Smaller lineup good for Pitt, but good enough?

Dr. Hoops: Nurse? Who’s my next appointment?

Nurse: You have Jamie Dixon from Pitt in the… Dr. Hoops: Nurse? Who’s my next appointment?

Nurse: You have Jamie Dixon from Pitt in the waiting room.

Doc: Oh, OK. Send him in please.

Dixon: Hey, Doc! How are things?

Doc: Oh, you know this time of year, Jamie. Every Division-I college basketball coach visits and wants me to prescribe to him the magic formula for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Tom Crean just left, actually. Anyway, what can I do for you?

Dixon: Well, put me down for the same. You know, one minute my guys look like a million bucks and the next they’re the Celtics. I coach them the same either way and I was wondering if there’s anything preventing us from a strong showing in the tournament.

Doc: Yes, I’ve been watching your Panthers all season, and they’ve shown all the symptoms of a team with MTPD: Multiple Team Personality Disorder.

Dixon: Ooh, yikes. Wait, what exactly is that?

Doc: Well, coach, it’s not uncommon, and yours is definitely not the first case I’ve diagnosed this season. MTPD occurs when a basketball team seems to be two different teams – performing well one game and looking out of sync the next. Pitt has it bad.

Dixon: Tell me about it. Well, what can we do to minimize the symptoms?

Doc: Well, lets look at your team’s recent run in the Big East Tournament. From what I saw there, I’ve put together a recipe for improvement for the Panthers in the Big Dance.

Dixon: Great.

Doc: First thing’s first – Aaron Gray has to score. I know you’ve said all season that he can affect the game even without scoring. He can, but not to the same level of when he scores big. For example, against Marquette on Thursday, the big guy owned the Marquette frontcourt and got the kind of low-post buckets that you want. When Gray scores, you don’t have to rely on your team’s streaky outside shooting for your offense. I don’t need to remind you about the Georgetown game.

Dixon: Please don’t. But at the same time, Aaron gets double-teamed a lot and can’t get open shots. And if he gets into early foul trouble like he did against Louisville, then –

Doc: I was getting to that. Gray scored 22 points against Marquette in only 28 minutes. So, sub him in and out. That way, you can keep him out of foul trouble for the most part and run with a more athletic lineup with Levon Kendall and Sam Young playing the frontcourt.

Dixon: Go on