Dixon needs to admit his team underachieved this year

BOISE, Idaho — West Virginia’s head coach John Beilein can stand at a press conference podium… BOISE, Idaho — West Virginia’s head coach John Beilein can stand at a press conference podium and admit that his team has improved without any questions.

Tyler Palko can say he has improved as a collegiate quarterback since his first snap in the 2004 season against Ohio.

Panther head coach Jamie Dixon, however, cannot say that this year’s men’s basketball team improved.

The numbers say it all. The Panthers were 10-0 before the new year and 18-4 with a win at Syracuse on Valentine’s Day.

It was no box of chocolates from there on out though, as the Panthers lost five of their next seven games.

“Actually, I thought we did get better,” Dixon said. “We had two good wins just two games ago.”

Those two wins were against a falling Boston College, which lost to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday in the second round, and Notre Dame, which was one-and-done in the National Invitation Tournament.

“We improved as a team,” he added later.

I beg to differ. Pitt, as a team, fell apart.

Forward and “NBA prospect” Chris Taft was inconsistent all year long, showing up for some games, but not often enough. His lack of faith in his team was apparent when UConn defeated Pitt at the Petersen Events Center in late February.

The Panthers were working on a comeback, possessing the ball on the offensive side of the court — and Taft was not on the floor. The entire bench of players was standing, leaning on the court and holding their breath as their teammates looked to score.

Where was Taft? On the bench, with his head in his hands, not even watching.

And who was leading the charge on the bench? The under-used junior-college transfer John DeGroat, who showed flashes of brilliance, but was never given the opportunity to continue what he had started. He had a breakout game late in the season at Boston College, with 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists in only 16 minutes of play.

After that game, Dixon used him for nine minutes at Notre Dame, two in the loss to Villanova in the Big East tournament and zero minutes Thursday against Pacific.

Why not start DeGroat in place of an almost always ineffective Mark McCarroll?

There are so many questions to be asked. Yet they were rarely answered this past season, just avoided. Which is what Dixon did again on Thursday when he responded to the question of why his team failed to improve?”

There’s no need for Dixon to avoid the facts. He is still a young coach. It’s completely OK to have a sub-par season, and in my eyes excusable. Look back at the major turning point of this season. It was something that neither Dixon nor Pitt nor any fan could have prevented — the loss of Yuri Demetris.

Prior to his departure, because of off-the-court issues, the team was a team. Stability was in the lineup and believe it or not, it had seniority — as in someone who understood the Pitt defensive and offensive schemes. Demetris was pulling down 3.4 rebounds a game and had 18 steals and 33 assists in 14 games, which is a lot more than what his replacements managed.

After Demetris was deservedly dismissed from the team, Pitt fell to St. John’s, and finished the season 8-7 without its senior guard.

My point is that Dixon was forced into a tough situation. Ever since Demetris was lost, this team has been in disarray and looking for help, and it never got what it needed.

With Chevon Troutman gone, and Taft and Carl Krauser each with one foot out the door to the NBA draft, Pitt could be returning only one weathered starter next year — Antonio Graves.

A clean house, however, might be good for Dixon and the Panthers. Pitt has four highly recognized recruits in Levance Fields (5-foot-10-inch point guard), Tyrell Biggs (6-foot-8-inch power forward), Sam Young (6-foot-7-inch strong forward) and junior-college transfer Doyle Hudson (6-foot-8-inch power forward) coming in next season.

Freshmen Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin are both capable of being starters next year, and quality starters at that. The same applies for Aaron Gray, Levon Kendall and DeGroat.

With all the talent and potential coming to and remaining at Pitt, there is only one thing left to do as this disappointing season comes to a close: Admit there was no improvement and work on improving.

Jimmy Johnson is the sports editor of The Pitt News and he’s still stuck in Boise. E-mail him at Jimmysjargon@yahoo.com. He’s got plenty of time to read e-mails.