Just Getting Started
Young Panthers Already Surprising in Rugged Big East
By Anthony Jaskulski

Remember Dec. 8?

A struggling, inexperienced Pitt basketball team was losing by 20 points late in the second half against a mediocre Indiana squad at Madison Square Garden. Just four days before that, Pitt managed just 47 points against an extremely bad New Hampshire team.

Since those two embarrassing performances, the Pitt Panthers basketball team, officially back to full strength with the addition of Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown to the lineup, has taken the court as if they were the reincarnation of last year's squad. Remember? The one that went 31-5, reached the NCAA Elite Eight and sent two players to the NBA?

Well, just like that unit that featured point guard Levance Fields and current NBA stars DeJuan Blair and Sam Young, this 2009-10 group is one that just doesn't throw in the towel, and more importantly, keeps on winning despite what the odds and nay-sayers exclaim.

"People doubted us as a team coming into this year, and I'm sure we are still doubted right now," forward Gilbert Brown said. "We just have to go out and prove that we can compete with everybody else. We jell like an experienced team, and I think we play like one too."

Seventh-year head coach Jamie Dixon has continued his role as a defensive mastermind, plugging teams in half court offensive sets, suffocating teams in second chance opportunities and turning his once-inexperienced group into seasoned defensive monsters... again.

"We're striving to be a very good defensive team this year, and I think we're headed in the right direction," said Dixon. "As we become more used to what we're trying to do as a team, we'll improve and get better. But right now, I think we're seeing a team getting better and better defensively."

For yet another year, Pitt stands at or near the top of the Big East in field goal percentage defense and scoring defense, thanks in large part to the tenacity of wings Brad Wanamaker and Jermaine Dixon.

Dixon, the lone starter returning from last year's team-and the reason why Pitt is once again one of the best defensive teams in the country-has drawn the responsibility of not only guarding the opposition's best offensive player, but also to call defensive plays and sets for the team.

"I actually asked him one time, which defense he wanted to play," Jamie Dixon said after a January overtime win against Louisville. "It's his team. He's our toughest guy and he's going to lead us."

But as solid as the defense has been, everybody knows a team can only go as far as the quarterback will take the, and Ashton Gibbs has been no slouch in leading the way.

In a year where the point guard position was in question for the first time since Brandin Knight laced up his shoes a decade ago for Pitt, Gibbs-who replaced a struggling Travon Woodall as the starter at the point-has pushed and clawed his way into a top-notch ball-handler, with a downright lethal trigger at any spot on the court.

"I think I've evolved into more of an all-around player, and I know I'm getting my teammates involved more than ever this year," Gibbs said. "It's all about adjusting and finishing what you started as a team, and we are all pretty good at coming together as a team."

Since Jamie Dixon moved Gibbs to the point in Dec. 19 game against Mount St. Mary's, Pitt's offense went from almost under 40 percent to a near 45 percent shooting over the following nine games.

"Ash is our scorer, our leader on offense, and we'll always try to find ways to get him open," said Jermaine Dixon. "The offense runs through him and he makes us all better."

The Panthers are well on their way to a ninth straight 20-win season, already the owners of victories over Big East powerhouses Syracuse, Connecticut and Louisville. The question is no-longer "Can they win in the Big East?" Now it's "When does this run come to an end?"

According to Jermaine Dixon, the end is nowhere in site; this is just the beginning.

"We know what we are capable of, and I know that this team is capable of finishing this season just as strong as we started it," Dixon stated after Pitt dropped consecutive games to Georgetown and Seton Hall. "I believe in this team, and I know everybody else does. We look forward to practice, we look forward to improving and when a team is like that, you can really only go up."

Just the mentality you would expect out of a team that has defied the odds so many times before.

Remember?