signing seems insignificant, it is actually quite an important move by Jamie Dixon. It is always good to have at least three point guards on your roster, and Adams now becomes Pitt's third. But with Gibbs and Woodall already on the roster, and Isiah Epps, a top 50 recruit from the class of '10, already signed for next season, bringing in Adams for one year fills a hole but doesn't lock up a scholarship for four years.

Adams is an experienced senior, an excellent defender, and can knock down an open three. Sounds like he will be an effective role player in Dixon's system.
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