Ray Fittipaldo: Welcome to the Pitt basketball chat. Go ahead with your questions.

Go Home Mountaineers: With the Panthers clearly struggling on offense and the upcoming game with a more athletic West Virginia team do you think Gilbert Brown will get the start Wednesday night?

Ray Fittipaldo: I've been thinking Brown deserved to be in the starting lineup for a while now. Losing three of four might prompt him to try something different. Brown is one of Pitt's best five players. Something has to change. That's for sure. Teams have certainly figured out how to stop Ashton Gibbs.

pittfan08: What was Jaime thinking in the first half at times having Woodall and Adams guard James? Gilbert Brown should have been on him the entire game, he's our best athlete.

Ray Fittipaldo: Brown tried in the second half and didn't have much success either. he got 14 of his points at the foul line. He was driving to the basket no matter who was guarding him. I have heard some suggestions that Pitt should have played more zone and made Jones beat them from the 3-point line. But he was making his 3-pointers in the first half so I don't know if that would have helped. The guy had a great game. He's been on a hot streak.

bubs: The Panthers have become as cold as they were hot. How much will these bad losses jeopardize their tournament chances?

Ray Fittipaldo: There really are not any bad losses unless you count the Indiana game. Losing to a top 10 team at home is not a bad loss. And losing on the road is part of what goes along with being in a good conference. I don't think Seton Hall and South Florida will make the NCAA tournament, but they're not Rutgers and DePaul ...

chicago_pitt_fan: Is there something in the water this year in the 'Burgh that the Steelers and Panthers can beat the best teams and lose to the worst?

Ray Fittipaldo: That's a good point. So maybe it's a good thing the Panthers face three games against top-10 teams in the next three weeks, starting with No. 6 West Virginia tomorrow night ... Actually, if the Panthers can win the games they're supposed to win the rest of the way they'll be just fine for the NCAA tournament. Where they could start getting into trouble is losing to Seton Hall at home, Providence at home, Rutgers at home, etc. Those losses cannot happen in the second half of the season.

bubs: Will Sam Young's and DeJuan Blair's NBA success be a boon to recruiting?

Ray Fittipaldo: I'm sure it helps. Pitt has been a winning program for a decade now. Pitt owns the best winning percentage among Big East teams for the past eight seasons. The Panthers have been to five Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight. The one thing you always heard was that players were not convinced that Jamie Dixon could get players ready for the NBA. Now he does...Also a Final Four or national championship would probably help just as much.

Go Home Mountaineers: What do you think Pitt's chances are Wednesday night? I know they have not been playing well of late, but WVU didn't look to good the other day against Louisville?

Ray Fittipaldo: West Virginia is No. 6 in the polls for a reason. Da-Sean Butler, Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks are a great trio of scorers. Any one of them can take over a game on a given night. Plus, the game is at the WVU Coliseum, which is a tough place to play. Pitt definitely has a chance to pull the upset if the Panthers play the way they did a month ago. But make no mistake it would be a pretty good upset. The Mountaineers are for real.

I_heart_John_Degroat: Is it too early to label Dante Taylor as a bust? He certainly won't be contributing much this year.

Ray Fittipaldo: I'd never call a player a bust before his freshman season is over. But you are right it certainly does not look like he will be making any valuable contributions this season. It's been well-documented that he is playing out of position. He has been on the record that he would like to play power forward. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out how a player who is 6 feet 9 never learned how to play with his back to the basket at all in high school or AAU. That's a sign of bad coaching. Pitt's coaching staff is trying to coax more out of him, but he has not responded in recent games.

Send It In, Jerome!: How's the battalion first aid station at the P-G? Must be lotsa sprained ankles from BASE jumping off Pitt's bandwagon? Mine ache too. How did your ankles hold up this week?

Ray Fittipaldo: They'll be fractured if Pitt loses to Seton Hall on Saturday.

chicago_pitt_fan: You mentioned I believe that Jermaine Dixon thought that the early season success and publicity got into some of the players minds, can you elaborate at all? And do you think that has stopped now with this skid?

Ray Fittipaldo: That was Jermaine's opinion. If you think about what he said it makes sense. There are a lot of younger guys who play major roles on this team that were not a big part of the success last season. When the Panthers rose to the top10 maybe some of them didn't know how to handle it. You would think that overconfidence would go away with losing three of four ...

Send It In, Jerome!: So it's official then? Apparently Jamie Dixon would rather lose to multiple lower-echelon teams than admit there are flaws in his original decree/plan to NEVER "play big" this season, no matter what. Even if it means possibly not making the NCAAs. Sure seems that way to the untrained eye.

Ray Fittipaldo: Pitt's lack of inside presence certainly is part of the problem, but the shooting slump of Ashton Gibbs is part of the equation as is some less than stellar defense and recently rebounding...Do I have to go on and on about the problems this team is having now. To channel Chuck Noll, the Panthers have problems and they are many.

Ryan: Are our fears about Ashton Gibbs not being able to score consistently enough due to his lack of athleticism coming true or is this merely a shooting slump that all good shooters go through?

Ray Fittipaldo: Well, teams have figured out a way to defend him, and Pitt, to this point, has not found a way to spring him for easier shots. It's been five games now that he is struggling. Jamie Dixon said after the South Florida game that the Panthers have to execute better, which will get Gibbs better shots. Brad Wanamaker mentioned the Panthers are being selfish on offense. I'm not sure who he meant. Whether it was everyone or just one player. But he spoke of his teammates not making the extra pass that they were making earlier in the season. To answer your question, I think it is much more than his average athleticism.

I_heart_John_Degroat: Looking ahead to next year, and I know this season isn't over yet, but I see almost the exact same team. That is, a weak frontcourt, shooting guards playing the 4, and the entire Pitt fan base hoping that a freshman (Epps) turns into an All-American overnight. Do you see next year being any better?

Ray Fittipaldo: I guess the hope is that Dante Taylor gets a lot better. If he becomes a threat that changes the team entirely. As we've seen this season it's hard to count of freshmen for consistent contributions, but Epps and JJ Moore are projected by many as impact players. I would say Pitt has a chance to be better if Taylor comes into his own and if Epps is an impact player.

Go Home Mountaineers: What do you think of Pitt and WVU playing each other twice in like 10 days? Why does the Big East schedule these games so close to one another?

Ray Fittipaldo: I'm going to ask that question of Jamie Dixon later on today after practice. It does seem odd to play your rival twice in such a short span. I cannot remember a season when it happened quite like this. I favor playing your rival once in January and then again in early March before the conference tournament, but maybe this will add a new flavor to the series. We shall see.

Send It In, Jerome!: First, Jamie Dixon & staff are among the best coaches in America at milking production from our mostly unheralded recruits. So what will it take for them to take the next important step: being among the best recruiters of ELITE talent (a la, Boeheim, Wright and Calhoun in BEast; Calipari and Coach K nationally)? Not complaining, just wondering why the 5-stars guys almost always go elsewhere? Pitt has a full arena that rocks, plays on national TV weekly, makes the Big Dance every year. What's missing?

Ray Fittipaldo: I don't think anything is missing except for a Final Four or national championship banner hanging from the Petersen Events Center rafters. And those are hard to come by. You're panicking because one five-star recruit is currently struggling. I wrote a story earlier in the season about how a number of McDonald's All-Americans were going through some hard times. Look at what is happening at North Carolina. Roy Williams has four or five McDonald's All-Americans in his freshman class and they haven't been much of a help. Teams struggle when they lose talented players early. Pitt lost DeJuan Blair two years early. Despite the 5-0 start I think everyone who follows college basketball closely knew that Pitt would struggle some this season.

Jeff in MN: Now that McGee has developed that sweet hook shot and has clearly become an inside scoring threat, why didn't the Panthers go to him more often in the S. Florida game?

Ray Fittipaldo: Brad Wanamaker mentioned that after the game. He said they should have looked inside more. McGhee had a nice game against St. John's and the Panthers prevailed. I think they can get more out of McGhee, but he's not ever going to be your leading scorer. He might be able to average 10 a game instead of seven. But that's about it.

Jeff in MN: Who is more disappointed, Pitt fans with Taylor or Taylor with his decision to come to Pitt?

Ray Fittipaldo: From what I can tell Pitt fans with Taylor. Overwhelmingly.

Ryan: How about some positive talk ... I remember looking at this team at the beginning of the year and thinking they'd struggle to win 6 or 7 conference games. They're already at 6 and look poised to make the tournament. What labels this season a success? Getting to the tourney? Winning a game? Or more?

Ray Fittipaldo: I would say simply getting to the tournament would be a success in my view. But I think expectations changed for some after the 5-0 start. Not for me, but for others.

Brian: Was just looking at the Top 100 recruits from 2 years ago and Nasir Robinson was on it. What did the scouts see then and why hasn't he had more of an impact?

Ray Fittipaldo: If I remember correctly, Nasir was ranked really high (maybe in the 30s at one point) before falling in the rankings. When he signed he was not ranked all that high. So he definitely had some flaws that basketball people found. Jamie Dixon has admitted as much. He has been on record saying Nasir's game is not perfect, but he loves his hustle and desire to get better. In many ways, he is the typical Pitt player. I think that's part of the reason Nas is still starting over Gil Brown. Dixon loves those types of players and wants to see them succeed.

Send It In, Jerome! Prediction for tomorrow night? Pitt mildly shocks the sports world, wins by how many?

Ray Fittipaldo: How about Pitt loses by 15 to a good team on the road. Let's say 77-62 ... Bye now!

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