Brad Wanamaker's Reason For Down Season: Youth

In helping the Austin Toros win the NBA's D-League title last week, Brad Wanamaker's name has been resurfacing quite a bit. Wanamaker talked briefly about Pitt's struggles last year on the basketball court and says what many of us have - that the team was young.

In talking with the Post-Gazette, Wanamaker had this to say about the team:

"I was surprised, too," Wanamaker said Tuesday afternoon, three days after helping the Austin Toros win the D-League championship. "But they had a lot of young guys. As the season went on it looked like they were trying to find their identity. It was a tough season for coach Dixon and the players."

I'm convinced you can't hang the season on any one thing. Lots of factors played into the down year - the Tray Woodall injury forcing him to miss a ton of games, Nasir Robinson playing through pain, Ashton Gibbs' shooting woes, all among them. But youth was probably the biggest factor in my opinion as the team had several freshmen and sophomores not only playing, but playing key roles.

That's no guarantee things will automatically go back to 'normal' next season, but things should be better.

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