Pitt Basketball

[El-Moldo]

After all I just said, all you last 2 guys had to say was I brought up Penn State? Hey Crimson, I read PSU stuff. It's called "know your enemy". I watch mostly Fox for my national news. I do watch MSNBC once in a while though. You know, to get another view of things.

[konjo78]

So did you just admit to penn state being your enemy??

[Crimson's Ghost]

I know PSU fans that read Pantherlair and vice a versa, but it's one of those things where you know what you'll be getting.

[El-Moldo]

I admit that I do not like Penn State. You couldn't tell that before? But I don't LIE about them when I make comments about them. Reading about them gives you ammunition when you are debating Nit fans. Like I said, I occasionally watch MSNBC even though I am conservative. Keeps you better prepared. Who knows more about Chrysler than Ford?

[dougkeklak]

There is always a lot of in-fighting on social media between Pitt and PSU folks, mainly around the "we don't care about you but we talk about you when your side struggles" and I think local media does a little bit to fan those flames. For example, Altoona Mirror, who do a fantastic job covering PSU and it IS their local market. I'm a Pitt fan, but I actually watch Nitwits on YouTube because I think the format is good and it's well done and informative. However, it seems when Pitt football wins, there is a tiny B&W photo, if any at all and it's hidden inside the sports. But when they lose, it's a front page color photo. I don't know if that's a proactive decision but I'm sure seeing the "rival" portrayed in that manner, a Nittany Lion fan will look at that and laugh or whatever. Just my two cents.

[abpk2903]

Remember all forms of media are designed to make money.  BlueWhite Illustrated is meant to keep Penn State fan's happy and coming back to their media source.  If the articles are negatively slanted towards Penn State and Penn State fans are the market they are targeting, then they probably aren't going to be in business too long.  The Altoona Mirror knows it's demographic which is probably mainly Blair county, southern Centre county, northern Bedford county, and parts of western Cambria county.  They have some competition locally like the Centre Daily Times and Bedford Gazette but they have by far the most captive audience in the region.  They aren't dummies and they do look at the market size of both the Pitt Panthers and Penn State Nittany Lions.  I'm sure if Pitt was packing in 60,000+ to Heinz every Saturday and scoring some of the highest ratings while on TV then they would have a few more beat writers assigned to them.  The reality of the situation is, that is not the case.  Print media is really facing an uphill battle and I doubt they are going to begin to hire additional reporters to travel to and from Pittsburgh on a daily basis to cover Pitt sports.  It is easy for Neil Rudel or Cory Giger to hop up i99 and watch Penn State football practice, or interview Pat Chambers, or stop by Rec Hall to check in on some of the secondary programs up there.  For someone to work out of Altoona and be assigned to work in Pittsburgh almost every day, it would be a difficult expense.  As for the Johnstown papers, I don't know their situation.  They must see enough value to continue to report on Penn State over Pitt.

[Manfred]

ALL Johnstown media, print or over the airwaves, have a State College wannabe mentality. Just watch the news for a few days, majority of coverage is centered on State College. Guess little happens around J'town.

[Blueandwhitefan]

ALL Johnstown media, print or over the airwaves, have a State College wannabe mentality.  Just watch the news for a few days, majority of coverage is centered on State College.  Guess little happens around J'town.

Manfred. That's just not true. Johnstown has a lot of shootings!!!!!!

[TheGoat]

He just wasn't a good hire.  It was almost universally laughed at.  He was more less getting pushed out of Vanderbilt.  It made zero sense. 

Barnes (former AD) was a friend and floated him a bone. Stallings is actually a very good coach and player developer, putting several players in the NBA. He's actually a GREAT hire considering the situation, and I'll explain. Jamie Dixon's style didnt relate to ACC basketball. The BigEast was more physical and refs allowed them to play that way. The rules in college basketball changed to benefit the offense and ACC basketball is a more pure, athlete driven league. Dixon didnt have the style that ACC level recruits like to play in or the size/athletes to play competitively. His offense was actually pretty good, but his defense, what he was known for, suffered too much and the offense he ran couldn't make up the difference to win against talented teams. Dixon LEFT Pitt to save his career, a good move for him personally -- his style plays well in the Big12, where there's only Kansas to contend with. Meanwhile, Stallings is here to clean Dixon's mess. The team Dixon recruited was fragmented and untalented (save for Young and Artis). Stallings cleaned house to get rid of the untalented and emotional baggage and brought in the best players he could find considering the situation to run HIS offense. He's giving kids an opportunity to grow in an free-styling offense-oriented scheme that Dixon's recruits didnt fit into -- they were defense-first ball control players. Some of the players Stallings brought in wont be here next year. He's going to have to recruit and shave the fat, so another year is in the cards - luckily basketball teams can be fixed quickly. IF he doesnt show progress this year he MAY be out or they MAY decide to give him another year before making a play for a big name coach. Regardless, Stallings wont be at Pitt too long -- he's at the tail end of his career.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Yeah a few things, Jamie Dixon and Pitt weren't this slow, plodding defensive and physical team that everyone thinks they were. In the early days with Ben Howland, sure that was Pitt basketball. But didn't really continue much during Dixon's tenure, despite what ESPN told everyone, that wasn't actual Pitt basketball. It was a lazy comparison.  Every TV broadcast was "Pitt is physical, here's a steel mill, and here's a Primanti's sandwich"  It was so scripted every time national TV came to the Pete. 

Ever watch Virginia?  Yeah they're way slower, defensive minded than Pitt ever was. No comparison.   They're in the ACC, and they have been thriving for years.   So that really debunks any theory about "style" of play. Also to boot, Dixon's TCU team is averaging close to 90 points a game.  Hardly the Big East, physical style of play. 

Dixon's problem wasn't the kind of players he was recruiting, it was the caliber of players he was recruiting.  

So, I'm not really sure I agree with your line of thinking on that topic at all, because A. Pitt didn't play that way in the first place and B. Virginia plays that way and at that a much more physical style - and it's working perfectly fine in the ACC.