2011 Pittsburgh College Basketball Predictions

During the regular season, Jamie Dixon’s Pittsburgh basketball team looked like one of the best teams in the country.  Their 15-3 record in Big East play was good for the best in the conference and their 28-6 overall record earned them a No. 1 seed in the tournament.  However, all of that success did not carry over to the postseason.

It all started in the Big East conference tournament when Pitt ran into the buzzsaw that was the Connecticut Huskies.  The Panthers lost by only two points and then watched UConn keep rolling all the way to the conference title.

In the NCAA Tournament the Panthers ran into another hot team.  The Butler Bulldogs pulled off a one-point upset win in the second round before making it all the way to the championship game.  Butler then lost to UConn in the Final.  Pitt caught a couple of tough breaks in playing the two teams that played in the NCAA Championship game, losing to both by a combined three points.  That kind of dampered the regular season success Dixon’s bunch enjoyed.

If the Panthers want to be one of the top teams in the nation again this year, they are going to have to replace some top talent.  There are only two starters back, but with a highly-touted recruiting class I wouldn’t expect Dixon’s team to drop off very much this season.

Backcourt

The key loss for Pittsburgh was Tray Woodall.  Woodall was the team’s second leading scorer and led the Panthers in assists.  Replacing him will be difficult, but Brandon Wanamaker just might be up for the task.  Wanamaker is an excellent defender and will look to get his teammate’s more involved, while being less of an offensive threat himself.

The good news for the Panthers is Ashton Gibbs is back.  Gibbs was going to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft, but due to the uncertain labor situation he backed out.  That was probably a good idea for him as the pros still aren’t playing, and he gets to work on improving his already stellar numbers of 16.8 points per game on nearly 50% 3-point shooting.

You will also see Cameron Wright, Durand Johnson, and John Johnson coming off the bench and giving the starter’s some rest.

Frontcourt

The Panther’s also lost a couple of key pieces down low with Gilbert Brown and Gary McGhee.  Brown was the scoring threat, finishing third on the team with 11.3 points per game.  McGhee did the dirty work on defense and was the best stopper down low.

Pitt does get Nasir Robinson back and he will bring the only experience to the frontcourt. Last season Robinson averaged just under 10 points and 4.9 boards per game, but he ought to get far more minutes this year and increase his production in kind.

Khem Birch was a McDonald’s All-American and one of the very best big men coming out of high school. ESPN even had him ranked as the top center in the nation.  Malcolm Gilbert was also recruited by a great deal of colleges as a result of his rebounding and shot blocking talent.  I look for him to take on McGhee’s role down low.

Giving the Panthers with some excess minutes is going to be Dante Taylor, JJ Moore, and Talib Zanna.

Each year we offer our Pittsburgh basketball preview so you can get yourself ready to beat the college basketball odds on their games.