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This just received from my on crack, errrrr crack staff: current Sagarin ratings (SOS) Pitt: 15, MSU: 20
The other B 10 teams in tourney :Wisconsin ( 46) Indiana ( 67)
Other Big E teams in tourney: Louisville ( 19), Georgetown ( 18), West Virginia ( 27), Marquette ( 31)

Those Big East squads play some tough competition!

lhacbigfan posts the following.

Sean Miller coaches at Xavier.... Matta was at Ohio State... so how is it his players?

I know Matta is at Ohio State, but he came from Xavier. Thus Miller is coaching Matta's kids.

For those that are having trouble following along, Crimson09Crazy said:

Dixon has been the coach for 5 of those years.
4 sweet 16 appearences in this span. and Dixon coached 2 of those teams.But in reality he only coached 1.and that was last year(UCLA). the year Pitt lost to Oklahoma State he played with Krauser Page Brown Troutman and Taft who all pledged to play with Howland and that was without a doubt howlands team. so subtract that team.

Crimson09Crazy wants Sean Miller as Pitt's next head coach. Well, my argument to him is why is he giving Miller so much credit for Xavier's run but does not give credit Dixon for his first four years at Pitt. He claims the first four years at Pitt, Dixon was coaching Howland's kids. Fine. But you can't have it both ways as Sean Miller is still coaching Thad Matta's kids.

For Crimson09Crazy and other Dixon bashers, it took Hall-of-Fame coach Jim Boheim ten years to get past the Sweet 16. By the way, Boheim took over a team that was coming off a Final Four appearance.

My bad Hilltop, I didn't know that Matta had ever coached at Xavier....

But Boheim recruited players over 6"5!!!!! I think Dixon is waaaayyyy to confident that he can make players when in reality he brings in big stiffs that contribute nothing

Im sticking to what i said sure Sean Miller is playing with mostly Thad Matta's players and at least he has taken their players past the round of 16


But now Dixon is playing with his players and with his first recruiting class without the help of Howland(Ramon Benjamin) Still only has 1 sweet 16 appearence and thanks in large part to Aaron Gray(a howland recruit)

I'm not looking it up, but I was always under the impression Matta took the OSU job and LEFT Xavier to take it. Is that not the case?

What else do you want Dixon to do at Pitt? There's 320 teams in I-A basketball. Pitt wins their conference. Goes to the tourney every year and does well. They have a way better team than the team they lost to. People get upset in these one-and-done formats. Give the guy a break. And 4 years into a coaching stint, they ARE his players. Maybe not 100% literally, but those kids are his kids.

I can't believe I just defended Jamie Dixon.

yeah i cant believe you did either?

This is TAE's assistant Professor Pickles. TAE is unavailable to respond because he is outside whipping himself across the back with those reeds that have rocks attached at the ends of them. You know, the same ones Catholics supposedly use. He is deeply distraught with himself and has vowed to crank it up THREE notches in his Pitt assaults from here on out.

Crimson posts:

But Boheim recruited players over 6"5!!!!! I think Dixon is waaaayyyy to confident that he can make players when in reality he brings in big stiffs that contribute nothing

Boheim stil couldn't get past the Sweet 16 with those guys over 6'5". I'm not sure what you are arguing?

As for Jamie recruiting big men, how many good big men are there out there? When Aaron Gray was recruited, people wondered why. Now Aaron is a millionaire in the NBA. McGee could turn out to be the same type of project. Don't judge the kid on his freshman season. If you would have done that with Gray, he would have been written off long ago.

Speaking of Gray, at 7'0" tall didn't he get his butt handed to him by Georgetown's center in the Big East Tournament. In case you didn't notice, that same Georgetown player was handled by that "undersized" post player from Pitt.

recent history shows that you need a center to win a championship

Florida-Horford 6''10
UNC-May 6''10
UConn-Josh Boone/Emeka Okafor/Charlie Villanueva all 6"10

And dont get me wrong i love DeJuan Blair but hes a PF. and in fact hes Chevy Troutman playing center


it is what it is...Dixon cant recruit...and btw Troutman didn't have to play center because
Ben Howland brought in Chris Taft

I never questioned bringing in Aaron Gray....If im a coach and i have a 7 footer with upside hes definatley getting a scholorship

So you have only had a successful season if you win the NCAA Championships? Dixon has won a Big East Championship with a 6'7" center.

UConn and Georgetown both had 7'0" Centers and it got them nothing. In fact, Pitt beat two teams with centers that were 6'10" or better in Louisville and Georgetown.

Where did the 7'0" get Calhoun this year? How about Boheim?

If you are going to base a successful season on whether or not you win the NCAA's, you will be a miserable person. Only one team can win it all.