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Pitt Basketball: Durand Johnson Headed For Redshirt; John Not?

With only two games down, it's crazy early.  But it's looking to me like Durand Johnson could be headed for a redshirt. He's yet to appear in a game yet and more importantly, Pitt has the small forward position in pretty good hands with Lamar Patterson and J.J. Moore.

Jamie Dixon hasn't conceded that yet, but he sounds like he's keeping that possibility open.

Dixon says his situation is still up in the air:

"We're still figuring out what we're going to do with Durand," Dixon said. "He's going to be a very good player for us. We're just trying to see what we do here as we move forward. I talked to him about it."

Center Malcolm Gilbert hasn't yet played, due to a fractured finger, but he's probably less of a candidate. Talib Zanna has logged significant minutes thus far, but Gilbert is still expected to suit up this season.

Injuries are the key thing, obviously. If either Moore or Patterson go down, then Johnson could be called upon. But right now, we may not see that much of him this season.

Meanwhile, John Johnson, who may have been headed for one before, might not be.

Also in that article, Dixon seemed to say that the team could need to suffer an injury for him to redshirt, but after playing against Rider, that might not be the case now.

Johnson made a key three-pointer and if he keeps doing that, he may not redshirt this year after all:

The second huge upset did not happen, thanks in part to a bold move from Dixon. Desperate for a spark, he inserted freshman guard John Johnson into the game. Johnson had yet to play in the contest, but Dixon ran a set play for him, and he made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 61-58.

They were the only points of the game for Johnson, but that was the start of the comeback.

I really liked what I saw out of Johnson when I went to the Albany game last week. As I said then, it wasn't because of his points so much, but because of how active he was. I really think he could be a big-time player.