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Today, we begin to rank the careers of all of the 67 basketball players ever to suit up for Jamie Dixon. As a reminder, here's the drill. Editor Anson Whaley, contributor Jim Hammett, and myself ranked each player and our composite results are displayed.
Before we get started, we employed a few main rules here:
1. Only the Pitt portion of a player's career counted - Khem Birch played less than a season with Pitt. While he was a productive college player elsewhere, the fact that he spent so little time with the Panthers showed in our rankings.
2. Only the time a player spent under Dixon counted - A player like Julius Page, for example, would rank higher, but he spent only his senior year under Dixon.
3. Best career, not best player - This isn't about determining the best player under Dixon. It's more about who had the best career at Pitt under Dixon. Steven Adams may be a better basketball player than several of the guys on the list but he only played at Pitt for a year and has certainly developed more in the NBA since then.
As we go through this list, we want to hear from you about players slotted too high, too low, or even the ones you think we got right. I've organized the rankings and would love to hear from you on Twitter as well @AronMinkoff.
| 45. Derrick Randall |
Position: Forward Games Played: 63 Year(s) under Dixon: 2013-2015 MPG: 8.3 PPG: 1.9 RPG: 2.4 APG: 0 Aron Minkoff: 42 Jim Hammett: 51 Anson Whaley: 43 Average Ranking: 45.3 Randall transferred to Pitt from Rutgers after the headline-worthy firing of former Rutgers coach Mike Rice, who was caught on video abusing his players. Randall did not have to sit out a year and was looked upon right away to play meaningful minutes, but he never really gelled with the Panthers lineup and looked far from impressive in his two seasons with the program.
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| 44. Yuri Demetris |
Position: Guard Games Played: 46 Year(s) under Dixon: 2003-2005 MPG: 13.5 PPG: 1.7 RPG: 1.7 APG: 1.2 Aron Minkoff: 43 Jim Hammett: 45 Anson Whaley: 46 Average Ranking: 44.7 Demetris was a decent role player for Dixon but did not play too much in his senior season after being released from the team mid-season following assault charges. Overall, he played in 46 games over two seasons with Dixon and that was enough to get him higher than many of the backups. |
| 43. Chase Adams |
Position: Guard Games Played: 27 Year(s) under Dixon: 2009-2010 MPG: 11.1 PPG: 2 RPG: 0.5 APG: 0.9 Aron Minkoff: 40 Jim Hammett: 49 Anson Whaley: 45 Average Ranking: 44.7 Adams transferred from Centenary College in Louisiana following the program's demotion from Division I to Division III. He was nothing more than a depth player in his one year at Pitt. Adams spelled Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs when they were in need of a quick break . Still, he ranks favorably compared to other one-year guards since he averaged more than 11 minutes a game. |
| 42. Ryan Luther |
Position: Forward Games Played: 23 Year(s) under Dixon: 2014-2015 MPG: 8 PPG: 1.9 RPG: 1 APG: 0.3 Aron Minkoff: 45 Jim Hammett: 47 Anson Whaley: 41 Average Ranking: 44.3 Luther was rumored to be a candidate to be redshirted in his freshman campaign but due to a lack of frontcourt depth, played admirably for Dixon in his first year. He seems like a prototypical Dixon player. He is scrappy, is the first guy jumping for a rebound, and the first guy hitting the floor for a loose ball. With an ability to knock down long range shots as well, Luther has the potential to be a great do-it-all, glue-guy for years to come. |
| 41. Toree Morris |
Position: Forward Games Played: 33 Year(s) under Dixon: 2003-2004 MPG: 8.6 PPG: 1.9 RPG: 1.8 APG: 0.3 Aron Minkoff: 51 Jim Hammett: 36 Anson Whaley: 39 Average Ranking: 42 Morris played for four years at Pitt but only one of them was under Dixon. Morris actually experienced his worst numbers in the one year that he played under Dixon, as his minutes and rebounds per game were at the lowest in his four years with the program and only in his freshman season did he average less points per game.
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