Pitt basketball Q&A with Ray Fittipaldo

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Q: Great job with the Q&A this year, Ray. All year long your readers have questioned if Pitt's program can be considered with the North Carolinas and Kansases and UCLAs and Dukes of the world. Well, this weekend will be the first time in the Dixon era they the Panthers will go head-to-head with one of the perennial powers in the tournament. Knowing this game is looming as well as a potential third-round game with Howland, how can Dixon and his staff get the troops to focus on beating Wright State?

Buffalo is only 3 1/2 hours from Oakland. I hope to hear a lot of Pitt fans this weekend. Let the Madness begin!

Wade Krejdovsky, Framingham, Mass.

FITTIPALDO: It should not be all that hard for Pitt to focus on an opponent like Wright State. One thing that 23-point loss to Georgetown in the Big East title game did was humble the Panthers. There is absolutely no chance that they go into this first-round game overconfident. If anything it's going to make them hungrier. And yes, it is a very interesting bracket for the Panthers should they advance. You have to love playing Duke, even in a down year for the Blue Devils, and it goes without saying how much fun a Pitt-UCLA matchup would be.

Q: I am concerned with the disparity in playing styles and officiating between the Big East and other NCAA referees. The Big East tournament games Pitt played were filled with physical play, so many non-calls that ESPN started doing some in-game video packages exposing the extreme examples, and even hand checking and traveling violations were let go compared to other games in other leagues. Are we looking at another Bradley situation where our guys are going to be tempered by a tighter threshold they they're not used to? How do they avoid this?

Judd Stricker, Detroit, Mich.

FITTIPALDO: One thing that the Bradley game taught the Panthers is that they have to learn how to adjust to an officiating crew as the game is being played. That game against Bradley last year was tightly officiated, but there should not have been excuses then and there certainly should not be any excuses if the same thing happens this season. If you're Aaron Gray and you pick up a quick foul early bumping your counterpart, you adjust and lay off for a while and attempt to draw contact at the other end when you're on offense.

The same goes for the guards. If Levance Fields gets called for a hand check, he should try to penetrate at the other end to get the other team in foul trouble. Pitt did not do enough of that last year and it cost them. One way or the other, the Panthers should be well prepared for an officiating crew that wants to call a tight game.

Q: Now that Aaron Gray has shown his true colors as a clumsy, oafish, no-skilled gutless coward that got ravaged by Roy Hibbert one night after doing nothing against Louisville, when will the Pittsburgh media start calling a spade a spade. The man rolled a doughnut against Hibbert, going o-fer on numerous easy chances in the first half and never once stopped Hibbert on defense. You and your cronies have fawned all over this player as though he was a combination of Lew Alcindor and Shaquille O'Neal. He's not and it's not even close. He's vastly overrated and it's high time the Pittsburgh media writes the real truth on the matter.

Dan Lewis, Hampton, Va.

FITTIPALDO: Why don't you tell us how you really feel, Dan? Gray had a terrible game against Georgetown. There is no two ways about it. He probably cost himself a lot of money with that performance. If you're an NBA general manager his play against Georgetown has to make you wonder about Gray being a potential first-round pick.

That being said, I don't think he has been fawned over by the local media, but he was voted a third-team All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He is a very good college basketball player. He may not make it in the NBA, but that should not detract from his accomplishments the past two seasons as Pitt's starting center. The guy averaged a double-double in the Big East Conference, for crying out loud. Is he the type of player that can carry a team? No. But he's a nice centerpiece for a team that has won 27 games. That ought to count for something.

Q: Is Aaron Gray the weakest 7-footer ever to play hoops? He thinks he's a lottery pick. Forget it. He can't even make a layup. If Pitt is counting on him at the Big Dance, forget it. It will be one and done.

Paul Lochrane, Tarentum

FITTIPALDO: I have to wonder what's going to happen to all the Aaron Gray hate mail I receive when he scores 20 points and gets 10 rebounds against Wright State's 6-foot-8 center Thursday night?

Q: I have been following Pitt basketball since the days of Don Hennon. I always felt that Howland and Dixon's philosophy of recruiting defensive, tough, hard-nosed players and making a team worked. After losing by 23 points and scoring the fewest points ever in a Big East championship game things must change. This was the year the team would win the Big East and be seeded high. It didn't happen.

Pitt is always mentioned in discussions of top-ranked teams, but the top players never come to the Panthers. Carmelo Anthony was in the Big East for one year, but he won the NCAA tournament. Greg Oden and Alando Tucker have made their team winners. Pitt always seem to be missing that person who can control a game and score when needed. Next year's recruiting class seems ordinary except for the local recruit. Why can't Pitt get a player of more stature?

Russell Schreck, Newport Beach, Calif.

FITTIPALDO: You're preaching to the choir about Dixon needing to recruit a little better. I have been saying all year that the talent needs to upgraded for Pitt to be a team that is truly considered a national title contender. But the fact that Dixon came within one game of the regular-season championship and tournament championship, losing both times to Georgetown, a team that is the chic pick to win it all, that should tell you something about his coaching ability.

It's hard to criticize a team for making six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, but like Antonio Graves said earlier this week, not getting past a certain point like the Sweet 16 gets meaningless after a while. Expectations are created and after a while the team has to come through and fulfill those expectations.

Q: As a Pitt graduate living so far away, I am only educated on Pittsburgh sports by reading on the Internet. So my question is: with Pitt making the NCAA tournament again, will this help Dixon's recruiting efforts?

Dennis Hanson, Great Falls, Montana

FITTIPALDO: Playing in the NCAA tournament always helps with recruiting. The more exposure you get on national television, the better. But more than playing in the NCAA tournament, advancing past the Sweet 16 would really help a program like Pitt. The Panthers have sort of developed a reputation for being good enough to get to that stage but not past it. So if they could break that barrier I think the program would be held in a different regard by people across the country.

Also, don't underestimate the importance of developing players for the NBA. Pitt has not done a good job in that regard and that, more than anything, could hurt Dixon when it comes to recruiting elite high school prospects. The best high school players want to know you can get them ready for the NBA. Dixon has done a great job of developing players, but only one has been able to make it to the NBA. That was Chris Taft, and he only played one year before getting cut because of recurring back problems.

Q: If the Penguins get a new arena here in Pittsburgh, assuming it reaches the seating requirement, would Pitt be able to play NCAA tournament games there? I believe Duquesne would have to be the host, but is it possible?

Tim Z., Pittsburgh

FITTIPALDO: Pitt played at Mellon Arena in 2002 when Duquesne was the host school, so I believe it could happen again that way. Of course, Pitt would have to finish as a high enough seed for the NCAA selection committee to award Pitt with two games so close to home.

First published on March 15, 2007 at 12:00 am