Pitt-Wisconsin Pregame News and Notes

ST. LOUIS - 

Here are some thoughts from the Scotttrade Center where Pitt will play Wisconsin tonight at 6:50 (TNT):

** My first thought is that Wisconsin is a lot bigger than I thought. Not big as in the Badgers are loaded with 7-footers, but rather big as in they look like they have spent a lot of time in the weight room. This could be a factor as the bigger, stronger more physical teams have given Pitt fits. The Panthers aren’t blessed with a lot of size and they have a lot of small forwards posing as post players. It will be very interesting to see how the Panthers handle this strength of the Badgers.

Yesterday at the practice session was the first time I saw Wisconsin live – they had an open practice – and the first thing I said was “they remind me of those old Pitt teams.” When you see them up close, they are impressive. Now, that doesn’t mean they will manhandle the Panthers, like the Panthers used to do to other teams – it just means that they could be a handful. I even ran this thought past Brandin Knight and he agreed with me, said they reminded him of some of the teams he played on because they were all so built. 

If you remember when Ben Howland took over, the Panthers transformed themselves over the course of a couple of years from more of a finesse team to a physical team and it was easy to see in just one or two offseasons the difference all of the weight training and strength training they were doing had made. That was a huge part of their success, they literally were men against boys in a lot of games.

** The similarities between Pitt’s program and Wisconsin’s are amazing from the standpoint of the consistency with which both of them make the NCAA Tournament. Again, making the NCAA Tournament shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of a successful year, but it isn’t easy to do and there are a lot of programs that never get to go – or rarely do. I saw the other day a list of eight programs from Power 5 leagues that have gone four years in a row without making it to the NCAA Tournament. And until two years ago, Bo Ryan had the same knock against him that Jamie Dixon has - - no Final Four. But Wisconsin has been even better than Pitt in a lot of ways. The Badgers have been to the NCAA Tournament 18 years in a row. Pitt is 13 out of the last 18 years. And in that time Wisconsin has been to three Final Fours, as well. I asked Dixon about it and he said that both programs have had success in recruiting the players who fit with the program’s philosophy, both have been good at keeping guys around for four and even five years and both are built on a foundation of defense and rebounding. The interesting thing – Bo Ryan’s breakthrough to the Final Four finally came when he got a couple of guys who could score and let them really go after it on offense. But true to form, Kaminsky wasn’t a big-time recruit, he was a kid who hung around the program and developed into an NBA player.

** I wrote about Nigel Hayes in today’s paper – and he fits the profile of the most coveted players in the game these days. Obviously everyone wants point guards and big men – but that “stretch 4” forward kind of guy is so critical to today’s game. Hayes is a guy who can score in the post, rebounds and also steps out and hits 3-pointers. Mike Young is a similar player, though he doesn’t shoot 3s like Hayes, but Pitt also has Sheldon Jeter and Ryan Luther who are sort of poor man’s versions of Hayes. And Artis to a degree is one of those guys as well, although he is more small forward than stretch 4. Either way, people who say Jamie Dixon hasn’t adjusted to the ACC --- and really, the way the game has changed – aren’t paying attention. I’m not sure if he would have recruited any of those guys in 2004 or 2005 in the Big East days. None of them are physical -- though Mike Young has proven he can score in the post against physical defense and Luther has shown he will scrap and fight for every inch in the pain – and none came to Pitt with a reputation as a great defender. But in today’s game, you need those guys who can step out and hit mid-range and 3-pointers and Dixon has tried to go get them. I’m not saying it has been a smooth transition but when you look at this program, assuming everyone stays, I would think that the Panthers will be picked to finish very strong in the ACC. The Panthers will have 7 of their top 9 scorers returning and they have a point guard coming with the recruiting class to replace James Robinson. In short, I think next year is the year that we might see a real breakthrough.

*** Luther and Jeter both said that it is going to be a tough assignment to guard Hayes but they like their chances because they can throw four guys at him, five if you include Artis. Both seem to the think, though, that the Panthers will be OK on defense, the challenge will be on offense. Wisconsin is very good defensively and they are also good at controlling possessions. And like I wrote here – they look the part of a team that is capable of being physical. Jeter said the key on offense is getting good ball and player movement and creating open looks out on the perimeter for the right players – Cam Johnson, Artis, Jones, etc. He said penetration against the Badgers is tough but again, with the right ball movement he thinks the Panthers should be able to get some things going to the basket.

*** I watched Xavier a little bit yesterday, they are pretty athletic and look pretty quick. I think they will give either Pitt or Wisconsin fits, to be honest. I think athletic guards have been an issue with the Panthers all season and Xavier has a couple of guys who can light it up. I know watching an open practice doesn’t tell a whole story – but one of the best things about coming to the tournament is you get a chance to see all the teams run through a practice. That gives you a chance to at least see things like size, athleticism, speed and even skill. I’ll give you a great example – a couple of years ago I watched that dreadful Colorado team Pitt beat in the first round in Orlando. I walked away from that practice and said “I don’t see anyone who can handle the ball and their bigs have no skill” – and that’s what we saw when the game got started and Pitt blew them out. Obviously you can’t tell the whole story of a team from watching practice, but you do a get a good idea about matchups. Xavier was the best looking team – even better looking than Michigan State (who is here as well) – in terms of athleticism, size, skill etc.