Barnes: Pitt men’s basketball something to look forward to

I’m not angry enough to write about anything current this week. I’ve stated my cases on the…

Head coach Jamie Dixon and the Panthers should give fans plenty to cheer about this year.

Luc Felak, For The Pitt News

I’m not angry enough to write about anything current this week. I’ve stated my cases on the respective Pirates and Pitt football fiascoes. The Steelers lost in Week 1, but they’ll be fine.

So let’s try something new this week: I’m going to write positively on a subject, more specifically, the Pitt men’s basketball team. Not the women. The men.

I don’t feel like waiting until people start talking about head coach Jamie Dixon’s 2012-2013 squad on Oct. 12, when Pitt will host its first “Midnight Madness” event in almost a decade on Bigelow Boulevard outside the Cathedral.

That Pitt is holding this event now sends a clear message not only to its fans, but to the rest of collegiate basketball — Pitt is one of the nation’s premier programs, and this year it’ll prove this more than ever.

That’s right. After my justified skepticism prior to the beginning of last season, I couldn’t be more confident in the Panthers this season. If there were ever a year, I think this is it.

Here’s why:

Pitt has a number of elite players this season, but its top player might be one of the best in the nation. I’m not talking about Steven Adams or Travon Woodall — although they’re each great players in their own right.

I’m talking about Lamar Patterson.

Last season, Pitt fans caught glimpses of what Patterson could become, with his combination of size and speed alongside his outside shooting ability — he shot 41 percent from 3-point range last season.

As the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 9.6 points per game, Patterson did a little bit of everything. He finished second on the team in rebounds with 5.3 boards per game, and he was the team’s second-best passer as well, handing out 3.6 assists per game.

This year, all of those numbers will improve.

In the Greentree Summer League, Patterson put up close to a triple-double on a nightly basis by averaging roughly 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game, and everyone should expect those numbers to translate into success as he becomes one of the focal points of Pitt’s offense this season.

With Ashton Gibbs gone, the offense’s focus should transition from the perimeter to the inside, which suits Patterson just fine. At 6 feet 5 inches, 221 pounds, Patterson has the size to bang around with the trees in the paint and the speed to blow by defenders on the perimeter.

Not only will he score more with the focus residing in the paint, he will also pick up more assists, especially with the addition of Trey Zeigler, a shooting guard from Central Michigan University who moves fantastically off the ball and finishes very well.

That brings me to another point: This team might be the deepest, most talented and well-rounded team Pitt fans have ever seen.

On the perimeter, the Panthers still have Woodall, whose high worth was established last season when he went down with an ankle injury, causing the team to implode. Alongside him is Zeigler, who scored over 1,000 points in just two seasons at Central Michigan.

Backing up Patterson will likely be J.J. Moore, one of the team’s best scorers down the stretch last season. Here’s a good way for Pitt fans to think of Moore’s game: He is Gilbert Brown with a jumpshot — in other words, fast, high-flying and dangerous.

Other backups include freshman point guard James Robinson, arguably the best pure point guard in the 2013 recruiting class; 3-point threat John Johnson, who shot 38.4 percent from deep last year; and Durand Johnson, who put up a number of high-scoring games at Greentree after redshirting last year. And don’t forget about Cameron Wright, whose defense earned him minutes as a redshirt freshman last season.

But like I said, the perimeter isn’t the strength of this team.

The strength is the post, which, led by Adams and Talib Zanna, will make up one of the nation’s most physically imposing and formidable front lines this year.

Many question if Adams will even start because “Dixon doesn’t like to play freshmen” or “Dante Taylor has more experience.” For those who believe that, remember this: Dixon didn’t get to where he was because he is stupid.  He is not stupid. He will not play Taylor more than Adams.

The best part of Dixon landing Adams for Pitt isn’t that we will see one of the best center prospects in years play at the Petersen Events Center regularly, but that we will no longer have to suffer through 25 to 30 minutes of watching Taylor try to play basketball every game.

To touch briefly on Zanna, he also looked great over the summer. He ran the break as the primary ball-handler and showed off a diversified offensive game including an improved jump shot that extends to the 3-point line and polished moves in the post.

Off the bench, behemoth 6-foot-11 center Malcolm Gilbert figures to get minutes and, when paired with 7-footer Adams on the floor, will make for arguably the best defensive power forward-center tandem in all of college basketball.

Pitt’s competition won’t be as deep and talented as the Panthers are. All across the nation, a number of teams lost their best player or players to the NBA Draft, a result of one of the deepest drafts in years.

Overall, Pitt has a ridiculously deep team, whereas the national landscape in general is thinner than ever before.

This is not to say there won’t be challenges for the Panthers. A matchup with Michigan in the semi-finals of the NIT Tip-Off tournament looks probable. Syracuse, Louisville and Connecticut always field quality teams, and Villanova should be better this season as well.

As angry as I am with Pitt football, this is how confident I am about Pitt basketball.

I feel confident enough to say that we might be on the verge of seeing the best team in the history of Pitt basketball.

Write Nate at njb32@pitt.edu.