And just like that, the basketball rotation gets a little clearer. At this rate, Pitt may be forced to forfeit games next season.
Pitt has now lost it's top two returning players (at least in terms of playing time and experience with the team) and its only returning starter from last year with the injury of Jermaine Dixon.
Ray Fitipaldo of the PG talks about the depth Pitt has at guard.
I'm not going to sugar coat this and say it's not that bad. Dixon was probably Pitt's best defender at guard last year and was the only returning senior on the team. And after a horrific start at shooting threes, he went on a tear and was a great shooter for a stretch. BUT, Pitt does fortunately have depth at that position. The good news out of this is that everyone should get a chance to play (by everyone, I mean Chase Adams, Travon Woodall, Ashton Gibbs, and Brad Wanamaker. Adams and Woodall will probably play the point while Gibbs and Wanamaker play SG. This will allow Pitt to see what they have in terms of the guards. Of course I'd rather have Dixon playing, but injuries happen. Barring setbacks, he should be ready for the start of the Big East season.
It's also a little scary to me that he broke the same foot earlier this year. You hope he doesn't have a problem playing all out when he returns.
Meanwhile, some good news is that Pitt landed its first recruit for 2011 - John Johnson, a 6'1" junior guard out of Philadelphia. Johnson had plenty of interest at one point or another from quality schools including UCLA, Villanova, Marquette, and Georgia Tech (offers from Nova and G'Tech).
NBE Basketball compares him to Scottie Reynolds of Villanova.
Johnson is a two-time Class-A All-State player and averaged over 20 ppg and really seemed to like Pitt's up-front recruiting approach and seemed to feel right at home during his visit in August.
He'll look nice with Isaiah Epps and Cameron Wright in the backcourt.
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